5/3/2023 0 Comments Daily grace co![]() Jesus did not tell him to go strengthen his faith first and then He would consider helping his son. Notice that Jesus did not expect the father to have perfect faith in order for his son to be healed. One of the primary ways in which Jesus helped this man’s unbelief was by demonstrating His power to heal. We see evidence of this truth as Jesus goes on to heal the father’s son. God will never deny our request to have more faith. Because of God’s love and grace, He invites us to come to Him and ask for renewed faith.Īnd because God is good and kind, He answers these prayers. Therefore, we don’t have to hide our unbelief but can come to God in confidence and confess our unbelief. God welcomes His children to be honest with Him. The father’s complete honesty with Jesus encourages us to be honest with God when we are struggling to believe. Two ways to respond when struggling with unbeliefįirst, we can be honest with God. The man’s response to Jesus teaches us two ways we can respond in our own moments of unbelief. Mark records in verses 22b–24, “‘.But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.’ Jesus said to him, “‘If you can’? Everything is possible for the one who believes.” Immediately the father of the boy cried out, ‘I do believe help my unbelief!’” The conversation that takes place between the boy’s father and Jesus is noteworthy. These disciples attempted to drive out a demon from a young boy, but they failed. After this incredible experience, they come back down from the mountain and see the remaining disciples in an argument. It is there that they also see Moses and Elijah. ![]() Mark 9:14 picks up right after the Mount of Transfiguration, where Jesus reveals His glory to James, John, and Peter. One of my favorite stories in Scripture that speaks to this reality comes from Mark 9:14–27. How Mark 9 encourages us when our faith is weak While the Bible does encourage us to have a bold and steady faith, it does not tell us to have perfect faith. But this kind of thinking does not find its grounding in Scripture. We can convince ourselves that we cannot come close to God unless our faith is strong once again. The more we sit in our shame, the more we can shrink away from God. ![]() We might read the moments in the Gospels when Jesus rebukes His disciples for having little faith (Mark 4:40, Matthew 16:8) and worry that He is doing the same thing with us. When our faith is weak, we might believe that God is upset with us. This difficulty we can experience to believe and trust often leads to shame. Or maybe we can know the gospel and believe the truths of the gospel but have a hard time trusting in the gospel when we struggle with sin. We might know a lot about who God is but struggle to believe and trust in who God is when suffering comes. ![]() The knowledge aspect of faith can sometimes be easier than belief and trust. But these elements of faith also continue as we live the Christian life.Īs believers, we daily exercise our faith in Christ by knowing, believing, and trusting in God and His Word. These elements of faith all come together at the time of salvation. We must know, believe, and trust in the gospel-that forgiveness from sin is made possible through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. To have a relationship with God we must know, believe, and trust in who He is. But what is faith? Faith involves knowledge, belief, and trust. No matter if you are new to Christianity or have been a believer for a long time, you’re probably familiar with the word “faith.” When we open up the Bible, we see this word repeated all the way through. Faith in my partner and faith that I won’t go crashing to the ground when I fall. I know that my partner will catch me, and I believe that they will, but I struggle to trust that they will do so. Whenever I’ve done a trust fall, I always tend to chicken out when it comes to falling backward. These exercises are done sometimes just for fun or to create trust between co-workers or other groups of people. If you aren’t familiar with trust falls, these are exercises in which one person stands with their back toward their partner who is expected to catch them when they fall backward.
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