“I do believe; help my unbelief!”

Mark 9:1-29 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

And Jesus was saying to them, “Truly I say to you, there are some of those who are standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God when it has come with power.”

² And six days later Jesus took with Him Peter, James, and John, and brought them up on a high mountain by themselves. And He was transfigured before them; ³ and His garments became radiant and exceedingly white, as no launderer on earth can whiten them. ⁴ And Elijah appeared to them along with Moses; and they were talking with Jesus. ⁵ Peter responded and said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good that we are here; let’s make three tabernacles, one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” ⁶ For he did not know how to reply; for they became terrified. ⁷ Then a cloud formed, overshadowing them, and a voice came out of the cloud: “This is My beloved Son; listen to Him!” ⁸ And suddenly they looked around and saw no one with them anymore, except Jesus alone.

⁹ As they were coming down from the mountain, He gave them orders not to relate to anyone what they had seen, until the Son of Man rose from the dead. ¹⁰ They seized upon that statement, discussing with one another what rising from the dead meant. ¹¹ And they asked Him, saying, “Why is it that the scribes say that Elijah must come first?” ¹² And He said to them, “Elijah does come first and he restores all things. And yet how is it written of the Son of Man that He will suffer many things and be treated with contempt? ¹³ But I say to you that Elijah has indeed come, and they did to him whatever they wanted, just as it is written of him.”

¹⁴ And when they came back to the other disciples, they saw a large crowd around them, and some scribes arguing with them. ¹⁵ Immediately, when the entire crowd saw Him, they were amazed and began running up to greet Him. ¹⁶ And He asked them, “What are you disputing with them?” ¹⁷ And one person from the crowd answered Him, “Teacher, I brought You my son, because he has a spirit that makes him unable to speak; ¹⁸ and whenever it seizes him, it slams him to the ground, and he foams at the mouth and grinds his teeth and becomes stiff. And I told Your disciples so that they would cast it out, but they could not do it.” ¹⁹ And He answered them and said, “O unbelieving generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring him to Me!” ²⁰ And they brought the boy to Him. When he saw Him, the spirit immediately threw him into convulsions, and falling to the ground, he began rolling around and foaming at the mouth. ²¹ And He asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?” And he said, “From childhood. ²² It has often thrown him both into the fire and into the water to kill him. But if You can do anything, take pity on us and help us!” ²³ But Jesus said to him, “‘If You can?’ All things are possible for the one who believes.” ²⁴ Immediately the boy’s father cried out and said, “I do believe; help my unbelief!” ²⁵ When Jesus saw that a crowd was rapidly gathering, He rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, “You mute and deaf spirit, I command you, come out of him and do not enter him again!” ²⁶ And after crying out and throwing him into terrible convulsions, it came out; and the boy became so much like a corpse that most of them said, “He is dead!” ²⁷ But Jesus took him by the hand and raised him, and he got up. ²⁸ When He came into the house, His disciples began asking Him privately, “Why is it that we could not cast it out?” ²⁹ And He said to them, “This kind cannot come out by anything except prayer.”

Today’s text says: “Teacher, I brought You my son, because he has a spirit that makes him unable to speak; and whenever it seizes him, it slams him to the ground, and he foams at the mouth and grinds his teeth and becomes stiff. And I told Your disciples so that they would cast it out, but they could not do it.” And He answered them and said, “O unbelieving generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring him to Me!” And they brought the boy to Him. When he saw Him, the spirit immediately threw him into convulsions, and falling to the ground, he began rolling around and foaming at the mouth. And He asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?” And he said, “From childhood. It has often thrown him both into the fire and into the water to kill him. But if You can do anything, take pity on us and help us!” But Jesus said to him, “‘If You can?’ All things are possible for the one who believes.” Immediately the boy’s father cried out and said, “I do believe; help my unbelief!” When Jesus saw that a crowd was rapidly gathering, He rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, “You mute and deaf spirit, I command you, come out of him and do not enter him again!” And after crying out and throwing him into terrible convulsions, it came out; and the boy became so much like a corpse that most of them said, “He is dead!” But Jesus took him by the hand and raised him, and he got up. When He came into the house, His disciples began asking Him privately, “Why is it that we could not cast it out?” And He said to them, “This kind cannot come out by anything except prayer.”

It is interesting that Jesus says: “This kind cannot come out by anything except prayer,” yet we see no evidence that He prayed about the situation. Instead, Jesus commanded the spirit to come out and not enter him again. Where then does prayer come in? We could say that Jesus was constantly praying to and listening to the Father. In John 5:19 Jesus says: “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in the same way.”  Jesus was one with the Father. He knew the Father’s will in every situation and walked in it. 

The other aspect of the purpose and the part of prayer can be seen in the father of the boy’s response. It says: “From childhood. It has often thrown him both into the fire and into the water to kill him. But if You can do anything, take pity on us and help us!” But Jesus said to him, “‘If You can?’ All things are possible for the one who believes.” Immediately the boy’s father cried out and said, “I do believe; help my unbelief!”   Help my unbelief is a prayer. Like the father, perhaps that needs to be where we begin at times when we have fears and doubts. Jesus says all things are possible for the one who believes. In Mark 11:25 Jesus says: “Therefore, I say to you, all things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and they will be granted to you.”  Too often our prayers focus on the problem. The more we focus on the problem, the situation or the circumstance, the bigger it seems to be, and so we have  less faith and more doubt. Fear is the opposite of faith. It is believing more in what we do not want, than it what we do want. It is believing that our problem is bigger and more powerful than our God. We overcome through prayer not because our prayers change the situation or that we change God’s mind, but because we are changed. When we pray to God, when we talk to and listen to Him, we become aligned with His will. Psalm 37:4 says: Delight yourself in the Lord; And He will give you the desires of your heart.  Prayer is not only asking God to give us things, it is a time for us to delight in His presence, to see and hear what He is doing. It is a time for us to become aligned with His will. Hebrews 12:1-2 says: Let’s rid ourselves of every obstacle and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let’s run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking only at Jesus, the originator and perfecter of the faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.  Fear and doubt are chief among the sins and obstacles that can hinder and entangle us. When we fix our eyes on Jesus, our faith is perfected. We see Him as bigger than the problem. In John 16:33 Jesus says: “These things I have spoken to you so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.”  When we fix our eyes on Jesus, sitting at the right hand of the Father, we can hear Him say, across eternity: “It is finished!”

In Matthew 16:19 Jesus says: “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven.”  Prayer is a key to the kingdom of heaven because it unlocks our faith. When our faith in increased, nothing will be impossible. Like Jesus, if we are focused on Him, we can command the spirit. We can bind and loose on heaven and earth. In John 14:12-14 Jesus says: “ Truly, truly I say to you, the one who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do; because I am going to the Father. And whatever you ask in My name, this I will do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it.”   We can do things because we understand that in truth, it is Jesus that does them.

Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come.
Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, As we forgive our debtors. And do not lead us into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. I do believe; help my unbelief!   Amen.