Help Me Believe! (Daily Devotional)

Greetings and welcome to Living Supernaturally. Thank you so much for giving us this opportunity to minister God’s word and spend these few moments in prayer. This week, we’ve been talking about the miracles of Jesus and today, we will look at Mark chapter 9, verses 23 and 24, ‘Everything is possible for one who believes.” Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!”’ This cry came from a man who was heartbroken over the state of his son. He was desperately hoping for Jesus’ disciples to bring healing over his son but when they couldn’t, this man began to feel doubt. The three disciples, Peter, James and John arrived back to what must have been a jolting scene after the beauty of the transfiguration. The disciples were unsuccessful in healing the boy who was possessed with an evil spirit. Jesus’ words, everything is possible for one who believes were both a gentle reprimand and a reminder that the man needed at that moment. The dominant theme in this passage is faith and doubt. Jesus’ initial response to hearing the boys condition expresses His disappointment and the lack of faith in His disciples. It appears that the only thing preventing the man’s son from being held is his faith and he realizes that he has already betrayed a lack of faith. He wants to express faith but at the same time be genuine. So, the man says, I do believe, help me overcome my unbelief. Becoming stronger in our faith is a lifelong process. The great news is that we are not expected to mature overnight. God will do the work in our hearts but we have an important part to play through this. What the man says here can sound contradictory, he claims to believe yet confesses to unbelief. The father understood that faith in God is not a one and done choice or just a switch that God turns on at the moment of salvation. The beauty of this story is the fact that Jesus demonstrated His power over demonic influence and sickness to heal someone. We believe the same power of Christ lives in us. Some people interpret it, when they say a person is not healed of serious illness, they do not have faith but this is not true. We believe that God is all powerful, Jesus still does miraculous healing and most Christians can identify with this man from time to time. It is the acknowledgement of our inadequacy that allows God to work in and through us. As always, we can ask for what we need, when we doubt, we can ask for more faith. When we are wavering in our resolve to follow, we can ask for more resolve. When we are unwilling to obey, we can ask to be made willing. Sometimes, when our circumstances seem overwhelming, our prayer can simply be, I believe Lord but help me overcome my unbelief. Let’s pray, Father, we thank you for your word and what we have learnt today. As your children, sometimes we may go through ups and downs but we pray that we will continue in faith, that is what you desire for us, to rest in your word and your promises that we will see your miraculous power working in and through our lives, in Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.

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Daily devotions to strengthen your faith each day. Daily Devotional for Spirit filled living. Each daily devotion is about five minutes in duration. These daily devotionals are centered around a weekly theme. So there are seven daily devotions that focus on the theme and bring you insight, understanding and revelation from the Bible. Each week’s theme is listed as a series. So you can listen to the current week’s devotions or go to any previous theme/series that speaks to your present need (https://apcwo.org/resources/daily-devotions ). Also available free sermons (https://apcwo.org/sermons), and free Christian books (https://apcwo.org/books) to nourish and strengthen your faith.