“I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!”
A father brought his son to Jesus to be healed. He said “If you can do anything, take pity on us and help us.” Jesus challenged the father’s conditional question, but assured him, “Everything is possible for one who believes,” (Mark 9:22-23). The father responded with the words of our verse for today.
There is a spiritual struggle going on within the soul of every Christian. It is the struggle between the sinful nature and the Spirit of God. The Apostle Paul described the struggle this way: “For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other,” (Galatians 5:17). Given that everything we do flows from the soul (Proverbs 4:23), it follows that the spiritual struggle manifests itself in every area of life.
Since the struggle cuts across every area of life, it’s not surprising that it shows up in the exercise of our faith as well. Every Christian has been saved by faith. Faith is given to us by the grace of God. It is a gift from God (Ephesians 2:8). Although we have this faith from God, there is a human component as well. We must exercise the faith we have been given. The sinful nature, however, struggles against putting faith into practice.
Through the faith we have been given by the Spirit of God we believe the Word of God and the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We believe that we “can do all this through him who gives me strength,” (Philippians 4:13). We believe God “is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine,” (Ephesians 3:20). We believe that “in all things God works for the good of those who love him,” (Romans 8:28).
The sinful nature, however, resists surrender to God’s Word; it struggles against faith. We need help. Like the father of our verse for today, we need Jesus to help us. We need Him to send the Spirit to fill us full, so that we can fully overcome our unbelief and have assurance.
Lord, we do believe; help us overcome our unbelief!
By John Huisman, friend of Bible League International
