“THE STRUGGLE TO BELIEVE” Mark 9:24
FBCF – 8/31/22 REFRESH
Jon Daniels
Phone call w/ Mama this AM – She needed some white-out (Liquid Paper). Kroger – Walgreens – Dollar store. Decided to go to Walmart Sat AM. Doesn’t normally shop at Walmart. Washed her hair & everything. Tons of people – tax-free weekend. Asked employee about office supplies – directed to back of store – walked down 3 aisles – couldn’t find it – hard on 83 yr.-old woman – Got on 4th aisle – Prayed that God would help her find it “can’t keep on walking like this” – stopped another employee – asked about a little bottle of white out – employee opened her hand & said, “You mean this?” – “Where is it?” – “I love you. Where in the world did you find it?” “Look down.” Right at her ankles. – Mama decided to buy another bottle just in case God had run out of miracles – Got home & got under conviction – God had provided the first bottle & would provide more if she needed it. She said it reminded her of the man who said, “Lord, I do believe. Help my unbelief!”
Mark 9:14-24 –
How do we handle it when we struggle to believe?
TAKE YOUR PROBLEMS TO JESUS – “Teacher, I brought my son to you…”
Problem w/ car – mechanic. Problem w/ body – doctor. Problem w/ marriage – counselor.
Problem w/ your faith – JESUS!
Not saying pastors & other Christians aren’t important. Definitely are. But they are there to point to the ONE who can truly bring real solutions to your problems.
Some translations – “LORD, I believe…” – “Lord” means “Master.” Jesus is the Master over all of our problems.
- Calmed the storm – Mark 4:35-41
- “Peace! Be still! – “rebuked” the storm – “denounced, commanded, expressed strong disapproval, gave a warning implying a threat” – Lit – “Shut up!”
- Rebuked a demon – Luke 4:31-36
- Rebuked the fever in Peter’s mother-in-law – Luke 4:38-39
- Rebuked this demon – v. 25
YOU GO TO HIM – “I”
You don’t have to go through a priest or anybody else. You don’t have to have anyone else b/c, as a child of God, you’ve got everything you need to go to Jesus w/ your problems.
- Don’t need a human priest b/c Jesus is our High Priest – Heb. 4:14-16
Quit selling yourself short. Quit letting the enemy win the battle in your mind. Quit living in defeat & discouragement. Quit thinking that you’re not as good a Christian as someone else, so your prayers aren’t going to be as good as theirs.
Think about all the people who came to Jesus during His earthly ministry. You think they were all super spiritual people who had it all together? NO! The ones who came to Him were the ones who were the most desperate, the most beat down & beaten up, the ones who were the most despised & outcasts, the most sinful people around.
EXERCISE WHATEVER FAITH YOU HAVE – “believe”
This man had SOME faith. Spurgeon: “Here was faith, even though it was mixed w/ unbelief. It was a faith that made him pray, & the Lord Jesus found that faith.”
“I don’t have much faith!” You don’t need much!
- Matt. 17:20 - if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”
- “The mustard seed is one of the tiniest seeds found in the Middle East, so the conclusion is that the amount of faith needed to do great things is very small indeed… the tiniest bit of faith, when it is true faith from God, grow to immense proportions in the lives of believers and spreading out to influence all they come into contact with.” (https://www.gotquestions.org/mustard-seed-faith.html)
Stop waiting until you think you’ve arrived as some supposed perfect level of spiritual maturity – “THAT’S when I will have REAL faith.” No, you have REAL FAITH RIGHT NOW! USE IT!
ASK FOR HELP – “help”
Pride is a terrible thing. Keeps us from reaching out for help in our times of need.
But the Lord allows us to get to a point of desperation & need – even fear – to bring us to our knees when we will finally cry out to Him for help. He’s waiting to help. So ask Him for His help. And trust Him to help in the way that is best for us.
- 2 Chron 14:11 - 11 Then Asa called to the Lord his God and said, “Lord, there is no one like you to help the powerless against the mighty. Help us, Lord our God, for we rely on you, and in your name we have come against this vast army. Lord, you are our God; do not let mere mortals prevail against you.”
- Ps. 18:6 - In my distress I called upon the Lord; to my God I cried for help. From his temple he heard my voice, and my cry to him reached his ears.
- Ps. 121:1-2 - I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.
- Heb. 13:6 - So we can confidently say, ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not fear, what can man do to me?”
OWN YOUR FAITH STRUGGLES – “my”
The father in this story wasn’t looking around to see who would or would not be impressed by his words or actions. He wasn’t concerned about who was going to walk away from this encounter w/ Jesus & go talk about how small this dad’s faith was. He didn’t care about that. His boy was hurting & he knew that Jesus could help him. And he was willing to do whatever it took to get that help. He owned his faith struggles. And when he did that, he got Jesus’ attention.
- “If you find yourself doubting God, let this man’s cry be your prayer. Be honest w/ God about your doubts & proceed in faith. God will honor your faith & strengthen it.” (Tony Evans)
BE SPECIFIC ABOUT YOUR BATTLE – “unbelief”
It wasn’t that this man was refusing to believe & trust Jesus – THERE ARE PLENTY OF PEOPLE DOING THAT THESE DAYS, EVEN IN THE CHURCH. If your unbelief is b/c you REFUSE to trust Jesus w/ your problems, that’s a whole other issue, & you’re going to find yourself in a very bad place.
- Heb. 3:12 – “Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God.”
o You’ll fall away from His protection, presence, strength, blessings, wisdom, truth
- That’s not this man’s condition, & I hope it’s not yours! If it is, REPENT & COME BACK TO GOD NOW!
Don’t try to make your prayer sound pretty. Just gut it out w/ Jesus. He can handle it.
- “I. AM. STRUGGLING. WITH. BELIEVING. YOU!”
- Say it! Be specific w/ your battle, whatever it is!
Maybe there’s some situation, circumstance, or experience you’ve gone through or are going through right now that is causing you to struggle w/ your faith & your belief. Say it! Tell it to Him whatever it is.
- This man’s pain over watching his son’s battle w/ this demon through the year had weakened his faith.
- What’s YOUR battle?
