Eld Chew Chong Kiat

Introduction

When Christ returned from His transfiguration, He found the remaining disciples faithless and powerless to help a boy in great torment by an evil spirit, and unable to give relief to an agonizing father (Mark 9:14-24). Let us learn two precious lessons from this encounter.

1. Our Need of Christ and His help.

Without Him, we cannot do anything profitable. When our faith is not fixed on Him, we are cut off from the source of divine power, we go in the strength of our arm of flesh which are powerless against the wiles of the devil and the spiritual battles. The same disciples had great success previously and had "cast out many devils, and anointed with oil many that were sick, and healed them.” (Mark 6:13). They trusted in Christ and God enabled and used them.  But on this occasion they were powerless against the devil. What was the reason? “And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.” (Matthew 17:20)

Are you trusting in Christ moment by moment? Do you recognise that your battle is spiritual, and you cannot expect to succeed with the arm of flesh? Let us strive to realize our need for the grace and presence of Christ every day. With Him we may do all things and overcome the evil one and the world and prosper spiritually. Without Him we can do nothing profitable. We may do many things, but all our works will be vanity and a vexation of the spirit, and we will be weak against the temptations of the lust of the flesh and of the eyes and the pride of life. Let us cry out to God, that He will not leave us to ourselves, and let our confidence be in His presence with us.

In everything by prayer and supplication means that we will commit all our ways unto God and acknowledge Him in everything. Be sure that whatever we do is pleasing in the eyes of God and to the glory of God; whether we eat or drink let us not leave Him out of anything. Walk with Him and abide in Him moment by moment by constant prayer and take time to listen to His Word through reading and attending to the preaching of it. 

2. Faith and Unbelief Can be Mixed in the Same Heart.

The child's father cried "Lord, I believe; help Thou my unbelief."
The sincere faith of the children of God while in the flesh is not perfect and we will struggle with unbelief all the days of our lives. We oft find our faith wavering and tossing as the waves. While we should not resign to, or be nonchalant in, unbelief, the Scripture passage gives us comfort to know that Christ understood and heard this man's prayer and his struggles. Our faith need not be perfect for God to hear us! God hears our prayers even though our faith is small and mixed with unbelief. Pray on! Pray against our unbelief and pray out of our unbelief and don’t allow unbelief to stop us from praying. Let us muster whatever faith we have to pray and ask God for help against our unbelief as this man did and who was heard.

In contrast, the faithlessness of the multitude of Jews (v19) was not blessed. They saw so many miracles and heard the words of Jesus Christ from His mouth and yet they sought for more signs and would not receive Him as the promised Messiah. This father came with faith seeking Jesus to heal his son but was shaken in his faith by the failure of the disciples (v18). Christ patiently attended to him to encourage him, “If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.” (v23) The father looked within his heart and saw his faith that had dwindled because of the circumstances, and cried out “Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.”(v24). This is the right response to our unbelief! How many have done the opposite and drew back instead of casting themselves on the mercies of God. “Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him.” (Hebrews 10:38)

What should we do when unbelief ensnares us? We must use the little faith we have and exercise it. If we have weak, trembling, doubting and feeble faith, even if it is as small as a mustard seed, we must exert every ounce of it and lean upon God. When we recognise our infirmities and turn from ourselves to trust fully in Him, our weakness will perfect God's strength. Out of our weakness, we can be strong in the Lord (2 Corinthians 12:10-11). We must recognise that we are nothing and can do nothing without His help; unless God helps us, we will fail.

Let us not wait until our faith is great, perfect, and mighty, but like the father, turn to God in prayer; and even when we feel the power of unbelief, say "Lord, I believe." Do not wait for faith to be stronger before you will trust in Him.

What then must we do with our unbelief? We must resist it and pray against it. We must not allow it to keep us back from Christ. We must take it to Christ and cry to Him for deliverance, "Lord, help my unbelief." And heed the words of Christ’s rebuke to Thomas, “be not faithless, but believing.” (John 20:27)

The father’s faith is the case of every born again believer. We know not of one man who never doubts, worries and fears. This is why there are so many exhortations from the Bible that we should not fear and be courageous and believe and trust and not doubt. The faith of every mortal today is mixed with doubts and fears. Every true believer will know of this inward battle that will make him cry out to God. He hears.