10/02/2025
The day after going to the altar and accepting Jesus Christ as our savior, Satan begins to work at us... will our faith withstand his onslaught? Believing is easy when we are on the mountain, but when we go back to the valley we must reach out to the Lord for help. So as a new Christians we should be prepared for this moment. In Mark 9 we read about Jesus healing a boy who had an unclean spirit and in this account we hear the boy’s father plead for Jesus to help them. In doing so this distraught father relates the boy’s condition and then begs using these words. “”.... But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us."” Mark 9:22 ESV
Jesus doesn’t simply heal the boy, but he does what is always required before He performs a miracle... He looks at the faith of those who will receive the miracle. When we ask Jesus to heal us, or help us, we should ask out of faith and not desperation. In the case of this possessed boy there was initially desperation on the part of the father; so Jesus spoke to him of the requirement...
“And Jesus said to him, "'If you can'! All things are possible for one who believes."”
Mark 9:22-23 ESV
At that moment the father was brought to the place of choice. In His desperation he would have preferred that Jesus just unilaterally heal his son, but now he was being asked to engage in the process. What will he do? For many of us we have to sleep on it, or at least think about it for a few minutes, but not this Father... listen to what he says…
“Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, "I believe; help my unbelief!"”
Mark 9:24 ESV
He cried out to Jesus by first assuring Him that he did believe, but then he went a step further by asking something for himself, and another request for help came... “help my unbelief.”
There have been numerous occasions in my life when I have needed a miracle, and on those occasions I have leaned on my faith as I approached the Lord, but in all of those occasions I have had the feeling that my faith was not what it should have been and felt the need to pray the same request this father made...”help my unbelief.” There are also those times when I have been busy trying to make something happen by myself, only to realize what I was doing, and when I came to this realization I cried out in my desperation... “Jesus help my unbelief.”
You see, faith is not like many things in our lives that are either “yes” or “no”. It isn’t like a light switch on the wall that is either on or off... faith is more akin to a dimmer switch that turns the light brighter or dimmer. In order for the light to remain bright we must keep the knob of our faith turned far to the right. Sometimes we are on our knees begging for compassion and realize that our faith is lacking and is too dim. At that moment we cry out to Jesus for his help with it; we call across the room of desperation to Him... “help my faith Jesus! Lord, please turn up the rheostat of my faith! Reduce my resistance to you and shine within me!”
When we are walking along the way with Jesus there are times when we are traveling across an open landscape in which the sun shines on us all the while, but there are some times when we come into lightly forested stretches in which we pass from shade to light and back again... and finally there are those terrible times that we find ourselves in a forest that is so heavy and dark that it is like night. This analogy is true of the light of our faith, and the landscape of our lives which is constantly changing as we journey with Jesus. There are times when our faith is bright and easy within us, times when it seems sufficient but fluctuates, and finally there are those times when we struggle to find it at all. In each of these degrees it is appropriate to pray “help my faith” to Jesus.
You might be thinking to yourself that you are in an open field with no obstruction, so why would it be necessary to pray for Jesus to help with your faith… it is already as bright as the sun! Well, Paul can help us with this question if we listen to him as he describes his own experience...
“At midday, O king, I saw on the way a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, that shone around me and those who journeyed with me. And when we had all fallen to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew language, 'Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.'”
Acts 26:13-14 ESV
God shines brighter than the sun; there is always room for our faith to grow brighter, and in Him there is no end to the travel of our rheostat that precludes our asking Jesus to help us with our faith. Praying for His help with our faith is always appropriate and beneficial. Never lean on your own understanding or settle for a faith that you feel is good enough; bright enough, or perfect.
Prayer:
Father, I thank you for the endless brightness that my belief can reach in you. I thank you for allowing me to know you better, and for my faith that increases as it encompasses each new realization of your power, glory, and love. Holy Father, you are without limits and your light shines brighter than the sun. As I walk in this, your light, let my belief also increases in its brightness. Jesus hear each of my prayers for help; hear me when I cry out to you “help my unbelief.” I need you Lord because this is a road I have never travelled before, and it is lined with snares and obstructions that would undo me without my faith and belief in your provision and guidance. I am asked to have faith in the goodness and power of our Father, but sometimes my faith wanes or I require a greater degree of intensity, and I am tempted to believe that the problems I am facing are beyond His ability or desire to fix... help me with my faith in those moments. Increase my belief beyond what I think is sufficient and fill me with the peace and joy that is brought by absolute assuredness in our Heavenly Father’s goodness and grace. Jesus, as we walk this way together, and we pass from light, to shade, and even into times of darkness... let your light fill my faith and light the way to a greater belief in you... lead me Jesus and provide me with the miracles and blessings of our Father through the ever increasing faith you provide me with… the light of life which is you.
“Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."”
John 8:12 ESV
Rich Forbes