“How long has this been happening to him?” Jesus asked his father.
“From childhood,” he said. “And many times it has thrown him into fire or water to destroy him. But if You can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.”
Then Jesus said to him, ” ‘If You can’? Everything is possible to the one who believes.”
Immediately the father of the boy cried out, “I do believe! Help my unbelief.”
Our scripture passage tells of a young man who had been taken over by an evil spirit. This spirit would cause him to be unable to speak, have seizures, throw him to the ground and cause him to foam at the mouth. The boy’s father had brought him to see Jesus, but Jesus had been away and the disciples tried to cast the spirit out but had been unable to do so. Jesus was upset with the disciples and told them their lack of faith had made them unable to cast the spirit out of the boy.
When the boy’s father came back to see Jesus, he told Jesus, “If You can do anything, please help us.”
Now we may read this and think, “Wow, did this guy really tell Jesus this?” Did he realize that Jesus was the Son of God? Did he realize there was nothing Jesus could not do? Jesus healed the sick, made the lame to walk, gave the blind sight, and even raised Lazarus from the dead. And this guy said, “if you can do anything?”
Well, don’t be too hard on this guy because we all do the same thing, don’t we? Haven’t you ever prayed to God for something and not really believed He could or would come through? Perhaps you aren’t even praying about something right now because you just don’t believe He can work it out. Maybe your situation seems impossible and you figure you will just leave it all to fate. Well, who do you think controls all that?
We should pray about everything. We should always give thanks when we pray. We should always have an attitude of gratitude for all that God does for us. But most importantly, we should believe. When we pray we must pray with faith that God will do whatever is best. We must have the strength to pray for God’s will to be done. When we pray in accordance with God’s will, you can believe God will come through. His will is going to be done. This is why in the model prayer in Matthew chapter 6, Jesus instructed His disciples to pray, “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” We must trust that God’s will is what’s best for us.
If your child asked you for a basic need like food, but didn’t believe you would come through, how would it make you feel? How do you think it makes God feel when we pray but don’t truly believe He will give us what we need? Hebrews 11:6 answers that question for us. It tells us, without faith it is impossible to please God. For whoever draws near to God must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who seek Him.
In these trying times, the one thing we want to always do is please God. You can’t please God if you lack faith. When you pray to God, don’t limit what He can do for you. He can even help your unbelief. If you lack faith, talk to God about it. Ask Him to increase your faith and know there is nothing He can’t do.
Have a great day!