The Current address of Faith
Mark 9:17-29
Today’s passage describes the father of a mute, demon-possessed child who came to Jesus and cried out, “I believe! Help my unbelief!”
Mark 9:24 “Immediately the father of the child cried out, ‘I believe! Help my unbelief!'”
This seemingly contradictory plea, however, may actually be a clear expression of our lives of faith. Isn’t our own self-disclosure—our apparent faith yet seemingly lacking in some way—our “current state of faith”?
Recognizing this reality but not seeking it may be a failure to “acknowledge” God in all things. Acknowledging God begins with seeking His help in our lives.
The confession, “I believe! Help my unbelief!” is the “beginning and ongoing pursuit” of faith, for no one possesses perfect faith.
Revealing our own shortcomings to the Lord and asking for help is a true expression of faith. The expression, “Knowing that you have no faith is faith” isn’t just fancy rhetoric.
Faith is about acknowledging God, the absolute Being, and asking Him for help. The moment we stop considering ourselves perfect and ask the Lord for help, faith begins to work through prayer.
Therefore, Jesus taught his curious disciples:
Mark 9:29
“This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer.”
He emphasized the essential nature of prayer for faith to work.
He then continued:
Mark 11:24
“Whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.” Prayer is acknowledging God in all things.
C.S. In Lewis’s “The Screwtape Letters,” the “experienced devil” Screwtape offers direct advice to his nephew, Wormwood, “without a doubt.”
“If men fix their eyes on the ‘enemy’ (as the devil refers to God), they are doomed to defeat. But if we turn their gaze from God to themselves, we can easily turn them away from prayer.”
The devil’s aim is not to expose our shortcomings or our “lack of faith,” but to make us believe we are sufficient, that we are already sufficient. This is how he turns us away from prayer.
Mark 9:22-24
“The spirit has often thrown him into the fire and into the water to destroy him. But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.” Jesus said to him, “What do you mean, ‘If you can?’ All things are possible to him who believes.” Immediately the child’s father cried out, “I believe; help my unbelief!”
Who truly prays? Those who feel their own lack of faith pray. Those who have felt the deep sense of our own inadequacy pray. They seek God’s faith.
Oh, Father God,
We often stumble, fall, and fall.
Please have mercy on our weak and inadequate faith!
Fill us with God’s faith.
In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, I pray. Amen.
by Rev. Jae W. Chang
