17 A man in the crowd answered, “Teacher, I brought you my son, who is possessed by a spirit that has robbed him of speech. 18 Whenever it seizes him, it throws him to the ground. He foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth and becomes rigid. I asked your disciples to drive out the spirit, but they could not.”
19 “You unbelieving generation,” Jesus replied, “how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy to me.”
20 So they brought him. When the spirit saw Jesus, it immediately threw the boy into a convulsion. He fell to the ground and rolled around, foaming at the mouth.
21 Jesus asked the boy’s father, “How long has he been like this?”
“From childhood,” he answered. 22 “It has often thrown him into fire or water to kill him. But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us.”
23 “‘If you can’?” said Jesus. “Everything is possible for one who believes.”
24 Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!”
25 When Jesus saw that a crowd was running to the scene, he rebuked the impure spirit. “You deaf and mute spirit,” he said, “I command you, come out of him and never enter him again.”
26 The spirit shrieked, convulsed him violently and came out. The boy looked so much like a corpse that many said, “He’s dead.” 27 But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him to his feet, and he stood up.
28 After Jesus had gone indoors, his disciples asked him privately, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?”
29 He replied, “This kind can come out only by prayer.[a]”
What does the boy's father mean? Can we believe and yet have unbelief? If you experience occasional or frequent unbelief, as most of us do, how do you cope with it? What turns you back, over and over again?
Have a wonderful Sunday!
z
25 comments:
Make it a good day and blessed one as well.
Yes. We can have both belief and unbelief at once. I have had a lot of doubts. Still do sometimes.
But that doesn't make me throw it all in and quit praying, I essentially pray that prayer, for God to help me in my unbelief.
"Turn the other cheek" and "Love thine enemies" are not easy teachings.
Thanks, Bunkerville!
SF...I had to laugh because it's the same with me, I find myself praying to GOD for help in my unbelief of GOD :-) That usually snaps me out of it!
And no, those teachings aren't easy...pride is a tough thing to overcome, pray ourselves out of, etc.
Yes we all have times of unbelief or doubt. It is because we too often depend on what we can see physically (in the natural) and not what we can see in the spiritual realm. True faith is described in Hebrews 11:1
Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.
We depend to often on what we can see and not what we know(have conficence)in our heart.
Jesus disciples had times of lapses in faith. After seeing Jesus perform miracles day after day when they were on the boat and the storm arose they were fearful and their faith was weak. They had forgotten that Jesus had said, LETS GO TO THE OTHER SIDE.
In time of the storm the disciples forgot who was on board the boat with them and feared they would be capsized and drowned.
We , like the disciple too often forgot that Jesus has not taken us to the middle of the sea to let us sink. He has promised that He is always with us and that we will reach the other side(the place to where He is leading us) safely.
When the doubt arises, I am reminded that Jesus said, Let's go to the other side!
Here is the link to an excellent article on Faith: http://1williamsplace.com/HaveFaith1/HaveFaith1.html
I've turned several problems and losses over to God over the years. I don't have periods of unbelief anymore, because He has shown me His love. He comforted and healed me in times of crisis and grief. I believe He has a plan for my life and will be there whenever I need Him. God is great and I am grateful to Him.
Happy Sunday, Z & all geeeeezers!
He foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth and becomes rigid.
Hard to imagine Ducky's that old.
OH MY GOSH, Sam :-)
SO SO FUNNY!
Ticker, I bookmarked that article, I think it's very good.
I do wonder how people who are Christian can question the BIble, yet they believe in God. I wonder because the only WORD from Him is the Bible. Nothing else.
I guess that's why I feel it's so important to talk about how GOd's changed US, ours or others' experiences with God, when people want to know about Christianity...and the article covers that, too.
thanks so much
by the way, SAM....I don't think he's that old, but he can be THAT SCARY :-)
As usual, I come to the party late, but that gives me chance to enjoy all the previous comments. I, too, have times where my faith is not as strong, and I, too, pray for help in these matters.
It is hard to have faith at all, but I have discovered that prayer and faith work in helping me get through difficult times. One problem is having faith in the relatively good times.
Thanks for your Sunday faith blog, Z. I always get something out of it.
Hi, Bob...
i am so glad you added how difficult it can be to keep the faith during good times! Absolutely right.
Also, I think a lot of FAITH is KNOWING more and FEELING less...or at least relying less on FEELINGS...
I really appreciate what you said about my Sunday Faith Blog. It's very gratifying to get conversation going on these subjects. Thanks so much. I'm glad you are getting something from them........that's a blessing to me.
"
Hard to imagine Ducky's that old...."
A tragedy for all humanity too.
God Bless you Ms. Z...and all the great souls who come here with their vitality and intelligence.
With 2-3 exceptions of course. But...I have to pray for their lost souls too.
Just got home.
Read this before I left and in Sunday School and the sermon, the topic came up there.
I've been composing a post in my head all day along these lines and I'll probably start on it now.
I know what it's like to hold an epileptic in your arms and wonder why God isn't answering your prayers right then and there.
There's a sense that Jesus is saying that if you had enough faith you'd pray and this stuff would stop and then He stops it.
If everyone could have enough faith to do everything, then why would we have various gifts given to the church including some who get the gift of healing?
I think Jesus was pointing out that:
A: You need faith, He expects it.
B: You'll never have as much faith as He does. Therefore you are lacking and need His help.
It's similar to the Law. We can't keep it. Jesus did. It's demanded of us, therefore we need His help.
So we have faith. We need more.
Ed, we do need more.
And I can only imagine how it feels to hold an epileptic and wonder where God is.
I believe the human side of Jesus wondered the same thing on the cross. If God didn't relieve His suffering, how can we dare expect..?
Still, we've all seen or experienced healing miracles...
I have a friend with MS who I love. SHe's beautiful, sweet, and a VERY strong believer in spite of amazing challenges and disappointments in her life.
Come to think of it, Faith is like love is sometimes, I think: You might be angry or bored at/with your spouse, for example, and so it helps to ACT like you're in love and the love comes back because the person you love reacts to your lovingness and WE react to our lovingness toward that person!
make sense? It just hit me and I haven't articulated this before, but I think I'm right...?
Imp, thank you.
I just so wanted one day where we were at each others' throats or whining about politics, etc.
I think these people at geeeZ are spectacular...their kindness, faith and intelligence humble me; I couldn't be prouder of my commenters...including YOU, of course!
http://www.wric.com/story/17387596/live-baby-found-in-argentina-morgue
Talk about somewhat of a miracle...
WE MUST NEVER GIVE UP!!
Z: "and so it helps to ACT like you're in love and the love comes back because the person you love reacts to your lovingness"
Right on.
Love is an act. Not acting but action. An exertion of the will.
In electronics, we have capacitors that act like short term batteries to bridge over voltage drops.
Your description of love is like that.
Love says: "Father forgive them, they know not what they do."
I wonder if you've seen my reply to your Good Friday comment?
I always enjoy your Sunday posts, Z ...
Ed, I just commented there..thanks!
Mustang!! Great to see you commenting, and thanks, I'm glad you do.
Ed, Faith too is an action. It required movement or action before it will work. I use the example of your car. You can have faith all day that your car will take you to the store and you can continue to have faith in it all day but until you turn the key in the ignition and press on the accelerator once putting it into gear you will go nowhere and your faith is nothing but words.
Z glad you liked the article and bookmarked it. It contains so much truth and once folks read it and understand the truths faith becomes real.
My wonderful wife does a great job in articulating what is means to Have Faith in God.
Sometimes, just when things seem dark and lonely, something wonderful can affect our lives which we didn't expect.
I consider it a miracle, a gift to see us through. To me, this is not a coincidence. It's something which, if we're open to it, is a gift from God, and in my case also being watched over.
Faith is everything, if we just believe and accept the good things as signs that we are not alone. We are not.
Luke: 12; 10, 11, 12
10 - And whosoever shall speak a word against the Son Of Man, it shall be forgiven him; but unto him that blasphemeth against the Holy Ghost it shall not be forgiven.
11 - And when they bring you unto the synagogues, and unto magistrates, and Powers, take ye no thought how or what thing ye shall answer, or what ye shall say:
12 - For the Holy Ghost shall teach you in the same hour what ye ought to say.
4 - And I say unto you my friends, Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do.
5 - But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear: Fear him, which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear him.
30 - And, behold there are last which shall be first, and there are first which shall be last.
Z glad you liked the article and bookmarked it. It contains so much truth and once folks read it and understand the truths faith becomes real. My wonderful wife does a great job in articulating what is means to Have Faith in God.
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