Mark 9:20-27
"Then they brought him to Him. And when he saw Him, immediately the spirit convulsed him, and he fell on the ground and wallowed, foaming at the mouth. 21 So He asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?” And he said, “From childhood. 22 And often he has thrown him both into the fire and into the water to destroy him. But if You can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.” 23 Jesus said to him, “If you can believe,[a] all things are possible to him who believes.” 24 Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!” 25 When Jesus saw that the people came running together, He rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, “Deaf and dumb spirit, I command you, come out of him and enter him no more!” 26 Then the spirit cried out, convulsed him greatly, and came out of him. And he became as one dead, so that many said, “He is dead.” 27 But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose"
This was our offering message for tonight. As Eugene was reading through this account in the bible about how Jesus healed a boy, I was particularly captured by the two sentences that Jesus asked the father of this boy (as you can see in red above). What stuck me was that instead of asking what is the cause of the boy's condition, Jesus's first question/sentence was "how long have this been happening?" and the second time Jesus spoke was " If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes." To sum up this two sentences, Jesus is asking the boy's father, "how long have you been unbelieving?" WOW!!! What a powerful question that reveals the condition of our heart!!
At certain point of time in life there will be doubts in our heart towards the promises of God. The question that Jesus was asking in this incident was not why do you doubt. Jesus wasn't even asking what or who is the cause of this boy's suffering. In this context, Jesus was asking something even deeper; a unbelief/doubt that has not been dealt with for a considerable period of time, a unbelief that has been nursing inside his heart for a long time. To Jesus, it's not about finding the cause or who is at fault that matters. To Jesus, every answer/solution to our situation, our career, our finances, our relationship, lies in whether do we believe in the word of God. Finally the father of this boy decided to take responsibility over his heart condition. He decided to stop running, to stop procrastinating, to stop blaming life itself, to stop blaming others, but to face and deal with the doubts that he had been hiding inside the core of his heart since the boy was young. This was when finally he said enough is enough and came broken before Jesus (v24 Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears...) and confess to Jesus the condition of his heart(v24b...help my unbelief!) and repent (v24b Lord, I believe....). This was when the breakthrough which all along was his finally come into reality.
"Then they brought him to Him. And when he saw Him, immediately the spirit convulsed him, and he fell on the ground and wallowed, foaming at the mouth. 21 So He asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?” And he said, “From childhood. 22 And often he has thrown him both into the fire and into the water to destroy him. But if You can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.” 23 Jesus said to him, “If you can believe,[a] all things are possible to him who believes.” 24 Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!” 25 When Jesus saw that the people came running together, He rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, “Deaf and dumb spirit, I command you, come out of him and enter him no more!” 26 Then the spirit cried out, convulsed him greatly, and came out of him. And he became as one dead, so that many said, “He is dead.” 27 But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose"
This was our offering message for tonight. As Eugene was reading through this account in the bible about how Jesus healed a boy, I was particularly captured by the two sentences that Jesus asked the father of this boy (as you can see in red above). What stuck me was that instead of asking what is the cause of the boy's condition, Jesus's first question/sentence was "how long have this been happening?" and the second time Jesus spoke was " If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes." To sum up this two sentences, Jesus is asking the boy's father, "how long have you been unbelieving?" WOW!!! What a powerful question that reveals the condition of our heart!!
At certain point of time in life there will be doubts in our heart towards the promises of God. The question that Jesus was asking in this incident was not why do you doubt. Jesus wasn't even asking what or who is the cause of this boy's suffering. In this context, Jesus was asking something even deeper; a unbelief/doubt that has not been dealt with for a considerable period of time, a unbelief that has been nursing inside his heart for a long time. To Jesus, it's not about finding the cause or who is at fault that matters. To Jesus, every answer/solution to our situation, our career, our finances, our relationship, lies in whether do we believe in the word of God. Finally the father of this boy decided to take responsibility over his heart condition. He decided to stop running, to stop procrastinating, to stop blaming life itself, to stop blaming others, but to face and deal with the doubts that he had been hiding inside the core of his heart since the boy was young. This was when finally he said enough is enough and came broken before Jesus (v24 Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears...) and confess to Jesus the condition of his heart(v24b...help my unbelief!) and repent (v24b Lord, I believe....). This was when the breakthrough which all along was his finally come into reality.
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