Journal Entry ~ 05/24/19

23 And Jesus said to him, "'If you can'! All things are possible for one who believes."24 Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, "I believe; help my unbelief!" - Mark 9:23-24

All things are possible for one who believes. God is completely able. He can do the impossible. He knows the situation that we're in, and He knows the way out. The question is never "Can He?" He is able. He can. The God who created this entire world, from the mountains to the oceans to the stars to you, can do anything.

I think sometimes the problem is our minds cannot conceive of the solutions He can, and we live in a world that repeatedly tells us He can’t - all causing us to doubt His ability to do the impossible. Some of look at a situation as impossible because we cannot conceive of a solution, or because we cannot resolve it in our own power, so we limit God’s power to what we know of this world. 

But I don’t think this is the greatest struggle for many of us - our biggest doubt isn’t “Can He?”, it’s "Will He?"  Quite simply, we question His will. We can only know His Will by spending time in His Word, and spending time in humble submission in prayer. “Will He?” is a question of God’s goodness - does He love me enough, does He care for me enough, does He truly work all things for my good. 

We can see some of this struggle in the father’s prayer in this passage, and I think a study of it is helpful when evaluating our own heart. While I believe the prayer He utters is one we could all say from time to time, I think it's important to pause on the fact that he has a divided heart in this passage. On the one hand, he says "I believe," and in the very next breath, he says, "help my unbelief."  We are warned against having a divided heart throughout scripture, and we know from many other stories that God heals because of the person's faith. 

This passage should not be mistaken as one that gives us permission to have a divided heart, or one that allows us to live in a place where we're constantly asking Him to restore our unbelief. We should be living in a place where our faith is consistently growing, and we are believing. After spending time in Scripture and in prayer, we should have the confident expectation that He is able and willing to work all things for our good. 

God does heal this man's son despite his unbelief, God can still answer our prayers despite our unbelief, but this man lived for a long time in his trial with a divided heart. This should make is question the trials that we've been sitting in for awhile.  We all have things we've been praying over for a long time - how divided is your own heart in that issue?  And how is that keeping you in the trial?  

I have been praying for my sons' salvation for a long time, and there are times my unbelief can take me to a place where I question, "Will He?"  My heart becomes divided. I have to remove that doubt, and replace it with the truth: God's will is that EVERYone will come to know Him as Lord and Savior. Everyone includes my sons, so I can be confident that it is His will my sons will someday repent of their sins and lay their lives down before our King. I don't have to question it anymore. 

Press on ~ you are loved 💗