Put to Death Your Hopelessness

Put to Death Your Hopelessness 

Greetings everyone! So, if you are reading this than chances are you believe in Jesus Christ, you believe in the Resurrection, in Heaven, in the truth that God is with you always – but, if you’re like me, even with this faith you have moments when you look out the window-when you see the news and you cannot help but be shaken. 

Maybe it’s not current events that give you pause-fear-or some doubt, maybe it is a personal tragedy or something else that seems to be a drain on your faith.

With this in mind, I want us to look today at Mark 9:14-29. In this account there is a young boy who is demon possessed. The father of this boy says that the demon has made his son mute, foam at the mouth and go rigid. The disciples are unable to make a difference, so the man brings his son to Jesus. The father says to Jesus in verse 22, “But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.”Do you hear the note of desperation in the father’s voice? Do you see his hopelessness when even the disciples could help his son? Can you imagine how he must be feeling – helpless, afraid, worried, discouraged. Have you ever been there? Are you there today?

²³ And Jesus said to him, “‘If you can’! All things are possible for one who believes.” 

Jesus says, “What do you mean ‘if you can’. You must, at the very least, believe that He can. What is Jesus really saying, “You must never, ever feel hopeless when I am with you. You can’t believe in me and feel hopeless at the same time!” You see the disciples, Jesus’ people had let this father down so he had little hope that Jesus could help him. Sometimes we allow the failings of fellow Christians or a certain church to cause us to doubt the Master of the Church don’t we? 

And then we get to the father’s response which is why I wanted to share this text this morning. It is profound and I relate to it so much. Look at verse 24 with me, “Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, ‘I believe; help my unbelief!’” 

“I believe; help my unbelief!” I was speaking to a dear friend on the phone this week and she said something like this, “Jesus isn’t looking for the right prayers, He is looking for honest prayers.” 

So many of us deal with this – we know we believe but for some reason we are not drawing the comfort and power from our faith that we ought – maybe it is time to cry this prayer out to God, over and over again in the name of Jesus! Look what it did for this father…

And when Jesus saw that a crowd came running together, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, “You mute and deaf spirit, I command you, come out of him and never enter him again.” ²⁶ And after crying out and convulsing him terribly, it came out, and the boy was like a corpse, so that most of them said, “He is dead.” ²⁷ But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose.

“I believe, help me in my unbelief.” It may be honest but it doesn’t feel like a very strong faith does it? But do you remember how much faith it takes to move mountains? The faith, the size of a mustard seed.