Jesus asked the boy’s father, “How long has he been like this?” “From childhood,” he answered. “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.”
“ ‘If you can’?” said Jesus. “Everything is possible for one who believes.” Immediately, the boy’s father exclaimed, “I do believe;
This passage is taken from the story of the son that Jesus healed of an “impure” spirit and is a portion of the conversation between Jesus and the boy’s father. If this conversation were to be translated into more current language, I can hear Jesus saying, “REALLY? Do you not realize who I am?”
Let’s start there. How many times are we not exactly like this father in our prayers. “If you can, please ….” It’s as if we too have forgotten exactly who He is and all that He has already done. Our perception becomes distorted by the immediacy and magnitude of our emotional response to our current circumstances. Our circumstances seem more than we can manage, and thus, we feel powerless and overwhelmed.
My friends, I remind you what we discussed previously. Faith in and of itself is a GIFT from GOD. When we find our faith to be lacking, we MUST do as the father in this story. We must ask Him to help our unbelief.
Secondly, we must also remember what I call the “Paradox of Surrender.” What is that? When I appĺy “The Paradox of Surrender” I am acknowledging my own weakness and humbly surrendering to His all sufficient grace. For, as Paul wrote, “my power is made perfect in weakness.” His power is made perfect within us when we surrender to our weakness. When we lean into our weakness and dependence on Him, we come to realize how strong we are in Him.
We realize the Truth, and we see our circumstances and ourselves as He does when we are in Him and He is in us. it is as John said, “greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world.”
My friends, acknowledging we are broken helpless, and needy is not a sign of weakness or mean we are not good Christians. It is just the opposite; it is a declaration of our true strength because we are surrendering to HIS strength that now resides in us by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Will you surrender and ask Him “Help my unbelief”?
But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. 2 Corinthians 12:9-10
You are from God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world. 1 John 4:4