Episode 3 Lord I Believe Help My Unbelief

Unknown Speaker (0:01): Wake up. It's time to kick start your day. You are listening to Scripture Link's daily dose of inspiration. Let's go.

Unknown Speaker (0:14): Good morning. Welcome to this brand new day. This description links daily dose of inspiration for Wednesday, 05/13/2026, and today is National Apple Pie Day. Now I like a good apple pie, but let me tell you. Let me ask you.

Unknown Speaker (0:35): What kind of crust, I guess, do you like on the top of your pie? Do you like just a full crust, or do you like that lattice thing on there or maybe a crumb crumb crust on top? And do you like it warm or cold? I can eat it either way. But, apple pie day, go get yourself a big piece of apple pie and celebrate the apple pie day.

Speaker 1 (0:58): It also is third shift workers' day. Now I've worked third shift before, and that was a tough shift to work right there. So if that's your thing, if you're a third shift worker, today's the day we honor you for for the commitments you make when everybody else is sound asleep. Our scripture reading today, if you're reading through the New Testament with us, is John chapter twelve and thirteen. The gospel of John chapter twelve and thirteen.

Speaker 1 (1:29): And today we're gonna continue in our series. This is part three in our series entitled Lord. And it's five different different statements we see people make that start with the phrase lord. And we've looked at two of them already. We looked at, let's see, yesterday, we looked at Lord, teach us to pray, where the disciples had asked Jesus to teach them how to pray so they knew how to pray effectively, and we discovered some elements to an effective prayer.

Speaker 1 (2:05): So I encourage you to go back and listen to that episode. On Monday, we kicked off this series with, Lord, increase our faith. And Jesus said it was teaching about forgiveness, And when the disciples heard about forgiveness and how Jesus expected us to forgive, their reaction was, Lord, increase our faith. In other words, our faith isn't strong enough to forgive the way you want us to forgive, Lord, so we need more faith. And sometimes we need more faith to to live the way Jesus expects us to live.

Speaker 1 (2:41): Those are two great episodes. Go back, check them out, Monday and Tuesday's episode. Today, we're gonna go to the next one. It's gonna be a Mark chapter number nine. Mark chapter number nine.

Unknown Speaker (2:56): And this year, we see a a desperate cry from a father here. And we're gonna talk today on the subject of unbelief. Our focus verse here is gonna be Mark nine twenty four, And straightway the father of the child cried out and said with tears, Lord, I believe. Help thou mine unbelief. Have we all been there?

Speaker 1 (3:30): I've taught many times on the dangers of of wavering and being double minded. And in fact, James also in James chapter one talks about it. And at first glance, when you look at this story in Mark chapter nine, the father appears to be doing just that, to be wavering. But let's dig a little bit deeper and see what actually is going on. Now, this is a story I've talked through many times, so I'm gonna kinda give you the highlights and then jump into to some things that'll make things practical for us.

Speaker 1 (4:13): We see here in verses seventeen and eighteen reveals to us here. Let me read it for you. Actually, let me read 17 down through verse 24. And one of the multitude answered and said, master, I have brought unto thee my son, which hath a dumb spirit, And wheresoever he taketh him, he teareth him, and he foameth and gnasheth with his teeth and pineth away. And I spake to thy disciples that they should cast him out, and they could not.

Speaker 1 (4:48): He answered him and sayeth, O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I suffer you? Bring him unto me. And they brought him unto him, and when he saw him, straightway the spirit tear him. And he fell to the ground and wallowed, foaming.

Speaker 1 (5:08): And he asked his father, how long is it ago since this came unto him? And he said, of a child, and oftentimes that he cast him into the fire and into the waters to destroy him. But if thou canst do anything, have compassion on us and help us. And Jesus said unto him, if thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth. And straightway the father and a child cried out and said with tears, Lord, I believe.

Speaker 1 (5:42): Help thou, mine unbelief. Verse seventeen and eighteen reveals that this father had brought his son that was possessed with a dumb spirit. Undoubtedly, he had heard about the healings that Jesus had done, the miracles that Jesus had done, and he thought, hey, this this could be the ticket to get my son healed. I don't know how old the son was. Apparently, maybe a teen or young adult, you know, maybe an older child.

Speaker 1 (6:15): But this father brought him to Jesus to get the healing that he wanted, that he desperately wanted for his son. What father wouldn't want a healing for their son? And he came to where he heard that Jesus was at, but Jesus wasn't there, only his disciples. And he thought, hey. His disciples, they they're right there with Jesus.

Speaker 1 (6:39): Surely they can do something for me. And they couldn't do it. They couldn't cast him out. And his his his father's faith, this father's belief probably took a big hit right there when his his disciples when the disciples of Jesus could do nothing to help him. I mean, after all, they're right there with Jesus.

Speaker 1 (7:02): They should have been able to help him. And in this world today, how many times do we as Christians let down the world when we're not doing the things that Jesus would have called us to do or the things that we should be doing in Jesus? If we jump down to verse 22, as the father is discussing with Jesus about his his demon possessed son, the end of verse 22, he says to to Jesus, but if thou canst do anything, have compassion on us and help us. He described what this what this this demon does to this boy. And and in such desperation, see here, father says to the one that he thought could heal heal him, he says, if you can do anything.

Speaker 1 (7:56): His faith took a hit when his disciples couldn't do anything. So maybe he was thinking, well, you know what? Maybe this spirit is a little too powerful and maybe Jesus can't do anything about it either. And he says, if you can do anything, have compassion. It's the cry of desperation.

Unknown Speaker (8:15): He had nowhere else to turn. Chances are I mean, this is speculation here, but chances are he probably took the boy to the best doctors that he could get. Maybe even to some soothsayers, I guess, is how you say that. And and everywhere he turned, he couldn't get healing. And he came to Jesus, and his disciples couldn't heal him.

Speaker 1 (8:42): His disciples could do no better than the world did. And now there he is standing before Jesus, and his faith is saying, trust him, trust him, trust him. And his mind is saying, everybody else failed me. Can you do anything, Jesus? Have you ever been that desperate for something that you cried out something like that for Jesus?

Speaker 1 (9:09): Jesus, can you do anything? Then Jesus gives him a promise here in verse 23. He said, If thou can believe, all things are possible to him that believeth. He saw the desperation in the man, and Jesus said, if you can believe, if you can just believe, all things are possible, and that all things included the healing of this man's son. And that's when the father cries out and says, Lord, I believe, but help thou, my unbelief.

Speaker 1 (9:52): He said, I believe, Lord. I believe you can do it, but I've been let down by your disciples. I've been let down by the doctors. I've been let down by the world, but, Lord, I believe in you. His unbelief, because of of the disciples being helpless, because of the world being helpless to help him, his unbelief kept him from trusting God.

Unknown Speaker (10:21): And if we're not careful, our unbelief is gonna keep us from fully trusting God. When this man said, Lord, I believe, I don't know if he was believing with a full heart of belief or if there was just that little tiny shred there saying trust in him. Trust in him. The father desperately wanted to believe, but he's been let down so many times. How many times have we been in that spot?

Speaker 1 (10:58): How many times has has a prayer not been answered the way we wanted? How many times has have we prayed for something only for something entirely different to happen? See, we have to be careful in our day and age because unbelief is something that is is very real, and unbelief is something that's gonna damage our faith and our relationship with him and that with god. And and that's what this man was struggling with was a a a attitude of unbelief because everywhere he turned left him down. If we read on in this story, and we're not gonna jump into that, but we see here that Jesus indeed healed his son and drove that demon out.

Speaker 1 (11:50): His faith was probably restored. It doesn't say how they went away rejoicing or anything, but but I'm sure that they did. Unbelief is a dangerous thing for us, and unbelief is is always standing right there, ready to to jump in there and cause us some some damage. Unbelief keeps us from seeing the blessings of God. Unbelief keeps us from seeing the blessings of God.

Speaker 1 (12:23): In Numbers chapter 11 verses four through six, I've been talking a lot about this this year, and this is something I generally reserve for Thanksgiving time. But we see here as Israel was wandering through the wilderness that God was providing that manna for them to to eat. He was providing their food. And we read here in verses four through six that the people the Israelites was getting tired of this manna and they were they started remembering and saying, you know, we had all this food to eat there in Egypt. If only we could go back and get this stuff, we had it free of charge, but all we got is this manna.

Speaker 1 (13:04): Because they were because of their unbelief in God, they were missing his blessings that God was indeed meeting their needs. And in in in Acts chapter 24, we see where Paul was was being tried by a governor named Felix. And in Acts chapter 24 and verse number 25 let me turn there real quick because I wanna make sure I get this right. Acts chapter 24 in verse 25, after Paul basically laid down the gospel and presented the gospel to this ruler. Verse 25 said, and as he reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come, Felix trembled and answered, go thy way for this time.

Unknown Speaker (13:53): And when I have a convenient season, I will call for thee. In other words, he told Paul to go on his way and, you know, when I feel like hearing this again or when it's more convenient for me to hear this again, also meaning when I'm on my deathbed most likely, then I'm gonna hear you. Felix's unbelief kept him from salvation. Unbelief keeps us from trusting God. Unbelief keeps us from seeing God's blessings.

Speaker 1 (14:24): Unbelief keeps us from salvation, from turning to God. Unbelief also keeps us causes us to doubt God. Remember back in Genesis chapter three, when the serpent came and started tempting Adam and Eve, he didn't tempt them with with big spiritual stuff. He tempted him with the with them with the phrase, did God really say? He's tempting them to doubt God.

Speaker 1 (14:59): Did God really say you shouldn't do this? Did God really say you shouldn't do that? And he's still whispering in our ear today, did God really say that? And if you don't spend time in God's word and you don't spend time reading the word and studying the word and knowing the word, then when the devil comes up and says, did God really say that? You're gonna be like, I don't know.

Speaker 1 (15:23): And you can trust that the devil's not gonna tell you the truth. How can we keep unbelief at bay? How can we keep unbelief away in our life? We need to keep focused on Jesus. We need to keep focused on him.

Speaker 1 (15:41): We need to keep focused on his word. We need to spend time in his word. Remember at his his temptation there in the beginning of his ministry when Jesus spent those forty days in the desert and the devil came and he he tempted Jesus in three different spots. How did Jesus respond to those temptations? He responded to them by the word of God.

Speaker 1 (16:07): It is written. It is written. It is written. That's how he responded to the devil, and that's how we need to fight the devil when we're getting tempted, when we're tempted to to be be in a time of unbelief, we need to remember the word and say, hey. It is written.

Speaker 1 (16:26): That's how we keep it at bay. Remember Peter when he walked on water. There in the gospels, as long as he kept focused on Jesus, he walked. But as soon as he took his eyes off of Jesus and felt the wind, felt the rain, saw the waves, that's when the unbelief came in there and he sunk. Let me leave you today with this illustration.

Speaker 1 (16:53): And I hope that this'll make you think and hope this'll help you drive home that unbelief needs to be kept away from our life. There was a story of this town that was going through a terrible time of drought, so much so that this town that was mostly farmers they were on the brink of losing their crops, losing their money. And so the church, the pastor decided one day, he said, You know what? Tonight, we're gonna come and we're gonna pray until we pray rain down. That night, everybody in the town showed up and they were all praying.

Speaker 1 (17:41): But you know what? Only one person brought an umbrella. A whole town praying, but only one person came expecting that God was gonna answer their prayer. You see, when we get to a point where we don't expect God to do anything, that's when the unbelief is there. Would you have brought an umbrella to that prayer meeting?

Unknown Speaker (18:08): We gotta watch out, friends, because unbelief is just a step away. And if you let unbelief get in there, it's gonna cost cost you the best of God. Don't let unbelief get in your life. Don't let unbelief take control. Keep it at bay.

Speaker 1 (18:34): Keep focused on Jesus, and keep walking in the paths that he has for you. Think about that as you go through this day and remember, get into God's word and allow God's word to get into you. Then share that word with someone today. Have a blessed day.

Unknown Speaker (18:50): Hey, Frank. What are you doing this weekend? Oh, trying to finish some projects around the house. Why? I'm moving this weekend.

Unknown Speaker (18:56): I was hoping you could help. Oh, I could do that. Great. 7AM Saturday. Can you bring your truck?

Unknown Speaker (19:00): I know it's new and all, but I I really need a truck. No problem. Thanks. You're a real friend. It's up three floors.

Unknown Speaker (19:08): Oh, okay. No elevator. Hey. We can handle it. No problem.

Unknown Speaker (19:12): Mind if I drop my dog off at your place tonight? He's in the way of packing. Oh, sure. I love dogs. Is a week too long?

Unknown Speaker (19:17): Oh, no. That's fine. Thanks. You're such a great friend. If there's anything I can do for you, don't hesitate to ask.

Unknown Speaker (19:24): Hey. Since you're not gonna have a yard anymore, you're probably not gonna need that garden hose, are you? Mine leaks. I was gonna sell it at my garage sale. Stop by.

Unknown Speaker (19:33): I'll give it to you at half price. That's okay.

Speaker 1 (19:36): God has given us so much. He forgave our sins, made us holy and blameless in his sight. Are you grateful for this? Does your life show it? Another message from Lifeline Productions located on the web at lifelinepro.com.