“And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.” (Mark 9:24)
Praying for wisdom, for spiritual discernment, for a heart that can discern between the good and the evil, even praying diligently for the Lord our God to reveal to us truth in spiritual matters, His Word and will for our lives, even unto the necessary truths concerning our adversary and his ways of deceit upon mankind are blessings beyond compare.
But there is something missing, something more.
“So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” (Romans 10:17)
Yes, but not for all.
There are theologians who study the Scriptures along with numerous other religious ideologies who never come to the truths of the words of the Most High, there are those who have the title of “pastor,” those who have sat is the pews for decades who have heard, even preached, that will not see the Kingdom of the Lord, because of a lack of faith.
Faith means trust, trust that is never questioned, that always believes, that never doubts, that is never hindered by circumstances, is never swayed by the possible consequences to ourselves. But for some reason, every single one of us that has been saved by grace through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ cry out, and more than once, “Help thou mine unbelief!”
There is something we cannot quite get a complete firm grip on, a fulness of faith without even a hint of doubt, something in us that holds that place of unbelief as firmly as the faith that we have been blessed with.
“For I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.” (Romans 7:18)
Perhaps it is there, perhaps in a way that none of us can fully comprehend, this duality of the mind of the flesh and the mind that serves Christ is the reason this struggle of firm belief and occasional doubts plague us.
We who have been born-again are being sanctified, a chipping away of the old sinful nature and a building of the new man in Christ, an intensive labor that cannot be done in a day. Faith comes by hearing, it is revealed not only by our actions, but by the transforming of our minds, and the mind that serves Christ cannot overpower immediately the mind that serves the law of sin, doubts will arise, and so we plead with the Holy Spirit, “Help thou mine unbelief.”
“Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?” (Gen. 3:1)
Satan’s pleasure is to cast doubts before those that the Almighty has rescued from his grip, and those doubts can be more fierce, more troubling to those who have been crucified with Christ than any temptation, for doubts entertained reveal a lack of faith that we hate when they are revealed to us.
It is not that we lose the knowledge of the assurance of our salvation, it is not backsliding, it is not removing our hand from the plow, it is a momentary doubt brought on by circumstances, and we hate it when it arrives.
I believe that one of the greatest blessings we will receive when we are glorified will not only be that of no more pain, sorrow or tears, but of the removal of all doubts.
“Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.” (John 20:29)
Sanctification is a lifelong battle, the battle of the mind and the flesh, the battle of faith and doubts, and we do not need Satan’s influence upon us, nor the temptations of this world to realize that those doubts, those moments of a lack of faith are within us.
Help thou mine unbelief.
Every undesired circumstance will offer you the opportunity to speak these words.