Do you often feel like you believe and doubt at the same time?
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Mark 9 Summary
v2-14 - Jesus leaves no doubt as to His divinity as He's transfigured (literally: metamorphed), and once again, God's booming voice signals His approval of the Son of Man.
v15-29 - Jesus' ultimate mountain top experience comes crashing down as He walks into a massive argument between the crowd and the establishment.
v30-49 - Jesus once again slips away from the crowd and engages in one of His favorite activities: teaching His twelve disciples.
Dig Deeper
Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, “I believe; help my unbelief!” - v24
The father's statement is both beautiful, yet it also seems contradictory. Here's what John Calvin wrote about it:
He declares that he believes and yet acknowledges himself to have unbelief. These two statements may appear to contradict each other but there is none of us that does not experience both of them in himself.
As our faith is never perfect, it follows that we are partly unbelievers; but God forgives us, and exercises such patience towards us, as to reckon us believers on account of a small portion of faith.
It is our duty, in the meantime, carefully to shake off the remains of infidelity which adhere to us, to strive against them, and to pray to God to correct them, and, as often as we are engaged in this conflict, to fly to Him for aid.
In other words, God looks upon you as a believer, even though your faith may be small. Yet you have a duty to first recognize and then continually strive to 'shake off' your persistent unbelief. The best way for you to do this is to 'fly to Him for aid,' that is, by exercising the Spiritual Disciplines (Bible intake, prayer, times of silent reflection, etc) as consistently and often as possible.
AAA Prayer:
ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Our Father, who is pleased with His Son, and with all those who listen to Him (v7)
ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Ask the Holy Spirit to help you overcome the areas on unbelief in your life (v24)
ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED:
