"When my Faith is Weak I need to Trust God"

Mark 9:[19-24]--"O unbelieving generation," Jesus replied, "how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy to me." So they brought him. When the spirit saw Jesus, it immediately threw the boy into a convulsion. He fell to the ground and rolled around, foaming at the mouth. So He asked his father, "How long has this been happening to him?" And he said, "From childhood. And often he has thrown him both into the fire and into the water to destroy him. But if You can do anything, have compassion on us and help us." Jesus said to him, "If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes." Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, "Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!"

A desperate father brings his son to the disciples to be healed. He loves his son, and he is a father who is hurting. He is a man with a son in a hopeless situation. The disciples tried to heal this boy possessed of a demon and had failed. Jesus then says in verse 19--"Bring the boy to me." Everyone present lacked faith that takes possession of demons. The father of the child, the
disciples of Jesus and the scribes lacked this faith. Jesus wholly trusted in the heavenly Father and the disciples didn't, that's why Jesus was the only one present that could heal the boy.
The father cried out for mercy begging Christ to heal his son. "But if You can do anything, take pity on us and help us!" [v. 22] Jesus' response was--"The question is not whether I am able but whether you believe."--Hendriksen

Mark 9:24--"Immediately the boy's father cried out and began saying, "I do believe; help me in my unbelief." What kind of cry was this? It was an "eager, fear-stricken cry" of faith.

Help what does this mean? "Help" is boetheo meaning "to run to the cry" of someone in danger. We hear the cry of a small child and we drop everything and run in the direction of the crying.

He asked for continuous help for his unbelief. "Be constantly helping my unbelief"--Wuest. It was an instant response to the demand of Jesus for full trust in Him. "I am believing. Be constantly helping my weak faith." Hendriksen translates, "Continue moment by moment and day by day to come to my aid, so that I may overcome my unbelief."


C.H. Spurgeon wrote, "As a SIN, UNBELIEF grieves the Spirit of God, but as a WEAKNESS, Unbelief, mourned and confessed, secures the Spirit’s help." As we read this story of UNBELIEF - both the father’s and the disciples’ - Can we not relate to their problem?? Haven’t we all had moments in our lives in which we have said, "Lord, I Believe, but help thou my Unbelief"???

Thank God for the compassion of Jesus. He doesn't just sweep the man aside saying you are faithless. I can not help you. Jesus first met the spiritual need of the father by bringing him to a focused faith.

In Matthew [17:20] "Because of the littleness of your faith; for truly I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you shall say to this mountain,'Move from here to there,' and it shall move; and nothing shall be impossible to you". The disciples had faith less than a grain of mustard seed. Christ says, "It only takes a grain of faith."



When my faith is weak or when my faith faulters I need to trust God. I need to ask God to strenghten my faith, then I need to trust Him and believe that He will give me the faith that I need to trust him.

When my faith Faulters it is costly and it will result in me making poor choices. An example of this can be seen in the lives the Israelites. They wandered forty years in the desert because the nation allowed unbelief to overtake their faith.
Their wavering trust made them miss out on the blessings of God. It proved to be costly to their loved ones as well. Which was proven when the Lord punished the Israelites. Numbers 14:33--"Your children will be shepherds here for forty years, suffering for your unfaithfulness, until the last of your bodies lies in the desert." When their faith faultered they began to complain and disobey God. When they did this God became very angry and punished them. Numbers 14:34--"For forty years-one year for each of the forty days you explored the land-you will suffer for your sins and know what it is like to have me against you." The Lord punished them for their partial obedience.

"Partial obedience is still disobedience, and it leads to mistakes"--Charles Stanley

Their wavering faith and trust in God affected their confidence and joy. They became less willing to take the risks God was asking them to take. Instead of standing firm they found their confidence eroding. Rather than acting in obedience to God they questioned what the Lord told them to do. Their joy diminished because their unwavering faith led them away from God's will.
Because their faith weakened they weren't experiencing the inner peace of God anymore. Their faith became unsteady.

No matter how unsteady our faith is God wants us to draw near so He can strengthen our trust in Him. Hebrews 10:[22-23]--"let us go right into the presence of God, with true hearts fully trusting him. For our evil consciences have been sprinkled with Christ's blood to make us clean, and our bodies have been washed with pure water.Without wavering, let us hold tightly to the hope we say we have, for God can be trusted to keep his promise."

When He draws near we need to give Him all the Glory.

"When there is little faith there is little praying. When there is an abundance of genuine, persevering faith, there is also fervent, unrelenting prayer. If Jesus came back today, would He be appalled by our lack of faith and prayerlessness, or would He be delighted with our faithful of trust in Him?"--William Hendriksen


Lord, I pray that no matter how I feel I will always make the right decisions to believe and obey you. God, please strengthen my faith through your Holy Spirit. Help my faith to remain steady. Lord help me to always recall your faithfulness to me. Thank You for being faithful. Help me to have a believing heart. Help me stay in your word and stay focused on you so that I will keep a believing heart. I want your perfect will for my life. Lord you can do it. I know you can. I have never been disappointed in you. Lord take away my doubts and fears and help me grow in your grace.

Serving our Lord Together,
Michelle Harrison

"Knowing God Intimately"

2 Peter 1:2--"Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord,"


I have been reading and rereading 2 Peter and it is amazing what I am learning. I believe this verse is the key verse in this passage. Paul also ends with this same message in 2 Peter 3:18--"but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and forever. Amen."

The key word in both of these passages is "knowledge." The word "knowledge" and "the knowledge of God", suggests a relationship between the person who's doing the knowing and the person who's being known.

I believe the knowledge spoken of here is not just a distant knowledge. It is a knowledge of being united with and having an intimate relationship with God our Father. It's an intimate knowledge. To know God and Christ is to one with them. This kind of relationship is a powerful influence in our life. It completely changes us. We cannot know God intimately without it making a difference in our lives.

John 17:3--"And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent."

Knowing God and growing in the knowledge of God is the key for us recieving the grace and peace we need in our lives. The greater the knowledge and the deeper our knowledge of God is the more grace and peace will be multiplied to us. The more we know God the more peace we will have in the midst of difficult circumstances. Many times we pray, "Lord, deliver me from and change my circumstances." When we pray this way we are putting all the responsibility on God. We pray God give me your grace and peace and then don't do what He has told us to do to recieve it. Our responsiblity is getting to know God. It's not about God changing our circumstances it's about getting to know God more intimately. A failure to know God is at the heart of every problem we have. Knowing God is also the key to every blessing that we recieve from Him. Knowing God is the key to grace, peace, life, godliness, and happiness. The more we know God the more we love Him.

I believe that Peter is implying that there is a lack of the knowledge of God. There are people who have alot of head knowledge about God but they do not know Him.

What does it mean to know God? I believe to know God is more than intellectual knowledge about God. It is having an intimate relationship with God through Christ. It is an intimate knowledge that we have first hand. It is a first hand knowledge of God. It's not just knowing about Him but knowing Him personally!!!

We sacrifice things to God to please Him and to serve Him. But our burnt offerings, the things we sacrifice to God are sacrificed in vain if we do not know Him. God says in Hosea 6:6, that He wants us to know Him and He wants to know us. God doesn't just want us to know the facts about Him He wants us to know Him intimately and personally. Knowing God is more important to Him than what we can sacrifice to Him.

Hosea 6:6--"For I desire mercy and not sacrifice, And the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings."

We must grow in the knowledge of the gospel of the grace of God and the truth of His word. We grow in this knowledge through fervent ceaseless prayer and through meditation on the scripture. The means by which grace and peace are multiplied to us is through the knowledge of God and Jesus Christ.

John 1:16--"And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace."

What is the knowledge of God?

The answer is found in the last part of 2 Peter verses 1:1, "Our Savior Jesus Christ" and in verse 2, it says, "Jesus our Lord."


I see two things about Jesus in these verses. 1. Jesus is my Savior. 2. Jesus is my Lord.

The true knowledge of God is that Christ is God, Savior, and Lord. He died on the cross for our sins and rose again the third day. We have recieved a precious gift from God, the gift of salvation, through Christ. Through Christ grace and peace have been given to us by God. When we have a true knowledge of Christ and desire to know Him intimately, it is an indication that true saving faith has taken place in our hearts.

We must grow in the knowledge of God. Our faith is built and strengthened on knowing the truth about God and of Jesus Christ. Our Spiritual growth is rooted in God's word being revealed to us. "God has therein revealed Himself unto us in the face of Jesus Christ. We find Christ; we find the revelation of God in the word of God."--George Mueller


We must grow to understand and believe the truth about God!!! I believe the more we come to know God the happier we become. I pray that we all may abound in God's grace. That God might multiply His peace and grace to us and that we may grow in it.

Serving Our Lord Together,
Michelle Harrison

"The Cross: Our Certificate of Debt Paid in Full"

Colossians 2:[13-14]--"And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross."

These verses proclaim the incredible sin-debt that we owe God that we can never repay. We are indebted to God because of our sin nature. We are dead in our trespasses because of our sin nature not; not merely because of the acts of sin that we commit. We are hopelessly, spiritually dead in our sins, therefore God has to make us alive through Christ that we may recieve eternal life. It is only God who initiates and exerts His power to make us alive. We do not have the ability to make ourselves spiritually alive. Without God dragging us to Himself and giving us the desire to come to Christ we would not have come to Him. Our sin nature is for self. It is unnatural for us to come to Christ and want anything besides what's in our own best interest. Therefore, only through God's power, justice, and unfailing love will we ever come to Him.

Circumcision in the Old Testament was an outward sign of the cleansing of sin that came from believing in God. With this in mind I believe that "The uncircumcision of your flesh" in this verse--is an inward sign refering to the cleasing of our hearts. Our hearts need to be cleansed because we have a corrupt nature. Once we come to Christ our hearts are cleansed and sanctified through Him. Henry's commentary says, "An unsanctified heart is called an uncircumcised heart." I believe Paul is saying here that before we come to Christ we are dead in our trespasses because we have unsanctified hearts that have not been regenerated. We have to be given a new nature through believing in Christ's death on the cross and resurrection; only then do we become alive in Him.

Romans 6:[5-6]--"For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin."

Through Christ's death he paid the debt for our sins. No one except Christ could pay this debt because only He lived a sinless life. All of us have sinned and cannot keep God's laws therefore we needed Christ to pay the debt for us.Through Christs sacrifice and payment for sins we have been completely forgiven for the debt that we owed God. Our debt has been paid in full.

Romans 3:23--"for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,"

I have done a little research on the customs and commerce of Pauls day. It is interesting to me what Paul says in verse 14, "having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross." Paul's words here are powerful. He is explaining how debts were handeled in those days. When a person could not repay their debt the lender would write up an itemized certificate of debt. The debtor was required to sign this certificate. It was then posted on the doorposts of the debtors house where everyone could read it. When they paid their debt in full the lender would do one of two things. He would wipe away--by marking through--the certificate or drive a nail through it to cancel out the certificate of debt.

This is what Christ did for us on the cross. God saw our certificate of debt--the sin in our lives--and cancelled out our debt by driving a nail through it and wiping out our debt. Our debt was nailed to the cross. God forgives us and declares us not guilty when we put our faith in Christ. We all owe God a debt that we will never be able to repay for violating His laws, therefore we are sentenced to death. All of our sins were put to Christ's account and nailed to His cross paying the penalty for our sins in our place, satisfying God's justice and wrath. Payment in full had to be made through Christ. When we trust in Christ we are no longer sentenced to death but guaranteed eternal life that we may live forever in God's presence. We must believe that Christ died for our sins but it doesn't end with His death, we must also believe and accept His resurrection. Christ paid our debt but this means nothing apart from His resurrection. His sacrifice means nothing if He didn't have the power to over come the grave. Jesus' resurrection proved that He had the power to make our salvation possible; to remove our sin and the penalty for it. May we always live for the Glory of our risen Lord. Praise God everytime He looks at me He doesn't see my sin but the precious, prefect blood of Christ covering me.

Lord, Thank you for your mercy, power, justice, and for loving me enough to draw me to Yourself. Without you I am nothing. Thank You for the sacrifice of Christ that I may come into your very presence. Thank You for cancelling out my sin-debt by driving the nails through Christ. Thank You for the liberty, hope, and freedom I have in Christ. Christ, thank you for making me to be a partaker of your life, that I may be one with You. Please live your life through me. Thank you for this fresh glimpse of Your glory.

Serving Our Lord Together,

Michelle Harrison