Unbelievers Anonymous

Please see the links to our EXTRA Bible Study notes at the bottom of the page.

Opening Prayer

Lord, You are the source of all truth and the great revealer. Today, reveal more truth to me from Your Word.

Read MARK 9:14-29

^[14] When they came to the other disciples, they saw a large crowd around them and the teachers of the law arguing with them. ^[15] As soon as all the people saw Jesus, they were overwhelmed with wonder and ran to greet him. ^[16] “What are you arguing with them about?” he asked. ^[17] A man in the crowd answered, “Teacher, I brought you my son, who is possessed by a spirit that has robbed him of speech. ^[18] Whenever it seizes him, it throws him to the ground. He foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth and becomes rigid. I asked your disciples to drive out the spirit, but they could not.” ^[19] “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.” ^[20] 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. ^[21] Jesus asked the boy’s father, “How long has he been like this?” “From childhood,” he answered. ^[22] “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.” ^[23] “‘If you can’?” said Jesus. “Everything is possible for him who believes.” ^[24] Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!” ^[25] When Jesus saw that a crowd was running to the scene, he rebuked the evil spirit. “You deaf and mute spirit,” he said, “I command you, come out of him and never enter him again.” ^[26] The spirit shrieked, convulsed him violently and came out. The boy looked so much like a corpse that many said, “He’s dead.” ^[27] But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him to his feet, and he stood up. ^[28] After Jesus had gone indoors, his disciples asked him privately, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?” ^[29] He replied, “This kind can come out only by prayer.”

Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 International Bible Society. All rights reserved throughout the world. Used by permission of International Bible Society.

Meditate

“We grapple with God in prayer until we have cast our burden on him. Then the burden is handed over to God. We are released from its power” (Ajith Fernando).

Think Further

Jesus comes down from the mountain still glowing, it seems, with some echo of the transfiguration glory. Indeed, the people who first see him are “overwhelmed with wonder” (15). The disciples left waiting for him, however, have become embroiled in an argument with the Jewish scholars who have been following Jesus like reporters searching for controversy (16). Jesus walks right into a dispute. The argument concerns a boy who is demon-possessed, and whose deliverance the disciples simply could not achieve (17,18).

The boy’s father explains his condition to Jesus, who delivers the boy from his torments (25-27). In the course of this, Mark is able to record one of the most powerful prayers found anywhere in Scripture: “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!” (24). The simple faith of this father, desperate for his son to be well, is contrasted with the cynicism of the religious leaders (19) and the impotence of the disciples (28,29). In a discourse that centers on belief and unbelief, the father is honored not only for confessing his faith, but also for acknowledging the lack of it. Belief and unbelief are at war in him, just as they are in both the Jewish leaders and in the disciples, but he does something with this inner battle that neither of the other two groups do: he turns it to prayer.

The disciples’ error is not that they lacked faith; it is that they were drawn into controversy, instead of into prayer. Had they redirected their energies away from argument with the Jewish leaders and toward prayer, who knows what might have happened? Our doubts are not the enemies of the miracles of God if we turn them into fuel for prayer.

Apply

What issues or problems are troubling you now? Let them be fuel for prayer now and look for release from their power.

Closing prayer

Lord, when doubts assail, may I say, “Lord, I do believe.” When cynicism attacks, may I cry, “help me overcome my unbelief.”

Click here to sign up to receive the EXTRAs via email each quarter.

Encounter with God is published in the USA under license from Scripture Union England and Wales, Trinity House, Opal Court, Opal Drive, Fox Milne, Milton Keynes, MK15 0DF.

Yesterday’s reading

View all readings

Tomorrow’s reading