"...Help Me Overcome My Unbelief!"

We went to church with some friends last night. For whatever reason, our church didn't have evening services (I'm truly not sure why...) but our friend's church is having camp meeting this week. If you don't know what camp meeting is, it's a revival.

The praise and worship was great and the presence of God was something I welcomed.

Then came time for the man of God to get up and share from the Word of God. Now, this was what I had been waiting for...

Have you ever had one of those spiritually dry times in your life?

God doesn't feel far away...as a matter of fact, you know He's right there with you.

I'm talking about one of those times when things are just...going. Nothing bad is happening, nothing great is happening..it's just going.

I'm there.

I'm thankful that nothing bad is happening!! After the last several months and those wilderness wanderings with our kids..just going is great....in a way....however, I want more of Him. I want to hear from Him. I want to serve and please Him. This spiritual dryness isn't working for me. Don't like it. Time to move forward.

The evangelist was talking about our struggle to believe and he took Scripture from Mark 9:14-24. This Scripture is talking about the demon possessed boy, whose father had taken him to Jesus to have the spirit removed. He'd watched his son for many years suffer with this spirit that had tried to literally kill his son.

Knowing that Jesus could do the impossible, this man approached Jesus with his heart's desire..to see his son delivered.

Jesus told the man in verse 23, "Anything is possible if a person believes."

The man replied in verse 24, "I do believe, but help me overcome my unbelief!"

Sounds kind of contradictory, but I get it...I believe that God can do anything....but somewhere in the back of my mind is that little nagging, smidgen of a doubt of unbelief and that little smidgen can undo every ounce of belief I have.

This evangelist went on to give 3 reasons why this father was struggling with unbelief:

1) It involved his child. Come on parents.....when something involves our children, we immediately take them before the throne of God, but it's very hard to let go and let God because this is our baby. Our flesh and blood. The only One Who loves them more is Jesus Himself, but it's very hard for us to wrap our feeble mind around that knowledge.

2) The father couldn't fix this problem. Most men...and I've just recently posted this about my own hubby...are wired to fix things. Men see, for the most part, black and white..no gray. You have a problem....here's the solution. Moving on. Drives me nuts!! It's not always that easy.

3) It had been going on for a long time. This father had watched his son suffer for so long. How battle-worn he must have been!

Now this Scripture deals with a man's son, but what about those out there who are unemployed? How hard is it to overcome that unbelief when you're finances are dwindling, you can't find another job and have been out of work for over a year? You know God can handle it, but there's that little smidgen of doubt....

Or maybe you are in the midst of a medical scare. This involves your body, you can't heal your own body and you've been sick for a very long time. You know the Great Physician and you've witnessed Him heal before, but that little smidgen of doubt keeps creeping in.....

Thing is we want our children delivered now. We want a new job now. We want our bodies healed now, and we refuse to believe God has things timed perfectly.

I loved this statement the evangelist made last night, "We are microwave Christians serving a crockpot God!" Wow!!! I see myself pretty clearly right there. I want things right now!! Over the last 6-8 months, when our children were in the wilderness I wanted them home now!!! "Don't mess around God, these are my babies and I'm tired of watching them self-destruct." God could have delivered them right away, but because of the waiting, our children learned some very valuable lessons.

Had God used the microwave method, would they have learned anything or would they fall back into the same traps and lifestyles they'd just come out of??

How about you? Have you asked God to help you overcome your unbelief? Are you a microwave Christian? Join me in studying the Word and in prayer to hold fast and believe completely in an on-time God.