Filling in the Gaps
Filling In the Gaps
”Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth. And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.“
Mark 9:23-24
It can be an easy thing to say you believe that God will get you through something. That He will heal, that He will provide, that He will protect. It is an entirely different thing to live it.
Jesus had given His disciples full authority to heal and to cast out demons. While they were serving a problem came that was too much for them to handle. A man had a son who was possessed with a demonic presence that had tried often to kill the young man. The disciples could not help...the man had enough faith to go them to get help...how discouraged he must have been as he watched among the multitude of people that were being healed yet his problem still existed.
I wonder how many people are out there that have watched the pastor do some pretty cool things at the church and was a help to so many people yet when they went to get help the pastor or church leaders had to shrug their shoulders and say, “I don’t know if I can help you”. How many have walked away with the same problem they had because of the reality that church leaders are just people who struggle with faith too...who need the same answers as everybody else. Who even need rebuked in Christ for not trusting that God has given them power to help IN Christ.
What I love is that at least the disciples were honest enough to realize that even though they weren’t able to help the man and his son, they knew Who could, so they took them to Jesus! When Jesus then tells the man to just have faith...look how he reacted! He could have been bitter and said, “I already believed but your people failed and that ruined it.” Many have blamed some other flawed human for why they don’t trust God any more...and as good of an excuse as that may seem to be, it is not going to ever give the victim any victory. What a foolish thing to hold man up to God’s Standard when we can never get there without Christ...
So when Jesus tells him to just have faith, the man in great desperation says, “Lord, I believe, help my unbelief!!!” What he was saying is, “Jesus, I know you can do it, but I have to give you my doubts...please fill in the gaps!” What an amazing God we have! He fills in the gaps of faithlessness in our lives, when we get desperate enough to give Him our doubts!
You know what is so cool! The disciples got their gaps of doubt filled in that day too! Church leaders don’t have it all figured out and it is so awesome to watch as the Jesus they serve fixes what they admit they cannot! Let that simmer for a bit!
Pastor Larry Hof
”Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth. And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.“
Mark 9:23-24
It can be an easy thing to say you believe that God will get you through something. That He will heal, that He will provide, that He will protect. It is an entirely different thing to live it.
Jesus had given His disciples full authority to heal and to cast out demons. While they were serving a problem came that was too much for them to handle. A man had a son who was possessed with a demonic presence that had tried often to kill the young man. The disciples could not help...the man had enough faith to go them to get help...how discouraged he must have been as he watched among the multitude of people that were being healed yet his problem still existed.
I wonder how many people are out there that have watched the pastor do some pretty cool things at the church and was a help to so many people yet when they went to get help the pastor or church leaders had to shrug their shoulders and say, “I don’t know if I can help you”. How many have walked away with the same problem they had because of the reality that church leaders are just people who struggle with faith too...who need the same answers as everybody else. Who even need rebuked in Christ for not trusting that God has given them power to help IN Christ.
What I love is that at least the disciples were honest enough to realize that even though they weren’t able to help the man and his son, they knew Who could, so they took them to Jesus! When Jesus then tells the man to just have faith...look how he reacted! He could have been bitter and said, “I already believed but your people failed and that ruined it.” Many have blamed some other flawed human for why they don’t trust God any more...and as good of an excuse as that may seem to be, it is not going to ever give the victim any victory. What a foolish thing to hold man up to God’s Standard when we can never get there without Christ...
So when Jesus tells him to just have faith, the man in great desperation says, “Lord, I believe, help my unbelief!!!” What he was saying is, “Jesus, I know you can do it, but I have to give you my doubts...please fill in the gaps!” What an amazing God we have! He fills in the gaps of faithlessness in our lives, when we get desperate enough to give Him our doubts!
You know what is so cool! The disciples got their gaps of doubt filled in that day too! Church leaders don’t have it all figured out and it is so awesome to watch as the Jesus they serve fixes what they admit they cannot! Let that simmer for a bit!
Pastor Larry Hof
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