Faith in Jesus: Saves

Hello people, I write yet again, I’ve noticed that quiet a few Christian writers including me have received hate and abusive mail following the recent row over burning books which some consider holy. I find it hard to believe that such hatred sprang up within a span of a week or two, it felt rather like this hatred was nurtured, may be by handed down religious teaching and this time they found reason to express their hatred. So far I have had a horrible 2 weeks and I’ve also learned that even the closest of friends can be manipulative and strut two hoots attitude.

Well today our Pastor brought about an interesting piece of scripture. Allow me to quote it for you.

Mark 9:14-27

14 And when they came to the disciples, they saw a great crowd around them, and scribes arguing with them. 15 And immediately all the crowd, when they saw him, were greatly amazed and ran up to him and greeted him. 16 And he asked them, “What are you arguing about with them?” 17 And someone from the crowd answered him, “Teacher, I brought my son to you, for he has a spirit that makes him mute. 18 And whenever it seizes him, it throws him down, and he foams and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid. So I asked your disciples to cast it out, and they were not able.” 19 And he answered them, “O faithless generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him to me.” 20 And they brought the boy to him. And when the spirit saw him, immediately it convulsed the boy, and he fell on the ground and rolled about, foaming at the mouth. 21 And Jesus asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?” And he said, “From childhood. 22 And it has often cast him into fire and into water, to destroy him. But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.” 23 And Jesus said to him, “‘If you can’! All things are possible for one who believes.” 24 Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, “I believe; help my unbelief!” 25 And when Jesus saw that a crowd came running together, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, “You mute and deaf spirit, I command you, come out of him and never enter him again.” 26 And after crying out and convulsing him terribly, it came out, and the boy was like a corpse, so that most of them said, “He is dead.” 27 But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose. 28 And when he had entered the house, his disciples asked him privately, “Why could we not cast it out?” 29 And he said to them, “This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer.”

Verse 14, shows what normally happens to Christian, people question, argue and ask to prove ourselves. Verse 15 exposes this world’s funny bone, they are willing to get locked into arguments with Jesus’ believers but at a given time they all run to Jesus. Verse 17, shows Jesus’ passionate stand for his believers and he questions the crowd: “What are you arguing about with them?”. Verse 18 is where the story starts, here the man’s sorrow over his son’s suffering is revealed. I don’t know how many of you readers are parents but I have seen the worst of people being the most tender & loving with their children, to them to see their child suffering is worse that seeing their own selves suffering. Parents generally wish that the suffering would come upon themselves rather than on their children; thank God we have Jesus, who suffered for us and bore our inequity. Verse 19 shows that even the disciples who stayed and learned from Jesus in person, did not have the faith (in Jesus) that would drive the wicked spirit out. Verse 20 shows you the Majesty of Jesus because the evil spirit appears to go into panic mode at just the sight of Him. From verses 21 & 22 you will see that this evil spirit has tormented this boy since childhood and even tried to kill him. Let us however go in deeper into 21 & 22 can you notice that Jesus is asking this of the boy’s father something critical. In the Bible, Jesus has asked people what it is they want, even if it were a blind man (Mark 10:46-52). To you and me it is very obvious that a blind man may want to see but Jesus is God and God is good. He does not only give you what you need, he gives you your hearts desire, which is much more than what you just need. The Bible does show us situations where Jesus is clearly Omniscient (All Knowing), here are a few examples:

• Jesus Speaks about his Death (Mark 9:30-32)
• Payment of the Temple Tax (Matthew 17:24-27)
• Catch of Fish (John 21:6)
• The Samaritan Woman (John 4:17)
• The resurrection of Lazarus (John 11:4)
• Jesus predicts Peters denial of knowing Him at the hour of Jesus’ death (Luke 22:34)
• The woman who touched Jesus and was healed while He was in a crowd (Luke 8:40-56)
• Jesus declares to Peter how Peter would die (John 21:18)
• Jesus all-knowingly reproves Apostle Thomas’s unbelief that he had been raised from the death. (John 20:27)
• Jesus send his disciples to a place where a Passover meal was prepared for them (Matthew 26:17-19)
• Jesus tells his disciples of where they would find the colt that had never been ridden, for He was to ride into Jerusalem on it (Mark 11:1-7).

I could go on and on to show God’s Omniscient nature in Jesus but this article is not for that. My point here was just to show you that Jesus being all knowing shows compassion to the boy’s father by asking him about his troubled son. Coming to Mark 9 verse 23 shows Jesus repeating the rather absurd part of the statement of doubt put to Him by the boy’s father:“BUT IF YOU CAN DO ANYTHING, have compassion on us and help us”. This statement shows how much the father was beaten down in trying for years to heal his son. This father has come to Jesus, the same God who made his son (John 1:3) and doubts that He (Jesus Creator) will be able to heal him. In verse 24, you can see that the father immediately cried for he cannot help his own belief but he wants to help his son, you can see that the father asks Jesus to help him believe.

I don’t know how many of you trust in Jesus but this I do know that Satan makes doubt creep in, in even the strongest men of God, he did that with John the Baptist too (Mat 11:1-6), of whom Jesus said that there was not man of God ever like him (Mat 11:11). From verse 24 of Mark 9, you can plainly see that the boy’s father submits to Jesus even in his unbelief, this may seem like the king of all oxymorons but this was a broken man who was trying Jesus. The Bible says that those who trust in Jesus are saved (Psalms 22:4//Luke 7:50) and it here seems so clear that Jesus saves this man, from his own unbelief, in verse 25-27 Jesus does help this man with what he was desperate for and unable to do for years.

Verses 28-29 shows us how it is that we can develop faith in Jesus that can even moves mountains, the answer is prayer. Now prayer is not some ritualistic religiously sounding scripts, which at the most you may only know what it means. Prayer is a conversation with God, if your religious script declares your faith in your god and you find it hard to believe that God will work your situation out for you then of what use is that scripted prayer. Has not God given you a mind and a mouth to make your own prayer or do you feel that the person responsible for the script can play your role in your interaction with God better than you can do for yourself? If that were ever true then there would be no such thing as a personal relationship between God and each individual and that god would be casting identical religious men/women like a company that were manufacturing a certain product.

To conclude, yes; it is faith in Jesus that saves but what matters is not that you have enough faith, what matter is that you come to Jesus, if you don’t have the faith in Him that will save you then submit that unbelief to Him, He being Almighty and Sovereign God will then proceed to instill that faith in you & then heaven is what you would call home.