“Help me with my unbelief”

As I continue to deal with the shock of the loss of my best friend I find God putting timely scripture in front of me.  Christian friends have been supportive in this way and for that I am grateful.  When tragedy strikes it defies the ability to think with a finite human mind.  I want answers but will never get them.  At least I will not get them the way I want them.  The answers are always found in prayer, scripture and from other Christ followers.

This morning I began journaling the events of yesterday.  Yesterday we put a memorial service together for my buddy.  It will take place on Monday evening.  While journaling I thought about the story in Mark 9 when Jesus healed the boy with the demonic spirit.  The boy’s father basically said to Jesus “heal him if you can.”  Jesus was like “heal him if I can?” (Jesus had to be close to cursing on this one as he was noticeably upset with this father’s faith).  Then as the father sensed Jesus’ frustration with his pessimistic attitude he immediately exclaimed “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!”  (Mark 9:24).

I know my friend believed, but I believe his struggle with his unbelief led to his inability to handle life any longer.   It is the unbelief portion in all of us that either makes us or breaks us.  We recite “I can do all things through him (Christ) who strengthens me.” (Philippians 4:13).  But do we really believe it?  Really believing it means having the ability to trust God when trusting God does not make sense.  Satan knows we are intellectual thinkers and it is satan who tries to tell us “it just doesn’t add up, it just doesn’t make sense.”  It is God who tells us “quit thinking and have faith in me and my powers.”  Having belief takes intellect.  Having Faith takes trust.

I believe we do not have the ability to handle our unbelief on our own.  That is where my buddy made his mistake.  Instead of asking questions to other Christ followers in order to find the answer, he thought he needed to solve the mystery all by himself.  Satan loves it when he can get us to try to “do it alone.” 

Overcoming unbelief requires strong spiritual mentors/sponsors.  I remember back in my early recovery days when I would ask my sponsor, what I thought were the stupidest questions.  I am sad that my buddy obviously must have thought his questions were too stupid to ask.  Today I know the only stupid question is the question you do not ask.

Today I really do believe I can do all things through Christ.  I am so grateful for my faith and my trust and faith in God.  It is sustaining me through this horrible tragedy.  I’ve not always been this way.  But through daily prayer, scripture reading and steady guidance from others, it can be done.  I shared these keys with my buddy periodically over the past 4 years but somewhere along the line I lost touch with him and he obvisoulsy tried to deal with his “unbelief” on his own.  Prayer and scripture reading is awesome and will make a huge difference in your life.  But when the chips are down and you are struggling with your ”unbelief” you need to reach out to other Christ followers.  Solving our unbelief on our own is a very dangerous proposition.  Satan does his best work on us when we are alone whereas God does his best work on us when we are with other followers of Christ. 

P.E.A.C.E.