Welcome to the fourth part of our series of studies on how because of the finished work of Christ, your healing is unstoppable.
So far, we’ve already seen some things that that have greatly strengthened both our faith and our belief:
In part one, we saw how sinful deeds cannot stop our healing, and we destroyed a big stronghold for a lot of people regarding this common false belief that sin can stop or block our healing.
Next, in part two, we continued this theme by seeing how living in a sinful world also cannot stop our healing, which is another common false belief, closely related to the first one.
Then in part three we moved to a more internal level, as we examined how our new identity in Christ is a fundamental principle of why our healing is unstoppable.
Now today in this fourth part, we are going to examine another popular idea… what about having not enough faith? Can having a lack of faith stop healing? Join me today, as we answer this important question.
So let’s begin with a few well-traveled verses of scripture that often cause people to scrutinize their own faith-level when dealing with the issue of healing. The first one is Luke 17:5-6:
“And the apostles said to the Lord, Increase our faith.
And the Lord said, If you had faith as a grain of mustard seed, you might say to this sycamine tree, Be you plucked up by the root, and be you planted in the sea; and it should obey you.”
The cry of the apostles here is the exact same cry that most Christians have today. They think that in order to “get anything done” they need to have a super-abundance of faith – exceedingly great faith levels.
However, Jesus’ response to their request is very interesting! He tells them in verse 6 that if they even had faith as a grain of mustard seed, that they would be able to command a tree to move, and it would.
Now, we have looked at this interaction between Jesus and His disciples before regarding faith, so I won’t go into detail about it here, but a couple of things for us to note here in this study is the fact that in stark contrast to the disciple’s request for increased amounts of faith, Jesus turns the entire thing around and says to them: “Even if you had the faith of a grain of mustard seed (a very small amount) you could uproot this Sycamine tree” – which is a very large tree with very deep roots.
So the point that Jesus is making here, is that what is most important here is not how much faith a person has – because even a very small amount of faith can uproot and move a large, deeply rooted tree – but rather what is important is having and holding onto faith.
You see, as we have examined before, faith is actually spiritual information, it is information regarding the finished work of Christ, and who we are today in Him. I would encourage you to view that study for more details regarding this point.
Notice that Jesus said to them, if you had faith…
The word “had” is in the active imperfect tense here, meaning that we are to keep holding onto faith; to guard it and never let it go. Keep holding on to the information regarding what Jesus Christ accomplished, and who you are today in Him; including every single promise which He has given to us.
This may sound overly simplistic, but let’s truly consider it… how important is faith? And how important is believing? Faith and belief are different, but they are also inseparably linked. If you do not have the spiritual information (faith), then there is nothing for you to stand on (belief).
We know that without the proper information (faith), it is impossible to please God, according to Hebrews 11:6, and we are saved by Grace through faith
And remember you don’t need a lot faith. As Jesus said, you just need to hold onto what you have – even if it’s a very small amount.
And this is what the enemy will constantly try to attack and sabotage – your faith – the information regarding what Christ has accomplished, your identity in Him, and the promises He has given to you.
The main way these attacks happen is through doubt. This doubt can take the form of evil reports, just as with the ten spies who reported (against the promise of God) that the Israelites couldn’t actually take the promised land in Numbers 13. Or the doubt could take the form of Legalistic thinking, or preaching which brings fear, and places a false barrier between you and God. In-fact this very thing happened in Mark chapter 9, and as we look at this account, you are going to see not only an important principle regarding the dangers of clinging to the Old Covenant Law and the legalistic mindset, but you will also see an amazing picture of jesus, and how to utilize faith and belief by latching onto Him.
So let’s read Mark 9:17-24:
“And one of the multitude answered and said, Master, I have brought to you my son, which has a dumb spirit;
And wherever he takes him, he tears him: and he foams, and gnashes with his teeth, and pines away: and I spoke to your disciples that they should cast him out; and they could not.
He answers him, and said, O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? bring him to me.
And they brought him to him: and when he saw him, straightway the spirit tare him; and he fell on the ground, and wallowed foaming.
And he asked his father, How long is it ago since this came to him? And he said, Of a child.
And often it has cast him into the fire, and into the waters, to destroy him: but if you can do any thing, have compassion on us, and help us.
Jesus said to him, If you can, all things are possible to him that believes.
And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help you my unbelief.”
Verse 23 here trips a lot of people up, again due to a less than clear English translation… most of which render the verse as “if you can believe”, making it appear as though Jesus is pointing the finger back at the father of the boy here, as if Jesus was expecting the man to believe for the power to heal his own boy. Yet let me ask you a question? Who is really believing in this instance?
Have you ever stopped to think about it?
Who is really believing here?
I’ll give you a few clues:
It’s not the boy because he is demon possessed.
It’s not the disciples because they already failed.
It’s also not the father of the boy, because in verse 22 he says to Jesus
“if you can do anything, please help.”
The only one who is really believing perfectly here is Jesus Himself, and that is exactly whom Jesus is referring to in verse 23. He responds to the fathers’ plea by saying “’if you can?’ All things are possible to Him who believes”.
See the popular translation of verse 23 renders the first part of Jesus’ reply as “if you can believe” – however the word believe is not actually in the original Greek text there. Jesus was simply responding with a quote of the man’s original cry for help.
The man had cried to Jesus saying, “If you can do anything, please have compassion and help!”
And Jesus replied with: If you can? All things are possible to Him who believes!
That believing person by the way, is Jesus Himself.
The father of the boy immediately understood what Jesus was saying by the way, because in verse 24, the father says something very interesting: Lord I believe, help my unbelief! And this is yet another one of those instances where the English does not make a clear distinction between the noun faith and the belief verb. Once you understand what the father of the boy is actually saying here, it will strengthen you greatly…
The word believe used here is the verb form of the word, and the word unbelief here is the noun form of the word. Please don’t tune-out here because this is a very powerful distinction, as you are about to see.
The father is saying:
Lord I believe [verb] help my unbelief [noun]
See, this father believed by coming to Jesus, that was his action, but then he recognized that he does not have faith (information) regarding whether Jesus can actually heal his boy or not, especially after watching the disciples utterly fail. Picture yourself in his place.
He just watched the disciples of Jesus try and miserably fail to heal his son. His faith is shaken. But even so, he recognizes that he can also do something that very few believers today have figured out – he can rest his faith and belief on Jesus! And that’s exactly what he asks for here.
He rested His belief (his action) on Jesus when he realized that the only action necessary was to go to Jesus! Many believers today are trying to supplement their faith with actions – saying, “okay I asked God for this, now I need to do this in order to get God to move and give me what I asked for” – and really that’s just another form of works.
This man here recognized that simply going to Jesus was the only action needed. Today our only action needed is believe and speak in faith. (2nd Corinthians 4:13)
This man also rested his faith on Jesus when he realized that he could ask Jesus to help his lack of faith.
Many of us are familiar with the verse which states that Jesus is both the author and finisher of our faith. (Hebrews 12:2) Yet very few of us have contemplated on what the verse actually means, and this is the key point of why, you do not need a vast abundance of faith, and why Jesus said that even a very small amount is enough:
Jesus is both the author, which means He begins our faith, and the finisher or perfecter of our faith, which means that He also completes our faith. However many times we are trying to build, grow and perfect our own faith – we are trying to stir-up or conjure faith within ourselves by our own strength, power or force-of-will, and it doesn’t work. We are failing to rest in Jesus. Let us remember that one of the fruit of the Spirit is faith! (Galatians 5:22)
Faith is not a work, but a fruit. It comes from God.
One of the biggest traps that a believer can fall into is trusting in their own faith for the result, instead of trusting in Jesus! We can become so worked-up and focused about our own faith and belief that we totally lose sight of Jesus. Our foundation is Him, and what He has done for us and in us (given us His Spirit) – that is what gives us power, and that is what guarantees results – not what we perceive as a super faith level or how we perform with “corresponding actions” or whatever else we imagine that we need to do in order to attain our goal. Stop having faith in your own faith! And start resting your faith on Jesus. He obviously believed in His results, because He suffered on the cross in your place and mine – and that is all that we need to know!
So this is what Jesus was talking about when He said that even a small amount of faith is enough, because with even this one single truth, it will grow into a vast tree of life-giving faith regarding who God is, and who you are today in Christ and what He has given to you.
And this, my dear friend, is why today, a “lack of faith” cannot stop your healing, because in Christ there is no such thing! He is all the faith you need. Truly your healing is unstoppable!
Be sure to join me next week, as we conclude this series on why your healing is unstoppable, by seeing how tests, trials and punishment cannot stop your healing – we will be ending with a real bang.
Be blessed my friend.
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