Call me a nerd, but I love Star Wars. Let me clarify, I love
the old original stars with Yoda, Princess Leia, Han Solo etc. Will you ever
see me in a costume dressed up for Star Wars Convention? No (not that there is
anything wrong with that…Any Seinfeld fans out there ha ha). My favorite scenes
are the ones that include Yoda. There is one scene where Yoda is trying to get
Luke to channel the force and lift out his ship from the swamp. As much as Yoda
is encouraging him, he fails. Yoda, 900 year old, little green Yoda finally does
it…
Luke: “I don’t believe it”
Yoda: “I know, that’s why you fail.”
Belief, one thing we need in our walk with Jesus and often
the one thing we struggle.
The belief that God is good all the time.
The belief that God sees us.
The belief that God is for us.
The belief that even though God can, he won’t.
There was a man in Mark 9:17-29 who suffered from the same
unbelief that we can all find ourselves struggling with and his story is going
to encourage us today in ours.
“One of the men in the crowd spoke up and said, “Teacher, I brought my
so you could heal him. He is possessed by an evil spirit that won’t let him
talk…. Vs 18b So I asked your disciples to cast out the evil spirit, but
they couldn’t do it.
Jesus said to them, “You faithless people! How long must I be with you?
How long must I put up with you? Bring the boy to me.”
Vs. 21 “How long has this been happening?” Jesus asked the boy’s
father. He replied, “Since he was a little boy. The spirit often throws him
into the fire or into water, trying to kill him. Have mercy on us and help,
if you can.”
“What do you mean, ‘If I can?’ Jesus asked. Anything is possible if
a person believes.”
The father instantly cried out, “I do believe, but help me overcome
my unbelief!”
Vs. 28 Afterward, when Jesus was alone in the house with his disciples,
they asked him, “Why couldn’t we cast out that evil spirit?”
Jesus replied, “This kind can be cast out only in prayer.”
Why do we fail when it comes to believing Jesus today?
- Past
disappointments
Just like this Father, we can look at past disappointments
from people that can lead to unbelief in the power of a great God. This father
believed Jesus’ followers could help him and they didn’t. This disappointment
led to him saying “help, if you can.” Maybe
you have had someone who claimed to be a follower of Jesus wound you deeply.
Maybe coaches on the staff, parents in the stands, players in your locker room,
or family under your roof have disappointed you when it came to loyalty to you.
We are called to love people and trust
God. But a lot of times because we love people, we expect from people what we should expect
from God. People may fail us, but God never will.
- We
may believe IN God, but we don’t BELIEVE God.
When Jesus says, “If
I can?” Jesus is calling us all out when it comes to believing in him, but not
believing Him. Believing He is for us. Believing He sees us. Believing He will
never leave us. Believing when all we see is bad, HE is still good. Oh I love the Father’s reply and I pray we all
have this same one, “I do believe, but help me overcome my
unbelief.”
LORD, HELP ME OVERCOME MY UNBELIEF. The best most real
prayer we can pray!
- Prayer
life
We can learn from the disciples, there are somethings we can
only accomplish with prayer….not from working longer hours, better game plan,
or trying harder but with prayer and only prayer. I know I have said this
before but We cannot treat prayer as our last option, but as our first
choice. Believing God consistently comes when we seek him in prayer daily.
It is my prayer for you as coaches wives and women of influence that your
faith game goes to the next level because your hope, trust, peace, belief is in
Jesus…..not the winning record, not the job but in Christ and Christ alone. Believe Jesus
today because He believes in you!
Love you all!! Have a great week😊
