Mark 9:23“What do you mean, ‘If I can’?” Jesus asked. “Anything is possible if a person believes.”
24The father instantly cried out, “I do believe, but help me overcome my unbelief!”
It is natural for us to ask God to help us. "Help me overcome this, help me do that, help me be a better person, help me overcome smoking, help me overcome my anger problem."
The problem is, that this prayer is ultimately about ourselves and is a self-centered prayer. We are the ones doing it, and we expect God to help us.
These kind of "help me" prayers are actually from the natural man not from the Spirit. It is neither right nor wrong to pray like this, but it is natural and not spiritual.
It is common to pray like this, and we may find some strength for a time, but the problem comes back again. The reason is that we are trying to do all the work, we are the ones trying to overcome our problem, instead of submitting our whole being to God and losing ourselves.
The Lord Jesus does not desire to help us, He desires to live inside of us and be our all. Anything less than our all is not good enough for Him.
He desires to be on the throne within us and His Kingdom to rule and reign in us.
There is no record of Jesus ever helping his disciples with their particular problems and personal issues. He only asked them to "drop everything.... and follow Me".
The reason why our prayers for help so often go unanswered, is because Jesus is not interested in answering "help me" prayers, if we are not willing for Him to be our all and lose our self.
We must surrender and consecrate ourselves completely to him, then we will find true and long-lasting release and freedom from whatever plagues us.
One of the things which hinders our complete consecration to the Lord is fear of what He will do or what we will become if we lose our self.
This fear is unfounded however as we will experience the freedom, peace and joy which comes from living under God's rule.
24The father instantly cried out, “I do believe, but help me overcome my unbelief!”
It is natural for us to ask God to help us. "Help me overcome this, help me do that, help me be a better person, help me overcome smoking, help me overcome my anger problem."
The problem is, that this prayer is ultimately about ourselves and is a self-centered prayer. We are the ones doing it, and we expect God to help us.
These kind of "help me" prayers are actually from the natural man not from the Spirit. It is neither right nor wrong to pray like this, but it is natural and not spiritual.
It is common to pray like this, and we may find some strength for a time, but the problem comes back again. The reason is that we are trying to do all the work, we are the ones trying to overcome our problem, instead of submitting our whole being to God and losing ourselves.
The Lord Jesus does not desire to help us, He desires to live inside of us and be our all. Anything less than our all is not good enough for Him.
He desires to be on the throne within us and His Kingdom to rule and reign in us.
There is no record of Jesus ever helping his disciples with their particular problems and personal issues. He only asked them to "drop everything.... and follow Me".
The reason why our prayers for help so often go unanswered, is because Jesus is not interested in answering "help me" prayers, if we are not willing for Him to be our all and lose our self.
We must surrender and consecrate ourselves completely to him, then we will find true and long-lasting release and freedom from whatever plagues us.
One of the things which hinders our complete consecration to the Lord is fear of what He will do or what we will become if we lose our self.
This fear is unfounded however as we will experience the freedom, peace and joy which comes from living under God's rule.
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