Deliverance From Faltering Faith

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When they arrived at Bethsaida, some people brought a blind man to Jesus, and they begged him to touch the man and heal him. Jesus took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village. Then, spitting on the man's eyes, he laid his hands on him and asked, "Can you see anything now?" The man looked around. "Yes," he said, "I see people, but I can't see them very clearly. They look like trees walking around." Then Jesus placed his hands on the man's eyes again, and his eyes were opened. His sight was completely restored, and he could see everything clearly. Jesus sent him away, saying, "Don't go back into the village on your way home." -- Mark 8: 22-26 (NLT)

This short little story in the Gospel of Mark may get passed over because we have read so often about the many miracles of Christ. What is one blind man versus another after all? But within this story are some deeper truths about faith that we can examine and internalize as we move forward in our walk with God. The healings of the blind are often exposited regarding their relationship to salvation. Once we were blind and in the world but now we see and are saved. That is correct theologically. Going deeper however let us look at faith on the level of a believer. Because our faith can vary and it can waver. It can be strong in some areas and it can falter in others. Remember the story of the father with the demon possessed son who had lost a great deal of his faith during his time dealing with his son's ailment. When Jesus diagnosed his problem it was not just that his son was struggling with a demon but also that the father was struggling with his faith:

The spirit often throws him into the fire or into water, trying to kill him. Have mercy on us and help us, 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!" -- Mark 9: 22-24 (NLT)

The response from the father should be our prayer daily. While we hold onto our belief regarding God and our salvation, we certainly come up against areas we struggle with unbelief in. Maybe we struggle in our faith regarding our kids. Or maybe it is our relationship status or marriage. Possibly it can be our career or even a ministry issue. Whatever it is that we start to doubt, we can become like the blind man we find in our key verses. Have you ever met someone like this? Rock solid faith in nearly every area but completely blind when it comes to their boyfriend. Or their job. Or the guilt they cannot admit they are operating under. They have faith that can move mountains when it comes to someone else but maybe not when they are facing their own wilderness. It is human nature to question and to doubt. Human nature is the opposite of faith.

But within this short story I see three truths God is trying to teach us today in the middle of our struggle with incidental faith. Because true faith is not meant to be incidental. It is meant to be comprehensive, as outlined in Romans:

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. -- Romans 8: 28 (NIV)

That doesn't say God is working it all out for our good in some things. It doesn't say it is only in the easy things. No beloved, God is working all things out for your good in EVERYTHING. Even that one area you find your faith wavering in. Even in the middle of your demon possessed son, God is working it out for your good. But back to the key verses -- what stands out to me are the stark differences Jesus makes with this particular blind man versus His other healings. God rarely does the same thing the same way and He is always trying to teach us something new. The first lesson for us in dealing with areas where our faith wavers is that sometimes, you need to remove yourself from your village:

Jesus took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village -- Mark 8: 23a (NLT)

Could Jesus have just as easily healed this man in the village? Of course He could! Then why lead him out of the village? What is God saying to us today? If we expect a change in our situations, sometimes we need to change the surroundings. If there is an area of our life we find our faith wavering in, God is saying that sometimes we have to leave the village we surround ourselves with. Maybe we are doubting God for our future marriage but we consider dating outside of the church. Look, God's Word is God's Word. The admonishments and warnings are not to be taken lightly or as mere advisement. Maybe we doubt God for our finances but haven't entrusted Him with what He has already given us! Maybe our faith is faltering about the trouble in our marriage but we have not embraced our correct role as male or female in that marriage, according to God's Word.

Other times God could simply mean that leaving the village we are in means leaving the people we surround ourselves with. Do the people we spend time with encourage our faith or plant seeds of doubt? Sometimes it is human nature to love misery. We can seek out people who facilitate that misery instead of speaking life into our situations where we proclaim death. We may shy away from that person who will tell us what the Word of God says and dismiss them as telling us something we already know. Knowing what the Word says and applying it to our lives are two totally different things. One is about knowledge and the other is about wisdom. Then instead of listening to the friend who will direct us back to God we seek out marital advice from the unsaved co-worker who already has two divorces to their credit! What kind of advice do you think you are going to get! Or maybe we surround ourselves with people who like to gossip, even within the church. Drama perpetuates drama beloved. When we are facing the giants in our life we need to first examine what village it is that we are spending our time in regarding that problem. What do we need to extract ourselves out of? Who do we need to surround ourselves with? Proverbs teaches us:

A righteous man is cautious in friendship, but the way of the wicked leads them astray. -- Proverbs 12: 26 (NLT)

If you are finding your faith wavering in an area of your life today, check the village you find yourself in. Secondly from this story we see the next truth is that restoring our faith is sometimes a process.

Then, spitting on the man's eyes, he laid his hands on him and asked, "Can you see anything now?" The man looked around. "Yes," he said, "I see people, but I can't see them very clearly. They look like trees walking around." Then Jesus placed his hands on the man's eyes again, and his eyes were opened. His sight was completely restored, and he could see everything clearly. -- Mark 8: 23b-25 (NLT)

At first blush one might be tempted to say that the first attempt by Jesus here failed. Not so. He could have kept the man in his village and simply said -- "be healed!" and the man's sight could have been restored. Instead we see this process playing out where the man's sight is restored in two steps. After the initial laying of hands the man was starting to see but things were still blurry. Isn't that just how we can be sometimes too in our walk? We struggle in an area with our faith and maybe we can successfully leave the village we are in long enough to hear the wisdom we need to follow. We start to see things clearer than when we were blind, but we haven't fully recovered our sight quite yet. Things are still a little blurry in our vision. We still hold onto the old habits. We still cling to the old doubts. Then the enemy comes against us and reinforces the old way of thinking and suddenly we are blind again. Our faith fails again.

We live in a microwave society where we want our solutions quick and now. Sometimes the restoration of our faith needs time. Sometimes it needs stages. Sometimes we can recover some sight but things might still be a bit blurry for us. Maybe we trust God with all the little things but our faith might falter on the larger issues of life. Going back to the story of the father with the demon possessed son we see that he first took the child to the disciples but they were unable to cast it out of the boy. Here was the initial reaction for Jesus:

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." -- Mark 9: 19 (NLT)

Who is Jesus talking to? He is talking to His disciples! We know this because in the recounting of this healing in the Gospel of Matthew the disciples ask Jesus why they were unable to cast the demon out and this was the answer from the Lord:

"You don't have enough faith," Jesus told them. "I tell you the truth, if you had faith even as small as a mustard seed, you could say to this mountain, "Move from here to there,' and it would move. Nothing would be impossible." -- Matthew 17: 20 (NLT)

Faith as small as a mustard seed. We hear this often in our Christian walk. This is because while the seed of mustard is so small, it grows to be one of the strongest trees in the garden. But also, the mustard seed has been used since ancient biblical times medicinally. Besides lowering blood pressure and restoring disrupted sleep patterns it is widely know for its abilities to remove pain and prevent cancers. Reflect on that for a moment.

That is the essence of faith is it not? Faith moves mountains because it removes the areas in our lives that cause us great pain. Cancer is a disease that spreads wildly if left unchecked and ravages the body. Likewise the lack of faith spreads wildly and ravages the spirit if left unchecked. Cancer cells invade healthy cells like a lack of faith in one area of our life can start to affect our faith in other areas. But true faith, is not an issue of size but of sincerity. Sincere faith, like the mustard seed, eases the pain in our life and prevents the development of any cancers to our spirit. Sincere faith is boundless:

Then Jesus told them, "I tell you the truth, if you have faith and don't doubt, you can do things like this and much more. You can even say to this mountain, "May you be lifted up and thrown into the sea,' and it will happen. You can pray for anything, and if you have faith, you will receive it." -- Matthew 21: 21-22 (NLT)

And that brings us to the last lesson from the key verses. Once we have overcome our faltering faith it is imperative that we do not return to the root causes of that problem:

Jesus sent him away, saying, "Don't go back into the village on your way home." -- Mark 8: 26 (NLT)

We are all pilgrims and sojourners in this world. We are all on our way home to be with the Lord forever. Whenever God gives us a victory over faltering faith He is imploring us to never return to the village He found our faith struggling in. Sometimes we can be creatures of such habit and often it is bad habits. If there is an area our faith is blinded in, or even where it might become blurry we cannot return to that village. We cannot return to the practices that contribute to that erosion of faith. God delivers us all the time but the sad thing is that often after the deliverance we walk right back into the same habits and surround ourselves with the same people that were at the center of the lack of faith to begin with.

There are many reasons why we fail sometimes in our faith. There are many reasons why we need to pray for the Lord to help our unbelief amidst the beliefs we do not struggle with. God understands these things beloved. We are the furthest thing from perfect. Maybe we have mustard seed faith when it comes to our kids, our career, and our ministries. But maybe the nature of our relationship or lack thereof is like a cancer in our spirit, slowly eroding our faith. Maybe we have mountain moving faith when it comes to our relationships -- always trusting God; but we are in so much pain about our past that we cannot seem to trust God in faith to take it all away. Whatever the area is that you find yourself struggling in today remember that we need to first examine where we are in that issue. What village do we find ourselves in and remove ourselves from the forces that feed that unbelief. Secondly, remember that deliverance is sometimes a process that requires our diligence and steadfastness. Lastly, that once we are delivered we should avoid returning to the things that contributed to the lack of faith to begin with. We are not super-spiritual -- none of us. We all struggle but we all can overcome.

Reverend Anthony Wade -- March 10, 2012

Authors Bio:
Credentialed Minister of the Gospel for the Assemblies of God. Owner and founder of 828 ministries. Vice President for Goodwill Industries. Always remember that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.