Faith Can In Fact Be Immersed In Doubt

Mark 9:24, “And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.”

I love this true story in the Bible. A father's son was demon possessed. The boy threw himself into the fire and carried on terribly, afflicted by demons. Although they tried, the Apostle could not deliver the boy from his demons. They were frustrated. But then came Jesus who healed the boy and made this classic statement to the disciples in Mark 9:29, “And he said unto them, This kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer and fasting.” 

The dear Savior came to the grieving father and told him if he believed, all things were possible. The man makes a remarkable statement to Christ in Mark 9:24b, “Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.” The man clearly had some doubts about Jesus' ability to heal his boy, but in faith asked the Lord to help him overcome his doubts, which is faith. So you see friend, even if you have 99% doubt, that is okay, just so long as you act upon that 1% of faith to rely upon God. I'll give you one of my favorite illustrations of a chair.

Let's say for the sake of argument that a defective light bulb on the ceiling needs to be replaced, but you cannot reach it. The only furniture you have readily available to stand upon to reach the bulb is a chair. The chair looks old and shaky, unreliable. Yet, you need to change the bulb with a new one. So, despite your doubts and fear of falling if the chair breaks, you place all of your weight upon the chair anyway. Even though you had 99% doubt in the chair's ability to hold you up, you went ahead and trusted it anyway, and that it no less than 100% faith. By getting up to stand upon the chair, you placed 100% of your trust in it.

Salvation is the same way dear reader. It matters not how many doubts or fears you may have in Christ and His inspired Words in the Holy Bible. What matters is that you trust Christ! Romans 10:13, “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” Tragically, this particular passage of Scripture has been greatly misused and abused in recent years by many people. Some claim that the entire chapter of Romans 10 refers to the future salvation of the nation of Israel, and has nothing to do with getting saved. That claim is preposterous! Romans 10:3-4 plainly indicate that this chapter is about the new birth.

Don't Misinterpret Romans Chapter 10

Also, there are many in the New IFB (independent fundamental Baptist) movement who heretically teach that you cannot be saved without praying a Sinner's Prayer. They errantly teach that you cannot go to Heaven unless you call, ask or pray to be saved. Scripturally nothing could be further from the truth. In Acts 16:30 when the Roman jailer asked what he needed to do to be saved, Paul and Silas simply replied in verse 31, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.” They didn't tell the man to ask, call or pray, did they. No, they certainly did not.

Jesus plainly said in John 6:47, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.” Dr. Curtis Hutson (1934-1995) was right that a good rule to follow when interpreting the Bible is to never use an obscure passage to contradict a clear one. Romans 10:13 is definitely an obscure passage of Scripture because it stands alone, as does Romans 10:9-10. These passages are often misinterpreted to preach a different gospel message.

Every modern English Bible revision corrupts Romans 10:9 by changing that to be saved we must believe on “the Lord Jesus” to instead declare “Jesus is Lord,” which is incorrect and a false plan of salvation. Please avoid the modern English perversions! Nowhere does the Scripture require you to surrender to the Lordship of Christ (Dr. Hyles exposes Lordship Salvation) to obey and serve Him instead of your own sins and self-serving will. Yet, this is the garbage sadly being taught in many doctrinally corrupt churches and Bible colleges today, like Pensacola Christian College. Anybody who tells you that you must “repent of your sins” or “surrender to Jesus as Lord” to get to Heaven is preaching another gospel.

Final Thoughts

I believe lest we be exalted about measure, there is a price to pay in prayer and fasting if you want God to work in a miraculous way through your life to help others. That is what the Apostle Paul said God sent him a thorn in the flesh in 2nd Corinthians 12:7b, “there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure.” 1st Corinthians 1:29, “That no flesh should glory in his presence.” Prayer and fasting require a greater faith, and faith pleases God (Hebrews 11:6).

Optimism is not faith. You can actually have a pessimistic outlook and still have faith in God. In Acts 12:1-15, the Apostle James had just been murdered by Herod and Peter was next to go. The Christians prayed for Peter's release in doubt. We know they doubted because when God answered their prayers, they called the young girl Rhoda “mad” (crazy) when she announced that Peter was standing at their front door:

Acts 12:14-15, “And when she knew Peter's voice, she opened not the gate for gladness, but ran in, and told how Peter stood before the gate. And they said unto her, Thou art mad. But she constantly affirmed that it was even so. Then said they, It is his angel.”

Isn't that something? First they horribly accused Rhoda of being beside herself. Then when she insisted it was Peter, they concluded that it must be someone else. Talk about mega doubters! Yet, despite their doubts, God answered their prayers anyway. I learned that precious truth from Dr. Wendell Evans (1935-2026) while I attended Hyles-Anderson College (1985-1993). Dr. Evans was the long time faithful president of the college. This passage always encourages me to know that even when we doubt God, He may still answer our prayers if it is His will. Our necessary part is to pray! Thank you for reading my ministry blog.