I decided to pray to the Lord for serious help over a specific situation that was very stressful to me. During my prayer, I mentioned a phrase I remembered from a story in the Bible about a father who approached Christ with a request to heal his son from demon possession. Jesus stated that everything is possible for him who believes. In the story, the father exclaimed, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!” I think all followers at some point in their walk with Christ have really wanted to believe in the abilities of Christ, yet had doubts the same way this man did. That morning, I shared that same doubt while praying and I pleaded with the Lord THREE times in these words:
“I do believe; help me with my unbelief!”
I remember doing this as if it were yesterday….
After this precious time praying to God, I finished feeling better and I tripped on downstairs to my laptop to check the day’s email messages. I was stunned, when I opened my daily email devotion that arrived and it was all about verses Mark 9:22-24. This devotion was all about the exact phrase I had just uttered in my prayer THREE times (I do believe; help me with my unbelief!) right before I checked my email.
Now some might conclude that this was an incredible coincidence. However, what exactly are the chances that this particular verse could pop up in my random devotional email that morning after citing the same verse in my prayer three times? Given that the average Bible has 31,173 verses, it makes it startling that such an occurrence could take place. Here is that story in the Bible that I referred to in my prayer and the same one that showed up in my email that morning:
Mark 9:17-26: And one of the multitude answered and said, Master, I have brought unto thee my son, which hath a dumb spirit; And wheresoever he taketh him, he teareth him: and he foameth, and gnasheth with his teeth, and pineth away: and I spake to thy disciples that they should cast him out; and they could not. He answereth him, and saith, O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? Bring him unto me. And they brought him unto 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 unto him? And he said, Of a child. And ofttimes it hath cast him into the fire, and into the waters, to destroy him: but if thou canst do anything, have compassion on us, and help us. Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth. And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears,
Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.
When Jesus saw that the people came running together, he rebuked the foul spirit, saying unto him, Thou dumb and deaf spirit, I charge thee, come out of him, and enter no more into him. And the spirit cried, and rent him sore, and came out of him: and he was as one dead; insomuch that many said, He is dead.
