Maybe it’s only me but has anyone ever struggled to trust God in an area of their life?  Has anyone ever found themselves in the place where their minds were filled with the weakness they saw in themselves and in the world around them?  Has anyone ever cried out Lord I believe, help my unbelief?  Remember the father of the demonized boy in Mark 9:24 & Matthew 17.   Remember he said Lord I believe help my unbelief.  

Jesus helped the guy whose son was demonized.  He manifested the goodness in the Father’s heart towards the guy.  Jesus saw the work of the Father is to be good to people and to send sin and death away from people, by serving them with His life.  And Jesus manifested the work of the Father to that guy to help him in his unbelief.  

Its actually a very beautiful thing going on in the father of the demonized boy.  Yes he had some unbelief but he saw he couldnt deliver himself from unbelief and he looked to Jesus and the work of God to deliver him from unbelief.  Even in the midst of his unbelief, the work of God was magnified in his sight.  His heart glorified the work of God to deliver him from unbelief. 

Unbelief is the fruit of not seeing Gods righteousness towards you to care for your life.  And because you aren’t seeing the love in Gods heart for you and you aren’t seeing that He has enlisted the strength in His hand to serve you with the life you long for.  What happens is you live as if you are an orphan in the earth, looking to the strength you see in yourself and the strength in the worlds systems for life because you aren’t beholding what God has done in Christ to overcome death in the flesh and build you a body that can never taste death again.  Its for your heart and your mind to be filled with laboring for the meat that perishes because you aren’t seeing Gods work to serve you with the meat that endures unto everlasting life.  

When the Devil tempted Jesus to make his ability his food for life by telling Jesus to turn the stones into bread.  If Jesus had turned the stones into bread thats what unbelief would look like.  

The scripture says the Israelites staggered at the promise of God through unbelief.  They didn’t see the righteous thing in Gods heart for them and their life.  They forgot about the works of God when He grabbed them by the hand and led them out of egypt.  And because of that their hearts were filled with the strength they saw in themselves or rather the weakness they saw in themselves, and the strength they saw in the giants in the land.

Summarize child with dead and dumb spirit, man brought to the disciples, disciples couldnt cast out the spirit.  Man brings son to Jesus, Jesus says all the things are possible to those who believe.  The man says Lord I believe help my unbelief ….

Mat 17:18  And Jesus rebuked the devil; and he departed out of him: and the child was cured from that very hour.
Mat 17:19  Then came the disciples to Jesus apart, and said, Why could not we cast him out?
Mat 17:20  And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.
Mat 17:21  Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting.

The context is the unbelief going out from the disciples.  Jesus says to the disciples this kind of unbelief goes not out but by prayer and fasting. 

The term prayer and fasting is a jewish idiom.  Its what we call slang.  It meant something specific to the jewish people of that time.  It’s like if I say ‘Laissez les bon temps rouler’.  It means something specific to me and to the people in the New Orleans area.  

A French speaking person may be able to read the words and see it says let the good times roll but they wont know that its referring specifically to Mardi Gras.  We can read the term prayer and fasting and know those words but if we dont know what it meant to those people in that day we will get the meaning all wrong.  

Prayer and fasting means to seek the face of the Lord.  It means to delight yourself in the work of God and the strength in His hand.  It’s a rest that comes upon a person on account of their eye being fixed on the work of God. 

 Isaiah 58:3  describes fasting as afflicting your soul and ceasing from you own labors to gather life to yourself.  Verse 13-14 of Isaiah 58 goes on to say the fast God has chosen is to delight yourself in the sabbath, which means to delight yourself in the work of God to serve you with life, and that puts your flesh to rest.  

The sabbath was all about beholding the work of God.  It was all about seeing the good work God has done and walking in His good work.  When jesus healed the lame man on the sabbath and the pharisees accused Jesus of violating the sabbath.  Jesus says I see in the law that the sabbath is all about the work of the Father, thats why Jesus says the father does always work and i do as i see my father doing.

The fast God has chosen is where you are delighting in Gods work to serve you with life, and because you are feeding on the life He serves you with, you are no longer making your own works your daily bread.  God has done a work to serve you with His life.  As you delight yourself in the life God built for you in the resurrection of Jesus your own works will no longer be your daily bread. 

The father of the boy with the deaf and dumb spirit is actually a picture of prayer and fasting.  He sought God’s face.  He delighted himself in the work of God.  His eyes were set on the work of God to help him in his unbelief. 

Unbelief is sent away from us as we behold the work of God.  Jesus says in John 16 that when the Holy Spirit is come he will reprove the world of unbelief and of righteousness because he goes to be with the Father.  The word reprove means to correct someone’s belief by bringing something to light.  

The Holy Spirit removes unbelief from your heart by revealing to you the Father’s work to bring a plague to the sin and death that wants to war against your life.  The Holy Spirit is the Comforter and is come to help you in your unbelief by bringing to light the goodness in the Father’s heart towards you.  The Holy Spirit does not speak of Himself but is with you to guide you to the place where your eye is fixed on the righteous work the Father has done in Christ to seat your life in Him, far above the death and corruption in the world. 

In the book of Deuteronomy Moses gives instructions to the children of Israel on how to keep their hearts from unbelief.  He tells the children of Israel take the words of the law and bind those words on their arms so those words will be as frontlets between their eyes.  Contrary to what our traditions say this law didnt speak of the works the Israelites must do to inherit blessing and life.  It spoke of the work of God to serve them with blessing and life, thats why its called the promised land, and an inheritance.  The only way something can be called a promise and an inheritance is if you are going to reap where someone else has done a work.  

God had Moses tell the Israelites to bind the words of His work on their arm so those words would be always before their eyes.  It was all about setting the Israelites eye on the works of God to deliver them from the bondage of Egypt by the strength in his hand, so their hearts could be kept from unbelief and from looking to the works of their own hands. 

Hebrews 8 says God found fault with that way; He found fault with the old covenant because it could never fill peoples hearts with His work.  He saw the only way to fill people’s hearts with His work was from the inside out.  

God goes on to say in Hebrews 8 I will put my laws into their minds, and write them in their hearts so they can see I am with them to be their God and they are able to know they are my people.  God says I will write on their hearts the work I’ve done to sanctify them from death and manifest my life in them.  I will write on their hearts the work I’ve done in providing a lamb to sanctify them from the body of death, and braid them together with Me and my life.  I will pour out my Spirit, that contains the words of the work I’ve done in Jesus to build them a body that cannot taste death, and that will make me manifest in their sight and heal their hearts from unbelief.  

There was a time in my life where my eye was filled with my own weakness and the weakness I saw all around me.  And every day I would pray Lord I believe help my unbelief.  And I heard God say to me have you considered the resurrection lately Greg.  You see I was all the time beholding my life in the world instead of beholding the life God built for me in Jesus.  

God sees we need help in our unbelief.  He manifests Himself and His life in the body of Jesus’ resurrection to put His work on display in our midst.  He wants you to see the strength in His hand is greater than the weakness you see in your flesh and in the world around you.

God has a fast in mind for us.  One where we are no longer filling our bellies with our own strength because we are delighting ourselves in His work.  

The resurrection is all about God setting His work in your midst so you can begin to feed on the strength in His life.  He does a work to manifest His life in your midst so He can prepare a table for you to eat from, and the table prepared by His work is filled with the nutrients of faith.  

The work of God to overcome death in the flesh is full of faith for us.  It feeds us with faith by making manifest the goodness in Gods heart towards us and our lives.  The strength; the power to be full of faith is found in what God has done in Christ to overcome death in the flesh. 

You don’t need to try and have faith.  All you do is live your life in this world continuously beholding and fellowshipping around the work of God.  


Prayer