HOW TO CHANGE YOUR CIRCUMSTANCES
Then one of the crowd answered and said, “Teacher, I brought You my son, who has a mute spirit. And wherever it seizes him, it throws him down; he foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth, and becomes rigid. So I spoke to Your disciples, that they should cast it out, but they could not.”
He answered him and said, “O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him to Me.” Then they brought him to Him. And when he saw Him, immediately the spirit convulsed him, and he fell on the ground and wallowed, foaming at the mouth.
So He asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?”
And he said, “From childhood. And often, he has thrown him both into the fire and into the water to destroy him. But if You can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.”
Jesus said to him, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.”
Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!”
When Jesus saw that the people came running together, He rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, “Deaf and dumb spirit, I command you, come out of him and enter him no more!” Then the spirit cried out, convulsed him greatly, and came out of him. And he became as one dead, so that many said, “He is dead.” But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose. Mark 9:17-27.
These scriptures illustrate the account of a loving father who was concerned for his son’s health. His little boy had been sick with deaf and dumb, and several times, he would suffer convulsions, and this convulsion would throw the boy into the fire and into the water to kill him.
The boy’s condition was complicated because he suffered a convulsion; his deaf and dumb spirit worsened his situation.
The Bible also tells us he had suffered from the condition since childhood. So imagine the emotional turmoil the boy’s father and his family must have gone through until they heard about Jesus.
The man went to Jesus’s disciples, but they could not cast the devil out. So then he met Jesus and cried out to Him, “if you can please, do something, have compassion on us, and help us,” Mark 9:22.
Now, you must notice Jesus’ response. First, he said, “if you can believe, all things are possible to him that believes.” Then, the Master turned the whole thing around and said, “The power of God can do anything, so it is not a question of what I can do; it is what you can believe.”
The man probably saw Jesus as a good miracle worker, which is why he spoke the way he did. That is the way some people think today, and it is wrong. They go to a minister and say, “if you can do anything, please help me.” Understand that it is not what the minister can do. The question is, how much can you believe?
Understand that if your situation is going to change, it will be by your faith. It is not another person’s faith or the minister’s faith, but your confidence in God’s Word will change that situation. Jesus did not say, “if you can believe, all things are possible to God.” It says all things are possible to YOU when you believe. No matter what you are going through today, you can change it if you can believe God’s Word.
FAITH KEEPS VICTORIES
For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. 1 John 5:4.
The lack of understanding of this truth is the reason why, sometimes, when people face difficulties in their lives, they pray, “I know my God is going to do it; I know He will not fail me.” Even though that sounds wonderful, it is wrong and will not work. It is not God’s responsibility to effect the change you desire; it is your responsibility.
I would say that all of God’s children would understand that Christianity is not a life that we live, expecting that God will help us. God has already done everything necessary for you to live a healthy, prosperous, joyful, and fulfilled life. What you need is the application of your faith.
Let’s look at Matthew 17:20 says, So Jesus said to them, “Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.
A mustard seed is a tiny seed, yet Jesus said if you have faith as small as that seed, you would tell a mountain to move, and it would, and nothing shall be impossible unto you. In other words, with the smallest amount of faith, you can have mighty miracles if you would put it to work. It means we do not have a faith problem; we have an unbelief problem.
Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Hebrews 11:1. The confident assurance that what you have expected is there and the conviction of the reality of things you do not see.
Now, Jesus said, “if you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, nothing shall be impossible unto you.” It means that with faith, you can change anything. Your faith is the victory.
If there is something in your body that you do not like, do not stay with it; change it. And you do this by voicing and acting your faith. First, get to God’s Word that tells you of your divine health and healing in Christ Jesus, and then voice it and act that way.
What is that mountain of infirmity that has weighed you down for so long? Do not cry to God; use your faith to remove it. When you do this, you can be sure there will be a change. Even when it seems like nothing happened, keep acting your faith; it is only a matter of time before the change will be evident for all to see because faith always works.
