Words of Grace

By Rev. Mahlon Nevel

A man whose son was troubled by a demonic spirit brought him to Jesus. “If you can do anything,” he pleaded, “have compassion on us, and help us.” (Mark 9:22)

What is Jesus able to do? Can he do anything? Can he do everything? Jesus is able to do much more than what we could ever ask, or think of asking. (Ephesians 3:20)

“If you can believe,” he said to the father, “all things are possible to him that believes” (Mark 9:23)
The man made a two-fold confession to Jesus. He cried out with tears saying, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief.” (V.24)

His first confession was confession of faith: “Lord, I believe.” His second confession was a confession of doubt: “Help my unbelief.”

Jesus responded to his faith by healing his son. He showed to the multitude of people gathered there that he was able to do anything and everything.

Paul Rader was one of the most effective and influential evangelists of the early twentieth century. In his younger years he went through a crisis of faith and quit preaching,

“I then gave up and quit preaching” he later testified. “I vowed I would never preach again.”

But God spoke to his heart in a tender pleading way, just as when he was as a young boy. He returned to the Lord and got back into the ministry of the Word.

Appropriately, he wrote the words of a hymn that ends with:

“Only believe, only believe; All things are possible, only believe.”