When Jesus returned from the Mount of Transfiguration with Peter, James, and John, He was met by chaos. A desperate father had brought his son, tormented by an unclean spirit, to the disciples — but they couldn’t help him. The father turns to Jesus in anguish and says: “If You can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.”
Jesus responds, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.” The father’s reply is one of the most honest prayers in all of Scripture: “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!”
The father admits both faith and doubt. He doesn’t pretend to have perfect trust. Instead, he lays his weakness before Jesus. And that’s exactly what Jesus honors. True faith isn’t the absence of doubt — it’s bringing our doubts to Christ.
The disciples had tried to cast out the demon and failed. Later, they asked why. Jesus told them, “This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer.” Their failure exposed a reliance on themselves instead of God. Sometimes our setbacks are God’s way of reminding us that the Christian life must be lived in dependence, not self-sufficiency.
Jesus connects spiritual authority to prayer. Prayer is not a last resort; it is the believer’s lifeline. If the Son of God Himself lived in constant fellowship with the Father, how much more must we? A prayerless life is a powerless life.
Application for Us:
When doubts creep in, pray like the father: “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief.” Jesus meets us where we are, not where we pretend to be.
When we fail, don’t hide in shame — let that failure drive you deeper into dependence on God.
When we struggle, remember that prayer is not optional. It is the very channel through which God’s strength flows into our weakness.
