Lord, I Believe Guest Author Lori Hatcher

Today I welcome my good friend and personal encourager, Lori Hatcher to my space. Rather than give an introduction to her latest release, I’ll let her tell you. Then I hope you’ll read a sample, click on one of the retailer sites, and purchase her devotional filled with strength and encouragement. Here’s Lori:

If you’re like me, you want to believe—that God is good. That He loves you. That He has the power to do amazing things in and through your life.

But sometimes your faith wobbles.

During a sad, hard, trying time in my life, I searched for biblical reasons to trust God. Before long, I had listed 10. I felt my struggling faith grow stronger. Then I found 20, and my heart grew happier. When I found 40, I was ready to raise a dead man. I realized I could search and find forever, so I stopped at 60—sixty faith-strengthening, God-inspired, powerful reasons to believe. My heart was happier, more confident, and faith-filled. I’ve partnered with Our Daily Bread publishing to bring you the book, Lord, I Believe: 60 Devotions for Your Troubled Heart.

 

I Believe God Will Help Me Overcome My Unbelief*

Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!”

Mark 9:24

When was the last time you struggled to believe? 

Today? Yesterday? Every day?

If we’re honest, most of us will answer, “Often.”

When we struggle with our jobs, our health, or our marriages, we wonder if God will see us through. When our loved one languishes in a hospital bed or our prodigal child roams the streets doing God knows what, the icy grip of faithlessness squeezes our hearts and takes our breath away.

When we come to God again and again with the same request and nothing changes, our faith wobbles. Maybe I’m wasting my time. Maybe God doesn’t care. Or worse—maybe this situation is so bad, so sad, or so broken even God can’t fix it.

Such was the case with the man in Mark 9. This man was living a parent’s nightmare. A demon had controlled his son since he was a tiny boy. It would twist his little body with convulsions, paralyze his muscles, and sling him to the ground as he foamed at the mouth. Sometimes the father would hear noises and come running, only to discover the demon had flung his son into the fire or into the water.

One day, the man heard stories about a teacher who had fed a multitude and healed a blind man. Maybe, just maybe, He could help his son. So he set out for the teacher’s camp.

But Jesus wasn’t there.

His disciples listened to his desperate plea and tried to help. But the evil spirit hung on. Maybe even laughed a little.

By the time the Teacher arrived, a crowd had formed. Scribes and disciples argued. Bystanders offered opinions. The boy sat silently in their midst.

“What are you discussing?” Jesus asked.

“Teacher,” the man cried, “I brought you my son, who is possessed by a spirit that has robbed him of speech. Whenever it seizes him, it throws him to the ground. He foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth, and becomes rigid. I asked your disciples to drive out the spirit, but they could not” (vv. 17-18).

As if on cue, the demon convulsed the boy and flung him to the ground. Take that, Jesus. This one’s mine.

“If you can do anything,” his father begged, “take pity on us and help us” (v. 22).

“‘If you can’?” said Jesus. 

In three words, Jesus asked the heart-piercing question that exposed the father’s faith struggle—and ours.

Do we believe Jesus can?

Can He heal? Can He provide? Can He restore? Can He defend?

Sometimes I get so snarled up in the sovereignty of God—Is it His will or isn’t it His will—that I forget that faith is believing He can. “Without faith it is impossible to please God,” Hebrews 11:6 tells us. The faith that pleases God doesn’t… Share on X

I don’t have to know God’s will for every situation to pray in faith. Faith isn’t knowing the outcome. Faith is knowing God.

“Everything is possible for one who believes,” Jesus reminded the father (v. 23).

With the honesty that comes from staring into the all-knowing face of God, the man exclaimed, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!” (v. 24).

We can say the same.

Father, I trust you to work all things together for good for those who love you and are called according to your purposes (Romans 8:28).

On that day long ago, Jesus responded to a father’s wobbly faith by doing a miracle. He’s still doing miracles today.

*This chapter is an excerpt from Lord, I Believe, 60 Devotions for Your Troubled Heart and is used with permission from Our Daily Bread Publishing.

Are you ready to stake your faith on the firm foundation of God’s Word—and believe? Lord, I Believe, 60 Devotions for Your Troubled Heart  is available at:

Our Daily Bread

Amazon

Barnes and Noble

Christian Book