{"id":37132,"date":"2025-08-25T22:00:18","date_gmt":"2025-08-26T05:00:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/?p=37132"},"modified":"2025-08-19T16:58:22","modified_gmt":"2025-08-19T23:58:22","slug":"mark_9_14-23","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/mark_9_14-23\/","title":{"rendered":"The Size of Your Faith Matters"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mark 9:1-13 \u00a0(CLICK HERE FOR\u00a0BIBLE VERSES)<\/a><\/p>\n

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Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

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Today\u2019s passage is Mark 9:14-23.\u00a0 With an open mind and a humble heart, read this passage and see what sticks out to you in this passage.\u00a0 Is there a verse, a phrase, or a lesson you think the Holy Spirit may be highlighting for you in this passage?\u00a0 After you\u2019ve thought about the passage yourself a bit, read the GAME sharing below.\u00a0 Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

Mark 9:14-23 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n14\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0When they came to the other disciples, they saw a large crowd around them and the teachers of the law arguing with them.
\n15\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0As soon as all the people saw Jesus, they were overwhelmed with wonder and ran to greet him.
\n16\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0“What are you arguing with them about?” he asked.
\n17\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0A man in the crowd answered, “Teacher, I brought you my son, who is possessed by a spirit that has robbed him of speech.<\/em>
\n18\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Whenever 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.”
\n19\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0“O unbelieving generation,” Jesus replied, “how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy to me.”
\n20\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0So they brought him. When the spirit saw Jesus, it immediately threw the boy into a convulsion. He fell to the ground and rolled around, foaming at the mouth.
\n21\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Jesus asked the boy’s father, “How long has he been like this?” “From childhood,” he answered.
\n22\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0“It has often thrown him into fire or water to kill him. But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us.”
\n23\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0“‘If you can’?” said Jesus. “Everything is possible for him who believes.”<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 14-23:\u00a0 At first in verse 19 it seems that Jesus is rebuking his disciples for their lack of faith.\u00a0 But in verse 23, Jesus turns his attention to the father\u2019s apparent lack of faith (v23).\u00a0 The father\u2019s words \u201cIf you can\u201d suggest that the father\u2019s faith was not strong that Jesus could help his demon-possessed son.\u00a0 So when Jesus says in verse 19 \u201cO unbelieving generation\u201d, perhaps Jesus is not just referring to his disciples but also to those who would come to Jesus for help.<\/p>\n

This raises an important lesson for us:\u00a0\u00a0How much of God we experience will depend not just on the faith of those we go to for help, but also on our own faith<\/strong>.\u00a0 We see this in the Gospels of Mark, how the amount of miracles Jesus performed in any one town was correlated with the amount of faith the people in that town had (e.g. Mark 6:5-6; Matthew 13:58).<\/p>\n

You can bring yourself, your kid, your problem to the most anointed spiritual leader, but if you yourself do not have faith that God can do anything, your lack of faith can affect the outcome.\u00a0\u00a0When you bring your problem to God or ask God for anything, believe that with God anything is possible.\u00a0 In doing so you give God maximum room to do His work in your life.<\/strong><\/p>\n

In the kingdom of God, the size of your faith matters.<\/p>\n

Father, please forgive me when I bring my issue to You but don\u2019t have the faith that You can do anything about it.\u00a0 The fact is that anything is possible for You.\u00a0 May You not be limited in my life because of a lack of faith on my part, but may my faith release You to do everything You want to do in my life.\u00a0 In Jesus\u2019 name, AMEN!<\/em><\/p>\n

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copyright \u00a9 2022 Justin Lim. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Mark 9:14-23.\u00a0 With an open mind and a humble heart, read this passage and see what sticks out to you in this passage.\u00a0 Is there a verse, a phrase, or a lesson you think the Holy Spirit may be highlighting for you in this passage?\u00a0 After you\u2019ve thought about the passage yourself a bit, read the GAME sharing below.\u00a0 Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

Mark 9:14-23 (NIV)
\n14\u00a0\u00a0When they came to the other disciples, they saw a large crowd around them and the teachers of the law arguing with them.
\n15\u00a0\u00a0As soon as all the people saw Jesus, they were overwhelmed with wonder and ran to greet him.
\n16\u00a0\u00a0“What are you arguing with them about?” he asked.<\/p>\n

On verses 14-23:\u00a0 At first in verse 19 it seems that Jesus is rebuking his disciples for their lack of faith.\u00a0 But in verse 23, Jesus turns his attention to the father\u2019s apparent lack of faith (v23).\u00a0 The father\u2019s words \u201cIf you can\u201d suggest that the father\u2019s faith was not strong that Jesus could help his demon-possessed son.\u00a0 So when Jesus says in verse 19 \u201cO unbelieving generation\u201d, perhaps Jesus is not just referring to his disciples but also to those who would come to Jesus for help.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":37134,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-37132","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gametime-sharing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37132","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37132"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37132\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37135,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37132\/revisions\/37135"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37134"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37132"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37132"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37132"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}