“Doubt kills more dreams than failure ever will.” - Suzy Kassem
I have often wondered where doubt comes from. It was why my first successful NaNoWriMo Novel was called the Faithwalker. It was about a young man who learned that as long as he believed he could do something he was able too. I had wanted to write a character with that power since I first encountered the Champion of the Shiar Imperium Gladiator. His race the Strongtians had many of the superhuman abilities as Superman but with their one weakness being doubt. It lead to one of my favorite moments in comics. Gladiator was defeated by the X-Man Cannonball by exploiting that weakness.
I wanted to see how I could write a story using that element. It was fun.
So is it possible to actually get rid of doubt?
Mark 9:21-27
And Jesus asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?” And he said, “From childhood. And it has often cast him into fire and into water, to destroy him. But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.”
And Jesus said to him, “‘If you can’! All things are possible for one who believes.”
Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, “I believe; help my unbelief!” And when Jesus saw that a crowd came running together, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, “You mute and deaf spirit, I command you, come out of him and never enter him again.”
And after crying out and convulsing him terribly, it came out, and the boy was like a corpse, so that most of them said, “He is dead.” But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose.
Here we see the damage that doubt that caused.
1. The Son is demon-possessed
2. The Father is at his wits end
3. The Disciples were unable to cast it out
For both the Father, the Son and the Disciples the answer came in the last verse of that section, verse 29.
And he said to them, “This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer.”
The father prayed on behalf of his son for the demon possession to end. He also prayed that God would help his unbelief. Jesus later told the disciples that this type of demon could only be cast out through prayer.
So how is your prayer life? For me I have found that the times when I have been plauged the most by doubt was when I was the least prayerful. Have you found the same to be true? My prayer for you today is that you would allow God to strengthen your belief.