Arrow prayers

Mark 9:23-24 (NASB)

And Jesus said to him, “If you can!  All things are possible to him who believes.”  Immediately the boy’s father cried out and began saying, “I do believe, help me in my unbelief.”  

Have you ever heard of the term “arrow prayer(s)”?  Think of the imagery of putting an arrow in a bow, pointing the bow upward, pulling back on the arrow and letting it go toward the skies (I used to do this as a kid with a friend with a real bow and arrow where we’d shoot the arrow up and out of sight on a football field and then run for cover; sometimes we never found that arrow!).  Arrow prayers are quick, one sentence prayer requests that anyone can utter anytime, anyplace, and fit a large range of needs.  The father in this passage gave such an arrow prayer—I believe, help me in my unbelief.  Two other arrow prayers are:

§ “God, be merciful to me, the sinner” (Luke 18:13)

§ “Not my will but Thy will be done” (Luke 22:42)

Think of how many daily life situations you could be silently or crying out these three arrow prayers. 

We all struggle with faith issues in our lives, just like this father struggled.  Intellectually, we believe that God is all-powerful (omnipotent) and can be trusted to handle any problem we face in our lives, but emotionally and, yes, spiritually, we have doubts.  I am certain that Matt and his family experienced doubts at times and prayed this same arrow prayer as the father did in this verse.   

What kind of faith is Jesus referring to when He says “…….to him who believes”?  It is the faith defined in Hebrews 11:1 “Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”  The key words are “assurance” and “conviction”.  How do you obtain assurance and conviction?  Again, the simple answer is spending quality time in the Word of God.  A simple answer, but a very difficult discipline for most people.  Where do you stand in your faith?  It should be growing in assurance and conviction, but don’t get too down on yourself when you sometimes question your faith.  That’s the beauty of this arrow prayer.  Remember the famous quote of Mark Twain:

"Most people are bothered by those passages of Scripture which they cannot understand, but as for me, I have always noticed that the passages in Scripture that trouble me most are those I do understand."

In what areas of your faith do you admit that you want to cry out and confess---“Help me, Lord, in my unbelief?”