The level at which you think will determine the level of your results. In fact, the size of your thinking will naturally produce its outcome. Small thinking produces small results; big thinking produces big results. God tends to meet us at our level of expectations.

In the gospel of Mark, we read a crazy account of a struggling father and a possessed boy. This story has so much packed into it that can help our understanding of how the size of our thoughts can determine outcomes.

Mark 9:17-26 (NIV)

17 A man in the crowd answered, “Teacher, I brought you my son, who is possessed by a spirit that has robbed him of speech. 18 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.”

19 “You unbelieving generation,” Jesus replied, “how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy to me.”

20 So 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.

21 Jesus asked the boy’s father, “How long has he been like this?”

“From childhood,” he answered. 22 “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.”

23 “‘If you can’?” said Jesus. “Everything is possible for one who believes.”

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

25 When Jesus saw that a crowd was running to the scene, he rebuked the impure spirit. “You deaf and mute spirit,” he said, “I command you, come out of him and never enter him again.”

26 The spirit shrieked, convulsed him violently and came out. The boy looked so much like a corpse that many said, “He’s dead.” 27 But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him to his feet, and he stood up.

The father of the young possessed boy had a major challenge on his hands. Have you ever had a challenge that was out of your control? Something that you felt powerless over? That’s the way this father probably felt about his boy’s condition. When he brought his boy to Jesus he said, “If you can do anything…” The father’s faith was in question. Notice, he asked, “If…” Jesus responded to this father by addressing his unbelief. Jesus made a statement by repeating the question out loud, “If you can?” He directly questioned the man’s faith because of the way the man even approached Him. I wonder how Jesus would have responded if the boy’s father omitted the “if” statement and simply said, “You can do anything…” Imagine how the conversation may have changed or even the situation may have changed if the father’s thinking was bigger. What if his belief wasn’t hindered by “If?” I think many of us are in the same boat of unbelief as this man. We ask, “If?” rather than saying “You can do anything.” Unbelieving statements produces undone miracles. Jesus said, “Everything is possible for one who believes.” He didn’t say, “Some things are possible…” He didn’t say, “Sometimes things are possible.” He didn’t say, “Everything might be possible…” He said, “Everything is possible for one who believes.” That was a statement of faith in itself. Jesus basically told us that our level of thinking can block results or bring them. Belief is a thought followed by action. How you think will determine how you live.

You are only one idea away from a major breakthrough. A simple thought can become the catalyst for a life-altering future. Oliver Wendell Holmes said, “One’s mind, once stretched by a new idea, never regains its original dimensions.” People are not limited by their bank accounts, friendships, or even opportunities, we are limited by our thinking. I often say, “The only limit you have is the belief you have one.” But the flip-side of being limited by our thinking is that we can also be liberated by our thinking. We can use our thoughts to create the future we desire to experience. Napoleon Hill, author of Think And Grow Rich taught, “Whatever the mind can conceive and believe, the mind can achieve.” For twenty years he studied the wealthiest and most successful people of his time, and they all had the exact same thing in common–their thinking. You see, your thoughts will either limit you or liberate you depending on how you use them.

When you change your thinking from “If” to “I do believe,” you’ll start to experience greater results. Don’t put a question mark on your faith when God calls us to put a period on it. Or better yet…an exclamation point! Ask God to help you overcome your unbelief as the boy’s father did and see what begins to happen.