..."I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!" - Mark 9:24 NIV
There are times this verse is my only prayer. When something happens or my faith is weak for some reason all I can do repeat this over and over.
I think this verse - these words said by a man who asked Jesus for a miracle - shows us two things:
First, underneath it all we as Christians should believe Jesus is our Lord and Savior, is GOD, and can do all things. Even the miraculous. Maybe especially.
Second, we can have a core of faith but still have doubts. Perhaps this father doubted because what he was asking Jesus for was huge to him. Even though he was bound to have heard of the other miracles Jesus had brought into being (why else would he be asking?), maybe he thought those were for someone else somewhere else.
Maybe he had the thought, "It happens to other people. It can't happen to me." (How much we think that - don't we? - about things good and bad.) Then he asked for help in removing his doubts. Jesus did and brought about the miracle the father asked for.
Jesus still removes our doubts. All we have to do is admit them and ask. If it can happen to me, it can definitely happen to you.