Faith is one of the greatest studies in the Bible. It is the “master key” to everything the believer would need or desire in this life. Just as it takes money or “currency” to buy a house or a car or pay for daycare for our children, faith works the same way. It takes faith, which I call the “currency of the Kingdom,” to access our inheritance or God’s promises regarding our health, deliverance, prosperity, well-being and success. The more faith we have, the more we can possess and do for the Kingdom of God. Jesus said it this way, “According to your faith, be it unto you.”
Let me share a few things about faith.
First, Faith comes through the Word of God. In Mark 5:25-34, a woman had an issue of blood and had gone “to many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was not getting better, but rather grew worse.” Medically, there was no cure for this woman. The doctors who treated her were probably well-trained medical professionals and very sincere about their prognosis of her condition. However, faith comes by hearing about things not yet seen. And faith rests on far more solid ground than the evidence of the senses.
Second, Faith grows out of the word of God. “[The woman] had heard the reports concerning Jesus and she came up behind in the throng and touched His garment, For she kept saying, If I could only touch His garments, I shall be restored to health.” (Amplified Bible, Mark 5:28). Notice, this woman had a choice of which report to believe. Those well-trained human physicians or the “Great Physician,” Jesus. She chose to believe God and committed to take Him at His Word.
When she kept saying, she kept hearing. As she kept hearing, her faith kept growing until the old “grow worse image” was destroyed and the new vivid image of health was built in her heart (spirit). This is the key to victory.
Third, Faith without works is dead. Real faith demands corresponding action. For example, in Acts 16, Paul and Silas were put in jail for casting a spirit of divination (fortune telling) out of a woman but, “At midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God, and the prisoners heard them. And suddenly there was a great earthquake . . . and all the doors were opened and everyone’s bands (shackles) were loosed.” Notice, after they prayed, they believed it was done and began to praise God. God always moves after our move. That was the corresponding action to their faith.
Fourth, Faith speaks: “If I only touch His garments, I shall be restored to health.” A person of faith declares things in line with the Word of God, independent of the present circumstances. Religious faith says, “I sure hope I can get my healing,” or “God will heal me when He gets good and ready.” Notice the uncertainty. Real faith begins where the will of God is known. Notice, religion is never sure about the will of God and is always waiting for God, when God is waiting for us. Jesus put away our sins and healed our diseases some 2,000 years ago, and “The Lord is not slack (slow) concerning His promises.” (II Peter 3:9).
Fifth, Faith takes: “And straightway (immediately) the fountain of her blood was dried up; and she felt in her body that she was healed of that plague. And Jesus immediately knowing in himself that virtue had gone out of Him, turned Him about in the press, and said, Who touched my clothes?” Notice, Jesus apparently had no idea this woman was even there. In other words, He didn’t turn and minister healing to her. No. She took what she needed without even asking permission. Why? Because healing belonged to her, just like it belongs to you and me.
Finally, Faith always works: “And He said unto her, daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace and be whole of thy plague.” Faith is a spiritual force and “the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen.” It will drive whatever is not of God right out of your life. Once it’s released out of the heart of the believer, it goes to work making good whatever God has promised.
Remember, whenever you’re about to take a faith step in your life or business, sense knowledge (or human reasoning) will fight you every step of the way. Battles are normal as you move into your “promised land.” But the good news is we win. That’s why the Bible calls it “the good fight of faith.” The fight of faith is the only fight the believer is called to fight.
The Rev. Dr. Bill Winston is pastor of the 19,000-member Living Word Christian Center in Forest Park, Ill., and founder and president of the Joseph Business School, which has a branch in Miami.
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