HOW TO EXPRESS YOUR FAITH
Mark 5:25-34 narrates the story of a certain woman who had suffered chronic bleeding for twelve long years. She had been through so much trying to get well and had spent all she had, but she did not get any better; instead, she grew worse, yet this story shows us a great example and lesson of how to express your faith.
In verse 27 of Mark 5, it says, “When she had heard of Jesus, came in the press behind and touched His garment. For she said if I may touch but his clothes, I shall be whole.” In other words, before this woman went to Jesus, she heard about Him and learned He was anointed with the power to heal. And she believed what she heard. Then she said, “if I can just get close enough to touch even the hem of His garment, I shall be well.” She said it; she voiced what she believed.
How to express your faith?
SPEAKING FAITH
In demonstrating your Faith in God, it is crucial to understand that believing is not the end. You start with believing, but you have to voice out what you believe in your heart. That is how Faith works. First, you believe, and then you speak. That is the cornerstone of how to express your faith.
And since we have the same spirit of Faith, according to what is written, ”I believed, and therefore I spoke,” we also believe and therefore speak, 2 Corinthians 4:13.
The spirit of Faith works by believing and speaking what you say you believe. Not just talking but speaking the Word of God irrespective of what you are going through in life.
In this woman’s account, she believed in the power of God at work in Jesus, and she said it. She did not keep quiet, as some of us will do in the name of being polite, not wanting to offend anyone. When Faith comes alive in your heart, you can not remain quiet, but you have to voice or act it out. There would be a corresponding action. There is no gentleness in Faith.
Brood of vipers! How can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. Matthew 12:34.
ACTING FAITH
Faith in God is demonstrated by action. Someone may need healing and then say to himself, “I know if I get into that meeting, I will be healed,” but he never goes. That is the problem with many of us; we talk about our beliefs, but we never act on them. Believing must go with the corresponding action of Faith; otherwise, it would not produce any fruits.
Thus also Faith by itself, if it does not have works, [actions] is dead.
James 2:17.
It means that Faith without corresponding action is dead. Notice, the scripture is not saying Faith without works is incomplete. No. it says Faith without works is dead. In other words, Faith without action is not Faith. Faith must be accompanied by action.
In our case study, the Bible tells us that when the woman heard about Jesus, she said, “If only I may touch His clothes, I shall be made well.”
Mark 5:28.
She heard about Jesus and then took steps to look for Him. Interestingly, the Bible records that when she got to where Jesus was, she saw a crowd, but she came in the press behind and touched his clothes. In her condition, she pressed her way through the crowd until she was able to reach out and touch the hem of Jesus’s garment; what an effort she made. The Bible says she felt in her body that she was healed of the sickness; the bleeding of 12 years stopped immediately.
It is important to note that Jesus did not do anything for the woman to access the power to be healed. He was going somewhere, and she came and touched the hem of His clothe and was healed. That is the reason He did not say to her, My Faith hath made you whole, but her Faith hath made her whole. It was her Faith that made her whole. She acted on what she believed, and she received a miracle.
In another account, while Jesus was teaching one day, four men brought a paralyzed friend. The scripture records that the crowd was so much, and they could not get in, but these four men were undaunted; they climbed up the roof of the house, tore open a hole in it, and let down their sick friend right before Jesus. Mark 2:1,11 & Mark 2:5&11. When Jesus saw their Faith, he said to the sick man, son, your sin has been forgiven, Arise, and take up your bed, and go home. And the man got up.
Now notice what the scripture said, “when Jesus saw their faith,” this means their Faith was seen through their actions. They believed Jesus had the power to heal, but they did not just stay there; they acted what they believed and received a miracle. That is how to express your Faith in God by acting on what you believe. It also means acting out Christ.
FAITH RECEIVES
Faith only receives what God has already provided. Faith is not doing or working hard, but Faith believes and receives what Christ has made available. Faith believes in receiving what Christ has done. If Christ has not provided it, Faith cannot make up things for us.
“For by grace, you have been saved through Faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, Ephesians 2:8.
Faith takes from the spiritual and brings it to the natural. “Now Faith is the assurance (title deed, confirmation) of things hoped for (divinely guaranteed), and the evidence of things not seen [the conviction of their reality—Faith comprehends as fact what cannot be experienced by the physical senses]. Hebrews 11:1.
Faith is not something we do to gain a response from God. Faith is our positive response to what God has already done through grace.
FAITH DOES NOT WORK WITH FEELINGS
Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them. Mark 11:24.
Often, we find people who think they have to receive (i.e., feel, touch, or see) something first before they can believe it. For example, they think they’re not healed because they are still experiencing symptoms which is not true. In demonstrating your Faith in God, it is vital to understand that Faith is a choice to stay in the Word. If you go by your feelings and say, well, I still feel the symptoms, or if I have indeed received my healing, the pains/symptoms ought to have gone, it means you think receiving your healing is based on the absence of the distress or symptoms, and that is not what the Word says. Faith must be based on the Word of God. You accept what the Word has said, whether or not there is physical evidence, and act that way.
Now, Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Hebrews 11:1.
So if you say those that observe lying vanities turn themselves away from God, who offers mercy. They set aside the grace and healing that they should rightfully enjoy. Those feelings in your body are lying vanities; the doctor’s report that says you have got cancer in your body is a lying vanity; the x-ray that shows you are almost gone is a lying vanity.
Settle in your heart today that the Word of God is real. Accept that you have whatever He says you have, and you are whatever He says you are. Then go ahead and act on it with Faith in your heart.
But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you. Romans 8:11.
But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes, we are healed. Isaiah 53:5.
When you act on truths in God’s Word such as these, you can rest assured that there will be a change because His Word is self-anointed. That is how to express your faith.
