ACTIVE FAITH MATTERS
TODAY’S SCRIPTURE
A woman in the crowd had suffered for twelve years with constant bleeding. She had suffered a great deal from many doctors, and over the years she had spent everything she had to pay them, but she had gotten no better. In fact, she had gotten worse. She had heard about Jesus, so she came up behind him through the crowd and touched his robe. For she thought to herself, “If I can just touch his robe, I will be healed.” Immediately the bleeding stopped, and she could feel in her body that she had been healed of her terrible condition.
Mark 5:25-29 NLT
TODAY’S THOUGHT
This is a powerful story about faith. We see the value of persistent faith—the woman had been trying to find a cure for her sickness for years and nothing got better. She heard about Jesus coming the area of her community and decided to put herself in a position to be healed by touching His robe. She had to go through a lot to get that close to Jesus. There was a large crowd around Jesus, and she was a nobody. She had no right to be that close to Jesus. But her persistence put her in the place to receive her miracle. In life we must decide if we will keep trying until we get it right. Rarely do things work out the way we want them to on the first round. We choose to keep trying and learning and getting better. Our first prayer may not get the answer we want so we pray some more. It is also a story about active faith. A lot of people talk about their faith—but it is a passive faith not an active faith. Active faith means you act. This lady chose to push through the crowd to touch the robe of Jesus. She didn’t sit at home and say, “If it’s God’s will for me to be healed then Jesus will come to my house and heal me.” She put legs to her faith and acted on what she believed. It is one thing to pray in faith, it is another thing to act in faith. God honors action. Most frequently it seems to me the harder I work the more blessing God pours into my life. I remember the old line, “The harder I work the luckier I get.” When we do what we can do, God will do what we can’t do. But rarely does God do His part before we do our part. We have a responsibility to put action behind our faith. There was persistence, action, and there was confession. The woman “said to herself” is the way one translation puts it. In the New Living it says, “she thought to herself.” I believe the more accurate translation is that she said these words to herself. She chose to use the medium of speech to release a spirit of faith in her heart. She had to speak to herself. Those who study human behavior tell us that our self-talk is very important in our ability to succeed in life. Life and death are in the power of the tongue. It works for what we say over our children, and it works for what we say over ourselves. When we choose to speak life over ourselves, we release life into ourselves. What are you saying to yourself?
TODAY’S PRAYER
Holy Spirit, please help me to be persistent, know when and how to take action, and to speak words of faith to myself. Help me to be the best me I can be.
“Scroll down to share what you feel God is saying based on today’s reading.”