| G12 DEVOTIONAL...FAITH PRODUCES MIRACLES |
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FAITH PRODUCES MIRACLES The whole Bible was written to impart faith to our hearts. There is one particular passage in Mark 5:25-34 that condenses the most important steps in the area of faith. The woman in this story had been suffering from bleeding for twelve years. God intervened in a supernatural way. He poured mercy on the life of the woman so that she could be transformed by the power of the Spirit and receive His blessings. The story of this woman is an allegory about the steps that are required to see a miracle.
DARE TO BELIEVEThe first thing to notice about this woman is that she dared to believe. She had been suffering from a permanent agony for a period twelve years. Her bleeding had debilitated her in a great way. But in the middle of her crisis she heard someone talking about Jesus. She knew nothing about Him, but when she saw the atmosphere of the crowd she got interested and began to ask questions about who He was. “He is the Messiah, the Savior of the world, the Prophet of Israel who was to come,” they told her, “The One for whom we have been waiting for so long. He heals the lepers, raises the dead, and frees those who are under the oppression of demons; He is the Son of God.”
Listening to these things brought hope, and faith arose in this woman, and she opened her heart to receive all of the blessings that flowed from God. Paul said, “Faith comes from hearing and hearing comes from the Word of God” (Romans 10:17).
VISUALIZING SUCCESSThat woman had focused so much energy on her problem that there was not one ray of hope in her life. After this woman heard the crowd talking about Jesus, she renewed her mind and began to paint a healthy picture in it. In just one moment, the light of hope began to shine anew, and she began to think about her health at great length.
CONFESS THE MIRACLEThe woman said, “If I only touch the edge of his cloak, I will be healed” (Mark 5:28). The apostle Paul said, “For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved” (Romans 10:10). You have to teach your disciples that once they have succeeded in painting their goals in their minds in a clear way, doing it in faith; they should speak about them with absolute certainty as if they have already achieved them. When you write and declare your goals, you immediately bear witness and become totally motivated to move yourself to the same level of faith as your confession.
One of the customs of inventor Thomas A. Edison was to call a press conference and present to them some new invention. He described it with such clarity that he awakened the curiosity of the people. After that, he ran to his laboratory to turn it into a reality. Edison knew the importance of bearing witness and then to work hard for the confessed goals.
ACT BOLDLY IN FAITHThe woman who had been subject to bleeding boldly said, “If I just touch His garment,” she thought, “I will be healed.” When you get to the point that you believe, visualize, and confess, then it is time to go to work. And in this process, you cannot let yourself be hindered by obstacles and adversity. That woman knew that it was almost impossible to get to Jesus, but as she followed the correct steps, her vision prompted her to remove all the obstacles that were in her way and press on until she reached Jesus. The culmination of things depended on her actions.
If she had waited for Jesus to be detained and returned to where she was, she probably would not have experienced that miracle in her body. But this woman was very determined. Her thought process must have been, “If Jesus is not coming to me, then I will go to Him. The obstacles in my way don’t matter to me.” Jesus took into account this woman’s act of faith because she had taken the correct steps to experience the power of God in her life.
Faith is what forges your destiny because it produces so much desire inside of you to take action. Faith sets you so high in the spiritual realm that it does not permit you to see obstacles. Faith carries you into Jesus’ presence, not just to touch Him but to extract the power of God in your favor. That is why Jesus praised this woman’s action: “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering” (Mark 5:34).
YOU WILL ONLY RECEIVE WHAT YOU BELIEVEThe confession of your goals should result from what you have visualized in your heart. It is easy to confess with your lips what you believe in your mind, but it is difficult to confess what you do not believe. You cannot think about a goal of one hundred people if in your mind you only believe in ten. And you cannot confess a goal of one thousand if in your mind you only believe in one hundred. And you cannot confess a goal of ten thousand people if in your mind you only believe in one thousand. Your vision should be linked to your confession because the confession is the expression of what you have already succeeded in conquering in the spiritual realm.
To receive the miracle, this woman needed to act by faith, which is the essence of the Christian life and the only thing that moves God’s heart. If we want a miracle, we need to have faith, because this is the only way we can move within God’s supernatural realm. Faith doesn’t allow us to see the obstacles, but makes us walk over them, visualizing and confessing the miracle we have set in our mind to obtain. “THE CONFESSION OF OUR GOALS MUST BE THE RESULT OF WHAT WE HAVE VISUALIZED IN OUR HEART” |
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