Faith as a substance pt 3: According to your faith

Mark 5v24 - 34
24 And Jesus went with him; and much people followed him, and thronged him.
25 And a certain woman, which had an issue of blood twelve years,
26 And had suffered many things of many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse,
27 When she had heard of Jesus, came in the press behind, and touched his garment.
28 For she said, If I may touch but his clothes, I shall be whole.
29 And straightway the fountain of her blood was dried up; and she felt in her body that she was healed of that plague.
30 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?
31 And his disciples said unto him, Thou seest the multitude thronging thee, and sayest thou, Who touched me?
32 And he looked round about to see her that had done this thing.
33 But the woman fearing and trembling, knowing what was done in her, came and fell down before him, and told him all the truth.
34 And he said unto her, Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace, and be whole of thy plague

I received an intuition to conclude this post on Faith as a substance with the story of the unnamed woman who all of us know as 'the woman with the issue of blood' . What a way to refer to her! Her story was so depressing even the Bible had to make her anonymous so as to protect her identity. Why did I say that, because this would have become her name and identity,. For instance, the Dalits caste in Nepal are surnamed The rat eater. Which I find so oppressive, in spite of the caste system being eliminated in Nepal since the 1970s, this sort of surname (identity) still promotes it. Praying that the Indian government would embrace the truth and eliminate this oppressive caste system from their social system. Back to our post, the case study of this woman with the issue of blood will be synchronized to our existing text in Hebrews 11. Proceed we shall. 

Heb 11V11: Faith gives strength: in the case of the woman with the issue of blood, her faith in the eternal authority of Jesus Christ over all diseases of all sorts gave her an Holy Spirit deduced project implementation plan and the strength to press through a thronging crowd withstanding the probability of stampede to get her miracle. Faith is indeed a moving force. It doesn't just give you the idea to excel but also the power to accomplish the idea as illustrated by the Holy Ghost. It's left to you now to act out and use the power embedded in you to accomplish the visions giving you.

V17: Faith enables us to withstand trials: This indeed supports the eleventh verse of the eleventh chapter of the book of Hebrew. By faith in the immutability of the Word of God over all situations enabled her to withstand the trial of pressing through the crowd. Some of you might not understand how deadly her venture was. I myself just learnt this at WOFBEC 2024. I think it was Pastor Jerry Eze or Apostle Grace Lubega that clarified it. As a person with an unending flow of blood, means she dares not touch another person for whoever she touches also becomes untouchable. Just like the Dalits. You see how effervescent and omniscient and omnipresent the Word of God is! For it has gone way ahead into the future to show even the present day untouchables how to get a change of identity. Back to the case study, she risked being stoned to death by coming to the mainstream. She's not totally banned from coming to the society, but she must notify other citizens by shouting Unclean! Unclean!! Unclean!!! At the end of the day, she accomplished and exceeded her expectations because she got more than her healing. To understand what I meant by she more than her bodily healing read to the end.

v20 - 22 Faith enables the futuristic blessedness. As most of us have been laying claims to the results of Abraham's faith in God Elohim, so does the depiction of this woman provide us with a very future oriented strategy to acquire divine blessings. Some lessons from her story shows that we must get instruction from the Holy Spirit before we do a thing we expect to be established. In addition to that, we must act on the instructions given. For faith without works is dead (James 2v17 - 26).

V23-28 Faith never settles for less. We have mentioned in previous posts that faith is a creative force. Which means that whatever is needed, though inexistent, will be created by YHWH Jireh. If you do believe. There has been several situations of human organs taken out through surgery growing back supernaturally. Because we serve that kind God who is able to do exceedingly and abundantly above all we dare to hope and dream of (Eph 3v20-21). Which shows God's infinite quality orientation, for quality in the human tense is defined as meeting and exceeding customer's expectations, while in Elohim's term, quality is exceedingly and abundantly above all human expectations. Whose report would you believe? I think God's view supercedes the earthly view. The woman with the issue of blood didn't settle for less. She was determined to implement her Holy Ghost infused restoration strategy that she didn't say I will wait until He gets to the next street or I will wait a bit to see if the crowd reduces so as to reduce her chances of being seen by others or to increase her chances of getting to the finish line. She knew she had to create her chance, because in God equal time and chance happens to them all (Eccl 9v11), for YHWH Elohim is not a respecter of persons (Acts 10v34).

V29-31 Faith is a Way maker. By the genuine faith in the Holy Spirit who designed the restoration strategy for the woman with the issue of blood, ways were made for her to accomplish the plans. Think of it, the woman was losing blood ceaselessly, which means her energy level will not be able to get her through the multitudes around Jesus. We can at least try to estimate what the Bible meant by multitude by reviewing 2 scenarios where Jesus fed 5000 and 7000 people, and not counting women and children. Which means they could easily be in excess of 15000 people. Now picture a frail and fragile old lady trying to get through this number of energetic people thronging around Jesus some for food some to catch a glimpse of Him, and sadly some to mock Him. You definitely know the woman with the issue of blood stood no chance. But faith in God always makes a way for those who act out in total believe. Which is the reason why faith as tiny as a mustard seed is all that's required to reposition a ginormous mountain (Matt 17v20). So many questions to ask David when I see him in paradise.

In conclusion, I mentioned that the woman with the issue of blood exceeded her expectations in the case study presented above because the Bible indicated that she had lost her savings or pensions or businesses in catering for the plague of blood in her life. To show that her restoration strategy was not devised by her cerebral powers but God's benevolence, Jesus perfected her restoration by reiterating the restoration strategy in verbatim. For He said (Mark 5v34) 'thy faith has made you whole'. Let me now piece what I am trying to say together. The Holy Spirit inspired restoration strategy is this simple word 'if I may but touch the hem of His garment I shall be made whole.' She didn't specify that she only wanted bodily healing. Wholeness also means that her lost wealth shall be or will be restored. Which is why Jesus responded with the affirmation that her faith has made you whole which can be rephrased as be it unto you according to your faith (Matt 9v29). Which encompass things such as wealth, relationships, businesses, glory and all.

Since we are now exposed to the topic of faith. Please know that the full expression of faith can be limited to our belief. In the case of the woman with the issue of blood, the Word said thy faith had made thee whole. It is now left to her to exercise this decree in all areas she requires restoration. For the oil is ever-Flowing and would only stop when the empty jars are finished (II Kings 4v6). So to accomplish the impossible this year let your faith rise from the natural to the supernatural. Let you faith move from what you see to the greatness of your God Elohim who loved you so much He sent His only Son Yeshua Hamashiach to come liberate us.

May 2024 be a year of Exceeding great rewards for us all in Jesus's name. May it be our year of Above Only. May it be our year of Flourishing indeed, because we have been ordained and equipped to triumph in hard times.

Shalom aleichem brothers and sisters

Babasile Daniel I