Chapter 6 - Tap Into The Power

And suddenly a woman who had a flow of blood for twelve years, came from behind and touched the hem of his garment: For she said to herself, If only I may touch his garment, I shall be made well.

But Jesus turned around, and when he saw her he said, Be of good cheer, daughter; your faith has made you well. And the woman was made well from that hour.

And when Jesus came into the ruler's house, and saw the flute players and the noisy crowd wailing, He said to them, Make room: for the girl is not dead, but sleeping. And they laughed him to scorn.

But when the crowd was put outside, he went in and took her by the hand, and the girl arose. And the report of this went out into all the land.

We are learning a lot about the power within, and that we need to tap the resources and the power that is within us. But how do we let it out? It is one thing to tap the power, but how do we release it?

There are actually only two ways that we can give out what is within us. Those two ways are: 1. Words or speech and 2. Actions

Now which of these two is the greater? Is it words or is it actions? Some people say it is words and others say that it is actions. Have you ever heard this expression?

Actions speak louder than words.

Whichever answer you gave to the question I am glad, because now I want you to think this thing through.

You see we're quick to speak. We are quick to open our mouths and say something, and sometimes we say things before the time is right. We say them too quickly, but we forget how important actions are.

The Ruler

The passage that we looked at in the beginning, gives us an example of how people used actions and words to experience the power of God in their lives.

The first person that we see this happening to, was a ruler whose daughter had just died and he fell down at Jesus' feet. He did two things. He came and He worshipped at Jesus' feet. And he pleaded with Jesus and said, "Please help me. My daughter has just died."

Now a lot of people are quite happy to do that where the Lord is concerned. They want to come and plead and say, "Oh Lord, please… Oh Lord, please…"

But the Lord does not respond to that kind of action, nor does He respond to that kind of speech.

This man did a lot more than come to Jesus because He was the one who was going to solve his problem. He came, and what did he say? Did he say, "Oh Lord, please will you come and see if you can raise my daughter from the dead."?

No, he said, "Lord, please will you come, because I know that if you put your hands on my daughter she will be raised up."

He said, "My daughter has just died, but come and lay your hand on her and she will live."

He came and he acted in faith and he spoke in faith. His faith was demonstrated in actions and in words.

And did Jesus argue with him or ask him, as He did to many other people, "What do you want me to do for you?"

Did Jesus ask him, as He did to so many other people, "Do you believe that I can do this thing?"

No, He didn't need to. The man had already demonstrated his faith, and without faith it is impossible to please Him. He had done everything that Jesus needed to perform that raising from the dead.

He had spoken the word of faith and he had acted his faith out. He had released all that was needed. Jesus said, "Sure, I will come with you."

And He went with every intention of raising that little girl from the dead.

A Woman of Faith

As Jesus was walking along, we see another woman appearing on the scene - the woman with the issue of blood. It says, "She came from behind Him."

And what did she do? She reached out and touched Him. She knew that if she touched Him she would get healed. So she put her faith into action and she reached out and touched Him.

You must know that what this woman did was illegal. Did you know that?

She had a flow of blood. If a woman so much as had her monthly period she was considered unclean. She was not allowed to be touched, because anybody who touched her would be unclean.

By her reaching out and touching Him with this disease, she was actually making Him unclean according to Jewish law. What she did was against the law.

She put her faith on the line, because if she had stepped out and touched Him in this condition and had not been healed, she would actually have come under condemnation.

What else did she do? She said to herself, "If only I may touch His garment, maybe I might get healed."

Is that what she said? No, she said, "I will be made well."

It was a positive statement. She put her faith into action and she spoke it forth. She said, "If I can just get there and touch His garment I will be made well. I know I will be made well."

So she reached out and she put her faith into action. And as she touched Him, Jesus turned around and saw her and He said, "Be of good cheer daughter, your faith has made you well."

Her faith was released through her words and through her actions.

Jesus' Words and Actions

But do you know something? Jesus also used His faith in words and actions.

You see how as He went and arrived at the house, when He got there everybody was making a noise. They were mourning and weeping and He said to them, "Make room, for the girl is not dead but sleeping."

Of course she was dead. They ridiculed Him and said, "Who do you think you are, coming here and telling these people that the girl is asleep? Don't you know she's dead?"

Of course He knew she was dead, but He was speaking faith, and faith said, "Hey, she's just asleep. I'm going to go and wake her up."

What would have happened if she didn't wake up? Jesus would have discredited His ministry right there. Everybody would have stopped following Him and said, "This guy is crazy. He's missing it badly."

Jesus put His faith on the line when He said those words. He put His faith into action and He stepped out into what was the impossible.

He did the exact same thing at the graveside of Lazarus when He said, "Roll away the stone."

"But Lord he's dead." "I don't care. Roll away the stone."

Faith is shown by words and actions, and the only action that Jesus needed to do was to reach in there, take the little girl by the hand and lift her up.

Now can you imagine going to a dead body, grabbing it by its limp little hand and lifting it up, only to have it fall again? Jesus knew that the moment He touched her and lifted her up, life would return. 


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Way of Blessing Part 1 - Discovering Your Blessing - Chapter 6 of 26