Combine Faith and Action to Change Your Life
“If I could just touch his clothes, I will be healed.”
Mark 5:28
Do you ever get around people, Christians even, who seem to only have bad things to say? They are always negative or down-in-the-mouth? You hesitate about asking them, “How was your weekend?” or “How are you doing?” because you know they’ll have a long list of how terrible everything is? Something is always wrong. Someone is always treating them unfairly. They are always sick, and always in a bind. If they didn’t have anything negative to talk about, their mouth would stay shut most of the time. Know anyone like that?
These types of people can easily drain you if you’re not careful. Even worse, if they are a Christian, non-Christians witness them being full of self-pity, negativity, and blame, which results in them thinking, “If that’s how it feels to be a Christian, then I don’t want anything to do with it.” They are misrepresenting Christ with their extremely poor attitudes!
THEY ARE POWERLESS–BY CHOICE! THEY TAKE NO ACTION WITH THEIR FAITH!
Sure, they’re Christian, saved even–our salvation is not contingent on our attitudes (good or bad). But still, they sit around mopey, saying stupid things like, “Well I guess if God wants me to have that, then He’ll give it to me. If not, then I’m all outta luck.”
NO! YOU’RE WRONG! YOU GOTTA GO AFTER IT! YOU GOTTA GET UP AND MOVE! YOU GOTTA MIX ACTION WITH YOUR FAITH IF YOU WANT TO CHANGE YOUR LIFE!
Yes, we are Christians by faith alone, but God is expecting us to get off our tooshies, stop blaming others, stop living in the past, and get up and do something! Jesus didn’t sit around feeling sorry for Himself and neither should we! He was constantly on the move!
There is a woman in the Bible who “suffered with an issue of blood” (see Mark 5), she couldn’t stop bleeding. Mark said that she had seen every doctor possible and spent all of her money trying to get this health issue fixed. But still “instead of getting better she grew worse” (Mark 5:26).
She was doing all she could—on her own. She had action, with no faith (I used to be just like that). Then one day she heard that Jesus was passing through town. She was absolutely determined to get next to this man who had been making crippled people walk and blind men see! She knew by faith, “If I could just touch his clothes, I will be healed” (Mark 5:28). WHAT AWESOME BELIEF!
But the problem was, Jesus was swarmed everywhere He went; a crowd followed all the time and it was nearly impossible to get near Him! BUT THAT WASN’T GOING STOP HER! Mark said, “A large crowd was pressed around Him…she came up behind Him and touched His cloak!”
SHE HAD SOME SERIOUS DETERMINATION! SHE HAD ACTION AND FAITH!
And look what happened after she touched Him! Jesus didn’t even lay hands on her, or pray for her, NOPE! She zapped His power right from Him! “Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering!” (Mark 5:29).
THIS IS CRAZY TO ME! SHE “SKIMMED” A HEALING RIGHT OUTTA JESUS’ POCKET! ROBBED HIM OF HIS SPARE CHANGE OF POWER!
When she did this, Jesus stood still…He paused…He looked around. I could only guess what He was thinking, “Someone just touched me who believes in me so deeply, they stole a healing.” When He realized the power had gone out from him He turned around and scanned the crowd, “Who touched my clothes?” (Mark 5:30). The disciples were like, “What do you mean? There are hordes of people swarmed around you? It could have been anyone?”
But no, Jesus kept looking around. He knew that someone with enormous faith in Him had just dipped into His bucket of power without even asking Him first–someone had just combined their faith with action.
So the woman finally steps forward, falls at His feet, and admits it was her. And what does Jesus say? “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering” (Mark 5:34).
YOUR FAITH HAS HEALED YOU! HER FAITH, COMBINED WITH THE FACT THAT SHE WAS NOT GOING TO GIVE UP ON CHANGING HER LIFE THROUGH JESUS! Oh my gosh, I could just explode right now!
She knew Jesus was coming through town and she got up! She didn’t sit there feeling sorry for herself or talking about her problem! No! She had already done everything she possibly could do, and then she went to Jesus! She pressed through the people standing in her way, and she got her miracle as she combined action with her faith! She actually did something about her terrible situation by seeking Jesus out as her solution!
…Do you want to change your life? Friend, you can do this too. You can change your life! You can stop living by fear, by the flesh, or by unrenewed thinking. Just take your faith to Jesus and combine it with the action He keeps asking you to take. Then prepare yourself, because when you do this everything begins to change, in your mind.
A prayer for you: Well good morning Lord! Wow, WHAT a beautiful morning it is! First off, I want to thank you for letting me live another day on your planet. I am grateful. Right now, I lift up all who are reading this, directly to you. For those who WANT to change their lives, help them. You don’t force us to do anything, yet, you place opportunities in front of us all the time and then give us the grace and strength needed to act on them. We are ready to ACT! WE ARE READY FOR MORE! Teach us how to combine our faith and action, through you! Amen!
This devotional is from 60 Days for Jesus, Volume 1. Get your copy here!