Mark 5:28: For she said, “If only I may touch His clothes, I shall be made well”.
Mark 5:34: And He (Jesus) said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace, and be healed of your affliction”.
Here’s a record in the Bible about a certain woman who had a flow of blood for twelve years. Not only did she suffer much, she also had spent all she had to be healed, yet to no avail. And to add to that, her condition went from bad to worse!
In short, she had come to the 'end' of what to do. Someone once said, “It’s when you know you cannot, that’s when He can”. That’s exactly what happened to this woman, and that’s also when she heard about Jesus. In Mark 5:28, she said, “If only I may touch His clothes, I shall be made well”. You know what? She knew Jesus wouldn’t 'resist' her. She knew Jesus in all His grace would heal her. So, she scrambled through the crowd of people, and touched Him. All she wanted was to receive her healing! And Mark 5:29 says ‘immediately the fountain of her blood dried up’, and she was healed!
Now, what is ‘grace’? It’s ‘charis’ in Greek, which means ‘gift, favor (though unmerited), or God's ability to do for you what you can't do for yourself’. The Bible says Jesus is grace (and truth) personified (see John 1:17), and this woman knew Jesus in all His grace would surely heal her! Isaiah 53:4-5 says ‘surely He (Jesus) has borne our griefs (including disease) and carried our sorrows (including pain or anguish)’ on the cross! And then, Jesus said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well."
See the relation between 'faith' & 'grace'?
When the woman looked to Jesus in all His grace, He looked at the woman with all her faith!
So, if ‘faith’ is about ‘believing’, then ‘grace’ is about ‘receiving’! People of God, never just stop at ‘believing’, because He also wants you to ‘receive’ (His grace, goodness, healing, & every other 'good thing'!).
Christianity is never just about ‘believing, but it’s also about ‘receiving’! God’s ‘charis’ is meant for you to ‘receive’! The woman in Mark 5:25 understood this truth, and as a result, she got her breakthrough! You see, ‘faith’ and ‘grace’ are like twin-partners, just as ‘believing’ and ‘receiving’ are too! You can’t have one without the other. You can’t receive if you don’t believe, and you can't just say you believe, but never receive!
In the past, I was often confronted with this question: “Do you have enough faith for... (this or that)?” The ‘onus’ seemed to be always on me ‘to exercise faith’ (i.e. to ‘muster’ or ‘gather’ enough faith to see a healing or a breakthrough, for myself or for others). Let me explain what ‘onus’ is. It’s a legal term which means ‘burden of responsibility, or duty’. Those days, the ‘onus’ was always on me to ‘perform’. And many times, I ended up feeling so bad when I saw no breakthrough, and worse still, started blaming myself for ‘not exercising faith enough’!
This happened until one day when I heard Him say, “Kenneth, why do you take the ‘yoke’ upon yourself? Don’t you know I am the One who should carry the burden?” And that's how my ministry changed! Every time there’s a need for someone to be healed, I’d point them to Jesus first, and what He’s done on the cross. The battle has become the Lord’s! The ‘onus’ is His (Matthew 11:28-30), and surely, He is willing! Since then, breakthrough (in ministry) came one after another, and I saw how tumor gone, cancer healed, diabetes vanished, and many more, in the course of ministry. All glory to God!
Teach people first to look to Jesus & His perfect work on the cross before you pray for them (instead of praying for the person straight away, unless of course if God overrules, or specifically says to pray right on, straight away). It's when you look to Jesus in all His grace, He'll look at you with all your faith! And that’s how ‘faith’ relates to ‘grace’! The woman in Mark 5:25 focused 100% on Jesus in all His grace, and as a result, she was healed! She knew she would receive because she knew 'Jesus is all-together good' to her! You see, the ‘onus’ was on Jesus, and not on herself anymore (after having tried various ways to get healed). If you need healing or any breakthrough, look to what Jesus has done for you on the cross right now. By His stripes, you were healed (1 Peter 2:24). Believe & receive! And if you minister healing to others, teach them to look to the cross first; and not just teach them to 'believe', but teach them also to 'receive'! And you'll be well on your way to see your breakthrough! Hallelujah!
