THE TOUCH OF FAITH

THE TOUCH OF FAITH

Mark 5:34 And He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace, and be healed of your affliction.”

The healing of the woman with “the issue of blood” is one of the classic healing miracles seen in the life and ministry of Jesus. Mark tells us that this woman had suffered for twelve years with an embarrassing female problem and had depleted all of her resources on medical treatment to no avail. She had come to her end when she heard about Jesus. She pressed through the crowd and touched Jesus secretly, as she did, the anointing went into her body and she was instantly healed. The anointing of the Spirit is powerful and will go right to the source of our problem. This woman’s secret was not a secret at all, one touch and she was made whole. Here is something Bishop Ellicott said about the effective nature and precision of the “virtue” of The Lord.

“The word virtue is used in the old medical sense, the power or force which brings about a certain definite result. So men spoke of the soporific virtue of this or that drug. And the term is used here, not less than in Luke 5:17, with a like technical precision, for the supernatural power that, as it were, flowed out at the touch of the hand.”

One of the incredible characteristics of the anointing on Jesus is that regardless of how many people are effected, His power is not depleted in the least. Jesus discovered the woman because He felt the “virtue” flow out of Him when she touched Him. Thousands can be healed and there is still a bottomless ocean in reserve for the broken lives in our world. Here is something John Trappe said about the infinite nature of the anointing.

“As heat goes out of the sun into the air, water, earth, earthly bodies, and yet remains in the sun; so here. A fountain is not drawn dry but cleared; so skill is not lost by communicating it to others, but increased.”

One of the interesting things in this story is how hundreds of people were touching Jesus but there was something different about the touch of this hurting woman. What was the difference? She touched The Lord with a touch of faith. The power of God responds to the touch of faith, here is how Adam Clarke describes it.

“Thou seest the multitude thronging thee. Many touch Jesus who are not healed by him: the reason is, they do it not by faith, through a sense of their wants, and a conviction of his ability and willingness to save them. Faith conveys the virtue of Christ into the soul, and spiritual health is the immediate consequence of this received virtue.”

I love Clarke’s statement, “Faith conveys the virtue of Christ into the soul, and spiritual health is the immediate consequence of this received virtue”. Maybe you are struggling today; it may be a sickness or some other struggle. Learn from the woman with the issue of blood, the touch of faith can change everything.