"THE TOUCH OF FAITH"
Greetings brothers and sisters of the remnant church. We pray ALL is very very well with you, your families, church families, and your walk with God during these amazing times. Are we walking as closely as we can with the Lord? Is the Holy Spirit impressing us that perhaps we need to walk even closer? We need to continue to study exactly how Jesus lived, how He taught, how He worked, and how He prayed. Christ's method is the only method that will guarantee us a home in the Kingdom of God. Let's take a few moments and study an extremely important Biblical principal - the subject of faith.
IS FAITH IMPORTANT?
"Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." {Hebrews 11:1}
In Luke 18:8, we find one of the most startling questions in all of the written Word of God. Luke, the gospel medical missionary evangelist, whom Paul sought out "as one to whom the Lord had entrusted a special work" (The Ministry of Healing, p. 140.1), asks a very relevant question concerning you and I and our spiritual condition at the second coming. Let's read:
"Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth??
This is a very serious question. The inference here by our brother Luke is clearly a negative one. His question is couched around the fact that during the time when Luke was writing his first treatise (the book of Acts was his second one), faith in God was universally very weak. In fact, faith at that time amongst believers was so weak, Luke's extreme concern was that when the Lord returns to take His saints home to the Heavenly courts to live with Him forever, how will the faith of the people of God be 'then?' The question we must ask ourselves is, where is our faith level now, considering the fact that if we are not exercising the faith we'll need when the crisis breaks today, how can we expect to obtain it then? Clearly our Lord's coming is hastening on apace. Based on the prophetic words of Revelation 14:12, won't "somebody" have to have faith?
"Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus."
In Luke 8, we read an amazing example of faith in the healing power of the Great Physician in action. A sister, having an issue of blood for twelve very long and exhaustive years, had spent all of her means on worldly hospitals, with no results:
"And a woman having an issue of blood twelve years, which had spent all her living upon physicians, neither could be healed of any, Came behind him, and touched the border of his garment: and immediately her issue of blood stanched." {Luke 8:43,44}
The word "stanched" in the original Greek translates "to stand still" or "immovable." In verse 45, Jesus immediately asks the question, "Who touched me?" Peter and the rest are incredulous. With the great press of the people all around Him, why would Jesus ask, "Who touched me?" But this was no ordinary touch. No my friends; Jesus knew this touch was different. It was the touch He was hoping and longing for. It was the touch of faith. Did she keep this extraordinary experience with Jesus to herself? No brother/sister. She immediately worshipped Him, acknowledging Him as her Savior, and shared her powerful testimony publicly. Watch:
"And when the woman saw that she was not hid, she came trembling, and falling down before him, she declared unto him before all the people for what cause she had touched him, and how she was healed immediately." {Luke 8:47}
However, the greater blessing and lesson is found in the very next verse.
"And he said unto her, Daughter, be of good comfort: thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace." {Luke 8:48}
In the original Greek, that word "whole" literally translates "to save, to rescue from danger or destruction, to make well, heal, restore to health; to preserve one who is in danger of destruction; to deliver from the penalties of the Messianic judgment." (Strong's 4982)
Did you get the lesson? Jesus is profoundly interested in our physical well being, but brother/sister, He is more interested in our eternal life. Did you notice that? Truly we can all say, "Jesus Saves, Jesus Saves!" But I would like for you to consider how He addressed the woman in verse 48 after He healed her. He called her "Daughter." Now, you may be thinking, Jesus was simply using a common term of endearment. Let's look a little more closely at this:
"Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is." {1 John 3:1,2}
The reason I highlighted the word "sons" is that in the original Greek, that word actually translates to mean "offspring, children, children of God; the name transferred to that intimate and reciprocal relationship formed between parents and children." (Strong's 5043) In other words, the word "sons" is being used in a universal sense, in the context of 'sons and daughters.' The same principle applies when we read "Man shall not live by bread alone..." {Matthew 4:4}. "Man" in this context suggests "mankind," which of course includes women and children, or the human race.
In other words, Jesus called her "Daughter" because He healed her completely, her mind, body, and soul. He made her "whole." He "saved" her, which by right joins her into the family of God, thereby making her a child of God, a Daughter of God. The bigger lesson here is that there is a distinct connection between "faith" and "salvation." Do you see it? The only way to obtain that faith is to be unflinchingly rooted and grounded in Christ.
"The only defense against evil is the indwelling of Christ in the heart through faith in His righteousness. Unless we become vitally connected with God, we can never resist the unhallowed effects of self-love, self-indulgence, and temptation to sin. We may leave off many bad habits, for the time we may part company with Satan; but without a vital connection with God, through the surrender of ourselves to Him moment by moment, we shall be overcome. Without a personal acquaintance with Christ, and a continual communion, we are at the mercy of the enemy, and shall do his bidding in the end." {The Desire of Ages, p. 324.1}
I want to be a son of God, a child of God. How about you? We have no time to waste. Let's make our decision to be vitally connected with the King and commit to it today!
Praise the Lord.
Brother Bridges
