By Your FAITH #1 - Jesus' Miracles
We are starting a new series today and I am calling it "By Your Faith". So many times when Jesus healed someone we read that He said: "your faith has healed you" or "it is by your faith that you are healed." This phrase repetition warranted a deeper study. We will begin studying Jesus' Miracles and in the months to come we will be going through Hebrews chapter 11. This chapter in the book of Hebrews goes through many prophets and important Old Testament people/characters and specifically focuses on their faith.
Our topic today is: Jesus' Miracles
I know, you might be thinking: "why study the miracles that Jesus performed because I can't do that." If you recall, in the "God's Power Within Us" series we learned that we will do even greater works than what Jesus did (see passage below):
Click HERE to view a compilation post combining the "God's Power Within Us" series with the "FearNot" series:
There are 7 different ways that people's faith in Jesus manifested in a healing or a miracle:
1. By touch/hands-on
2. By the faith of others
3. By touching a blessed object
4. By asking/by our words
5. By persistence
6. Faith with thankfulness
7. Faith for any & all nationalities
Let's study each faith example in more detail.
Hands-on/ By Touch
In this miracle there was a ruler whose daughter had died. The ruler had faith that if Jesus just touched her daughter she would be healed and live. Jesus took the girl's hand and she got up! He touched her hand - just like the ruler believed beforehand. (read passage below)
By the Faith of Others
There was a paralyzed man who was brought to Jesus for healing. In Mark's version of this miracle (Mark 2:1-12) they had to lower the paralyzed man through the roof because the crowd was impossible to get through. The faith in Jesus that these men had who carried the paralytic healed their paralyzed friend. (read passage below). This is proof to me how important our prayers are for those around us. Our faith can help others!
By Touching a Blessed Object
This example is truly amazing - this woman had a twelve year nonstop menstruation and she believed that she just had to touch the hem of Jesus' cloak. Just the hem. I picture her pointing a finger and barely touching the hem. That's all it took and she was healed. (read passage below).
By Asking & By Our Words
In this miracle, a blind man called out to Jesus twice. Jesus then made a point of hearing what the blind man wanted (I'm sure Jesus knew what he wanted but the man had to say it). The man answered "Lord, I want to see." And then he was healed! (read passage below).
By Persistence
This is example is a parable called "The Parable of the Persistent Widow" (I wrote a previous post about this parable - click HERE to read that post). The widow in this story did not want healing but rather she wanted justice (actually, in today's world justice is a miracle). It was because of her faith and never giving up - she believed that in the end that she would receive justice. (read passage below)
Faith & Thankfulness
Being thankful is so difficult during hardships but being thankful when a one receives a miracle should be easy. In this example there were TEN men who were healed of leprosy and only ONE of them thanked Jesus. ONLY ONE. It was his faith and his gratitude to God that ended in healing. (read passage below)
Faith for Any & All Nationalities
Last but not least - proof that faith and Jesus' miracles are for everyone and not just for Israel. The faith example in this miracle was the faith of a non-Jew centurion. Jesus even said "I tell you, I have not found such great faith even in Israel." (read passage below)
By our faith in Jesus Christ we are healed!
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