THE WOMAN WITH THE ISSUE OF BLOOD

Imagine bleeding for 12 years straight without any form of solution, and the toll it can take on your mental and physical health. Hoping that each day you wake up is the day you get your healing and you’re normal again. But year after year, nothing, until you hear of a miracle-working man, and despite Him not being a medical professional, you have this overpowering conviction that He is the solution. And so you seek out Jesus of Nazareth.

Many of us can relate to struggling with a problem for so long that we feel like giving up because there’s no solution in sight. You feel stuck and think it’ll be that way forever. 

We can gain great insight from the woman with the issue of blood and faith. 

The Message bible eloquently says

“Because you’re not taking God seriously,” said Jesus. “ The simple truth is that if you had a mere kernel of faith, a mustard seed, say, you would tell this mountain, 'Move!’ and it would move. There is nothing you wouldn’t be able to tackle.”

The majority of believers do not take God seriously, but take their problems to be higher than the power of the living God. Imagine Jesus using a mustard seed to describe the faith that we need. That means many of us have faith smaller than a mustard seed. 

This woman exhibits great faith because she said to herself, “If I can just touch His robe, I will be healed.” Not only did she believe that his garment would heal her, but she believed that even without Jesus’ awareness, she would be healed. 

That is a supernatural kind of faith that we as believers need to practice. This woman took God seriously, and she was healed immediately. It did not take a day or a few minutes; she was healed instantly because she stepped out in faith. She told her mountain to move, and it did. 

Jesus’s response is interesting because He also immediately realizes that healing power has left Him. He was not even aware that she would touch Him, yet she still received her healing through faith.

A revival through healing

When we read Hebrews 11, we are given an account of what faith is and how it operates. We are shown a series of events that describe how people like Abraham, Able, and Jacob demonstrated faith. The typical response to faith we see is action-based obedience. 

These people did not just agree with God in their hearts; they took action and stepped out in faith, knowing that God would see through His promises, which are yes and amen. Despite their circumstances, they did not downplay the power and will of God. Abraham was commanded to sacrifice his son, and he did not hesitate because of his complete trust in God. 

Unlike these people we read about in the Old Testament, the woman with the issue of blood truly stands out because she does not fit the typical mold of a healing story. She did not wait for Jesus to notice her, nor did she rely on others to help her; she stepped out knowing that this encounter would lead to her healing. 

For it was by faith that she held on to the garment of our Savior Jesus Christ and was instantly healed. It is by faith that, despite being rendered unclean for 12 years, she believed that Jesus would make her clean again. And He did with a single touch of belief.

This is an encouragement to believers to have such great faith that we hold on to the promises of God, as the woman with the issue of blood did, and to trust that God meets all our needs according to His riches in glory.

Also read: THE REVIVAL SERIES