35 | 🫤 No faith required

A lot of people contend that the greatest force in the universe is faith— or a lack of it. That is empowers (or constrains) what God is able to do.

So, let’s talk about it…

… and address it as it relates to health + healing.

🛠️ First, it’s easy to turn faith into a “work” that we must do in order to earn God’s favor / blessing.

If we do that, though, we’ve made healing an allowance, a paycheck, a transaction…

This leads us to our second observation.

📦 Second, there’s no “box or formula” in the New Testament regarding faith.

When we open the New Testament (remember, Jesus shows us what the Father is like, as we discussed in the previous episode), we see that there’s “no box or formula” we can fit faith into--

There’s no:

This type of issue + this much faith = breakthrough.

For example, in the Bible we see instances of Jesus healing people with the following SEVEN varying degrees of faith...

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

1️⃣ No faith

John 5:1f., Man at Bethsaida, lame for 38 years.

Matthew 8:15f., Simon Peter’s mother-in-law, fever.

2️⃣ Partial faith

Mark 9:24, “I believe, help my unbelief,” cries father of the demon-possessed boy; disciples are chastised.

Matthew 8:2, Leper approaches Jesus: “If you are willing...”

3️⃣ Total faith

Matthew 9:18, Jairus tells Jesus to lay His hand on his sick daughter and she will live.

Mark 7:24, Syro-Phonecian woman has her daughter healed of a demon. Her faith is commended.

Luke 8:48, Woman with flow of blood: “If I touch His garment...”

Matthew 9:29, Two blind men, “According to the faith.”

*Side note: the only time Jesus healed someone “according to their faith” was when they had TOTAL faith.

4️⃣ Other people’s faith

Mark 2:1f., A paralytic is healed after his friends drop him through the roof and Jesus sees “their faith.”

Luke 7:1-9, Roman centurion, “Say the word...” (also, total faith).

5️⃣ Silent about faith

Meaning: the Bible doesn’t address it, so we don’t know…

Luke 13:12, Woman bent over for 18 years, cannot stand straight.

6️⃣ Sometimes backed by action

Luke 17:14f., the lepers are healed “as they went”

7️⃣ Setup for sovereign intervention…

We don’t always have a reason “why” something occurred. We know, as we discussed in the previous talk, that God doesn’t cause chaos or confusion.

He doesn’t inflict His children with illness.

John 9:1-7, the disciples ask about a man born blind. They want to know who sinned to cause it (a prevalent thought back then, too, apparently).

Jesus tells them “no one.” Then, He suggests this is a time and place where God will break-in and do something extraordinary…

👇

Now, Jesus did REBUKE someone about their lack of faith…

He criticized the disciples who were told to minister healing- and had previously been empowered to do it- and done it.

He did not chastise those who needed ministry. The Father clearly has wavering faith, further adding emphasis to this point (see Mark 9:23-25)

⭐️ Third, the bigger issue, greater than faith, seems to be honor…

Some people point to Nazareth (Jesus’ hometown, where they had “little faith” and He was “restrained” from performing miracles) as an example of the definitive need for faith.

But it was not a lack of faith that restrained Jesus from working miracles in his hometown of Nazareth (see Mark 6:1f., Luke 4:16f.).

Honor seems to be more important than faith.

There was no honor present in His hometown (Mark 6:4, Luke 4:24). He was unable to do many miracles there (Mark 6:5). We assume He was unable to perform mighty works there because of the faith issue.

Notice what Mark writes, though: “A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown” (6:4).

Then- “And He marveled because of their unbelief” (6:6). In other words, Mark seems to tell us, “In addition...

He also was shocked because...” The issue that restrained Him was not a “faith issue” but an “honor issue.”

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Links referenced

Take a deeper dive at the GY6 website: www.GY6.online 

See The Healing Workshop, on-demand course = www.Jenkins.tv/THW 

Access the Soul Wholeness video course = www.Jenkins.tv/SWV 

Grab the digital bundle (eBook + audiobook) = www.Jenkins.tv/SW 

One-to-one personal coaching = https://www.jenkins.tv/PC 

Past episodes, related to this one:

⏮️ Go back to the previous talk, episode 34, 🧐 What God is like

💥 You might not need a miracle, episode 6 = https://www.jenkins.tv/podcasts/podcast-version-2-0/episodes/2149079766