"True Faith" Matthew 9:27-31

     After Jesus left the girl’s home, two blind men followed along behind him, shouting, “Son of David, have mercy on us!” 
     They went right into the house where he was staying, and Jesus asked them, “Do you believe I can make you see?” 
     “Yes, Lord,” they told him, “we do.”
     Then he touched their eyes and said, “Because of your faith, it will happen.” 
     Then their eyes were opened, and they could see! Jesus sternly warned them, “Don’t tell anyone about this.” But instead, they went out and spread his fame all over the region.


More than once I have met a person with with a disabling illness and offered to anoint with oil (James 5) and pray for healing, only to be told that there was no need because someone else somewhere had already prayed and nothing happened, meaning (to the sick person) that God had already said "no," and that they should not persist in praying for healing.  I do not believe that this is a Biblical response.

These two blind men followed Jesus calling out to Him because they had heard and witnessed Jesus' ability to heal the sick (including restoring sight to the blind).  They did not doubt His ability -the entire issue was in getting Jesus to notice them and restore their sight.  This wasn't theoretical, this was real life: they knew that Jesus had healed others, now they wanted Jesus to heal them.  And in pursuing Jesus, they followed Him and called out to Him, and when Jesus did not respond, they followed Him right into His home.  They didn't have any other plans -no plan B.  They knew that Jesus had healed others and now they were pursuing Jesus until He either healed them or told them "no" and sent them away.  And Jesus did, indeed, heal them saying, "Because of your faith..."

The problem is that we often misunderstand what faith is and what it is not.  Faith is not an emotion that we work up in an attempt to manipulate God.  It's not like if we can only work up enough of this emotion of faith, God has to do whatever we want.  That would be more like witchcraft than faith -and it wouldn't work on God anyway.


Faith, true Biblical faith, is a matter of hearing God and believing what He says.  Think about it.  Noah didn't decide to build a boat and then ask God to bless his plan and make it rain.  Noah heard from God -heard something that didn't entirely make sense -but he acted upon what he had heard, and that was what Hebrews chapter eleven calls faith.   Similarly, Abram didn't just decide to pack up his family and go for a walk.  God told him to gather his family and start walking and go to a place that would be revealed as he walked.  Abram didn't initiate, he obeyed -he heard from God and obeyed, and that was faith.

When we are talking about sickness and healing, here is how I believe it works.  James 5 tells us to come to elders of the church and be anointed and pray for healing.  We have a right to pray for healing.  And we should continue to pray until we know that we know that God has spoken.  Paul prayed three times that his "thorn in the flesh" would be removed.  He didn't stop praying simply because God hadn't yet removed it, he stopped praying that God would remove it because God actually spoke to him about it and said, "I'm not going to remove it; My grace is sufficient for you."

My point is that we can and should continue to pursue Jesus and healing (like these two blind men) until we know that we know that God has responded.  Paul did not receive the answer he wanted, but he did receive a specific and definite answer, and he could accept God's answer of "no" because there was no guess work -God had given him an answer.

If you are struggling with something in prayer, don't give up.  Pray until God responds.  Faith is hearing from God and then acting in obedience.