Matt 9:1-2 “And getting into a boat he crossed over and came to his own city. And behold, some people brought to him a paralytic, laying of a bed. And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Take heart, my son; your sins are forgiven.”<\/p>\n
Matt 9:20-22\u00a0\u00a0“And behold, a woman who had suffered from a discharge of blood for twelve years came up behind him and touched the fringe of his garment, for she said to herself, \u201cIf I only touch his garment, I will be made well.\u201d Jesus turned, and seeing her he said, \u201cTake heart, daughter; your faith has made you well.\u201d And instantly the woman was made well.”<\/p>\n
Matt 9:27-29 \u00a0“And as Jesus passed on from there, two blind men followed him, crying aloud, \u201cHave mercy on us, Son of David.\u201d When he entered the house, the blind men came to him, and Jesus said to them, \u201cDo you believe that I am able to do this?\u201d They said to him, \u201cYes, Lord.\u201d Then he touched their eyes, saying, \u201cAccording to your faith be it done to you.\u201d<\/p>\n
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I love Matthew chapter 9. Jesus helps us understand the versatility of true faith. What passes for “faith” today, is so\u00a0Stepford\u00a0<\/em>and clean. “Just believe” says the TV preacher. Or, “Faith is not believing God is able. Faith is believing that God will.” In this one chapter, Jesus cut’s through religious sub-culture versions of faith and shows us the versatility of God-given faith.<\/p>\n Consider Matt 9:1-2. Jesus, forgives and heals a man. The problem? We never hear of the faith of the paralyzed guy! The text says “When he say their faith.” Here we have it, intercessory faith. Jesus does something for a person based on the faith other people. Clearly, it would be unsafe to assume that the forgiven and healed man did not have faith. The point, however, is that Jesus saw “their” faith, and acted in response. Scandalous.<\/p>\n Next, we get introduced to another person in need. We also get introduced to another “kind” of faith. As Jesus was on his way to heal a little girl, an older girl was on her way to Jesus. This woman had been suffering with a discharge of blood for 12 long years. Just imagine the physical discomfort and social estrangement that the woman must have experienced. So what happens? God gave her faith! She said to herself “If I only touch his garment, I will be made well.” Catch that? She knew with certainty! Not only was Jesus able to heal her, she knew for certain that Jesus would\u00a0<\/em>heal her! He did!\u00a0He then tells her that her faith made her will. Jesus defines this woman’s certainty as faith. In our recoil against word-faith non-sense, let’s be careful we agree with Jesus. Faith.<\/p>\n Enter two blind men. These guys start following Jesus while crying out “Have mercy on us, Son of David.” Jesus asked these fellas a question, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” The guys, ever so quick to respond, said “Yes, Lord.” Jesus healed both men. Incredible. Jesus, then, corrects the silly phrase “Faith is not believing God is able. Faith is believing that God will.” That is too narrow of a phrase. It sounds good, but Jesus disagrees. He tells the men “According to your faith bit it done to you.” These men simply believed that Jesus was able to heal. Jesus says it was faith.<\/p>\n Faith is a gift from God. We must not narrowly define faith and miss the “out of the boxness” of it. God gives faith, and by his grace we express it. God has used this chapter to help me understand both faith and prayer. For that, I am thankful.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Matt 9:1-2 “And getting into a boat he crossed over and came to his own city. And behold, some people brought to him a paralytic, laying of a bed. And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Take heart, my son; your sins are forgiven.” Matt 9:20-22\u00a0\u00a0“And behold, a woman who had […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":108,"featured_media":417,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-395","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-devotional","8":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/gospelpost\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/395","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/gospelpost\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/gospelpost\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/gospelpost\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/108"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/gospelpost\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=395"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/gospelpost\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/395\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/gospelpost\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/417"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/gospelpost\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=395"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/gospelpost\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=395"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/gospelpost\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=395"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}