The Touch of Faith
Lesson 1 To talk of faith in a casual way, to pray without soul hunger and living faith, avails nothing. A nominal faith in Christ, which accepts HIm merely as the Saviour of the world can never bring healing to the soul.
Biblical evidence
Luke 8:45 45 And Jesus said, “Who touched Me?” When all denied it, Peter and those with him said, “Master, the multitudes throng and press You, and You say, ‘Who touched Me?’ “
Luke 8:46 46 But Jesus said, “Somebody touched Me, for I perceived power going out from Me.”
Luke 8:47-48 47 Now when the woman saw that she was not hidden, she came trembling; and falling down before Him, she declared to Him in the presence of all the people the reason she had touched Him and how she was healed immediately. 48 And He said to her, “Daughter, be of good cheer; your faith has made you well. Go in peace.”
Practical application for 2008
So what faith is unto salvation (healing to the soul)? And what faith will not bring healing to the soul?
The faith that will not bring healing to the soul:
- A nominal faith that merely accepts Christ as the Saviour of the world
- A faith that is merely an intellectual accent to the trutth. For example he who waits for entire knowledge before he will exercise faith cannot receive healing to the soul. It is not enough to believe about Christ;
- Many hold faith as an opinion. Such faith will not bring healing to the soul
The faith that will bring healing to the soul:
- The only faith that will bring healing to the soul is that faith which embraces Christ as a personal Saviour; which appropriates His merits to ourselves.
- Saving faith is a transaction by which those who receive Christ join themselves in covenant relation with God.
- Genuine faith is life. A living faith means an increase in vigor, a confiding trust by which the soul becomes a conquering power.
Lesson 2 The Lord calls upon us for confession of His goodness.
Biblical evidence
Mark 5:30 30 And Jesus, immediately knowing in Himself that power had gone out of Him, turned around in the crowd and said, “Who touched My clothes?”
Mark 5:32-33 32 And He looked around to see her who had done this thing. 33 But the woman, fearing and trembling, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell down before Him and told Him the whole truth.
Luke 8:47 47 Now when the woman saw that she was not hidden, she came trembling; and falling down before Him, she declared to Him in the presence of all the people the reason she had touched Him and how she was healed immediately.
Practical application for 2008
Our confession of His faithfulness is Heaven’s chosen agency for revealing Christ to the world. We are to acknowledge His grace as made known through the holy men of old; but that which will be most effectual is the testimony of our own experience. We are witnesses for God as we reveal in ourselves the working of a power that is divine. Every individual has a life distinct from all others, and an experience differing essentially from theirs. God desires that our praise shall ascend to Him, marked by our own individuality. These precious acknowledgments to the praise of the glory of His grace, when supported by a Christ-like life, have an irresistible power that works for the salvation of souls. {DA 347.3}
Lesson 3 The Lord works continually to benefit mankind, yet man is unmindful of His great love.
Biblical evidence
Luke 17:12-19 12 Then as He entered a certain village, there met Him ten men who were lepers, who stood afar off. 13 And they lifted up their voices and said, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” 14 So when He saw them, He said to them, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And so it was that as they went, they were cleansed. 15 And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, returned, and with a loud voice glorified God, 16 and fell down on his face at His feet, giving Him thanks. And he was a Samaritan. 17 So Jesus answered and said, “Were there not ten cleansed? But where are the nine? 18 “Were there not any found who returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?” 19 And He said to him, “Arise, go your way. Your faith has made you well.”
Practical application for 2008
The Lord works continually to benefit mankind. For example, God impart His bounties in the following ways:
- God raises up the sick from the beds of languishing
- God delivers men and women from peril which they do not see.
- God commissions the heavenly angels to save men from calamity
- God commissions the heavenly angels to guard men from “the pestilence that walketh in darkness” and “the destruction that wasteth at noonday” (Psalm 91:6)
It is for our own benefit to keep every gift of God fresh in our memory for the following reasons:
- Faith is strengthened to claim and to receive more and more.
- There is greater encouragement for us in the least blessing we ourselves receive from God than in all the accounts we can read of the faith and experience of others.
- The soul that responds to the grace of God shall be like a watered garden. His health shall spring forth speedily; his light shall rise in obscurity, and the glory of the Lord shall be seen upon him.
From the people of Israel we may know how to remember the loving-kindness of the Lord and the multitude of His tender mercies.
Like the people of Israel, let us set up our stones of witness, and inscribe upon them the precious story of what God has wrought for us. And as we review His dealings with us in our pilgrimage, let us, out of hearts melted with gratitude, declare, “What shall I render unto the Lord for all His benefits toward me? I will take the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of the Lord. I will pay my vows unto the Lord now in the presence of all His people.” Ps. 116:12-14.
