The Kind of Faith That Changes God's Mind! By: Anita McCoy

In Matthew 15:21-28 we read a story of incredible faith displayed by a Canaanite woman.  The passage never gives the name of the woman; yet even with that, it is what the woman does that speaks to us beyond who she was and gives her "a name" that has transcended generations since her time!  **Read the story. 

This woman in a desperate situation, comes to Jesus on behalf of her daughter who is "grievously vexed with a devil," and she cries out for mercy.  The Scripture says, "Jesus answered not a word." Imagine that.  It is when you are in a crisis situation that you want somebody to come to your rescue, right?  At first, Jesus said nothing.  The woman cried out again and this time Jesus says, "I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel."  Let's take a look at what is happening here.

I believe here we see an example of Jesus operating in the sovereignty of God the Father.  What is meant by the sovereignty of God?  The sovereignty of God means that God is Almighty.  Since God is Almighty, does this mean that when a Christian is afflicted with a sickness or disease that this is the will of God for that person's life?  Isn't God sovereign when it comes to health and healing?  Since God is sovereign, is the Christian to simply accept what comes into their life, good and bad, because God has approved of its existence in Christian's life?  There have been many misconceptions like these that have wreaked havoc in the church as it relates to divine health and healing, and many have suffered needlessly. 

The sovereignty of God means that God can do what He wants to, when He wants to, and how He wants to do it.  Many take this understanding and believe that since God is supreme in rank, power and authority, He only heals whom He chooses. There are even those who believe and teach that when a believer is sick it is the will of God. 

I believe that God is sovereign.  I further believe that God in His sovereignty initiates healing in people's lives in a supernatural way.  God's sovereignty says to me, "God initiates."  For example, a person who doesn't even believe in healing can receive God's supernatural healing and the Word of God contains many examples of this.  But all healings are not the result of what God initiates, as we see in the story of the Canaanite woman who received healing for her daughter.

In this story the Canaanite woman was rejected three times by Jesus:  1) Jesus ignores the woman.  2) Jesus says that He is only sent to the lost sheep of Israel; it was not yet time for Jesus to heal anyone outside of the house of Israel.  Healing was only for the Jews; therefore, this was the sovereign will of God at that time.  3) Jesus implies that woman is a dog.  The Canaanites (Gentiles) were considered "dogs" by the Israelites (children of God) because of their idolatry and life of sin.  But not even being referred to as a "dog" was going to stop this woman from getting to Jesus or getting from Jesus what she needed in her desperate situation!  There was something that this woman had that touched the heart of God and moved Him in His sovereignty to act on her behalf!  

In Hebrews 11:6 the Word of God says, "But without FAITH it is impossible to please Him (God): for he that cometh unto God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him."  In Matthew 15: 21-28 the Canaanite woman displayed the faith that changed God's mind!  Jesus, in his third attempt to turn this woman away said to her, "It is not meet (appropriate) to take the children's bread, and to cast it to dogs."  Then the woman does something that totally impresses Jesus, she says, "You're right Jesus!  My daughter may not be worthy to sit at the table to be nourished by the bread that belongs to the children, but even the dogs are nourished by the crumbs that fall from the Master's table!" (Emphasis mine)  This woman initiates healing for her daughter through faith!

Jesus ANSWERED the woman, "O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as THOU WILT."  For the believer healing is a "faith initiative!"  There is a particular kind of faith that changes the mind or will of God, Jesus defined it as great faith.  This Canaanite woman didn't have much going for her.  She was not of the house of Israel; she was considered a dog.  Yet when she engaged her faith and remained persistent before the Lord, the little faith she thought she had was upgraded by the Lord to "great faith." The woman received from the Lord Jesus the healing that her daughter needed for it was recorded in the Word, "And her daughter was made whole from that very hour."

And I say unto you, "Be healed and made whole, in the mighty (sovereign) name of Jesus!"

 

 

Healing Scriptures

Proverbs 4:20-22 My son, attend to my words; incline your ear unto my sayings. 21 Let them not depart from thine eyes; keep them in the midst of your heart. 22 For they are life unto those that find them, and health (medicine) to all their flesh.

John 8:32 And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

Isaiah 53:3-5 He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and aquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. 4 Surely he hath borne our griefs (Heb. Sicknesses), and carried our sorrows (Heb. Pains): yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. 5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.

Matthew 8:17 That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses.

1 Peter 2:24 Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.

Deuteronomy 7:15 And the LORD will take away from thee all sickness, and will put none of the evil diseases of Egpyt, which thou knowest, upon thee; but will lay them upon all them that hate thee.

Exodus 15:26 And said, If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the LORD thy God, and wilt do that which is right in his sight, and wilt give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians: for I am the LORD that healeth thee.

Jeremiah 30:17 For I will restore health unto thee, and I will heal thee of thy wounds, saith the LORD; because they called thee an Outcast, saying This is Zion, whom no man seeketh after.

Psalm 103:1 Bless the LORD, O my soul: and that is within me, bless his holy name. 2 Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits: 3 Who forgives all thine iniquities; who heals all thy diseases; 4 Who redeems thy life from destruction; who crowns thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies; 5 Who satisfies thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

Psalm 107:20 He sent His Word, and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions.

Psalm 118:17 I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the LORD.

3 John 1:2  Beloved, I wish above all things that you would  prosper, and to be in health, even as your soul  prospers.

Nahum 1:9 What do ye imagine against the LORD? he will make an utter end: affliction shall not rise up the second time.

Romans 8:2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.

Romans 8:11 But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken (make alive) your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwells in you.

Psalm 35:27 Let them shout for joy, and be glad, that favor my righteous cause: yea, let them say continually, Let the LORD be magnified, which hath pleasure in the prosperity (peace or shalom = nothing missing and nothing broken = wholeness) of his servant. 

Healing IS the children's bread! (Matthew 15:26)

 

This Test Is Making You A More Than Conquerer!  By: Anita McCoy

 

I love these passages from the Word of God and many have even committed them to memory: "So then FAITH cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God ~ (Romans 10:17). Now FAITH is the SUBSTANCE of things HOPED for, the evidence of things not seen ~ (Hebrews 11:1). But without FAITH it is impossible to please God. . . ~ (Hebrews 11:6)." Thanks be unto God for His marvellous WORD!

We clearly se
e how important faith is for living in the Kingdom of God, but Hebrews 11 teaches us that 'IN ORDER TO HAVE FAITH YOU HAVE TO HAVE HOPE.' Well, in order to have hope you have to have a need or desire (something that needs to be obtained in your life). So that's why you MUST have tests, trials, obstacles, problems, dreams, vision, goals, etc., because it is THESE things that produce HOPE which leads to your PROMISE (THE ANSWER)! Romans 8:24 says it like this: "For we are SAVED (delivered, brought out, healed, set free) by HOPE: but HOPE that is seen is not HOPE: for what a man seeth, why does he yet HOPE for?" Beloved you have got to understand that the trial, the problem, the pain, the sickness, the lost that you face is not meant to destroy you through a spirit of hopeless that would try to overtake you!NO! On the contrary, that THING that you are facing right NOW is GOD'S catalyst (SUBSTANCE) to FIX your FOCUS on the ONLY SOURCE, the One that is not just able to bring your answer - HE IS THE ANSWER and His NAME IS JESUS! So Hebrews 12:2 declares that we should be "LOOKING unto to Jesus, the AUTHOR and the FINISHER of our FAITH!" God doesn't bring sickness, pain, affliction; but if He has AUTHORized it in your life, KNOW He has the POWER TO FINISH IT, stop it, put an end to it in your life! He is not out to destroy you by what you are going through, but He will see to it that every enemy of your FAITH is destroyed as He makes you a MORE THAN CONQUERER!

So when you face what seems like a "hopeless" situation in your life, look through the eyes of FAITH and remember it's not really HOPELESS, BUT IT IS SUBSTANCE being worked by God to deliver you from stress to REST, from test to TESTIMONY, from weakness to STRENGTH, from defeat to VICTORY, from tragedy to TRIUMPH! Be blessed this week as you FIGHT the GOOD FIGHT OF FAITH! ~