The Gospels contain a remarkable record of a woman who had a need and who was determined to get it met. She persisted in believing, and she received the desired results. Her example shows the importance of continuing to believe, while actively seeking a solution, when we face a challenge.
Let’s read about her in Mark 5, where we’ll learn what she was up against.
Mark 5:25,26:
And a certain woman, which had an issue of blood twelve years,
And had suffered many things of many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse.
For twelve years, the woman sought a solution for her condition. She spent all that she had, but it purchased only suffering. Despite her persistence, she still didn’t have an answer. She wasn’t getting better. In fact, she grew worse.
Isn’t it tempting sometimes to give up when we don’t get an answer right away, when it seems like nothing is happening? We’ll see that this woman did not give up. After twelve years, she still actively sought a solution to her challenge.
Mark 5:27,28:
When she had heard of Jesus, came in the press behind, and touched his garment.
For she said, If I may touch but his clothes, I shall be whole.
The woman heard of a man named Jesus, and what she heard caused her to believe that she could receive her wholeness if she could just touch his clothes. It is likely that Jesus would have worn garments with fringes, or tassels, on the borders. In that culture, those fringes represented the power and presence of God, so people believed that they had the power to heal. With determined believing, the woman found Jesus. She sought him out in the crowd and made up her mind to touch his clothes.
In the parallel record in Matthew 9, it says in verse 21, “For she said within herself, If I may but touch his garment, I shall be whole.” The form of the Greek word for “said” here indicates that she said this over and over and over. She was convinced that she would receive her long-sought deliverance.
When we are facing a challenge—in the health category or any other category of life—we can learn from her example. We can find the promise of God that we want to come to pass. We can line up our thoughts with what we know is available from God’s Word, and build those truths into our hearts as we state the promise of God to ourselves continuously. Then we can take believing action on what we are stating. This enables us to yield positive results.
Mark 5:29,30,32-34:
And straightway the fountain of her blood was dried up; and she felt in her body that she was healed of that plague.
And Jesus, immediately knowing in himself that virtue had gone out of him, turned him about in the press….
And he looked round about to see her that had done this thing.
But the woman fearing and trembling, knowing what was done in her, came and fell down before him, and told him all the truth.
And he said unto her, Daughter, thy faith [believing] hath made thee whole; go in peace, and be whole of thy plague.
Matthew 9:22:
…And the woman was made whole from that hour.
The woman received her wholeness. She immediately knew that she had been healed. What made her whole? “Daughter, thy faith [believing] hath made thee whole….”
When we are believing for deliverance, for a solution to a challenge, the words we speak to ourselves make a difference. And the best ones to speak are the words of God. His Word works!
I Thessalonians 2:13:
For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe.
When we receive God’s Word and believe it in our hearts, it works effectually in our lives. God is responsible to fulfill the promises of His Word. Our joy and privilege is to believe it.
The woman with the issue of blood received her deliverance. We can follow her example, saying and believing what the Word says and acting on it. Let’s persist in believing until we too see the desired results.