Faith Is Action | Faith Series

And, behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts, and cried unto him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou Son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil.

But he answered her not a word. And his disciples came and besought him, saying, Send her away; for she crieth after us.

But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

Then came she and worshipped him, saying, Lord, help me.

But he answered and said, It is not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it to dogs.

And she said, Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters' table.

Then Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole from that very hour.

Matthew 15: 22-28 (KJV)

Faith is action. We can’t talk about faith without action. Look at the faith of this woman in the story. She is not of Jewish descent, and Jesus tested her faith by rejecting her initially. The disciples were on their way home to have a men’s gathering with their Rabbi (Jesus), and probably they were greatly exhausted when they encountered this woman.

Can you imagine the audacity of this woman, given the context that she is a gentile, to interrupt a whole bunch of Jewish men going to their sacred gathering to discuss manly stuff, when they live in a society where women were seen as second-class citizens?! She is bold, to say the least! Not only did she break the law, she was pleading loudly.

This woman came with revelation; she called him “Son of David” and “Lord.” She knew that Jesus came not only for the Jews but He IS the Messiah, and she is adopted by His blood, and she will receive every blessing that He releases. She is breaking tradition.

Let’s break down how she boldly approached Jesus:

• First, she came humbly, saying “Lord, have mercy on me”. This indicates she is aware she is sinful and undeserving in front of her savior
• Second, she acknowledge him. she said “Son of David”. She gave glory to him and fell into worship
• Third, she presented her problem. She told Jesus that her daughter is possessed by a demon
• Fourth, she has no doubt, only faith. Notice she didn’t come with her demon possessed daughter in tow. She knew if she brought the daughter she will only wear her down. She is convinced that Jesus has the authority, anywhere, and He only need to speak for it to be done. She eliminate any distraction. She acted by faith.

For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.

Hebrews 4:2 (KJV)

Also, we must notice that while she was crying out for Jesus, the disciples were bothered and asked permission to send her away. But Jesus, instead of sending her away, spoke to her. She disregarded whatever the disciple said or tried to do because her business is with the Lord.

Many times, we as Christians hinder others from seeking God because we judge wrongly. We should believe that God will encounter others and do wonders instead.

5 Characteristics of Action of faith

1. Faith moves based on revelation:
   She asked based on the revelation of WHO Jesus IS. Faith comes by hearing and hearing of the word of God. When she met with Jesus, He was silent. And He actually rejected her request, testing her. BUT she has a revelation that Jesus is sent to break law and traditions, that He came also for the gentiles, He comes to save us all. She knew she has access. This is a revelation.
2. Faith worships and honors the author:
   Look at what the woman did. She fell and worship “Lord, help me”. Faith does not respond to silent, but it pushes until God answers. The more you worship, the more you have the revelation and the bolder you become.
3. Faith doesn’t surrender to offense:
   Many of us will be offended if we were in her situation. On top of rejecting her request, Jesus equate her to a dog. Imagine, after all that pleading, how she must have felt being called a dog. But she remained steadfast. She never allows offense to remove her from His presence. Instead she understood that yes, by tradition she was equated to a dog at the time (the Jews called the gentiles dog), but she knew that through Jesus, she can challenge the status quo (see point 1 about revelation, also see 1 Peter 2:8 – offense is a stumbling block against your destiny).
4. Faith moves through wisdom and knowledge:
   The woman said “Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table”. She responded wisely, led by the Holy Spirit (see Proverbs 8:11-18 to learn more about wisdom).
5. Faith moves when God speaks:
   Jesus granted her wish, and her daughter was healed as soon as Jesus speaks. Faith listens to the word of God, not man. As soon as Jesus spoke, she arose and left, believing her daughter was healed and she was!

Our Christian faith is not just theory; it is an action. The action of faith produces fruit; wherever faith moves, it carries with it signs and wonders. Another example is Bartimaeus the blind. When he heard Jesus is passing by, he told his friend today is not business as usual (begging), he said that today is his day, that Jesus is going to heal him, and on that day, he saw! Bartimaeus is much like the woman in our story; he pressed in, amongst the multitudes to reach and pleaded in front of Jesus, and he received. Notice that just like the woman, other people told him to shut up, but he screamed louder “Jesus have mercy on me”. Faith causes you to do something others don’t even dare to do. Faith is radical. It causes us to do something that will touch the heart of God. Jesus stopped, and noticed him amongst the multitudes. Jesus sees our heart, brothers and sisters. He hears us and will change our life! He will give us a new song!