We are nearly through the first half of 2018, and God has already done some awesome things! I’m hearing testimonies about breakthroughs from many of our partners. It gives God GREAT pleasure to see His people thriving and prospering. Perhaps you haven’t experienced the breakthroughs you’re believing for yet. If so, keep reading! I believe this Word will help you remain steady, proving out who you are…MORE THAN A CONQUEROR!
Hebrews 6:12 says, …be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises.
In this passage of Scripture God expresses His will for His children. It is His desire that we inherit the promises. We are instructed to be followers of them who inherited the promises, and they inherited the promises through faith and patience. Notice the connection between faith and patience—they work together. Years ago, I did a deep study into the word patience, and it literally means consistency, constancy, and sameness.
In Mark 5 we find the story of the woman with the issue of blood, a long-standing illness. She had suffered and gotten worse as time passed and lost all her money in an attempt to treat the illness.
Mark 5:27, When she had heard of Jesus, she came in the press behind and touched his garment.
Verse 30, And Jesus, immediately knowing in himself that virtue had gone out of him, turned him about in the press and said, Who touched my clothes?
In this passage, the word press refers to the large crowd surrounding Jesus. The woman had to fight her way through it in order to get to Jesus, where she finally received her healing.
Press is the root of the word pressure, and pressure is something that is pressing on you. Look at Romans 5:3 which says, …tribulation worketh patience. The word tribulation is the Greek word pressure. Therefore, we could say it like this…pressure works patience.
In the life of the woman in Mark 5, we definitely see faith and patience working together in her healing miracle. Jesus openly acknowledged her faith, and we see her patience in the way she persevered—fighting her way through the press—step by step, inch by inch, NEVER GIVING UP until she reached her goal—JESUS!
Don’t despise the pressure that comes into your life. Understand that God doesn’t send it and is not using it in some way to perfect you, to test or try you. However, pressure reveals what is on the inside of you. It was through FAITH AND PATIENCE that this woman inherited the promises. It was also through FAITH AND PATIENCE that all the great heroes of faith inherited the promises. They had that quality of consistency and sameness. This woman started out with the idea that if she could just get to Jesus and touch Him, she would be healed. The Amplified Bible brings out the fact that she said continuously, When I touch Him, I will be made whole.
When the woman finally saw Jesus, don’t you know it had to be discouraging for her to see the press around Him? After all, she had settled in her heart that when she touched Jesus, she would be healed. She might have had the mental image of finding Him in a town and walking right up to Him, grabbing hold of His coat, and the healing power of God transforming her from that moment forward. But it didn’t happen that way. She had to overcome the press and push in to touch Him.
How you handle pressure will reveal what is on the inside of you. When pressure brings out the good things God has placed in you, you come away with the victory. Through faith and patience, you inherit the promises. If you get the right attitude about it, you can come to the place where, as Paul said in Romans 5:3, you glory in tribulations or pressure. You can say, Pressure? Bring it on. I am not going to change, regardless of what the pressure does or says. And that unchangeableness, that attitude of not budging, that decision to remain steadfast, is called patience…consistency…always being the same.
This is how someone with the spirit of faith handles pressure. They don’t cower under it as they shed tears. They rise above it. This woman with the issue of blood, who was under pressure put herself in a position of more pressure. There was the pressure of the sickness she was living with and now she has added to that the pressure of pressing in to touch Jesus. She had to set herself and not be deterred. If she got stepped on, it didn’t matter; she stayed focused by continually saying, When I touch Him, I will be healed.
Friend, recognize that pressure can be overcome. If it is something you are dealing with, realize that it is working something in your life called patience. James 1:4 says, But let patience have her perfect work, that YE MAY BE PERFECT AND ENTIRE, WANTING NOTHING! Perfect and entire…that’s great news!
Remember this, the mark of spiritually mature believers is sameness. You never know when they are going through tests or trials by looking at their faces or listening to their words. They remain the same—steady and unchanging. The spiritually mature will be identified after the test is over, as they give their victorious testimonies, giving the glory to God.
This month, I am including this teaching to encourage you in your walk of faith!