The Great Faith That Moves God

There are only two people in the Bible that were said to have "GREAT FAITH" by Jesus. One was the Centurian and the other was this woman. Both of them were Gentiles and probably considered not worthy of receiving anything from God because of it.

I] There were three obstacles facing this woman:

#1. Jesus was silent. Perhaps He wanted her to exercise her faith and put it into action. There are many times in our own lives when we ask God for a specific thing over and over and don’t see any results. All we get is silence from God and we think that He is not listening. He may be putting our faith to the test!!!.

There are two types of faith; #1.The faith that says; I believe but doesn’t move on what they believe. And on the other hand is;#2."Great Faith", persistant faith, faith that will refuse to give up because of a word from God. Real faith is more than just saying that you have faith. It’s moving on God’s principles even though the odds may be against you. JAMES 2:18 SAYS; "But someone may say, you have faith and I have works; show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works".

#2. Another obstacle was the rejection from the disciples. Has someone ever rejected you? Don’t let that become the obstacle between you and God. It just may be the difference between receiving your miracle or not. This woman was not going to let her opportunity pass her by. Even though the disciples asked Jesus to send her away she kept on coming.

#3. She was undeserving. She was a Gentile, a sinner and a woman, three strikes against her in Jewish society. When we come to God we too feel many times that we are undeserving and we are. But the blood of Jesus makes us clean and now when God looks at us, He sees His son. He sees us through His blood that was shed for us on that cross. Don’t ever let anyone make you feel that you are not worthy!!

GREAT FAITH MOVES GOD!!!

II] There was eight things about this woman that moved God into action;

#1. She was short and to the point. She didn’t have time for the long religious prayer. She needed her miracle now!!!

Look at verse 22. "HAVE MERCY ON ME SON OF DAVID, MY DAUGHTER HAS A DEMON". Verse 25, "HELP ME".

#2. She was humble. Being humbe is a condition of the heart. "HUMBLE YOURSELF IN THE SIGHT OF THE LORD AND HE WILL LIFT YOU UP".

#3. She was fervant(showing great emotion) It wasn’t external emotionalism but it came from her innermost being and all of the sudden she became a worshipper of God, "SHE CAME AND KNEELING, WORSHIPED HIM"(v.25).

#4. She was desperate. This word comes from the word despair. It’s when a person is overcome by a sense of defeat.

Perhaps she had tried everything else and this was her only hope, like the lady with the issue of blood.

She had gone to the exorcist and he couldn’t do anything; to the doctor and he couldn’t do anything; to the sorceror and he couldn’t do anything. And all of the sudden she found out that Jesus was in town and something inside of her jumped and gave her witness that this was her day!!!

#5. She was rational. She knew that Jesus could do it. She wasn’t asking for something that was impossible. This wasn’t a luxury, it was a necessity. Many times we don’t get what we ask for because it’s not really necessary.

#6. She was worshipful, respectful and acknowledged who Jesus was, look at vv.22,25 once again