Matthew 8:5-13
"And when Jesus was entered into Capernaum, there came unto him a centurion, beseeching him, and saying, Lord, my servant lieth at home sick of the palsy, grievously tormented. And Jesus saith unto him, I will come and heal him. The centurion answered and said, Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof: but speak the word only and my servant shall be healed. For I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me: and I say to this man, Go, and he goeth; and to another Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it. When Jesus heard it, he marveled, and said to them that followed, Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel. And I say unto you, that many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven. But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. And Jesus said unto the centurion, Go thy way; and as thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee. And his servant was healed in the selfsame hour."
In this account of the centurion interceding on the behalf of his servant, I want you to notice something about his faith. It was not a faith that relied on an outward, physical sign but one that needed only the word of Jesus. The centurion was a man that understood authority and that when a person walked in authority of the highest level he need only say what he wanted done and it would be done. He recognized that Jesus walked in that type of authority. This centurion never batted an eyelash of doubt or unbelief that if Jesus spoke a word over his servant that the servant would be healed.
What marvelous faith this man had! That is the type of faith all of us should be striving to obtain - a faith that is in God's Word and it's authority alone. In Luke 10:42, Jesus said that Mary had chosen the one thing that was really needful: the Word. You remember the incident where Martha was all worried about the food preparation for Jesus and the others present in her home. Mary, it was assumed by Martha, should've been helping her prepare the meal for the guests. But what did Mary do? She decided that there was something even more important than eating physical food. She took time to sit at the feet of Jesus and eat spiritual food.
Just a little side note here; "sitting at the feet" is a Hebraic term for "discipling" someone. As Mary sat at the feet of Jesus, she was being discipled by the Messiah. We all can take a lesson from Mary's actions that day! She knew the Word was most important!
In direct contrast to the faith that the centurion and Mary exhibited, we see another form of faith that is brought out in the Scriptures. In fact, this is the lowest type of faith (really it's no faith at all in God's sight!) but it's where a covenant man or woman desires a physical sign or manifestation before they will believe. Immediately your thoughts run to the portion of Scripture concerning Thomas and his doubting the report of the other disciples.
John 20:26-29
"And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them: then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst and said, Peace be unto you. Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing. And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God. Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed."
Jesus couldn't make it any simpler for us today. You're blessed, empowered to prosper, happy, if you'll believe even though you don't see anything to back up your belief. This is a great problem in the Body of Christ today. There are many Christians faltering in their faith when they don't see immediate results or some type of proof that their prayers are being effective. We cannot adhere to that line of thinking. Our minds need to be set on the fact that the Word is the final authority and we will continue to believe that Word regardless of what we can see with our eyes.
Remember, everything that you can see is subject to change, temporal. (II Corinthians 4:18) If you can see it, it is temporal and subject to change. I don't care what it is, it is subject to change. A sickness that has attacked your body, your financial portfolio, a loved one that hasn't accepted Christ - these are all things we can observe. For that simple fact you should rejoice! Rejoice because they are all subject to change. What is it that will bring change into situations like the ones just mentioned? Simply having faith in God's Word, and its authority alone.
We don't need to see immediate change. We cannot base our belief on outward signs. Your faith must be solely founded upon the Word of God and that's all. One thing I've seen in many Christians' lives is a tendency to follow after the spectacular. Don't follow gifts or manifestations. Follow the Word. Manifestations will come, but they will follow the Word. You and I must do the same. After all, just because someone flows in a gift doesn't mean they are a mature believer.
Let me prove that to you from the Word. The Corinthian church came behind in no gift. (I Corinthians 1:7) This church had spiritual gifts flowing through them on a consistent basis. Yet this is the same church where a man was having sex with his stepmother and the people were getting drunk during communion. (I Corinthians 5:1; 11:17-22) The simple reason that gifts do not indicate maturity is because a gift is given. Maturity in the Word takes time.
Please don't mistakenly think that I'm saying someone in sin will continue to flow in manifestations of the Spirit. What I'm saying is that young believers can operate in spiritual gifts, maybe not as proficiently as a more mature believer, but nevertheless they can have spiritual manifestations happening when they pray. I remember when I was first born-again an incident where the gifts of healings began to operate and a woman was instantly healed in a prayer meeting I was attending. I laid my hands on her and instantly she could speak out loud and sing where prior to the prayer she couldn't talk above a whisper! I was just a babe, but God was able to flow that gift through me! Praise God for that, but I had a lot of maturing to go through and still am in the process!
A mature believer is one who is steadfast, stays steady through good times and bad, and remains constant on the Word. He or she is holding strong to the Word and is not going to become distracted by the devil who would like for them to begin looking for evidence that the Word is working. The believer's evidence is his or her faith in His promises. (Hebrews 11:1) Jesus condemned those who sought after signs, in fact He called them wicked and adulterous! (Matthew 16:1-5) Let's you and I have the greatest faith, a faith that is rooted in God's Word and it's authority alone. When trials and tribulations come our way, we'll not be moved but remain steadfast holding on to the Word of our Lord fully expecting Him to perfect that which concerns us! We don't need signs to believe, we just need the one thing Jesus said was needful: The Word of God.
