“And a certain woman, which had an issue of blood twelve years,
And had suffered many things of many physicians,
And had suffered many things of many physicians,
and had spent all that she had, and was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse,
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.”
(Mark 5:25-28)
Do you believe that faith heals?
In a survey conducted by the American Academy of Family Physicians, 99% of doctors questioned believe a relationship exists between faith and physical healing.
Doctors’ faith in faith was also supported by a California study on the effect of prayer on people recovering from heart problems. About 200 heart patients were assigned to Christians who prayed for them, while an equal number, a control group, received no known prayers. Neither group knew about the prayers, yet those who received prayer developed half the complications that were experienced by those in the control group.
A similar study by the Dartmouth Medical School examined the effect of prayer on healing when the patients prayed for themselves. The death rate six months after bypass surgery was 9 percent for the general population but only 5 percent for those who prayed for their own healing. The study also indicated that none of the deeply religious patients died during the period of the study (The Associated Press, quoted in “Religion in the News,” Signs of the Times, March 1997, p. 4).
The Bible gives us many examples of how faith heals, however there is one in particular that stands out.
In the book of Mark, chapter 5, we learn of a woman who was in great distress. She was a woman who risked everything to find a cure to a seemingly incurable disease. This is the story of her desperation, determination, deliverance, and declaration.
