Kingdom Principle of Faith – Great Faith
The expression great faith only occurs twice in the entire Bible, both times said by the Lord Jesus. Something very interesting about these two occurrences, they are both instances of intercessory prayer, that is, going to God in prayer on behalf of another. This is very powerful and should be of ‘great’ interest to us as we pray for others.
The first occurrence of great faith is Matthew 8:10
When Jesus heard it, he marvelled, and said to them that followed, Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.
The whole story is found in Matthew 8:5-13
5 And when Jesus was entered into Capernaum, there came unto him a centurion, beseeching him,
6 And saying, Lord, my servant lieth at home sick of the palsy, grievously tormented.
7 And Jesus saith unto him, I will come and heal him.
8 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.
9 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.
10 When Jesus heard it, he marvelled, and said to them that followed, Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.
11 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.
12 But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
13 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.
A centurion cane to Jesus, interceding for his servant who lieth at home sick of the palsy, grievously tormented. Jesus said he would come and heal him, but the centurion said,
Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come undr 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. In other words, I understand how this works, just tell me his is healed; that’s all I need.
It is at this point that Jesus marvelled, and said to them that followed, Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel then said, Go thy way; and as thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee. Amen and Praise the Lord!
First, marveled; Jesus is said to marvel (wonder, be amazed) twice in the Gospels: here at great faith, and in Mark 6:6 at unbelief. We can choose what the Lord marvels at or wonders about in us.
Second, so great faith; what was it about this man’s faith that Jesus said was so great or so much? All he wanted, all he needed, was for Jesus to say, “Your servant is healed” and before he saw it with his own eyes or heard a report from home, he would believe it was done. This is faith. Pure faith. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. “Jesus, I recognize you as having authority. When you say something is so, it becomes so. Tell me you’ve done it and I will receive it as done.” I will say a little more about this when I look at The Three Degrees of Faith.
As thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee – this is the kingdom principle of faith. Amen!
and his servant was healed in the selfsame hour - Amen! Amen!
The second time great faith occurs is Matthew 15:28
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.
We find this in Matthew 15:21-28
21 Then Jesus went thence, and departed into the coasts of Tyre and Sidon.
22 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.
23 But he answered her not a word. And his disciples came and besought him, saying, Send her away; for she crieth after us.
24 But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
25 Then came she and worshipped him, saying, Lord, help me.
26 But he answered and said, It is not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it to dogs.
27 And she said, Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters' table.
28 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.
A woman of Canaan – another gentile. It is possible that the centurion was a god-fearrer, that is, one who had become convinced that the God of Israel was the one true God and worshiped Him, joining himself to the Jews, yet not being circumcised; but this woman is a Canaanite, a Syrophenician by nation (Mark 7:26)
Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou Son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil – she comes interceding for her daughter: intercession is precious and powerful! You can see her faith, O Lord, Son of David. She was already convinced he was the Messiah, and as the Christ, the Savior sent from God, he could deliver her daughter from the unclean spirit.
But he answered her not a word – how utterly discouraging! She prays and makes her request known and he doesn’t say a word! But she is not discouraged or dissuaded, she came and fell down before him, Lord, help me.
When he does speak, he says, It is not meet or fitting to take the children’s bread* and to cast it to dogs. This looks like "No" to me. How would you like to pray for someone to be saved or delivered from an unclean spirit and hear the Lord say, No? Honestly, many of us, maybe even most of us, would have given up at the utter silence.
But she doesn’t give up, And she said, Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters' table. Lord, I’m not asking for the whole loaf of bread, or even a slice of bread. I’m willing to settle for the crumbs off the floor. She is desperate (my daughter is grievously tormented) and determined – I’m not going away. We spell this persistent. This is prevailing in prayer. They used to call this praying through.+
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. Yes! Yes and Amen! Amen and Amen!
The centurion had great faith because all he wanted, all he needed, was a word from Christ that it was done. This woman had great faith because she persisted and prevailed in prayer. And remember, both of them are examples of intercessory prayer. Even as I type this, I’m deeply moved thinking about the people I am praying for – O Jeff, don’t give up, don’t give in, don’t stop; pray, believing God to hear and answer your prayer. How long shall I pray believing? Until. Until I hear, "Be it done unto thee even as thou wilt."
Next: Three Degrees of Faith
* Children’s bread – salvation, deliverance, healing is the bread or blessing of covenant people; Israel in the days of Jesus, the Church now; these are the blessings we can expect to receive because we are the children of God by faith in Jesus Christ. For more read Divine Healing: The Children's Bread by Keith M. Bailey and The Gospel of Healing by A.B. Simpson.
+ a further word on persistent, prevailing prayer from How to Pray by R.A.Torrey / Chapter VI Always Praying And Not Fainting
“…yet because of his importunity he will rise and give him as many as he needeth.” (Luke 11:5-8)
Jesus sets forth the necessity of importunity in prayer in a startling way. The word rendered “importunity” means literally “shamelessness,” as if Jesus would have us understand that God would have us draw nigh to Him with a determination to obtain the things we seek that will not be put to shame by any seeming refusal or delay on God’s part. God delights in the holy boldness that will not take “no” for an answer. It is an expression of great faith, and nothing pleases God more than faith.
Jesus seemed to put the Syro-Phoenician woman away almost with rudeness, but she would not be put away, and Jesus looked upon her shameless importunity with pleasure, and said, “O woman, great is thy faith; be it unto thee even as thou wilt.” (Matt. 15:28) God does not always let us get things at our first effort. He would train us and make us strong men by compelling us to work hard for the best things. So also He does not always give us what we ask in answer to the first prayer; He would train us and make us strong men of prayer by compelling us to pray hard for the best things. He makes us PRAY THROUGH.
I am glad that this is so. There is no more blessed training in prayer than that that comes through being compelled to ask again and again and again even through a long period of years before one obtains that which he seeks from God. Many people call it submission to the will of God when God does not grant them their requests at the first or second asking, and they say: “Well, perhaps it is not God’s will.”
As a rule this is not submission, but spiritual laziness. We do not call it submission to the will of God when we give up after one or two efforts to obtain things by action; we call it lack of strength of character. When the strong man of action starts out to accomplish a thing, if he does not accomplish it the first, or second or one hundredth time, he keeps hammering away until he does accomplish it; and the strong man of prayer when he starts to pray for a thing keeps on praying until he prays it through, and obtains what he seeks. We should be careful about what we ask from God, but when we do begin to pray for a thing we should never give up praying for it until we get it, or until God makes it very clear and very definite to us that it is not His will to give it.
Some would have us believe that it shows unbelief to pray twice for the same thing, that we ought to “take it” the first time that we ask. Doubtless there are times when we are able through faith in the Word or the leading of the Holy Spirit to CLAIM the first time that which we have asked of God; but beyond question there are other times when we must pray again and again and again for the same thing before we get our answer. Those who have gotten beyond praying twice for the same thing have gotten beyond their Master, (Matt. 26:44). George Muller prayed for two men daily for upwards of sixty years. One of these men was converted shortly before his death, I think at the last service that George Muller held, the other was converted within a year after his death. One of the great needs of the present day is men and women who will not only start out to pray for things, but pray on and on and on until they obtain that which they seek from the Lord.
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