The Voice of Faith

And a certain woman, which had an issue of blood twelve years, 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. And straightway the fountain of her blood was dried up; and she felt in her body that she was healed of that plague.  Mark 5:25-29 KJV

The woman with the issue of blood remains one of Scripture’s most vivid and compelling examples of what it means to speak faith long before seeing any evidence of change. For twelve relentless years she endured isolation, disappointment, and physical suffering. Every doctor failed her. Every treatment drained her resources. Every attempt at recovery left her more discouraged than before.

Despite the weight of her circumstances, something within her refused to surrender. A spark of belief—small, quiet, but unbreakable—continued to live inside her. So when she heard that Jesus was passing through her town, she didn’t simply hope silently. She released her faith into the atmosphere with boldness and conviction: If I can just touch Him, I know I will be healed.

That statement was far more than a hopeful wish. It was a declaration forged in the furnace of twelve years of pain, loneliness, and disappointment. Most people, after so many failed attempts at healing, would have accepted defeat. Many would have concluded that their story was already written and that suffering was their permanent identity. But she dared to let a different kind of word rise in her spirit. Her declaration was intentional, courageous, and spiritually charged—an act of faith that pushed back against everything her life had taught her to expect.

When she said, “If I may touch but His clothes, I shall be whole,” she was speaking directly against the narrative that had shaped her world for over a decade. Her history told her she was unclean. Her body told her she was weak. The law told her she had no right to be in that crowd. Her circumstances told her nothing would ever change. But her faith spoke louder than all of it. Her words rose above her reality and aligned with the possibility of what God could do.

Her declaration shattered the limitations that had held her captive. She refused to let her condition dictate her future. She refused to let her past failures silence her hope. She refused to let fear keep her at a distance from the One who carried her answer. In that moment, her words became an act of spiritual defiance—defying sickness, defying shame, defying the boundaries that had confined her for twelve long years.

She spoke what she believed before her body felt any change. That is the essence of faith: it speaks from conviction, not confirmation. She didn’t wait for a sign. She didn’t wait for Jesus to acknowledge her. She didn’t wait for her symptoms to improve. She declared her healing while she was still bleeding. She proclaimed her breakthrough while she was still broken.

Her words became the bridge between her desperation and her deliverance. They carried her from the back of the crowd to the hem of His garment. They carried her from hopelessness to wholeness. They carried her from being defined by her condition to being affirmed by her Savior. Jesus did not say, “My power made you whole.” He said, “Daughter, your faith has made you whole.” Her faith was expressed through her words, and her words activated her miracle.

Her healing did not begin when she touched Jesus—it began when she spoke.

1. Faith Speaks What It Expects

Faith does not wait for evidence; it creates evidence. Her body was still broken, but her confession was whole. She didn’t say, “Maybe something will happen.” She declared, “I will be healed.” Her words aligned with God’s power long before her circumstances did.

2. Faith Speaks Against the Odds

Everything around her insisted she had no place in that crowd. She was ceremonially unclean. She was physically weak. She was socially rejected. She was legally forbidden to touch anyone. But faith does not ask permission from fear, shame, or the past. Faith speaks even when the situation seems impossible. Her declaration was an act of courage that pushed her beyond every boundary life had placed on her.

3. Faith Speaks What’s Settled

Her words revealed an inner conviction. She had already decided the outcome before she ever reached Jesus. That is the power of speaking faith: it reveals what your heart has chosen to believe. She didn’t need Jesus to call her out first. She didn’t need a dramatic moment. She believed that even a quiet, unnoticed touch was enough.

4. Faith Activates What God’s Made Available

Jesus told her, “Your faith has made you whole.” Not the crowd. Not the physical touch. Not even her proximity to Him. It was her faith—spoken, acted on, and lived out—that unlocked the miracle. Her words partnered with God’s power.

5. Faith Speaks Before the Breakthrough

Many people speak after God moves. She spoke before He moved. That is the heart of speaking faith: declaring God’s truth while standing in the middle of your need. Speaking faith is not pretending everything is fine. It does not deny reality or minimize pain. Faith does not require you to ignore the struggle; it invites you to trust that God is still sovereign in the midst of it.

Speaking faith means acknowledging the situation but refusing to let the situation have the final word. It is choosing to believe that God is greater than what you see. Faith lifts your eyes above the visible and anchors you in the invisible. It reminds you that circumstances are temporary, but God’s word is eternal. When everything around you shouts “impossible,” faith whispers, “But God.”

It is aligning your words with His power rather than your problems. Your words become a reflection of what you believe about God. Instead of rehearsing fear, you declare His faithfulness. Instead of magnifying the mountain, you magnify the One who moves mountains. Speaking faith does not ignore the storm—it speaks God’s authority into the storm.

Fear has a voice. Doubt has a voice. Shame has a voice. But faith chooses a different vocabulary. It echoes Heaven. It repeats God’s promises. It declares what God has already settled. Faith moves. Faith reaches. Faith presses. Faith speaks. It participates in what God is doing rather than waiting passively for something to happen. 

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Pastor Godwin, FBC Danvers