When Jesus heard this, he was amazed. Turning to those who were following him, he said, I tell you the truth, I haven’t seen faith like this in all Israel! Matthew 8:10 (NLT)
There are only two people in the New Testament who Jesus said had great faith.
The first person was a Roman officer who wanted his servant healed. Being a military man, he understood how authority works. He told Jesus that He didn’t have to come to his home—Jesus could just say the word, and the servant would be healed (Matthew 8:8–9).
The other person was a Gentile woman—a foreigner. When she asked Jesus for a miracle, He told her that miracles were for the Jews, not for the dogs, which was what people called her race (Matthew 15:21–28). But she was insistent. She replied, Even dogs are allowed to eat the scraps that fall beneath their masters’ table (v. 27).
In both cases, Jesus was amazed by their faith, and they received their miracles. So, what was their secret? We’ve heard that understanding our authority in Christ and being persistent are keys to faith, and there’s a lot of truth to that. But what did these people have in common that caused miracles to explode in their lives?
The only thing we find is that neither of them were religious. Neither were wrapped up in all the rules and laws that the legalistic leaders believed you had to follow to please God. They simply saw Jesus, came upon His mercy, and believed—and they received miracles.
We’re going to look at this some more, but for now I want you to think about going back to the basics. Simply believe that Jesus loves you and wants to do incredible things in your life!