(Pastor Chen)
Lately there has been a surge of teachings on the grace of God. The emphasis is on God's love, God's power, and God's ability toward us. While I totally agree that there needs to be a deeper revelation of God's willingness to use His power and ability on our behalf, we must also not forget that there is another side of the same coin - our responsibility to develop and exercise our faith to receive from God. Grace is God reaching down with everything we need in life, and faith is us reaching up to receive from Him. Faith takes hold of the grace of God.
With the exception of the Gifts of the Spirit, there is a man side and a God side to every miracle and breakthrough. It is the two sides of the same coin. Take the example of the woman with the issue of blood for instance. Looking from man's viewpoint, it was the power of God flowing from Jesus' garment that healed the woman (Mark 5:30). We can talk about the power of God and praise the power of God that wrought the cure, and rightfully so, the woman was healed by the power of God. But to get a complete picture, we must also see what the woman did to receive the power of God. The woman first heard of Jesus and receive a revelation from God to touch Jesus' garment. She believed and kept saying "if I may touch but his clothes, I shall be whole." She acted on the revelation and touched Jesus' garment and was healed. Looking from God's view point, it was the woman's faith that received the healing (Mark 5:34). God puts the emphasis on the woman's faith in her healing.
Knowing God's willingness to use His power and ability on our behalf alone will not help us. We must exercise our faith to receive from God. In Luke 5:17, Jesus was teaching in a particular place surrounded by a group of religious leaders. The Scripture plainly tells us, "the power of the Lord was present to heal them," but no one was healed among them. The only person who was healed was a man sick with palsy brought in by men in a bed. They believed the sick will be healed and acted on their faith by literally knocking a hole in the roof to reach Jesus. Their faith activated the power of God and the sick was healed (Luke 5:20).
There are two ditches we can fall into when getting answers from God. One is placing all responsibility on God and becoming passive, the other is legalism where one thinks his or her effort moves God. God is already willing to move on our behalf. Our faith does not move God, it places us in the position to receive from Him. Grace and faith go hand in hand and is inseparable in the works of God. Everything we receive from God is by grace and through faith. As long as we have this proper perspective, we will not fall into the ditch of either side.