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Faith Activates the Anointing
The anointing of God is always available, but it takes your faith to access it. In this powerful message from Mark 5, Pastor Willie Russell shows us that Jesus never lacked the power to heal, deliver, or restore. The only question is whether we'll bring enough faith to put a demand on what God has already made available.
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Small Group Guide
Small Group Discussion Guide
"Faith Activates the Anointing" | Pastor Willie Russell
1. SERMON RECAP
Pastor Willie Russell explored the story of the woman with the issue of blood in Mark 5, showing that while the anointing of God is always present and available, it requires activated faith to access it. He drew attention to the way Jesus responded not to the crowd pressing around him but to the one person who reached out with genuine belief, saying, "Your faith has made you well." Pastor Willie challenged the congregation to stop managing their problems and start trusting the word of God, believing that consistent time under the word builds the kind of faith that puts a real demand on the anointing.
2. KEY SCRIPTURE
Mark 5:28 (NKJV)
"For she said, 'If only I may touch His clothes, I shall be made well.'"
3. ICE BREAKER
What is one situation in your life where you had to decide to believe something before you could actually see it happen?
4. DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1. Pastor Willie pointed out that the woman with the issue of blood activated her faith well before she ever touched the hem of Jesus' garment. She was already saying to herself, "I shall be made whole." What does it look like practically to activate faith before you arrive at the moment you need it? What gets in the way of doing that?
2. He described how the disciples were focused entirely on the natural surroundings, managing the crowd and moving Jesus along, while Jesus was fully attuned to something happening in the spirit. In what ways do we sometimes play the role of the disciples in our own lives or in our church community, staying so focused on logistics and routine that we miss what God is actually doing?
3. Pastor Willie said that Jesus never had a bandwidth problem and that there is always enough anointing for everyone who comes with faith. How does that change the way you think about praying for others alongside praying for your own needs? Does it challenge any assumptions you have been carrying about whether God has enough for you specifically?
4. He referenced Hebrews 11:6, which says that without faith it is impossible to please God, and suggested that faith is what allows the anointing to become activated on earth. What does it mean to you personally that God is described as a rewarder of those who diligently seek him? What does diligent seeking actually look like in a week's worth of ordinary life?
5. Pastor Willie was direct about the difference between showing up to church out of habit or obligation and showing up with a specific expectation that God is going to move. How honest can the group be about which posture tends to describe the way members typically arrive at a church service? What would need to shift, practically, to change that?
6. He warned that people can participate in outward religious activity, including speaking in tongues and attending services regularly, while never truly submitting to the word of God in a way that builds genuine faith. Where is the line, in the group's thinking, between religious habit and living faith? How does a person know which side of that line they are on?
5. APPLICATION CHALLENGE
Before Sunday's service, each group member should identify one specific need they have been trying to manage on their own rather than bringing to God in faith. They should spend at least fifteen minutes on Saturday reading a scripture that speaks directly to that need, then write down one sentence declaring what they believe God will do, and bring that declaration with them into the service as an act of activated faith.
6. PRAYER POINTS
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Pray that each group member would develop a hunger for the word of God that consistently builds and strengthens their faith, so that they arrive at every service and every prayer time already expectant rather than passive.
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Pray for the church community as a whole, that the congregation would learn to guard and honor the flow of the anointing rather than inadvertently quenching it through distraction, doubt, or unbelief.
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Pray for any specific needs represented in the group that members are willing to name aloud, asking God to meet each one according to the faith that is being stirred up through this study.
7. MEMORY VERSE
Hebrews 11:6 (NKJV)
"But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him."
Daily Devotional
The Anointing Is Already There
Mark 5:28 — "For she said, If I only may touch his clothes, I shall be made well."
There was never a moment when Jesus lacked power. The woman with the issue of blood did not have to convince him to heal her or wait for the right conditions. The anointing was already present and available. What she had to bring was herself — and her faith. I think about how many times I have sat in a room full of God's presence and left with the same need I walked in with, not because God was holding out on me, but because I never really reached. I never put a real demand on what was already there. This woman had been sick for twelve years, spent everything she had, and was getting worse. And still she pressed. She did not let her history of suffering talk her out of her miracle. Her faith was louder than her pain.
Lord, forgive me for showing up to your presence empty-handed when it comes to faith. Help me to stop assuming the miracle is for someone else and start reaching for what you have already made available. I trust that the anointing is real and that it is enough for me.
Faith Has a Voice
Matthew 9:28-29 — "Jesus said to them, Do you believe that I am able to do this? They said to him, Yes, Lord. Then He touched their eyes, saying, According to your faith let it be done to you."
Jesus did not just perform miracles and move on. He asked questions. He wanted to hear what people believed out of their own mouths. When the two blind men followed him, he stopped and looked at them and asked the question directly: do you believe I can do this? And what strikes me is that He waited for the answer. He was not going to move until they spoke their faith. I have thought about this passage since Friday, when I shared it with you, and I keep coming back to how simple and how demanding it is at the same time. God is not looking for a theological argument. He is not looking for you to explain every doubt you have ever wrestled with. He is looking for a yes. A simple, clean, trusting yes. That yes is what opens the door for the anointing to flow in your direction.
Jesus, I want to be someone who gives you a clear yes. Forgive me for all the times I hedged and questioned and made things complicated. I believe you are able, and I am saying it out loud right now.
The Word Builds What Doubt Tears Down
Romans 10:17 — "So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God."
Faith is not something you manufacture out of thin air. It grows. And the way it grows is through the word of God. Every time you sit under the word, every time you open your Bible and actually read it, every time you come to the house of God with an open heart, something is happening in you. Doubt begins to lose its grip. Fear starts to thin out. The word of God is like a chisel working away at everything that keeps you from believing. I told you on Friday that revival is not just an event — it is a sustained exposure to the word. When you keep hearing what God said, when you keep returning to scripture, your faith has something to stand on. It does not waver as easily. It does not flinch at the size of your problem because it has been built on something that does not move.
Father, I want a faith that is built on your word and not on my feelings or my circumstances. Help me to be consistent in getting into scripture so that my faith keeps growing instead of shrinking. Let your word do its work in me.
He Has Always Known What He Is Anointed to Do
Luke 4:18 — "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He has anointed me to preach the good news to the poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed."
Jesus never wandered around wondering what his assignment was. He knew. He preached the same message everywhere he went: I am anointed and here is what the anointing covers. The woman with the issue of blood had heard that message. That is why she knew to press through the crowd. She connected what she had heard to what she needed, and it gave her the courage to reach. This is why the word of God matters so much in your everyday life. When you know what Jesus said he came to do, you stop wondering whether your situation qualifies for His attention. Sickness qualifies. Oppression qualifies. Brokenness qualifies. What Jesus declared in Luke 4 was not a one-time speech for a specific audience. It was an announcement that is still standing. He is still anointed. He is still moving. The question is whether you know it well enough to reach.
Lord, thank you for being clear about who you are and what you came to do. Help me to know your word well enough that when I face something hard, I already know it falls under the reach of your anointing. I receive what you declared.
Please Him With Your Faith
Hebrews 11:6 — "But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him."
I want to close this week the same way I closed on Friday — with this truth sitting heavy in your spirit. God is a rewarder. That is not a figure of speech. He does not just notice your faith and nod politely. He pours out His anointing on those who seek Him with genuine belief. When you diligently seek Him, when you press into His presence with expectation and not just routine, He responds. But without faith none of it moves. Not because God is withholding, but because faith is the currency of the kingdom. It is how the anointing flows from heaven into your actual life. You have spent this whole week building something. You have been hearing the word, speaking your yes, identifying your need, and learning what Jesus said He came to do. Do not let it stop here. Carry this faith into the weekend and into every room you walk into.
Father, I want to please you. I want to be someone who seeks you with real faith and not just religious habit. Pour out your anointing on my life because I am choosing to believe what you said. I am diligently seeking you today.