The Way Things Are???????

I was going through some of my older posts and found this. Oh, how I needed to hear it again. I hope you will be blessed by it. It is from October, 2007



Praise You, God! You were so AWESOME, POWERFUL, AND BIG at the Ladies' Retreat where I spoke over the weekend. Praise You! God confirmed time and again how He wants to set us free! He does not want to see His dearly Beloved children in bondage, living under the yoke of Satan's deception! Hallelujah!

This morning, one example stands out in my mind.

A dear woman at the retreat had shared with me what she is going through at home- a terrible situation. Her husband is in bondage to a terrible sin. We prayed together, and I especially prayed that she would feel God's loving arms around her. I prayed that He would comfort her, pour out His wisdom on her, and shower His love upon her. The next morning she shared with me how powerfully God had spoken to her through His Word. God led her to Isaiah where it talked about how He was going to come in to crush bondage and pride and that He is a source of strength. This passage spoke to her personally. It touched her exactly the way she needed. God had put His arms around her through His Word. God's Word is alive and active and personally speaks to each one of us! Praise God!

I was thinking how often we can sometimes "roll over and play dead." We start believing that THIS is all there is, or this is just how it is. We forget to fight- to stand firm and put on His armor. We forget to be strong in the Lord and His mighty power and to take our stand against the enemy's evil schemes. We just accept our circumstances as "the way things are." (Did you ever see the movie, Babe, about a pig who refused to accept that things were just the way things are?) We just sigh, and say, "This must be God's Will, His plan." And sometimes it is! There are times that He is refining us or our circumstances are a result of sin or our choices- but that is a whole other blog!!!

God reminded me of an example of this that happened not too long ago. I was NOT feeling well- I had a "bug" of some kind. But, I had so much to do. My "to do"list was FULL. While I was praying with my mentor and prayer partner, I had a "woe is me" attitude and was just kind of giving up. "I am sick today, I won't be able to do all things I need to do. Oh well." I even said, "God must be slowing down." (And He, does do that, too- but that, too, is a whole other blog!!!!!)

She began to pray for healing. She began to take our authority in who we are in Jesus and what He has already done for us. I, of course, didn't want to hear these things! I wanted to her to feel sorry for me- I was sick! I wanted to "wallow!" But, as we prayed, my faith began to rise. I knew it was God's will for me to get up and accomplish the things He had called me to do that day.

We talked about the time when Jesus healed Peter's mother from a fever and she got up to serve them. (Matthew 8:14) Immediately after we prayed I felt better. I still had my cold, but my attitude had completely changed. I had energy to get up and do the things I needed to do. Once I finished, I felt God say, "Rest now." I felt so much better!!!! I rested without worries of my tasks. I was so thankful and praised Him over and over!

This morning, as I pondered all of this, I opened my Bible. The Spirit led me to the story of the woman being healed in Mark 5:21-34. The crowds were huge. The Bible says, "A large crowd followed and pressed around Him." Have you been somewhere where the crowd was huge and people bump into you and you bump into them? Somewhere where you have to hold hands with the people you are with for fear of being separated? I picture the crowd like that around Jesus. The people are crowding Him, trying to get near Him.

The Bible says, "And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse." Whew! There is so much just in that short passage! In Bible times blood issues were taken seriously. If this woman had a blood disease, she would have been considered "unclean." People probably avoided touching her or getting too near her- for twelve YEARS. Can you imagine the pain and the loneliness of this suffering for so long? In fact, Scripture says she had "suffered a great deal." Can you relate?

Have you suffered a great deal?

She spent all she had. She spent everything she had to get well. She sought out many doctors. She was using everything available. Yet, she was not healed. In fact, the Bible says "she grew worse." Have your circumstances ever grown worse, even when you have given everything you have to change them?

But, she knew where to go! She knows that Jesus can heal her. She thinks, "If I just touch His clothes, I will be healed." She knows the power of the her Savior. She knows it just takes a touch of his cloak. She doesn't even need to touch Him, just His clothes. So, she comes up behind Him, without saying a word, reaches out, and touches His cloak."IMMEDIATELY her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering." God wants to free us from our suffering!

Notice a few things. She goes to Jesus. She has great faith- she knows she just needs a touch from Jesus. She reaches out and touches Him. "At once Jesus realizes that power had gone out from Him." Wow! She reaches out, touches Him in her need, and power goes out from Him to heal her. Now, Jesus knows who touched Him. He is God. He is all knowing. All through the New Testament Jesus knew the thoughts of those around Him. So, He knows already knows who touched Him, but He asks, "Who touched my clothes?" Now the disciples are surprised by this question. EVERYONE was touching Him! A better question might have been who is NOT touching me???? They say, "You see the people crowding against You, and yet You ask, 'Who touched me?' "

Jesus looks for her in the crowd. She knows she's "caught." She falls at His feet, trembling with fear and tells Him the whole truth.

Jesus calls her "Daughter." He says, "Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering."

Hallelujah! Jesus FREES us! He frees us from our suffering! Jesus came to "set the captives free." She has been healed already, now He wants to free her and bring restoration! In front of the whole crowd, all the people she was trying to avoid, Jesus restores her and validates her. He calls her daughter!

One other HUGE point- there were LOTS of people touching Jesus, many of which probably needed healing. Why didn't Jesus' power go out from Him when they touched Him?

She believed!

Jesus said "her faith healed her." So many of us may touch Jesus, but do we believe? Do we have faith in Who is and What He can do?

Thank You, God that You bring healing and freedom! Thank You for Your restoration!