Episode 663

TODAY’S READING

43 And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years, but no one could heal her.

44 She came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak, and immediately her bleeding stopped.

45 “Who touched me?” Jesus asked. When they all denied it, Peter said, “Master, the people are crowding and pressing against you.”

46 But Jesus said, “Someone touched me; I know that power has gone out from me.”

47 Then the woman, seeing that she could not go unnoticed, came trembling and fell at his feet. In the presence of all the people, she told why she had touched him and how she had been instantly healed.

48 Then he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace.”

Luke 8:43-48

This lady saw or heard that Jesus was coming into town. She knew that the crowds were gathering. People were pressing in on Jesus just to get close to him. But she knew that even in a crowd of hundreds and hundreds of people if she could get close enough to him that she could just touch the very garments of his clothing, she wouldn’t be healed. That is a faith I want to have day in and day out. I had or have a reminiscence of a scar on my chest. It’s nothing like having a blood issue for 12 years. So here we please, if you are sick in your body, you have been fighting this for years or what seems to be yours. I cannot understand the pain that you’re going through. But I can understand that God is a good God, and he moves in little, and he moves in the big, and in my case, it was a little, but it was so big to me. It was a scar on my chest. It was a keloid that had formed, probably a reaction to a necklace paired with teenage hormones. Actually, it’s what it was a horrible combination, and my chest reacted between the ages of 11 and the rest of my life. I started to form a keloid on my chest. And the keloid got bigger and bigger with every passing year. And by the time I was in college, it was so large and so raised that I can remember going to sleep crying, praying, and begging God that one day it will just disappear. God, just please make this disappear. I was so subconscious about it. I felt like I couldn’t wear a tank top without someone looking at my chest. I remember going to Disney World and having someone touch my chest and say what is that? And I remember always being so embarrassed because I never thought I would find someone who was going to love me because of this scar that I had on my chest. And I say this story because God brought me in my early adult life. After college to a dermatologist in which I was able to work for this doctor for a year. I was given an opportunity to work at a different place for higher pay. But when I interviewed the dermatologist, they did tell me that they would treat my scar for no additional costs. And so I knew that that was worth so much more than pay at that time. So I took the job with a dermatologist, and they worked on my chest for over a year, and today my scars are almost basically gone. I have a small little reminder of where it used to be. But the chest has completely flattened, and it’s a long story to say that I remember crying in bed, saying that I would need to get married. You know, long sleeve, turtleneck kind of dress. But last week, I got married in a sweetheart dress with my chest in the air and not one tear because of a scar on my chest, and that is because God hears our cries and our prayers, and he heals. 

If he can heal the scar on my chest, which is something so small in comparison to the sicknesses that people fight in their bodies. If he can heal the little, he is so, so hungry to heal the big, but we need to be like this lady. We need to fall at the feet of Jesus. We need to touch his garments; we need to have that kind of faith, faith like no other that he will heal you. And when he does, let us scream it from the mountaintops so that other people can listen to your testimony; they can get closer to him as well.

Prayer:

God, we thank you for the stories of this Bible that continue to remind us of the power that you hold. Lord God, we thank you for your son Jesus; we thank You that You sent him with all the authority in the world because he was 100% God, and he was 100% man, and he came to meet us where we were. And Lord, we can learn from the stories; we can learn from the miracles that He performs because we are the people in these stories. We are like the lady with the issue of blood. We have been hurt for the last 12 years, bleeding, hoping that we can be healed, going to different places, visiting different doctors, going to different places to try to get healed, and nothing personal apart from Lord. All we need to do is throw ourselves at the feet of Jesus. And it all goes away in an instant. We pray that whatever it is that may be holding us down, we surrender it and put it at the feet of Jesus today, and we touch his garment, may we be healed instantly. We thank you for the opportunity to do so; we love you, and we pray this all your son’s Mighty Name, Amen.