Faith

3. September 2008 by Bernice Davis.

Hello: 

Our text for today is:

Matthew 9:18 While he was saying this, a ruler came and knelt before him and said, “My daughter has just died. But come and put your hand on her, and she will live.” 19 Jesus got up and went with him, and so did his disciples. 20 Just then a woman who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak. 21 She said to herself, “If I only touch his cloak, I will be healed.” 22 Jesus turned and saw her. “Take heart, daughter,” he said, “your faith has healed you.” And the woman was healed from that moment. 23 When Jesus entered the ruler’s house and saw the flute players and the noisy crowd, 24 he said, “Go away. The girl is not dead but asleep.” But they laughed at him. 25 After the crowd had been put outside, he went in and took the girl by the hand, and she got up. 26 News of this spread through all that region.

Today has one of my favorite miracles and one of the most popular in the bible; the story of the woman with the issue of blood. If you read this story in its remote account you will find much more details.    Matthew has a shortened version.  I hope you remember what we mean by remote account.  

The text teaches that “while he was saying this”.  If you remember from yesterday the thing that he was saying was the analogy that he gave about the garment and the wine concerning the issue of why his disciples did not fast.

So, while he was talking a man comes up to him and says that his daughter is dead but he knows that she will live again if Jesus lays hands on her.  Jesus agrees and while they are going to his house, the woman with the issue of blood for twelve years comes through the crowd and touches the hem of his garment believing that the touch will make her whole.

So as she believed so as it happened to her.  Jesus turned to the woman and said your faith has healed you. 

Your faith has healed you.  Let’s talk a little bit about faith today.  As you can see from the text, Jesus tells the woman that her faith in God had the ability to give her the healing that she desired. 

Our faith is so important yet we often neglect doing what is necessary to guard it and keep it strong.  Faith has to be fed.  Scriptures teach that faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God.  (Romans 10:17)

We have to protect the things that we allow ourselves to hear and be exposed to.   Have you ever been around negative people that have nothing positive to say and everything is doom and gloom and at the end of the day, you feel as if they have sucked the very life out of you.   One of the first steps in strengthening our faith is to monitor what we hear. 

A few years ago, I allowed myself to sink into this deep depression.  I would only do the bare minimum for existence which included getting up and going to work.  During this time, food and TV became a comfort to me and both had terrible side affects.  I gained a tremendous amount of weight and I became addicted to lifetime TV.   During this season, lifetime TV had program after program that dealt with nothing but depressing issues such as failed marriages, adultery, deceit, tragedies, etc.   My husband would constantly tell me that watching this type of TV would not make me feel better nor add any edification to my life.

As soon as I got up off that couch and starting working out and reading the word again and listening and surrounding myself with positive influences, I was able to get myself out of that depression.   It was quite humbling to realize that all along, I had the key to change my situation.   

I did a women’s conference a couple of weeks ago in California and after one of the services, one of the ladies came up to me and said that after that service she realized that all this time she had been in prison and had the keys in her hand to get out.  I took the analogy a bit further by telling her that if she had the keys in her hands then it meant that she unlocked the door and walked in that prison and locked herself her in and was always in control of getting out. 

No matter where you are in life, we have the power right now to turn things around with a thought change.    Thinking positive, surrounding ourselves with positive influences, exercising, volunteering in our communities which gives us such self fulfillment and reading God’s word are all small steps that we can begin to take to increase our quality of life.    Everything begins with a thought but you must act on those thoughts for results to manifest.

Take small steps.  A lot of times when we make up our minds to change our situation, we set our goals too high and when we don’t reach them we fall back into depression.   Try smaller steps and watch the results pour in. 

This woman believed that if she could just touch the hem of his garment, she would be made whole and she risked her life to do it.Tomorrow, we will talk about why it was such a risk and we will pick up the story about the man whose daughter had died for this healing of the woman was on the way to take care of the daughter. 

Be encouraged.  Feed your faith!!!!!!!!!! 

God Bless 

Don’t forget to pray and read God’s word daily. 

Posted in Uncategorized | 4 Comments »