Encouragement
Luke 8v 43-48
Matthew 5v25-34
A story is told of a woman who had a continuous flow for 12 years. She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse. All the doctors, prophets, traditional healers and specialists she had consulted had left her poorer than healthier. She was a desperado, a stand alone and a woman who could no longer borrow as all her means of paying back had been taken away. She might have sold her house and property just to get healed. And I can assume that this woman had followed every new discovery of medicine that claimed to heal diseases such as hers. She was a guinea pig to many doctors and she was the specimen used to test every new drug on the market. Yet there was nothing that these people could do for her that could better her life.
Traditionally she was disqualified from staying among people as her flow caused her impurity. Leviticus 15:19 reads, "When a woman has her regular flow of blood, the impurity of her monthly period will last seven days, and anyone who touches her will be unclean till evening." She could not be among her friends at all. This meant that she would go to the well when everyone was either asleep or had already been. It also meant that she had to disguise herself in order to get her shopping done. And it also meant that she was not a candidate for marriage. How could men ask her out if they would be defiled by her very presence? The Law of Moses was becoming a burden to her very existence and slowly she was fading out of society.
She also could not give birth because biologically her flow stopped her form conceiving. As she was constantly in her periods, it meant that she could not have sexual relations with a man; it also meant that she never had time to allow her womb to carry something that would preserve the future. She could not leave behind an heir in the event that she had been married before the issue started. I believe that in her first days of marriage all things had worked out for her and her husband but as time and the issue came, all hell broke loose in the house. I believe that her husband walked out on her and told her to deal with her issue if there ever was a chance for them to be together. Can you identify with such a circumstance?
And it would appear that she and Jairus' wife were the same age, probably married at the same time but she was childless and probably divorced. I believe that if they had been married around the same time, they had supported each other and had talked about building a future together as friends. Maybe they were prayer partners at one stage. Maybe this woman was there when Jairus' wife gave birth to her daughter, maybe she was there watching this baby turn into a beautiful twelve year old. Maybe she too held hopes of having her own child one day. Maybe she and her husband tried so hard to have a child till he gave up and walked away. Maybe because of her issue, her friendship with Jairus' wife was destroyed by her issue. Just so many maybes but this woman had an issue that needed to be dealt with.
Everyone in the neighborhood had a name for her, the woman with An Issue." She was a social outcast and a disgrace even unto her own family. Maybe she was chased away from home because her parents had been strict about issues to deal with the law. Even her neighbors had shunned her. All the kids in the neighborhood were told to stay away from her house because she had an issue that could spoil their lives. Every parent who saw their child talk to this woman either rebuked her or thoroughly beat their child to teach them a lesson. Everywhere she went people would call her names and she had to carry around a label that said, "You have an Issue." This woman had an issue and this issue was killing her.
She would often watch from behind the bushes any function that was taking place in the neighborhood. She would overhear conversations about a man who had taken the Judean country by storm and she wished in her heart to meet Him. But was this man going to appreciate an outcast like her? One day she decided to make a call on the man she had heard so much about. He had healed the sick and performed so many miracles and was thus her last hope of finding a permanent solution to her crisis. He alone could deal with her issue, if only she could but touch the hem of His garment. So the day she heard that He was headed to the household of Jairus, she knew it was now or never. At first she kept at a distance fearing that someone would spot her and tell her off. When she realized that her cover was not broke, she took a step of faith and started pressing in towards Jesus. Someone in the crowd may have recognized her and started shouting at her, but she kept going forward. She kept saying, "I am the one with the issue, not you."
And as long as that issue was still there this woman had no care for what people were saying. You see, in life when you have an issue that keeps you awake day and night, that racks your brain so hard you can't think, you can never stop pressing towards the solution because someone is telling you that you are not worthy. After all who told them they are worthy themselves? You need to take on the attitude of this woman and press in till you touch the hem of that garment because it's what kept you up all night, drove you out of bed in the morning and kept you from looking at the crowd around you.
This unnamed woman pressed so hard that in spite of the insults, the shoving, beating and tiredness, she was focused till the end. That's what will cause the issue breaking anointing to manifest. All this time heaven was watching the interplay taking place on earth. God was watching to see the exact time He could release the anointing. As the woman pressed in so close to Jesus, God must have stood up from His throne and commanded that virtue and issue breaking anointing to flow through Jesus' garment and heal the lady. There just has to be something that caused that woman to receive her healing. What was so different about her that caused heaven to smile on her that much? This lady finally made it after a great deal of fight and touched Jesus' garment.
At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who touched my clothes?” Strange question indeed. “You see the people crowding against you,” his disciples answered, “and yet you can ask, `Who touched me?’“ But Jesus knew that power had come from Him. I believe that woman's step of faith challenged heaven to release the anointing because everyone else was touching Jesus yet nothing was coming out. That in itself means that heaven will not release the issue breaking anointing to one who does not have issues. The crowds were around a man who could change situations but none was able to tap into what He had. Yet this woman could cause that anointing to flow into her issue and deal with it forever. Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering. It only had to be the issue breaking anointing that changed her circumstances.
You see friend, the issue breaking anointing will work according to the measure of your faith. If your faith is small you will not be able to draw power from Jesus. It means you have to increase the level of your pressing to get to that level where you will force Jesus to recognize that you are present in the crowd. This woman disregarded the crowd and held fast to what she was there for. She needed to fulfill her faith, “If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.” What issues are afflicting you and what are you willing to do to deal with them?
The minute she got healed the woman with the issue moved from social outcast to most wanted. Men started to flock around her; they all wanted a share of her life. Children wanted to play in her yard and all the women who could not come and ask for salt previously started coming her way. She slowly managed to rebuild her fortunes and started making a living again. This was possible because she defied logic and went out of the normal situations and touched the garment that changed her life. You too need to get to the place where you leave your issues at Jesus' feet.
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