The power of Jesus to heal and restore is not limited to selected few. Whosoever comes to Jesus with genuine desire to encounter His power will definitely encounter God's power. Many times, we seek to hoard the power of God believing that God can be constrained in our hearts alone while others run about seeking for Him. The Omnipotent God cannot be constrained in His dealing. Therefore whenever you find the power of God at work in your neighbourhood, know that Jesus is able to enter your abode too. Make every opportunity count. Your blessings will drop to you when you least expect. The power of God is still at work! In the previous post, we saw how Jairus ran to Jesus to seek His power to restore his daughter. While Jesus was on the way to the house of Jairus, another person genuinely seeking for the miraculous power of Jesus intercepted them.
Just then a woman who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak. She said to herself, “If I only touch his cloak, I will be healed.” (Matthew 9:20-21)
This woman had a huge need and she might have heard of the miraculous power of Jesus and she did the impossible. The Bible doesn't mention her name but she is widely referred to as the woman with the issue of blood. Maybe the people within and without her neighbourhoods knew her as the woman with the issue of blood. Her condition would have rendered her unclean and as such it was a risk she took to come close to Jesus. This story is recorded in the gospels of Matthew and Mark. Let's consider Mark's account: "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 had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse. When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, because she thought, “If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.” Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering." (Mark 5:25-29)
First we need to understand that this woman tried to fix her situation with medical power. Medicine and the advancement of science is good. We bless God for Doctors and all the health professionals. However, this woman's pain couldn't be curtailed by doctors. Instead of getting better, she got worse and poorer because she had to spend all her money (Mark 5:27). This woman understood that Jesus carried power that is beyond medicine. She also understood that if Jesus is the custodian of power, then by her faith, she can tap into this power by just touching the hem of Jesus' garment. Remember, there were many other people pressing on Jesus but none had this spiritual instinct that Jesus embodies power and a touch of His clothes can release power. I am sure the disciples who had been with Jesus all these while had at that time not thought of the possibility of touching Jesus' garment as a conduit for power to be released.
God honoured the faith and perseverance of this woman. As soon as she touched Jesus' clothes, her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering (Mark 5:29). Not only that, even Jesus felt that power had left Him to another: At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who touched my clothes?” (Mark 5:30). The disciples showed their ignorance of the principle used by this woman and answered Jesus: “You see the people crowding against you, and yet you can ask, ‘Who touched me?’ ” (Mark 5:31). In other words, they were puzzled that Jesus made such a statement. The woman knew what had happened, Jesus knew what had happened but the disciples failed to see. Jesus knew someone had received the power that left Him and He kept looking around to see who had done it. The woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth. He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.” (Mark 5:32-34).
Imagine all the people in the crowd looking forward to seeing the celebrity Jesus. They were just interested in following Him. Even the disciples didn't know that the power in Jesus was transferable by a positioned faith ready to receive. Even the head of the synagogue, Jairus didn't know that Jesus could have just spoken and the power would have gone ahead to heal his daughter. Thankfully, the Roman centurion knew that:
So Jesus went with them. He was not far from the house when the centurion sent friends to say to him: “Lord, don’t trouble yourself, for I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. That is why I did not even consider myself worthy to come to you. But say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and that one, ‘Come,’ and he comes. I say to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.” When Jesus heard this, he was amazed at him, and turning to the crowd following him, he said, “I tell you, I have not found such great faith even in Israel.” (Luke 7:6-9).
Jesus is clearly in the neighbourhood. Don't just run to see a celebrity Jesus. Run to have an encounter with the Man of Power. Your faith and perseverance will propel you from behind the crowd to be a recipient of power. Don't miss this powerful encounter. May your faith tap the power of Jesus and you will never remain the same.
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