Never Stop Believing

Scripture:  Matthew 9:18–38

 

Jesus turned and saw her [and said],

“Take heart, daughter, your faith has healed you.”

And the woman was healed at that moment. 

Matthew 9:22

 

Observation:  What is it you are longing to be healed of today?  What have you been struggling with for so many years?  This woman struggled and sought medical attention for 12 LONG YEARS!  Is it a physical need (physical illness, cancer, female issues, excess weight, addiction, etc.)?  Is it an emotional need (anxiety, insecurity, depression, esteem issues, mental illness, etc.)?

 

What does this mean when Jesus says, “Your faith has healed you”?  The Greek suggests that it is “relying on Christ for salvation”.  This women put all her faith and trust in just touching the hem (tzit-tzit*) of his garment.  It wasn’t the tzit-tzit or the hem that healed her.  They had no magical powers, but it was the One on Whom the tzit-tzit were on that she reached out for.  She knew that if she could just get just close enough – it didn’t have to be a full laying on of hands, but just one thread of the Master’s garments would be enough.  This is the faith Yeshua is talking about. 

 

* tzit-tzit are blue and white cords that are tied to the four corners of a faithful Jewish persons garments (typically the males).  These cords were to be reminders of His law and His love.  Seeing this cord was thought to remind a person who was about to sin to remain faithful and righteous.

 

Our group is called “Show me your face” because like Moses I want it all.  Let me see you God is my cry!  But this woman was like just let me “have a crumb from his table” kind of a girl.  A little went a long way for her.  This was the faith Jesus was so impressed with.

 

There is a T shirt that says, “I need a little bit of coffee and a WHOLE LOT of Jesus!”  I can relate to that.  But I am impressed with this woman who knew that a little bit of Jesus would go a VERY LONG way!  It is humbling when you think about it really.  Yeshua, Jesus, He doesn’t ask us to be excessive in seeking Him.  As a matter of fact He tells us He is not that far away!  (The LORD is near to all who call upon Him, Psalm 145:18a; "Am I a God who is near," declares the LORD, "And not a God far off?  Jeremiah 23:23)

 

He doesn’t make it hard for us either, “Now what I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach.”  Duet 30:11  IT IS WITHIN OUR REACH!

 

I don’t know about you, but this encourages me.  I don’t need a Jesus that is hard to reach.  I just need to reach out to Jesus!

 

Friends, I pray this weekend as you look back over the week and your studies that you wouldn’t burden yourself with what you couldn’t do, but relax in what you could do.  Jesus, Yeshua, He doesn’t make it hard for us.  He says His burden is light.  So do not burden yourself. 

 

Application:  Think about what it is you want Him to heal you of.  Then just reach out and seek Him for that healing and wholeness.  Where do you feel lacking?  He can and will complete you and make you whole.  I can’t say if it will happen “in a moment” like this woman, but I can say that if you and I continue to reach out in faith to Jesus, the One in Whom Healing is found, then I believe, by faith, that healing will come.

 

Never stop believing!

 

Prayer: Father in Heaven, how blessed were these people in our text today to be able to physically reach out and touch Yeshua and be touched by Him.  You walked among us as the incarnate Christ, fully God and fully man.  When I stop to think about this it is really beyond my grasp, but what I do know is that You are our Creator God who loves us and wants to be near us.  You long to have a relationship with us, which really is way beyond my comprehension, except to say that Your love is so GREAT and amazing and outreaching.  Thank You for loving us.  Father, there are things in my life LORD that I need to trust You for and areas that I need to be made whole and complete in; areas that I need Your healing.  Today I grab ahold of the hem of Your garment, Your tzit-tzit, by faith, knowing God that even the tiniest touch has more power than any doctor or work that I can do for myself here on this earth.  God we need Your power in our lives to heal us and make us whole.  May we long for it.  May we press in among the proverbial crowds, past anything that might hinder us and seek for that one touch Lord.  Thank You for Your Word and for all those who are reaching out to You today.  Through Christ, through Whom healing is made available through His death and resurrection, I pray.  Amen & Amen.

 

Let’s go deeper:

 

35 Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. 36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 37 Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. 38 Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”

 

As we already studied and learned this week.  We cannot help others until we ourselves have been helped.  Jesus went from place to place healing and teaching and telling others that there is hope, there is salvation and there is good news to be heard.  There were CROWDS surrounding him that needed this hope.  Jesus was compassionate with them.  That word in Greek means He saw them and felt pity because He saw they needed help and there was no one to help them.  Maybe you have felt this way for others.  Maybe you have been this person that felt helpless.  Jesus invites EACH ONE OF US to join Him TODAY in His work.  You can be that one who helps.  You can be a worker in His fields. 

 

Final note:  Please know that I am not saying that people do not need medical attention here.  There are times when doctors and medicines are what Jesus uses to help us.  God can and does work through the medical community.  But sometimes, as the first lady in our text experienced, there are some things that perhaps only God can fix.  As humans we are limited in our knowledge, but God is un-limited.  Be wise.  Don’t suffer in silence thinking “I’ll just wait for God’s healing.”  Just be wise!  Pray, seek the LORD, do your research (sometimes God provides natural sources of healing in creation) and seek appropriate medical care as well when needed, but above TRUST Him to bring about healing.  When you look at how Jesus healed throughout the Bible it wasn’t the same each time.  What may be right or best for one person, God may choose to do it differently in another.  Let’s be non-judgmental and helpful to one another.  We are all broken in some way and we need His healing in whatever form that comes.