Tuesday, 12 May 2009
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Seeking Healing: Would You Have Gone to Jesus First?
by miss goldenrod
I heard this mind-blowingly simple message today about the woman with the issue of blood. I had always viewed this story in terms of physical healing, yet this female minister dropped the "of blood" part. Without that detail, we simply have a woman, who had an issue, had heard about Jesus, and believed he could fix her. Twelve years, all her money, no results... she was past desperate in my opinion. We don't know what treatments the doctors of her day might have given her, though I'm sure she had tried everything. A guy who was raising people from the dead, turning water into wine, and casting out demons may not have been the most radical person she had heard of.
More amazing to myself is the fact that Levitical laws stated any person suffering a discharge of any kind was to be quarantined outside the camp of the nomadic Israelites, and if a person broke the quarantine, they were to be stoned to death. To me, going into the crowded streets was a bigger step of faith... though perhaps still one driven by desperation.
Which makes me wonder: Was this woman the type who would have tried Jesus in the first year of her illness had he been around? Really the question is: What type of person are we? We've had Jesus about since we were born, and we've had issues almost as long. Yet have we gone to every other kind of preacher, author, television personality before Jesus? We have the Bible, have the Holy Spirit and Jesus and the Father...and still this too-simple concept of trusting Jesus with our issues, despite our earthly circumstances, some days seems too difficult or too radical.
Preach the word of God. Be persistent, whether the time is favorable or not. ... For a time is coming when people will no longer listen to right teaching. They will follow their own desires and will look for teachers who will tell them whatever they want to hear. They will reject the truth and follow strange myths. But you should keep a clear mind in every situation. - 2 Timothy 4:2-5, NLT
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About the Author
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- From: Miss_Goldenrod
- Name: Laura
- About Me: A Christian living in Metro-Detroit who, when not working as a Horticultural Technician (Plant Lady) or volunteering with the Macomb Literacy Partners, reads, writes, watches too much television, and hangs out with family and friends. I share a home with a crotchety parakeet, a tankful of fish, and an adorable ferret (see photograph...under my skirt). To visit my Xanga alias, go to www.xanga.com/cygnus33
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Comments (12)
"A fool and his money are soon parted." The same thing can be said for the desperate.
In backwater places like ancient Palestine the sick were up sh!t creek without a canoe.
Enter Jesus, a healer extraordinaire. I mean this man went at it hour after hour, day after day. Sure healing at no cost. Well, no cost except faith.
Any fool would have taken the sure thing and gone to Jesus first.
Good point. I think sometimes we can become ashamed of our 'issues' and try to hide them from God until we fix them ourselves. Or sometimes just assume that they're too 'small' for him to care about.
This woman spent all her money on doctors. Everything she had, which probably would have left her on the streets if she didn't live with her family as an invalid. That would have made sense for her being in public. And once Israel had settled into townships, if you were sick, the best way to avoid passing on contagious illnesses like leprosy would have been keeping out of peoples way. That was why the laws on 'unclean' and having to keep away from people were made in the first place. While israel was travelling, staying outside the camp would have been the easiest method.
Hard on the person, but at least it was some kind of stopmeasure to prevent the illness spreading.
And women were required to do the same thing during their monthly cycles - but that would have been to prevent Ectopic pregnancys, which can happen when a couple have sex during a womans period. An ectopic pregnancy is when the egg is fertalised in the fellopian tube which will eventually kill the mother as it grows.
In a male dominated soceity, which israel was at that time - it would probably be a lot safer for the woman to be away from any kind of risk of pressure. And would provide a great rest every month too. Can you imagine a whole week off from housework every month just to hang out and chat with your girlfriends. That's in essence what the whole system did.
Unclean just means 'unclean'. It was never meant to imply inferiority.
I think sometimes too, people don't go to God for healing for a fear of him not 'wanting' to heal them for some reason. Yet Jesus healed all who came to him - which shows that he wants to heal us of all of our problems as well.
Uh, you miss the point of this recount. The point is to show the power of Jesus as God, to make the impossible possible. Jesus wasn't some 'faith healing guru' like those charlatans today, He was not a 'bread king', He came to do God's will, which meant live a sinless life and then die on the cross for our sins, and being risen on the third day. Power over sin, death and the devil shows the almighty power of God; that there are not two 'gods' ---- one good and one evil --------- but one God. Yet, at times, God elects not to heal and we trust in His will. So, it is not a matter of whether this lady had gone to Jesus first, for all we know she could have seen Him before. God chose to heal her in His time.
Thank you for asking this question. It is one that has come to the forefront for me recently. It occurred to me that we, who claim to be His in our whole being, seem to turn to Him only as a last resort when we should turn to Him first. In fact, if we were living in constant communion as Paul instructs us to do (Pray without ceasing) and Brother Lawrence lived out for us, He would be the first to know of any needs that we have. He would then instruct us as to where to go and what to do.
Certainly scripture has instructed us to go to the elders and have them lay hands on us and pray for us when we are sick, but we seem shy about doing even that. We show we don't believe Whom we say we believe. It is this double-mindedness that James speaks of. Its getting time to fish or cut bait Brothers and Sisters. Once the one world gov't is set in place we will have access only to the Great Physician. Better to learn to do so now rather than when we have no one else to turn to. At least doing so now will have its witness to the world. Then, the world will not see us except in a negative light.
@HLPU@xanga - I couldn't agree more (except for maybe the missing the point part- I can't judge that)....
While I love this story about how Jesus did heal her, I also love the recount in Luke 7 where walking Jesus saw a funeral procession and had mercy and compassion on the mother.
She didn't do anything, she didn't search for His healing and seek him out and yet He took compassion on her and raised her last hope (her son) from the dead.
And yet I have had sincere Christians friends die of tragic diseases that 'their' faith was believing in healing for.
That is why our focus should always be upon bringing glory to God no matter what circumstances we find ourselves in.
@AngelBeast777@xanga - amen HE the anchor of our souls, should ALWAYS be our first port of call.
In the past, I have had some miraculous healings and passing of kidney stones, but only after my having private communication with God. Also, I recovered from a collapsed lung in the fastest time of 3 nights and 3 days. But then in 2003 I came to Germany which has a socialized health care system. My wife "forced" me to try out different doctors to see if they could improve certain physical challenges I was having. The only improvement was a hearing aide and special orthopedic shoes. Then recently I had a heart attack, but there was not damage done and I was out of the hospital after two days but forced to get 6 daily pills. (I think that I have had less than 10 pills in my whole life before!) But in all of the above indicated medical challenges I have communicated with God as often as I could. Meanwhile, I daily read a lot of e-mail prayer requests about apparent good Christians having to have a lot of medical help from humans and no mention about God the Father or Jesus Christ. Why does God heal some and doesn't heal others? I have hated when I have heard charismatic individuals tell others they are having health problems because they don't have enough faith or the right faith or are not praying right. I have been to big faith healing meetings and saw that most attendees were very disappointed.
I believe that God has given many doctors a lot of medical knowlege, but what do we do when we give conflicting diagnosis? And there have been many wrong surgeries and wrong prescriptions. Trusting one doctor about which hospital to go to for the determination of my heart attack turned out to be the apparent worse hospital in town, but God still helped me to witness there and later report the problems I observed. I believe in frequently living Proverbs 3:5-6 and look for Romans 8:28 blessings. God had me do other friendship evangelism in three other hospitals (16 days total for three different reasons). God knows how much we each can handle, so I just trusted God and was blessed with much divine peace and divine joy which surprised many in those places.
i think it's interesting how she apparently mentally connected the prophecies about the messiah coming with "healing in his wings" with this man jesus she'd heard about.Â
I am 75, been a Christian 43 years and have not fully understood this whole healing issue.
When Jesus was here in person, He healed those who came to him and a few that just sort of ran into him, like the widow's dead son.
The Apostles seemed to heal. I know some did, and assume they all did.
A few of the Apostle's followers healed like Phillip in Acts.
It gets messy for me after that. I have read a great deal on the subject--pro and con.
We are discussing physical/spiritual healing of people. I have had people pray for me when I was in the hospital and all looked lost and then walked in 11 and 21 days respectively.
I have asked many nurses in hospitals if they were ever present when someone was on their death bed and a church group came in and prayed for them and they just got up and walked out. They all said that they never saw that once. Of course, that is not fool proof evidence.
I know some groups say healing occurs for them, but too many well know TV healers have been investigated and their results found wanting.
Does God heal today. I am sure He does. Does the Bible teach prayer for today? I think it does. Something is wrong in the results.
I know nice people who believe in healing, teach it, and pray for people to be healed, but they are chronically very ill.
I don't know what the answer is.
I pray for healing all the time and still go to doctors, specialists and dentists. I guess my faith must be too weak or something.
blessings
frank
@LoBornlite@xanga - Very good point, and I thank you for answering the question I was asking. Not to be in the least argumentative, however, but I seriously am asking: do you think she still would have braved the possibly stoning and broken the "quarentine" brought on her by her condition had she heard about Jesus in her first months of the illness?
I think had it been me, I would have at least "stalked" the man, hiding behind some rock along some road waiting for him to pass by! Because you're right...I never considered that Jesus was offering his help essentially free...minus the cost of one's faith and allegiance of course!
Thank you for your comments.
@wherever_we_go@xanga - The incident you related shows how wonderfully human he is...
@HLPU@xanga - You're right, I think, about my missing the point. While it's a point I well recognize and even saw in a whole new way when I heard the message on the radio, I managed to leave it out a bit in this post. So I thank you for your bringing it up.
When I heard the message, what so struck me was the very simple fact I initially stated: she had an issue and believed Jesus could heal her. Makes you wonder just how much she had heard about Jesus prior to her seeking him out. As I wrote, I suddenly realized however that I, who knows who and what Jesus is, don't always turn to him first.
@Miss_Goldenrod - think had it been me, I would have at least "stalked" the man, hiding behind some rock along some road waiting for him to pass by!
Your mother didn't no dummy! Neither did the bleeding grrrll's mom. She zeroed Jesus in a heartbeat!
@Miss_Goldenrod - Ah, you are right about knowing but ignoring the Risen Savior. We tend to take for granted that which is always available freely. For example, people with 20/20 vision do not think about their eyes and the pain of wearing corrective lenses. We blow off public school education because it is free and there for the taking. While not everyone takes these for granted, a great many do. The toughest part about Christianity is that it is free for all with no effort on our part.