Sermon Central
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It Pushed Me To God
Contributed by Katherine Gilstrap on May 17, 2023 (message contributor)
Summary: Some stuff in our personal life & spiritual life does need to change
my YES to God is not limited to other folk opinions about me
as kingdom citizens we have to stop being distracted & taking it personal when others don’t understand what God wants you to do & is doing with you in your life…
CAN I GET AT LEAST 4 PEOPLE WHO REALIZE & UNDERST& that we don’t have time to allow God Leading opportunities to keep passing us by…
Some stuff in our personal life & spiritual life does need to change
There are some of us who are dealing with some circumstances right now & we’ve tried everything that we can try---Don’t Give UP because God is getting ready to work a special miracle in our life.
I’ve just come by here to give you a message of encouragement & hope to let you know that God is not only going to deal with our issues, but we’re going to be better in every way when God gets through Blessing you!”
One of the reasons we can’t praise God freely is because we don’t have peace in our mind from dealing with our embarrassing issues…I speak to every enemy, every devil, every demonic force - PEACE in the name of Jesus!
I was down, but I wasn’t out. I was in trouble, but I didn’t lose my mind, & I didn’t lose hope.
Here is a woman who is very alone. No one would have wanted to be around her. She couldn’t go out in public. She couldn’t be hugged by her family. Twelve years is a long time to be quarantined from all people! Not only was she considered unclean, but she probably felt it as well, having to deal with the logistics of trying to have clean clothes & linens for twelve years. She had gone to many doctors over the years. She spent everything she had trying to be cured. According to William Barclay’s commentary, the Talmud gave at least eleven possible cures for her ailment. I’m sure that this poor woman had tried all of them. But nothing worked & she even got worse! But check this out---she was also desperate, which can be a very good thing. Desperation keeps self-pity away.
There is a lot of people who feel that God was just not there when they needed Him. They experienced sickness…repossession…foreclosure…death of a loved one or loss…Under circumstances like these, some people begin to wonder, ‘Where is God when I need Him?’
This woman is desperate for healing. So much so that she didn’t worry about what other people would think or at least she didn’t let her worries stop her.
We as kingdom citizens must Know who he is & come boldly with any request you have.
We don’t know her name but what we do know is her issue---Some say the woman was named Veronica---but the Scripture says she was now breaking because she had spent all her money.
Jesus was her last hope so she creeped behind Jesus in the crowd, believing that if he she touched his clothes, she would receive healing.
What we pray for in private God will heal & deliver us from so that others can understand that nobody but God did it…God will allow exposure to happen to separate what is USELESS vs. what is USEFUL
He wanted to acknowledge that she didn’t have to suffer anymore. She was free. Physical healings don’t always happen right away but sometimes they do. So, ask & keep on asking with the faith & determination of the dear woman in this story.
In an instant, Jesus does what no doctor in twelve years had been able to. This proves the power of Christ
When you can see a miracle, it’s easy to believe God for another miracle.
This woman took a huge risk.
God has not moved to punish you. Sometimes God just moves because He’s God.”
Sometimes God moves to develop unexposed powers & abilities within us. He wants us to trust Him, to expand into a new area, which will give us a new testimony. Sometimes God wants to bring glory to Himself in a special way.
Despite the crowd, it seemed that no one else existed in those moments. There is no detail about how long it took for her to tell all that she had experienced. But it did not matter. This story teaches us that when God gives us His attention, he is never multitasking.
The devil always wants to remind you of your past. You are not what was done to you…Stop holding on to that pain…Stop focusing on those kinds of memories that poison your present & poison your future.”
She was isolated from her religious community. For so long she was an outcast. Ostracized. Defined by her disease. Her self-worth would have been trampled on. The isolation would have caused her to get used to being invisible in society.
