What Is Your Issue
Scripture Reference: Mark 5:25-34 (KJV)
Mark 5:25-34 25 And a certain woman, which had an issue of blood twelve years, 26 And had suffered many things of many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse, 27 When she had heard of Jesus, came in the press behind, and touched his garment. 28 For she said, If I may touch but his clothes, I shall be whole. 29 And straightway the fountain of her blood was dried up; and she felt in her body that she was healed of that plague. 30 And Jesus, immediately knowing in himself that virtue had gone out of him, turned him about in the press, and said, Who touched my clothes? 31 And his disciples said unto him, Thou seest the multitude thronging thee, and sayest thou, Who touched me? 32 And he looked round about to see her that had done this thing. 33 But the woman fearing and trembling, knowing what was done in her, came down and fell before him, and told him all the truth. 34 And he said unto her, Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace, and whole of thy plague.
- We all have issues. Some of us have big issues others have small issues but it can be certain that we all have issues. Some of us have come to realize that we have issues while others of us are still trying to figure out what’s wrong with everyone else in the world
- It is worse for a person who does not realize that they have issues simply because since he does not realize that he has issues then he will probably never do anything to fix those issues. Although he will probably easily be able to tolerate himself no one around him will be able to tolerate him.
- For the person that has come to realize that he has issues and is smart enough to do something about it then the process of solving these issues can take the person on quite a journey. It can be expensive, timely, painful etc. However when a person attempts to fix his issues there can be many new issues that derive from this attempt.
- For example if a person has an issue with paying bills on time. After considering all of their options they decide that the quickest and easiest way to solve their problems would be to go and take out a loan to help pay the bills. They may have temporarily fixed the problem for the immediate bills but more times than not in the long run they have created new issues. They have probably successfully added to the issues that they are already having a tough time dealing with.
- Here this certain woman has a certain issue (Verse 25 And a certain woman, which had an issue of blood twelve years,). This is not your normal ignorable issue either. Sometimes we can have issues that are insignificant enough to the fact that if we don’t bother them then they won’t bother us. However this was not that type of issue. Dealing with blood was tedious and time taking. It restricted her travel she was in no way able to live life to the fullest because she was limited by this nasty issue that she was forced to bear.
- The issue had been with the woman for quite some time now. She had been dealing with this issue for twelve years now. When a person deals with something that long they can get the idea that they would rather just go ahead and live with the issue than continue to search and spend on ways to solve the problem. The bible says that she had spent all that she had. She had also went to the doctor several times (Verse 26 And had suffered many things of many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse,).
- I would like to share a testimony story with you that was sent to me over the internet.
The Tablecloth
The brand new pastor and his wife, newly assigned
to their first ministry, to reopen a church
in suburban Brooklyn, arrived in early October
excited about their opportunities. When they saw
their church, it was very run down and needed
much work. They set a goal to have everything
done in time to have their first service
on Christmas Eve.
They worked hard, repairing pews, plastering walls,
painting, etc., and on December 18
were ahead of schedule and just about finished.
On December 19 a terrible tempest - a driving
rainstorm hit the area and lasted for two days.
On the 21st, the pastor went over to the church.
His heart sank when he saw that the roof had
leaked, causing a large area of plaster about
20 feet by 8 feet to fall off the front wall of the
sanctuary just behind the pulpit, beginning about
head high.
The pastor cleaned up the mess on the floor,
and not knowing what else to do but postpone
the Christmas Eve service, headed home.
On the way he noticed that a local business was
having a flea market type sale for charity so he
stopped in. One of the items was a beautiful,
handmade, ivory colored, crocheted tablecloth
with exquisite work, fine colors and a Cross
embroidered right in the center. It was just
the right size to cover up the hole in the front
wall. He bought it and headed back to the church.
By this time it had started to snow. An older
woman running from the opposite direction was
trying to catch the bus.. She missed it. The pastor
invited her to wait in the warm church for
the next bus 45 minutes later.
She sat in a pew and paid no attention to the pastor
while he got a ladder, hangers, etc., to put
up the tablecloth as a wall tapestry. The pastor
could hardly believe how beautiful it looked and
it covered up the entire problem area.
Then he noticed the woman walking down the center
aisle. Her face was like a sheet.. "Pastor,"
she asked, "where did you get that tablecloth?"
The pastor explained. The woman asked him to check
the lower right corner to see if the initials, EBG were crocheted into
it there. They were. These were the initials of the woman, and she had
made this tablecloth 35 years before, in Austria.
The woman could hardly believe it as the pastor
told how he had just gotten the Tablecloth. The
woman explained that before the war she and
her husband were well-to-do people in Austria.
When the Nazis came, she was forced to leave.
Her husband was going to follow her the next week.
He was captured, sent to prison and never saw her
husband or her home again.
The pastor wanted to give her the tablecloth;
but she made the pastor keep it for the church.
The pastor insisted on driving her home, that
was the least he could do.. She lived on the other
side of Staten Island and was only in Brooklyn
for the day for a housecleaning job.
What a wonderful service they had on Christmas
Eve. The church was almost full. The music and the
spirit were great. At the end of the service, the
pastor and his wife greeted everyone at the door
and many said that they would return.
One older man, whom the pastor recognized
from the neighborhood continued to sit in one of the
pews and stare, and the pastor wondered why he
wasn’t leaving.
The man asked him where he got the tablecloth on
the front wall because it was identical to one
that his wife had made years ago when
they lived in Austria before the war and how
could there be two tablecloths so much alike.
He told the pastor how the Nazis came, how he
forced his wife to flee for her safety and he was
supposed to follow her, but he was arrested and
put in a prison.. He never saw his wife or his home
again all the 35 years in between.
The pastor asked him if he would allow him to
take him for a little ride. They drove to Staten
Island and to the same house where the pastor
had taken the woman three days earlier.
He helped the man climb the three flights of
stairs to the woman’s apartment, knocked on
the door and he saw the greatest Christmas
reunion he could ever imagine.
True Story - submitted by Pastor Rob Reid
Who says God does not work in mysterious ways..
- Prayerfully you saw how God took his time to answer the prayer. This couple was truly blessed but it was in God’s timing. How long are we prepared to wait on our prayer to be answered.
- This was a lady of substance. She obviously was not poor because she would not have been able to see any doctor if she did not have any way to compensate them for their services. The woman had to be a little disheartened about the fact that she had tried so hard to solve her problems yet she could not see any healing. The bible says that with all of her efforts her condition only got worse.
- I am sure that the woman considered the thought of giving up on the issue and trying to live with the issue as if it was supposed to be like this. It was impossible for this woman to lead any type of normal life with this issue because since the woman had an issue of blood society looked at her as if she was unclean (Leviticus 15:25 And if a woman have an issue of her blood many days out of the time of her separation, or if it run beyond the time of her separation; all the days of the issue of her uncleanness shall be as the days of her separation: she shall be unclean.
26 Every bed whereon she lieth all the days of her issue shall be unto her as the bed of her separation: and whatsoever she sitteth upon shall be unclean, as the uncleanness of her separation.
27 And whosoever toucheth those things shall be unclean, and shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the even.). During this time being unclean was a reason for society to show serious discrimination toward that person. (Leviticus 15:31 Thus shall ye separate the children of Israel from their uncleanness; that they die not in their uncleanness, when they defile my tabernacle that is among them.)
- Since she was unclean she should have been prohibited from being around let alone touching anyone. Even if she did touch someone then she should have never touched any man. The possibility of marriage was not to ever be thought of. The things that go along with being married such as sexual relations, child bearing and the such were supposedly never to be considered by this woman.
- It is truly a good thing that this woman of God did not think like many of us in today’s society. It is good that she did not think that she needed to clean herself up first before she could approach him that could heal her. If the same situation happened today the lady probably would have been shot or arrested for getting too close to such a powerful man. If it were found that there was a reason that prohibited her from touching the man such as her being unclean, the consequences set forth by society would have probably been much worse.
- I tell you the truth if God decides to walk the earth again in the form of a man then he had better be careful because these people out here are crazy. Even in this setting for her to touch the man of God was surprising and shocked everyone around.
- When the woman touched Jesus the one thing that she had been missing all of this time had been immediately restored to her (Verse 29 And straightway the fountain of her blood was dried up; and she felt in her body that she was healed of that plague.). She had been searching for this thing and couldn’t figure out exactly what it was. Whatever it was came to her immediately when she touched Jesus. The woman felt her body heal. She did not know what had happened and after all of her hard work and searching for someone to heal her when she finally found someone who could actually heal her the healing in her body made her frightened. It was not that she was healed that frightened her but it was the way that she was healed and by whom she was healed that made her frightened (Verse 33 But the woman fearing and trembling, knowing what was done in her, came down and fell before him, and told him all the truth.).
- The fear that this woman felt represented the fact that she was immediately filled with the knowledge of God. She had an idea of who he was and what he was but the fact that she was suddenly healed overtook her and she was immediately blessed with this new knowledge along with the healing of her issues. Some of us need to get some issues in our lives fixed but are we really sure that we know who Jesus is.
- This woman was not like many of us and had seen and heard about hundreds if not thousands of people that Jesus healed. The knowledge of Jesus was a new thing in her day. She really had to step out on faith which on one hand was easy because of how desperate she was to be delivered from her issues. The hard part though was to be able to walk away in the faith that she was actually healed and not just feeling a quick fix that would go away as fast as the man of God left her area.
This woman had to have faith that she was actually healed or the touch would not have meant anything. Many of us have touched Jesus and we are truly healed and that was the easy part. The hard part is to walk in the faith of your healing. Could you imagine when she went and showed herself to her loved ones? They probably jumped for joy right along with her for as long as she was in their presence but as soon as she turned her back and walked away they would probably make terrible comments saying things like “She’ll be right back in the same condition next week.”
The healing hand for Jesus is really not the hard part saints because Jesus is and will be a healer no matter how we feel about him. The hard part is for the person that he healed to actually walk in the healing that he has given.
Do we have the faith to walk in the healing that Jesus has so graciously provided us with?
Even though if we were properly compensated for our servitude toward Jesus most would find themselves undeserving of such honor as to be instantly healed.
CONCLUSION
When we finally realize that we have issues we need to look to Jesus to fix them. We don’t have to run around town telling everybody about our problems before we give God a try. We need to turn it over to Jesus and let it go.
It is truly amazing to me when I see a doctor do all that he can to help a patient with medicine and then come to the conclusion that he can do nothing else. It is usually at this point that the doctor turns around and says, “We have done all that we know how. All we can do now is pray.” Although this statement sounds good and gives temporary comfort to the listener the reality of it is that we should have been praying the whole time no matter what.
All issues are truly not of medical nature however all issues are fixable by Jesus with just one touch.
If you feel as though you have touched Jesus and you were not healed or he failed you must look again because you are missing something and that is truly what God specializes in.
He specializes in making us whole.
What is your issue?
Let’s Pray
Dear Lord, I know that you have healed me and my situation no matter how I feel. You have declared in your word that you are a healer and I truly believe that your word is true and the world a liar. Lord God almighty thank you I pray that your righteousness be upon me even now. Thank You
Thank You. May God continue to bless you and keep you. Amen
Your Friend
Minister Juan D. Lane Sr.
