Throughout life we go through issues, we have obstacles, we have situations that try to hold us back from progressing, from pursuing, from excelling, and this happens to most if not all people of every ethnicity, every race every background. Tonight if we are honest in life we have had our share of obstacles and now we are in the latter years and somehow serving God feels as if there is a force or a strategy from hell trying to hold us back from touching God. Now I don’t want you to get me confused, sometimes it is Satan that does these things but there are other times that it can certainly be the one we look at everyday in the mirror that can make life more difficult than what is has to be.
Tonight we want to take a look at scripture that speaks to us of the opposition, the obstacles that tried to keep a woman from obtaining her healing, but she fought through the opposition, she fought through the blockage to touch just as much as the hem of the garment of Jesus Christ to obtain her healing.
Luke 8:40-48
40 So it was, when Jesus returned, that the multitude welcomed Him, for they were all waiting for Him. 41 And behold, there came a man named Jairus, and he was a ruler of the synagogue. And he fell down at Jesus’ feet and begged Him to come to his house, 42 for he had an only daughter about twelve years of age, and she was dying.
But as He went, the multitudes thronged Him. 43 Now a woman, having a flow of blood for twelve years, who had spent all her livelihood on physicians and could not be healed by any, 44 came from behind and touched the border of His garment. And immediately her flow of blood stopped.
45 And Jesus said, “Who touched Me?”
When all denied it, Peter and those with him[f] said, “Master, the multitudes throng and press You, and You say, ‘Who touched Me?’”[g]
46 But Jesus said, “Somebody touched Me, for I perceived power going out from Me.” 47 Now when the woman saw that she was not hidden, she came trembling; and falling down before Him, she declared to Him in the presence of all the people the reason she had touched Him and how she was healed immediately.
48 And He said to her, “Daughter, be of good cheer;[h] your faith has made you well. Go in peace.”
The first thing we want to look at is that the bible tells us that the multitudes thronged at Jesus, as we may know every time we read the bible we here of thousands coming to hear the Messiah speak, thousands gathering together to see what miracles they can either see or receive, so we look at the possibility of maybe hundreds possibly thousands thronging at Jesus Christ.
This alone is an obstacle, we have a woman here with a flow of blood, that tried everything under the sun and was disappointed time and time again, now she hears of this Jesus and wants her healing but she has to go through the multitudes to get to Jesus.
This can readily be some of us sometimes, we want more of Jesus, we are striving to lay a hold of Christ, but there may be some things that are in the way, many things:
1. Past regrets
2. Anger
3. Hatred
4. Unforgiveness
5. Lies from Hell
6. Bad decisions
These are just a few of the many things that could be the multitude that are in the way of us touching the very hem of the garment of Jesus tonight. You beloved you want healing, you want to be set free of any infirmity, you want to be set free tonight, you cannot allow the multitude of your past get in the way of you touching Jesus.
If we look at our scripture tonight the bible tells us that the multitudes thronged at him, many were touching Jesus, many were around him, many were close to him but I dare say they did it as a show, because I’m pretty sure the woman with the issue of blood wasn’t the only one with an issue yet she was the only one at that moment that received her healing.
Matthew 15:8
‘These people draw near to Me with their mouth, And honor Me with their lips, But their heart is far from Me.
I could image the seen, people proclaiming Jesus as the Christ, many calling out His name saying that He is the healing, the good teacher, many probably crying saying Jesus heal me I know You can. Many profess they want to know Jesus more, many put on a show like some of the multitudes did but the only one at that very moment that manifested the fruit of faith was the woman who was desperate for her healing. She was desperate for her portion, listen everyone we don’t have enough time.
I was preparing this bible study and we really care about every single one of you, and as I’m preparing this bible, I began to ask myself how many people that I love and know really know Jesus?
Healing comes not only physical but also spiritual and mental. Beloved how many of you need this healing tonight?
It’s funny that everyone denied touching Jesus, the bible tells us that the multitudes press and throng at Him and all denied, except this woman who was desperate enough to fall at His feet and profess that it was here while others said Jesus I speak of your healing but I didn’t think it would really work, it wasn’t me.
Beloved I want you to be encouraged with this statement tonight, your faith, your prayers, your desperation to know God in Jesus will stop heaven. Jesus stopped and asked who touched Me? Her faith stopped the living Savior, I wonder what your faith would do? I believe that if you put your faith to work you will notice the hand of God move upon your lives like never before.
Lastly I want to read what Jesus said to the woman with the issue of blood after her healing and after she had professed that she was the one that had touched Him,
48 And He said to her, “Daughter, be of good cheer;[h] your faith has made you well. Go in peace.”
He called her daughter, one of the biggest obstacles we faced in life was identity, this woman was identified as the daughter of the King of all kings. Listen to be in your latter years of life, you can still rest assure that Jesus Christ has a place for you in His Kingdom as a precious son or daughter tonight, you do not have to leave here questioning God’s love for you. I know that your past tells you; you’re not worth it or your never going to amount to anything, but the cross of Jesus Christ tells me and tells you that you are worth it.
Jeremiah 29:11
11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.
While walking through the forest one day, a man found a young eagle who had fallen out of his nest. He took it home and put it in his barnyard where it soon learned to eat and behave like the chickens. One day a naturalist passed by the farm and asked why it was that the king of all birds should be confined to live in the barnyard with the chickens. The farmer replied that since he had given it chicken feed and trained it to be a chicken, it had never learned to fly. Since it now behaved as the chickens, it was no longer an eagle.
"Still it has the heart of an eagle," replied the naturalist, "and can surely be taught to fly." He lifted the eagle toward the sky and said, "You belong to the sky and not to the earth. Stretch forth your wings and fly." The eagle, however, was confused. He did not know who he was, and seeing the chickens eating their food, he jumped down to be with them again.
The naturalist took the bird to the roof of the house and urged him again, saying, "You are an eagle. Stretch forth your wings and fly." But the eagle was afraid of his unknown self and world and jumped down once more for the chicken food. Finally the naturalist took the eagle out of the barnyard to a high mountain. There he held the king of the birds high above him and encouraged him again, saying, " You are an eagle. You belong to the sky. Stretch forth your wings and fly." The eagle looked around, back towards the barnyard and up to the sky. Then the naturalist lifted him straight towards the sun and it happened that the eagle began to tremble. Slowly he stretched his wings, and with a triumphant cry, soared away into the heavens.
It may be that the eagle still remembers the chickens with an affection of the past. It may even be that he occasionally revisits the barnyard. But as far as anyone knows, he has never returned to lead the life of a chicken.
