Evangelist Carolyn Malaika Foster-Brooks
The Ministry of S.A.R.A.H. in Lyons, Georgia
PRAYER:
O Heavenly father, my God above
Thank you for your undying love-
Lord, I stand humbly before your people to proclaim your Divine Word as it has been revealed to me. I ask right now God, that you remove me from the sight of those around me, and allow them to see You who dwells in me. Liberate us Lord from the various forms of enslavement so we can experience Your everlasting truth, love and mercy in tough and troubled times.
God use me as your prophetic messenger so the church can celebrate life through Your son Jesus Christ.
Bless us right now God and forever.
Amen.
SCRIPTURE READING:
Mark 5:25-34 and Ephesians 6:10-13(nlv)
(25) In the crowd was a woman who had been sick for 12 years with a bleeding(26)She had suffered much from many doctors over the years and had become poor from paying them, and was no better, but in fact, was worse.(27)She had heard all about the wonderful miracles Jesus did, and that is why she came up behind Him through the crowd and touched His clothes(28)For she thought to herself, "If I can just touch His clothing(29)I will be healed." And sure enough,as soon as she had touched Him, the bleeding stopped and she knew she was well!(30)Jesus realized at once that healing power had gone out from Him, so He turned in the crowd and asked, "Who touched my clothes?"(31)His disciples said to Him, "All this crowd pressing around You, and You ask who touched You?"(32)But He kept on looking around to see who it was, who had done it.(33)Then the frightened woman, trembling at the realization of what had happened to her, came and fell at His feet and told Him what she had done.(34)And He said to her, "Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, healed of your disease."
Last of all,I want to remind you that your strength must come from the Lord’s mighty power within you. Put on all of God’s armor so that you will be able to stand against all strategies and tricks of Satan. For we are not fighting against people made of flesh and blood, but against persons without bodies-the evil rulers of the unseen world, those mighty, satanic beings and great evil princes of darkness who rule the world; and against huge numbers of wicked spirits in the spirit world.
So use every piece of God’s armor to resist the enemy whenever he attacks, and whenever it is all over, you will be standing up! Talitha Cumi.
TEXT:
Before I really began to study the Word of God, whenever I heard a sermon preached about the woman with the issue of blood, the magnitude of her situation, the probable cause of her problem was never fully addressed! It was always the end result of her strong faith that prevailed.
From a female point of view, I could naturally realize the misery of 12 straight years of bleeding, but how could a man, preaching God’s Word, identify with that?? But then I had to go back to the beginning and remember Genesis 2:27- So God created people in His own image; God patterned them after Himself; male and female He created them.
So, that let’s us know that in order to know where we are going, we must know from whence we came. Amen?
....this woman was in the village of Capernaum or Nahum as it was called. Located on the northwest shore of the Sea of Galilee. Nahum was a community where many of the followers of Jesus Christ were women.
You see, women’s status and freedoms were severely limited by Jewish law and custom in Palestine. Scripture tells us that they were restricted to roles of little or no authority; they were largely confined to their father’s or husbands home; they were considered to be inferior to men and under the authority of men. But, thank God for Christ who overthrew many centuries of Jewish law and custom.
Jesus Christ consistently treated women and men as equals and refused to follow the behavioral rules established by the Essenes, Pharisees and the Sadducees. The actions of Jesus of Nazareth towards women were therefore revolutionary! In Matthew 28:1-7 we have proof that the two Mary’s were the first Apostles after Jesus’ resurrection.
Mary Magdalene was sent by Jesus to evangelize about the resurrection to the Disciples. Therefore these women of Capernaum were faithful followers and assisted Jesus at His headquarters where He preached and recruited His Disciples.
Who is this woman that touched his robe?
Her name was not important, but the fact that she suffered for 12 years with an internal bleeding was a major event. (I’m talking about longsuffering!) Certainly God will never put more on us than we can bear, but why did He put this burden on the woman? There was no outward evidence or no outside show of what was going on with her. In other words, you couldn’t simply look at her and tell she suffered inwardly. (Just like people we know today.)
We also do not know her age, but for 12 years the woman kept this issue caught up inside of her mind and her body. Living her life day by day, doing the best she could with whatever she had, holding on to the hope that one day her issue of blood would end.
In our spiritual immaturity, we hear the words and immediately determine that it’s a physical sickness alone. But let me suggest that you look at this situation with an eye of wisdom. Look much closer at the blood and at the disease! Leviticus, 17th chapter and 11th verse clearly let’s us know that, The life of the flesh is in the blood!
The word disease is actually a dis ease, meaning not well or a foreign problem to the natural flesh. Therefore my sisters and brothers, there was something wrong in the life of this woman. Amen? Just as today, we have people silently dealing with an issue of blood-torn up and bleeding inside with some issue of life that they are not doing well with! Luke 8:43 and Mark 5:26 states that this woman with the issue of blood could not be healed by the physicians and spent all she had and nothing bettered, but grew worse.
What was wrong? Was she suffering from a "bleeding heart"? Was she alone and had no "blood relatives" in the city of Capernaum? (Surely she belonged in somebody’s family!) Was there "bad blood" between her and someone she knew? Or did she seek "blood revenge" on someone who’d killed her son or daughter and she was bitter because they were not convicted?(Remember that in Genesis 9:5 the Law of Blood Revenge was taught by the elders in her hometown. If someone took a life, they were protected by the covenant law that led to a City of Refuge,protected by the avenger of blood until a fair trial could be held or his time served.)
Is there anybody here today that is willing to admit that they are an avenger of blood, waiting on the punishment of someone who has done you wrong?
Let it go and let God do it for you!!
The Gospel of Christ brought a revolution for women and a solution for believers in Him...the woman had heard that Jesus the Christ taught as one who had great authority, and not as their Jewish leaders, the Pharisees.Matthew 7:29 tells us that the Pharisees wanted nothing to do with her after having advised her to go to the physicians in town. The Pharisees had no healing power, they were laymen and not priests, so the woman in the first place put her trust in the wrong people!
She was at that point, broke and sick and tired of being sick and tired! This woman with an issue of blood......
ILLUSTRATION:
Go with me now to Luke, Chapter 7 and 8,use your God given imagination and let’s travel with this woman of Capernaum.
She’d heard that the day before He went into a city called Nain (I’m talking about Jesus and many of His Disciples who went with Him) at the gate of the city, there was a dead man carried out, the only son of a widowed mother. And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her and said,Weep not." He came and touched the dead man and He said, "Young man, I say unto thee arise." And he that was dead, sat up and began to speak. And He delivered him to his mother and they glorified God, saying that a great Prophet is risen up among us, and that God hath visited His people.
Not long afterwards He began a tour of the cities and villages of Galilee to announce the coming of the Kingdom of God, and took His twelve Disciples with Him and the women Disciples who were contributing their private funds to support Jesus. And those Disciples were Joanna, Susanna and many others.
The woman with the issue of blood knew that she had to try Jesus. She was on her way to where He was and she saw the crowd down the road, as they got closer to her, she saw Evangelist Mary Magdalene (you remember Mary Magdalene-that same Mary who once had seven demons and was healed by Jesus, therefore having her spirit renewed? That same Mary Magdalene who was at the tomb after Jesus was raised from the dead, who told her to go and tell the good news (evangelize) about the goodness of God!)
Evangelist May Magdalene and the woman from Nain whose son had been raised from the dead- told her that Jesus was on His way to see the rabbi’s little girl whom they said was dead! Hope leaped into the her heart and she realized that if only she could touch the hem of His garment she would be healed...Jesus was nearby and she ran to Him and was able to touch just a tassle from His robe!!! (all it takes is one touch to change your life) She had no idea of how sensitive Jesus was to her needs. (Men- if you want to be just like Jesus, you must not only be a strong provider but also be sensitive to the needs of others!)
Immediately, He stopped because her strong faith was evident to Him. The Son of God, our brother Jesus, recognized the woman immediately into the church family, and said" Daughter, All Is Well! Your faith has healed you. " And the woman was well from that moment. Not only was she healed- she gained a new identity and a new outlook on life, recognized as a Child of God. This woman who was touched by the healing power of Jesus joined the other Disciples and became a part of the 70 Disciples of our Lord as recorded in Luke 10:1-20 .
Note:(The work of the 70, while similar in major detail to the preparing the way for the Messiah in the villages He was to visit prior to His death was limited to geographical areas and was different than that of the 12 according to Luke 9:2)
Yes, she joined the other women, Mary Magdalene, Susanna, Joanna, the woman of Nain, Mary of Bethany and many others whose gratitude and love manifested itself into devotion to Christ. And it didn’t matter what her name had been, because now she could answer when someone simply called her Sister! But I would like to call her, Faith because as a true daughter of Abraham (Luke 13:16) her faith is crowned by the Master. Hers was not faith without a touch or a touch without faith!
In closing, if you have been suffering with some issue in your life, now is your time to step out on faith and get a touch of Jesus. Let go and Let God manifest His love for you in your circumstances right now. While the blood is running warm in your veins come to Jesus and thank God for His grace and mercy!
Now is your time to put on the whole armor of God and realize that faith can stop your issue of blood and halt Satan’s attack on your life. So use every piece of God’s armor to resist the enemy whenever he attacks and when it’s all over, you will be standing up!
But to do this, you will need the strong belt of truth and the breastplate of God’s approval. Wear shoes that are able to speed you on as you evangelize the Good News of peace with God. In every battle you will need faith as your shield to stop the fiery arrows aimed at you by Satan. And you will need the helmet of Salvation and the sword of the spirit which is the Word of God.
Pray all the time.
Ask God for anything in line with the Holy Spirit wishes. Plead with Him, reminding Him of your needs, and keep praying earnestly for all Christians everywhere. (Ephesians 6:13-18)
God’s encouraging Word is that all you need is faith the size of a mustard seed and your life will be changed!
Amen.
And So It Is!
