Good morning, Lord Jesus. Be at the heart of my heart and in the middle of every moment of my day. ..
Thursday I dropped off a waffle Hose waitress to attend a walk to Emmaus weekend with other women pressing into Jesus in desperate spiritual hunger for a deeper encounter of the Presence of God. Yesterday, I attended the Emmaus closing ceremony and listened to the women who attended share their amazing testimonies of the life-changing love of God they encountered over the past 4 days. It reminded of the woman “with the issue of blood” (Luke 8:43). She was desperate for an encounter with Jesus and she let nothing get in her way:
“Now a woman was there who had been suffering from a hemorrhage for twelve years but could not be healed by anyone. She came up behind Jesus and touched the edge of his cloak, and at once the bleeding stopped…
“And Jesus said, ‘Who touched Me?’ ’….When the woman saw that she could not escape notice, she came trembling and fell down before him. In the presence of all the people, she explained why she had touched him and how she had been immediately healed. Then he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace.”
There’s so much to see in this story, so much to embrace in our own story of pursuing Jesus. But the main thing I seeing this morning is her desperate determination of persistent, persevering faith.
She wasn’t just sick and wanted to be well. She had had her “issue of blood” for twelve long years. And under the Law, her condition made her “unclean” -- which meant unwelcome, unseen, unworthy, unable to be in the presence of other people and participate in a normal life (see Leviticus 15:25-27). She could have been severely punished for coming out in public to come after You. So her faith was full of risk. She was risking everything in her desperate determination, in her persistent, persevering faith.
She was taking hold of You with passionate faith -- fastening herself to You, adhering to You, clinging to You. You stopped everything. You turned to her and gave her Your full attention, just as she was giving You her full attention in her passionate, persistent, persevering faith.
The power of God in You responded to the passionate faith in her.
She trembled in fear, maybe in fear of what might happen to her now that she was exposed as someone who was not satisfied to sit back or keep hidden away or holding back. But You saw her and spoke to her. You honored her for her faith and her persistence before everyone.
Your perfect love cast out her fear and healed her body, as well as her heart and soul from her twelve long years of pain and shame and poverty and everything else that she endured until that moment of her encounter with You. She was made well. She could now go in peace, filled with fresh joy and good cheer.
Lord, give us that kind of passion to pursue You -- not even just seeking a “touch” from the Lord, but pressing in, taking hold, risking everything for an encounter with You in a desperate determination to settle for nothing less. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.
My family, I pray as you begin a new week you may be filled up and stirred up with a desperate determination for an encounter with Jesus--reaching out to Him in passionate, persistent faith, taking hold of Him, clinging to Him, settling for nothing less than Him, in Jesus' name Please pray the same for me. God bless you my friends!
Please share your reflections and prayers with us on this blog in the comment box below.
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