The Lord has only a remnant of people to whom He will unveil himself. Christ is bringing us higher to a place where He no longer exists to us as a supreme, untouchable, incomprehensible entity. Hebrews 4:15 says For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Not only is our heavenly Father touched with the feelings we have about those weak areas that we struggle with in our lives, but He is also moved by the things in which we become strong. Strong faith, strong prayer, strong obedience, strong perseverance, strong endurance moves God to reveal His awesome glory to us! But to gain strength we have to learn to how to touch God. When we touch the Lord He releases to us His plan and purpose for our lives and then guides us toward the completion of His will.
The woman in the Bible with the issue of blood pressed her way through a crowd that thronged Jesus. (Matthew 9, Mark 5, Luke 8) The Bible does not use nice words like surrounded or encircled. When the word thronged is used to describe a situation it tells us these people were more of a mob– an out of control, demanding crowd. This was not some nice tea party. It is important that we analyze the use of the word thronged because it sets the importance of the atmosphere and scenario to provide us with a clearer understanding of the significance of this woman’s desperation and determination to do what she had made up in her mind to do – to touch Him.
This woman’s experience gives us insight and direction on how to touch heaven. A closer look at the passage of scripture reveals that this woman had strong perseverance. She had gone to many doctors getting one medical opinion after the other. She was not a quitter. She was determined to get help for her condition. She could have been sitting at home waiting to die, but here she was in the crowd fighting her way to salvation. If we are to touch Christ then we must learn to keep moving forward. There are no coward soldiers in the army of the Lord. God is so adamant about us walking in strength until His Word admonishes us to declare we are strong even when we are weak (2 Corinthians 12:10)! I submit to you that this woman’s touch occurred long before she arrived at the scene of the crowd and long before she stretched forth her arm to touch Jesus’ clothes.
Not only did this woman exhibit perseverance but she also understood that she must be an active participant in getting what she needed from the Savior. She decided within herself that she must touch Christ if she wanted Him to touch her. Sometimes we put all the burden of our deliverance upon the shoulders of Christ. We won’t totally praise, we won’t continuously pray, we will not be fully disciplined in our walk with the Lord but we are really good at putting demands on God to fulfill all of our hearts desires, heal our bodies, bring prosperity in our lives and much more with no responsibility or engagement from us. But the Word of the Lord says that we need to work out our own soul salvation (Philippians 2:12). In other words there is more that Christ requires of us than waiting for Him to do what He as already equipped us to do.
As I further reveled in this passage I took note that this woman has tremendous faith. Tremendous faith is faith with works. Tremendous faith goes beyond merely believing to truly knowing. She believed beyond belief that if she did her part by reaching out to the Lord then He would have to reach back to her. The woman proved her faith with works. That is what happens when you go from believing God can to knowing God will– you act on what you know with no doubt, no fear, and no validation from anyone whether what you are about to do to show faith should be done or not.
In this new, blessed year I am touching God more than I ever have in my life. I have learned that if I am to grow in ministry, expand in purpose or arrive at destiny then I had better learn how to touch the Master if I am to receive the Master’s Touch.
Be Blessed Always and Happy New Opportunity!
Mia