The story of the woman with the issue of blood that is healed by touching the hem of Jesus’ robe is by far one of my favorite stories, yet today I saw something new that I would like to share from this passage in hopes that it will encourage you in your walk of faith.
First, let’s read thru the scripture and than we will break it down.
Mark 5:25-34 states, “Now a certain woman had a flow of blood for twelve years, and had suffered many things from many physicians. She had spent all that she had and was no better, but rather grew worse. When she heard about Jesus, she came behind Him in the crowd and touched His garment. For she said, “If only I may touch His clothes, I shall be made well.” Immediately the fountain of her blood was dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of the affliction. And Jesus, immediately knowing in Himself that power had gone out of Him, turned around in the crowd and said, “Who touched My clothes?” But His disciples said to Him, “You see the multitude thronging You, and You say, ‘Who touched Me?’ ” And He looked around to see her who had done this thing. But the woman, fearing and trembling, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell down before Him and told Him the whole truth. And He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace, and be healed of your affliction.”
Let me first note that this woman had been sick with this issue for many years. She had spent all her money on doctors that couldn’t help her and in fact she was worse off than she was prior. Now she was broke and had this infirmity that would make her unclean and unable to live a normal life in her community. She would have been considered an outcast because of this. In many ways she was hopeless.
- She heard
Photo by Edwin Andrade on Unsplash
The first thing that I find so important is that she heard of Jesus. In Romans 10:17 it states, “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” As I mentioned she was hopeless and than she heard of Jesus. What she heard exactly we don’t know but based on what we know about Jesus, He was healing the sick, restoring sight to the blind, cleaning the lepers, and casting out demons. Word was being spread and everyone came out to see this man, Jesus. I’ve always felt it is so important to hear others testimonies because by hearing what God has done for others it will give us hope for what we are struggling with.
2. She came
Next she came to see Him for herself, even though she was amongst others in the crowd and was not yelling out, “Unclean, unclean.” That was the first act of faith that she had to take was to go to Him. Jesus states, “All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out,” John 6:37. Jesus wants us to come to Him. He does not consider any of us unworthy or an outcast. In fact when we come to him we are washed clean and given forgiveness of our past and our failures. He came because He loves us. So when we hear of Him we have a choice to go to him or turn the other way. He says to come to Me but we have to choose to go.
3. She said
She said, “If only I may touch His clothes, I shall be made well,” Mark 5:28. She was declaring what she believed. Our words spoken aloud have sooo much power. “Death and life are in the power of the tongue, And those who love it will eat its fruit,” Proverbs 18:21. We have power in our words to speak curses or blessings over our situations.
Jesus shares the importance of our words. In addition our word must be mixed with faith and no doubt as Jesus shares in Matthew 21:21 “So Jesus answered and said to them, “Assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but also if you say to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ it will be done.” This verse is so important to what we are speaking over our lives.
Many Christians curse themselves without realizing it and I was one of them for many years and still slip into wrong thinking. Saying such things like “I’m no good” or “I have no patience”. Both of these are completely contrary to God’s word and what He has done in us. In fact, God’s word says “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” By our faith in Jesus Christ we have been washed of our sins and have become the righteousness of God. Wow that is powerful if you ask me. In addition we now have the gifts of the Holy Spirit in us which are “love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.” We can speak these as truths about ourselves because the Holy Spirit that is in us has these gifts therefore we can draw on them and use them as well. Therefore we need to proclaim like this woman and change our words to “I am patient” or “I have self-control”, or “I am good”.
- Let me add we can only say these things if we have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. If you have not received Jesus as your Lord and Savior I invite you to pray asking Him into your life, knowing that the Word says that “if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved,”Romans 10:9. You can do this right now and I encourage you to do it if you have never done this before. He is drawing you to come to Him, all you need to do is say, “Yes, here I am.”
- If you have done this let we say welcome to the family. I pray that you can find a good church to plug into and begin to be fed. Let me also say that now that you have asked Jesus into your life you can also ask for the Holy Spirit to come in as well. The Word says that if you ask for the Spirit it will come upon you Luke 11:13. In Matthew 3:11 it says, “He (Jesus) will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.” So you can ask of Him and the Spirit will fill you and you will no longer walk in your old self but you will be transformed by the inner workings of the Holy Spirit now dwelling in you.
4. She was healed
Now this is the best part of the story. She took what belonged to her. Jesus didn’t go to her. Her friends didn’t seek Jesus out either in secret or in a large crowd. She didn’t beg to be healed. Instead she came to him and believed that just by touching the hem of his clothes she would be healed. He didn’t even know she was there until the power left Him. I love how it says “immediately the fountain of her blood was dried up.” There was no progressive healing. It was finished. She was healed. When He sought who touched Him, the disciples thought He was strange as there were many that thronged to Him. Then she came and fell down in front of Jesus and all the others present knowing what had happened to her and telling Him. His words to her are beautiful, “Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace, and be healed of your affliction.” He doesn’t just say your healed, go in peace. Instead He states her faith has made her well. It wasn’t the faith of Jesus or his disciples. It was her faith.
In conclusion, I want to ask have you heard of Jesus? Are you going to Him and seeking him out. He says to seek Me and you will find. You have a choice. Next I would ask what are you seeking him for? Begin to speak and proclaim that blessing over yourself. Maybe it’s for a healing or maybe its a new job, or problems with your spouse or children. Speak life into those situations. However here is the hard part: BELIEVE. Stop doubting that good can happen to you. God sent His son to save and to set the captives free. We need to have faith that what He did than, can still happen now. Step out and grab ahold of what your believing for and don’t let go. I hope you hear those same words. “Your faith has __________, Go in Peace.”