TO REACH, PASSION OF FAITH!!!

September 8. 2013

TO REACH, PASSION OF FAITH!!!

And, behold, a woman, which was diseased with an issue of blood twelve years, came behind him, and touched the hem of his garment: For she said within herself, If I may but touch his garment, I shall be whole. But Jesus turned him about, and when he saw her, he said, Daughter, be of good comfort; thy faith hath made thee whole.

And the woman was made whole from that hour. Matthew 9:20-22 Whenever we speak of this Bible Story, we usually deal with the healing aspect of the story instead of the power of Jesus Christ and Him Crucified to save the sinner sinking deep in sin. His ability to perform miracles is secondary.

For healing the sick, piece of Cake Ps. 30:2 tells us  “O LORD my God, I cried unto thee, and thou hast healed me.” Money problems, no problem Psalm 24:1 says “The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it”, Mortgage problems is that all you got “In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you…. “John 14:2

Matthew 7:7 tells us“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. Paul tells us in Ephesians 3:20 “Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us.”

My friends let’s not miss the message of Christ Actions by focusing only on the miracle of healing, and not on the Saving Grace of the Master and all He is willing and able to do for us. Often when Jesus healed in the gospels, He told the person that was healed not to tell anyone. It was not because He was trying to hide The power of His miracles.

But He knew the need of our focus to be on His name, and journey to  Calvary. Twelve years of constant blood flow. What physical strength the woman with the issue of blood must have endured to get to the Master. Exhausted and smothered by the crowd, oh so desperate just to get to the Savior.

Finally falling to her knees as she told herself, “If I may but touch his garment, I shall be whole” ( Matt. 9: 21) reaching, crawling, hyperventilating, oh what PASSION as she reached out her hand and touched His garment as He passed her. That was all it took. She did not have to talk to Him, she did not have to tell Him her problems.

“Lord, you have examined me and know all about me.You know when I sit down and when I get up.You know my thoughts before I think them. You know where I go and where I lie down.You know everything I do. Lord, even before I say a word, Ps. 139 1:4. She just needed that faith, it took to reach out to Him.

A faith we must all have as we tell Him, Jesus, I need you, please don’t pass me by, I don’t mean to waste your time, but I have A passion deep down inside just to touch you. Every Situations and circumstances in my life tells me I have no hope, but I here in your touch There is hope for the hopless, Rest for the weary, Love for the broken hearted.

And then if that is not enough. You give grace, mercy, and forgiveness, as you meet me wherever, at whatever place in my life I am at. And when the wind and rain, beats against the very fiber of my existence, you tell me not to be afraid just cry out. “Lord, save me!” Oh your power grace, and mercy know no bounds, and all we have to do is have the faith to reach out.

For “your grace is sufficient for me, your power is made perfect in all of my weaknesses.” So my friends please today stretched your faith to the very limit it will go, because there will be a testimony of praise in the end. So let God work his will in you.“Submit yourselves……Come near to God and he will come near to you.”

For with Christ Faith knows no barriers. Neither does God’s love and his williness to give. So “To pray without soul hunger and living faith, avails nothing. A nominal faith in Christ, which accepts Him merely as the Saviour of the world, can never bring healing to the soul. The faith that is unto salvation is not a mere intellectual assent to the truth.

He who waits for A entire knowledge before he will exercise faith, cannot receive blessing from God. It is not enough to believe about Christ; we must believe in Him. The only faith that will benefit us is that which embraces Him as a personal Saviour; which appropriates His merits to ourselves. Many hold faith as an opinion.

Saving faith is a transaction by which those who receive Christ join themselves in covenant relation with God. Genuine faith is life. A living faith means an increase of vigor, a confiding trust, by which the soul becomes a conquering power.” (E.G. White Desire og Ages pp347)

So once again focus less on the healing power of Christ but the saving grace of the Savior. Remember if you can just reach in faith. God will give to the one with a boldness and passion to endure, because that boldness is not inspired by the person’s confidence in himself or anything he has done.

But It’s inspired by his confidence in God’s grace, mercy, and love and the promises of His Word and Spirit that will transform our lives as we die daily to Christ as we follow Him to Calvary. For Paul tells us in

Galatians 2:20 – I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. My friends REACH REACH AND REACH SOME MORE stretch your faith to the limit.

For faith does not make things easy, it only makes things possible. So today “Trust in the Lord with all your heart And do not lean on your own understanding or knowledge. And then one day in Gods pure and holy kingdom as you walk “down the middle of the great street of the city.

On each side of the river you will be able to REACH FOR THE TREE OF LIFE, as you eat from the twelve crops of fruit, that yields its fruit every month…… Rev 22:2 MY FRIENDS SOON AND VERY SOON, OH WHAT A DAY, OH WHAT A DAY!!!!!

So friends stay focused, remain faithful, love one another and endure till the end and never forget to STUDY&PRAY As you rest in the Bosom of Christ