A Deliberate Touch

The story starts out for someone else. A man named Jarius. His daughter is sick and he comes to beg Jesus to go home with him and heal his daughter. Jesus agrees and begins the journey with Jarius.
Of course, the crowd that typically surrounded Jesus followed them. At one point, Jesus turns and asks the crowd, "Who touched me?"
This is of course a strange question to the disciples. They were surrounded by people. They say, "Master this whole crowd is pressing up against you."
Jesus is God manifest in the flesh. He KNOWS who touched. Some say He asked the question because He wanted the one who touched Him to step forward so He could teach them it was He who healed them and not just a magical touch of His garments. Others speculate that He wanted to teach the crowd a lesson. Neither of these stuck out to me as I read the passage.
What stuck out to me was Jesus' reply when the disciples tried to brush away His concerns that someone had touched Him. He said, "Someone deliberately touched me, for I felt healing power go out from me."

Someone didn't touch Jesus because He was the newest and hottest fad. Someone didn't touch Jesus because they had nothing better to do. A woman fought her way through the crowd to touch Jesus with the thought of "If only I could touch the hem of His garment I could be healed". A deliberate touch.
The Bible tells us that the woman had an issue of blood. Jewish law said that any man that touched a menstruating woman would become "ceremonially unclean". This would have held true whether it was a natural time for her or in her specific case an "abnormal circumstance". This woman was to be avoided, but she was desperate. Desperate for a healing. So desperate that she didn't try to get Jesus' attention and risk rejection. So desperate that she didn't call out His name to gain His attention as others had. She was so desperate that she didn't need to bear words. She said, "If only I could touch Him".
It was that faith that brought her a healing. The kind of faith that said, "I don't care what others say." She just wanted a healing.
I want that kind of faith. Faith that doesn't care about what others say. Faith that doesn't care who is in the way. Faith that says "I just want to touch Him."
How about you? How long have you been praying for something? Are you daring and bold enough to deliberately touch the God of the universe? I promise you, if you do, you won't walk away disappointed. You will walk away with the healing you seek! You will even walk away with peace, but first you have to deliberately touch Him!

Mustard Seed Faith

When you think about it, it's so easy to say that I have faith for something. Lately, the Lord has been dealing with me about this. Am I just saying I have faith? Or do I really have faith? Do I have faith that will move mountains.
I was reading through some Scriptures on faith and I came across the Scriptures when Jesus talked about mustard seed faith. The conversation came about because a man had come to Jesus and asked him to heal his son. The man said that his son would "have seizures" and "fall into fires and water". The man said to Jesus "I brought him to your disciples, but they couldn't heal him". Jesus seems a little irritated when he turns to to address the crowd, but then he calls for the boy, rebukes the demon and the boy was healed.
Afterward, the disciples come to Jesus and ask Him "why?". Why you and not us? Jesus very simply tells them that they do not have enough faith. It sounds as if the disciples were saying that they had faith, but didn't actually have the faith to back up their words.

At the beginning of this year, my pastor asked me to come up to the front of the church and speak faith over some things that were going to happen in my life. I spoke those words. I called out a committed life to God for my husband, restoration to God for my family and babies for my husband and myself. Those are some pretty tall orders. I spoke those in faith!
Now, it's three or four weeks later. It's hard to hold on to those words. We look for an immediate answer. When it doesn't comes, we start to justify our words, God's untimely answer, etc. Where is my faith? Why is it so easy to say it, but not believe it?
Jesus when speaking to His disciples told them that if they had faith of even a mustard seed, you could say to a mountain to "move" and it would move! WHOA! Now that is a faith that is believed. Jesus even follows up with something that should resound in our heads over and over again. "Nothing would be impossible".
If I have mustard seed faith for those things that I spoke of than I realize that nothing is impossible! Nothing! The things I listed in my moment of passion can be fulfilled because I said them with a sincere heart. All I have to do is believe.
So what is the difference between just saying it and believing it? I believe it comes from a true fear of the Lord. Not just an "I love you" moment, but an everyday, every breath, every step commitment with Him. It comes from a true bond that has been formed with the One True God! When we have a true relationship with Him, we can easily rest in the fact that whatever we ask in His name will be done.
So what is it that you've called out in faith to God? Have you grown weary from waiting to see it happen? Or did you not believe it in the first place?
Join me today, as we take the step of growing a deeper relationship with Him. Let's grow a love so deep for Him that we are nothing but secure when speaking out in faith.


Here is my favorite Bible to use while studying.

Reflection Moment

It was one year ago to the day that I was released from my employment at Kohl's. The summer leading up to that moment was one of the worst periods of my life. I was depressed and lost. It seemed that no matter what I did I was constantly doing the wrong thing. So as all bad stories get worse, I made poor decisions. Poor decisions that led me to being walked out of the door. I'm sure ultimately the ending would have been the same, but it could have been me walking out of the door with my head held high instead of low in shame.

There are many thoughts that go through my head about this. The final nail in my coffin was a fabrication of the worst kind, but I opened up the door to the fabrication with my poor decisions. I loved working for Kohl's. The company has great values that I can easily support and uphold.

However, as in life there are always some bad apples mixed in with the good. It is this week that I want to set aside my self-worth that holds me accountable for my actions. I want to rant and shake my fist at the evil-doers that took advantage of a weak moment. I want to put all the blame on them. I want to hate them. I want to hold their heads in a dirty toilet bowl and give them a swirly.

But alas, I cannot! You see, I know that God used this moment in my life to humble me. He humbled me to bring me back to where I should have always been. I had chosen to veer away from Him. For once in my life I was not completely reliant upon Him. I had a husband, a home, a nice job, good money. I was very "comfortable". I allowed the comfort to sway me in to thinking I could do it my way and be happy. I was too! I was very happy. By societies definitions and standards, I had everything that should bring happiness. Yet I didn't. I had walked away from my one true love. Jesus!

I have always believed in God and lived a "good" life, but I know now that I was never truly sold out. I was a tree without any roots. I just let the wind blow me wherever it went. I had a temper. I was tactless in how I approached people with my thoughts and opinions. I was rude and arrogant, all while assuming I was the most humble creature God had ever created. I laugh even now as I type this because I realize that I am still all of those things. I know that God has done some work on me because I have grown slower to speak, I try to listen more than talk, I try to do that listening to gain a full understanding before my temper is allowed to reign. I'm not perfect by any means, but I can definitely see a difference in my life from last year to today. God has created a miracle in me.

So it is with a different heart that I can honestly say that I forgive not just those that did me wrong in the role of ending my employment, but myself as well. Mistakes happen. So here I write a list of things I've taken away from my lesson with God.

1. Forgive yourself. I write this one first because I think this is the hardest thing ever to do.
2. Forgive others that are involved. I freely admit that there have been times when I have thought that I cannot wait to see the retribution that comes for those that do me wrong. God has been whispering in my ear that sometimes wrong things happen just because, like myself, people make mistakes. So instead, I pray for those who have done wrong to me. (sometimes while picturing their head in the toilet... I know! But I am human after all)
3. Review the situation. What could you have done differently? Don't rely upon someone else to change the circumstances or prevent it from happening again. Only you can do that.
4. Happiness doesn't equal joy. I have less money and less comfort. Yet, my weight and blood pressure are both down compared to this time last year. I find myself laughing more. I'm not so easily offended. True joy is slowly working its way in to my life.
5. Be friendly to everyone! I have a hard time with this one. I can be very "judgy" at times. A result of my forever changing family dynamic growing up I'm sure. I've sincerely tried to look past the immediate faults that pop in to my head and be friendly to everyone. It's amazing how many friends I have now.
6. Talk to God. He has the best wisdom anyone could ever ask for. He just wants to talk to us.
7. Most importantly, be thankful. I am thankful for family, friends, a roof over my head, a boss that is a little too much like myself, all the crazy animals sharing the same roof as me. I am also thankful for all the disappointments life has brought me. They have made me stronger, tougher and a better person!