Let’s talk about the woman who touched Jesus’ cloak and was healed!
“Now in the crowd that day was a woman who had suffered horribly from continual bleeding for twelve years... When she heard about Jesus’ healing power, she pushed through the crowd and came up behind him, and touched his prayer shawl. For she kept saying to herself,
“If only I could touch his clothes, I know I will be healed.”
As soon as her hand touched him, her bleeding immediately stopped!
She knew it, for she could feel her body instantly being healed of her disease! Jesus knew at once that someone had touched him, for he felt the power that always surged around him had passed through him for someone to be healed...When the woman who experienced this miracle realized what had happened to her, she came before him, trembling with fear, and threw herself down at his feet, saying “I was the one who touched you.” And she told him her story of what had just happened.
Then Jesus said to her, “Daughter, because you dared to believe, your faith has healed you. Go with peace in your heart and be free from your suffering!” Mark 5:25-34 (paraphrased).
This is one of my favorite portions of scripture. I have personally suffered with pain in my body for about seven years. I have prayed, believed, gone to healing rooms, seen doctors, gone to physical therapy, etc. and have not received my full healing yet.
But I always come back to this scripture.
Let me encourage you as the Lord encourages me. Every time someone prays for me, or I cry out to Jesus, something happens. It may not be a full manifestation of healing in my body YET, but something in my spirit grows stronger; or I gain more endurance or supernatural strength from the Holy Spirit.
To be honest, I have put off writing about this because I haven’t received my full breakthrough of healing in my body, but I think that’s why I am writing about this.
Because it’s about NOT giving up.
I want to dissect some of this scripture. First of all, this woman suffered for 12 years - that is a long time. And we may not understand why we have pain or a sickness for a long time, but the Lord’s heart is not for us to suffer; it is not His desire for us. He is not trying to teach us a lesson.
He wants us to be healed.
The greek word for healed is Sozo, which can mean - safe and sound, healed, delivered, made whole, rescued, restored, and saved.
As I mentioned above, each time we go to the Lord regarding healing in any area - even if we don’t see the full manifestation of it yet - something happens. We are being Sozo’d, restored, made whole, delivered etc…
Another thing that happened in this story is the woman “pushed through the crowd.” I believe this is so relevant for us, as we have to push through and not give up.
She could have easily said “it’s too hard, there are too many people, who am I out of all of these people that He would heal me?”
But she didn’t.
Instead she pushed through to touch His cloak.
Friends, we have to keep moving forward, we cannot give up in our desire to be healed.
It’s not about fighting for healing, for God fights for us; it’s more about surrender. Surrendering our right to understand; surrendering a bad report from the doctors and asking the Lord what to do with it; surrendering our body to him and asking Him for practical tools to be healthier. It’s offering sacrifices of praise even when we feel we have nothing to be thankful for, and it’s keeping in the forefront of our mind that He is always good and He understands our pain - but He doesn’t cause it.
Another thing I want to touch on in the text is, “She came before Him trembling with fear and threw herself down at His feet.”
I think sometimes we are afraid to go to Him; whether that’s doubting that He will heal us, or we’re afraid we’re not good enough, or we’re plain ol’ worn out and afraid we’ve been overlooked by Him.
But she still went and bowed at His feet.
And what did He do?
This is the best part! He said “Daughter,” not sinner, not friend, not who are you?
He called her DAUGHTER - claiming that He was her Father, and proud of that fact.
Then, He said, “Because you DARED to believe.”
Dare is a verb, it took her action and it means - to have the courage to do something.
She courageously pursued Jesus, defying the odds and did everything she could to obtain her healing.
Jesus went on to say “Your faith has healed you, go with peace in your heart and be free from your suffering.”
Faith - as defined in Hebrews 11:1- is this, “Now faith brings our hopes into reality and becomes the foundation needed to acquire the things we long for. It is all the evidence required to prove what is still unseen.”
This woman couldn't see the outcome of her healing, but she HOPED.
Let me end with this; faith - what we long for but cannot see - brings our hopes, and the joyful expectancy that good is coming into our reality. It becomes a foundation - what we stand on, what we are secure in. To acquire, obtain and receive the things we long for. Anyone who is sick, in pain, or suffering in their mind and heart longs to be free.
Friends, we cannot lose faith, it is our evidence that we will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.
That’s now, that’s on this earth.
I don’t have the answers as to why we aren’t instantly healed, but let me quote someone very dear to me: my mom, she says “Suddenlies come after long periods of pressing in, believing in faith through the not seeing, praying without ceasing, with thankfulness, then all of a SUDDEN, you have your breakthrough.”
Our “suddenly” - just like this woman’s - is coming.
She didn’t give up. Let us take this story as evidence that, when we dare to believe, Jesus - in all His adoration, love, and care - HEALS us.
~ Caitlin Sawyer
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