"YOUR FAITH WILL CARRY YOU" - CONTINUED. . . Part 3

Posted on March 9, 2011 @ focusontheheart.org
For the "hope for the heart" page

Remember, it's so very important for us to be used of God and live a life, free from sin's bondage!

Why would anyone want to remain bound by sin?

The next passage we'll look at is about a woman who had been experiencing a continuous flow of blood for twelve years and she had been to many doctors trying their remedies and she spent all that she had, but on this day she had heard that the Lord Jesus was coming and she knew if she could only touch His robe, that she would become healthy and have a normal life again! She had come this day with unwavering faith; faith in the power of the Lord Jesus. She believed it with all of her heart! Imagine the joy that filled her life this day!

And a certain woman, which had an issue of blood twelve years and had suffered many things of many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse. When she had heard of Jesus, came in the press behind, and touched his garment. For she said, "If I may touch but his clothes, I shall be whole."
Immediately the fountain of her blood was dried up; and she felt in her body that she was healed of that plague. Jesus, immediately knowing in himself that virtue had gone out of him, turned him about in the press, and said,"Who touched my clothes?"
His disciples said unto him, "You see the multitude thronging thee, and you say, "Who touched me?". He looked round about to see her that had done this thing, but the woman fearing and trembling, knowing what was done in her, came and fell down before him, and told him all the truth and he said unto her, "Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace, and be whole of thy plague". ~ Mark 5:25-34

There was a woman of Canaan who had heard that Jesus was going to be at the coasts of Tyre and Sidon and she believed that Jesus could perform miracles and that He was the Lord. She also knew that she was not of Israel, like others who followed Jesus. Yet she knew what she believed and she wasn't going get discouraged and give up because of her ethnic origin, as often times this could be a major social and religious barrier in this region of the world. She knew Jesus could help her daughter who was controlled by a devil! She had to go in faith.
Her "friends" probably warned her that she wasn't going to be able to be helped, as she was not socially accepted by the nation of Israel. She likely had battled with those thoughts as she made the journey to where Jesus was, but by the time she had arrived she was so sure of His power that she knew if she could just get a few crumbs from the true Bread of Life, that her daughter would be free from being possessed by demons! Let's look at this passage in Matthew and see what happened,

And, behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts, and cried unto him, saying, "Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou Son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil".
But he answered her not a word. His disciples came and besought him, saying, "Send her away; for she cries after us". But he answered and said, "I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel".
Then she came and worshipped him, saying, "Lord, help me".
But he answered and said, "It is not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it to dogs".
She said, "Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters' table".
Then Jesus answered and said unto her, "O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt", and her daughter was made whole from that very hour. ~ Matthew 15:22-28

Men and women who were made whole or who were freed from evil spirits were all changed forever! What I'd like for us all to focus on now, is what made the difference in the lives of the men who brought the paralyzed man to Jesus, what made the difference in the life of the woman who had spent at least a quarter of her life in pain, sorrow and doctor's offices trying to find an answer and what made the difference in the life of the mother and the daughter who suffered from control of a demon that had planned to destroy her body, mind and soul.
The thing that made the difference in the lives of these people and others throughout the Word of God, is that these men and women had come to an understanding; a major realization of the hope that was found only in the Lord Jesus, who had come to earth as a man to seek and to save that which was lost.

You see, they had all come to understand the fear of the Lord's Power through respect and reverence; they had come to understand the love of the Lord in His grace and willingness to forgive people of their sin. That realization was what brought each and every one of them to the understanding of His compassion on them all, as He always recognized their faith and trust in Him as their Savior!

Your FAITH in GOD will carry you through the difficulties and bring you amazing deliverance from the circumstances and troubles of this world.

You will be able to live above the times of crisis and sorrow, when you trust GOD to CARRY YOU as Your Faith will also make You Complete in Christ Jesus!

Many are facing disasters and troubes beyond their imagination internationally today , but my friend, I assure you, "Christ is there for You!"

Let's learn from and take comfort in the words written and passed down to us by David the psalmist.

"Cast your (troubles) burden on the Lord and He will (keep) sustain you! He will not allow the (to live & do right) righteous to be (weak) moved!" ~ Psalm 55:22

Also the words of Isaiah the prophet will give comfort, strength and guidance for you in this time when things may seem so hopeless! You can rely on this prophecy of hope!

Have you not known? Have you not heard, that the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary?

There is no searching of his understanding.
He gives power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increases strength.

Even the youth will faint and be weary, and the young men will utterly fall:

But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength;

they shall mount up with wings as eagles;

they shall run, and not be weary;

and they shall walk, and not faint.

~ Isaiah 40:28-31 ~

"WITHOUT A DOUBT, YOU WILL BE DELIVERED"

Your beliefs can destroy you or deliver you!


Seeing the victory and prosperity of the nation of Judah at the end of our last message probably brought hope to most of your hearts.

As the author of these messages, I can admit that even at the time of this writing, I have been encouraged by the victorious outcome of the battle and the riches that were carried back home from the battleground for three whole days! Wow! After I read that passage my eyes got big and I began to dream of how God might even bless me after he gets me through the impossible situations in my life! Didn't that thought cross your mind as well? Maybe, just a little bit of prosperity possibility thinking crept into your thoughts? There's nothing wrong with thinking about the fun stuff, but we must first remember the faith stuff!

Well, I thought about that and the next thing I knew, doubt began to lurk in the back of my mind as to whether or not God would ever do anything that great for me. After all, I've never just gone out to pick up riches and treasures for a few days and take it home with me. That would be equivalent to the local bank or jewelry store opening it's safe up and the Lord telling you to just go ahead and get all you wanted for the next few days. Maybe for some, it would be the local gun shop or sporting goods store, depending on what you consider as valuable in your life. I can imagine that you too may have felt a bit doubtful as you considered this idea of receiving prosperity beyond your imagination. Why do we begin to slide back into our doubting selves long before God even has a chance to prove His infinite power to us?

The nation of Israel was following the leadership of a king that believed with all his heart that his supreme God was the highest of powers above all the earth, all the kingdoms and all courts, all plagues, all famines or any weapons formed against them! I want to back up a few verses before the battle of God took place against Ammon, Moab and mount Seir. Let's look at the way that Judah believed and we may find out why we find ourselves doubting so quickly today,

2Chronicles 20:4 And Judah (nation) gathered themselves together, to ask help of the LORD: even out of all the cities of Judah they came to seek the LORD.

This nation who prospered so greatly following their deliverance from their enemy had an attitude of reverence and honor for God long before the armies ever arrived on their sea shores. This is evident in their immediate response to the frightening news that spread across their kingdom of the approaching enemy. This passage tells us that they assembled themselves and the next thing they did was to ask for help of the LORD.

I'd like to share with you the literal Hebrew translation of this part of the passage above. The word "ask" in the Hebrew is "bâqash" and is pronounced as baw-kash'. The literal translation of this word is "to search out" (by any method;specifically in worship or prayer). The word "help" was added into the english text so we can leave that word out for now and the literal text would actually go like this, "Judah assembled themselves together to seek Jehovah in worship and prayer". You may be thinking that an entire nation would never be able to come together in one accord to worship; but look at the next part of this passage,

2Chronicles 20:4.....even out of all the cities of Judah they came to seek the LORD.

When you look at the literal Hebrew of this passage, where we see the words "seek the Lord" we would find one additional Hebrew word that wasn't in the first part of this verse. In the Hebrew it would say "bâqash 'êth yehôvâh" and the addition of the Hebrew word "'êth" causes this passage to literally mean "came to seek each for themselves in worship and prayer to Jehovah"!

It's the truth! An entire nation came to seek God in worship and prayer!

How hard is it today to just get the all the local members of a church out to a church picnic, much less to pray about something of importance? I was away from home once in a middle North Carolina town and had been looking at some of the churches in that area online. I saw a website post for a large prominent church in the area that had a special time of prayer on Wednesday nights. I believe it was called the "Power Hour"! I decided to go and get in on this powerful time with fellow believers as I had been very busy and needed to take time to recharge and fellowship with prayer warriors of the faith.

My friends, I cannot express the way I felt when I walked into their sanctuary. I went to the sanctuary and found no one there! I walked all through this majestic church facility and found nobody anywhere in the first and second floors. Finally I got to the basement and walked into a room where a large group of teens were listening to music and playing games, so I asked if this was the prayer service. They looked at me kind of funny and said that they didn't know of any meeting of that type there. So I figured that I must have gotten confused and went to the wrong church. As I was making my way back through the huge basement to the front of the building I saw a small single piece of paper taped to a door which read, "Power Hour". I got kind of excited for a minute as I peaked into the small window in the door and must have bumped the door as the man who was leading the meeting waved for me to join them. As I opened the door, I realized that the window hadn't obscured my view as I had thought originally. There were only about six people in the room and most of them had canes or walkers with which they were able to make the hike as I had down the long modern halls of this huge church to the only prayer meeting that night. Oh, how shocked I was! Strangely enough, they didn't seem to be surprised when I asked if this was the prayer service upon my arrival. They just nodded their heads and smiled.

I had only been there for a short while when I realized why the group was so small and why there were not any new believers in this meeting. This was probably the core group that had been there since the church began. They began to pray one by one and as they prayed, their prayers were doubtful. They only asked God for what they could have even done themselves in the first place! How often do believers today find themselves praying while in doubt and too fearful to ask for something beyond all human power and comprehension? I heard them ask for relief of the pain of terminal illnesses, for people to find guidance to get help, for someone able to go and reach the lost and for someone to give to help those in need. I didn't hear one request of anything impossible that night! I didn't hear any worship or praise that night! When they had all prayed, I almost broke out in prayer, but I seriously was concerned that I would have certainly sent some of those precious elderly Carolinians to the hospital with cardiac arrest had I begun to ask God for all those humanly impossible situations that were listed on their prayer list. I wanted to just shouted out at that very moment, as Jehoshaphat did in verse six;

2Chronicles 20:6 And said, O LORD God of our fathers, art not thou God in heaven? and rulest (not) thou over all the kingdoms of the heathen? and in thine hand is there (not) power and might, so that none is able to withstand thee?

Except that I would have said it without the "not" that was added in the english translation. That would remove the doubt in this message that our God is above all. I truly believe that Judah was not doubting this for a moment, but the word ("not") was added twice in the making of this translation. It would have been fitting for the king of a believing nation as Judah and Jerusalem, who worshipped and praised God, to cry out,

"Jehovah my God of our fathers, Aren't you our God in heaven above? You rule with all dominion over any nation and your hand is forceful and mighty, without any other existence equal to you!".

Our wars today are no different than the war in this passage! The only real difference is in our beliefs! How would the people of Judah have felt if they had walked with you or I today and experienced the things we spend our day talking about, laughing about and what we do for entertainment and most importantly,to experience how we worship our God each day? Would they know by our actions that we believed in the same God that they worshipped and praised as the armies were approaching them that day to destroy their homes, families and their place of worship? How is our home, our families and our place of worship under attack today?

Is the battle growing nearer every hour? Are you in the middle of the battle already? Has the enemy got you afraid and ready to give up; ready to break down?

Are you thinking, "How can I possibly be delivered from this impossible situation in my home, my family or my church?"

I want you to know something today!

I can tell you this without a single bit of DOUBT whatsoever in my heart!

Without a DOUBT(IN YOUR HEART), you WILL be DELIVERED!

BELIEVE IN GOD'S POWER AS YOU PRAY & FAST!

SEEK & WORSHIP GOD FOR GUIDANCE!

PRAISE GOD FOR HIS PROMISE TO DELIVER YOU!

Matthew 6:33-34 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. 34 Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.