Thoughts from daily Bible reading for today – January 28, 2020
For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. Luke 11:10
Have you ever felt like giving up on prayer because you’ve wrestled so long with a desire that hasn’t been granted? If so, there’s an awesome story in Mark 5 that I believe will encourage you.
In this story, there is a woman who is sick. She has been bleeding constantly for 12 years. Many doctors try to help her, but she is only getting worse and she has spent everything she has to pay for her medical treatment.
But she still has hope that things can change for her.
She has heard about Jesus and so when he comes through a crowd where she is, she walks up behind him and thinks, “If I can just touch his robe, I will be healed.” So, she touches his robe, and boom! She is immediately healed.
Oh! I just love this story—and here’s why.
I love that after 12 long years of suffering, the woman still deeply desired to be healed. This is incredible, because after a long period of struggle and unanswered prayer, we may give into despair and discouragement. We may think, “God hasn’t answered yet. I guess I am just meant to suffer.”
But that is not what this woman did. Even after so many years of illness, she still believed her life could change (Mark 5:28). She didn’t give in to cynicism, despair, or discouragement. She still believed there was an answer for her problem.
Can you imagine what would have happened if she hadn’t reached out to touch Christ’s robe because she had lost hope? I wonder if there were others in the crowd who wanted healing but didn’t receive because they didn’t have her boldness? Can you imagine if she had stayed home even though she had heard about Jesus because she thought, “It’s just no use”? She wouldn’t have received healing.
Her faith and her petition for God to heal her, which manifested when she touched His robe, activated God’s loving power—and her life was permanently changed.
That’s how it works: we ask; He answers. Faith releases God’s power.
Okay, what about you? Have you given up because you think it’s just no use? I encourage you not to allow discouragement to rule you. Grab onto faith and ask once more.
“One man was there who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be healed?” (John 5:5-6)
Prayer
Wow, Lord! How loving and amazing you are that healing is always possible no matter how long I have suffered, or how long I have been troubled. Help me to continue to ask. Amen.
Application
There are times when the Lord wants us to press through a problem and He will sustain us. There are other times He wants to liberate, heal, or deliver us. Sometimes we don’t know which it is unless we continue to ask for what we desire. Is it time for you to lay down discouragement and ask God again for Him to help you? If so, do that today.
Related Reading
Acts 19:12; Luke 13:11-13; Acts 9:33-34
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We ask with persistent prayers and our generous heavenly Father answers in His best timing. #WisdomHunters #prayer #truth #Jesus
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