Reach Out to Jesus!!

“A large crowd followed and pressed around him. 25 And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. 26 She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse. 27 When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, 28 because she thought, "If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed." 29 Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering. 30 At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, "Who touched my clothes?" 31 "You see the people crowding against you," his disciples answered, "and yet you can ask, `Who touched me?' " 32 But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it. 33 Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth. 34 He said to her, "Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering." Mark 5:24b-34

“She simply reached out to Jesus in faith!” Those were the words my pastor, Bill Elliff, spoke to me earlier this week. He related the story above from Mark 5 and spoke of the woman who had been ill for 12 years. Bill said the woman probably had a mixture of both faith in Jesus power to heal and unbelief as well. But she CHOSE to reach out in faith and touch his cloak. She moved from fear to faith to action!

I (Glen) have been experiencing some health challenges in the last months. Not anything life-threatening but challenging nonetheless. At times, worry and anxiety have consumed me. Other times I have experienced great peace from the Lord in the midst of these health challenges. At this point, my prayer is twofold: that the Lord would heal me of the physical health issues and, more importantly, that I would learn the lessons He has for me AND bring glory to Him through the process.

Now here’s the question for you: What challenge are you facing today? Maybe one in your marriage. Or one related to your kids. Maybe your finances are in a rough place. Or possibly you just feel a distance from God. Whatever the challenge is for you today, I pray that you would simply do what this woman did in Mark 5: Reach out in faith to Jesus! He has promised to never leave or forsake us. He has told us to ask and seek and knock for the things we need. He has told us that if we have faith as small as a mustard seed, He can do great things through that faith. He is the author and finisher of our faith!

Be encouraged today. Reach out in faith to Jesus!!