Encouragement
In light of recent events in America that have left a lot of people wounded and hurting, both physically and spiritually, like so many other’s, maybe you find yourself needing a touch of comfort and encouragement because you fear the unknown. Maybe you’re like so many other people, you’ve been brought face to face with the reality of death and your own mortality.
What you want now is the truth. You don’t need or want superficiality. You don’t want insincere words spoken to you from those who have less than righteous heart motives. You’re at a point in your life where you want what is real and true. Like so many other’s, perhaps you’re looking for something or someone who can touch the innermost core of your heart and bring healing. Let me introduce you to One called Jesus Who says, “I’m the way, the truth, and the life.” It is in Him that all people will find true security.
Many people have made that all-important connection with the Healer---Jesus, and they’ve been touched in a most profound way. And though many have been touched and healed by Him, just as many have not. If you need and you want to be touched by Jesus today, can I tell you that He’s passing by you right now? Today is your day to touch Him and be touched by Him. Dare to believe that today is your day for a miracle.
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WOMAN WITH THE ISSUE OF BLOOD:
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Mark 5:27-34, “And when she had heard of Jesus, came in the press (crowd) behind, and touched His garment.
28-For she said, if I may TOUCH but His clothes, I shall be whole.
29-And straightway the fountain of her blood was dried up; and she felt in her body that she was healed of that plague.
30-And Jesus, immediately knowing in Himself that virtue had gone out of Him, turned Him about in the press, and said, “Who touched My clothes?”
31-And His disciples said unto Him, Thou seest the multitude thronging thee, and sayest thou, who touched me?
32- And He looked round about to see her who had done this thing.
33-But the woman fearing and trembling, knowing what was done in her, came and fell down before Him, and told Him all the truth.
43-And He said unto her, “Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace, and be whole of thy plague.”
Maybe you find yourself in a position today much like this woman who’d had an issue of blood for 12 years. A woman who was in great need and who had been to every doctor in town. By the time Jesus came through town preaching, she’d spent all of her money trying to find a cure for her problem. But the wrong people with wrong solutions were touching her and taking her money like a bunch of thieves.
You see, you can waste years and effort going and looking to everything else---at this seminar and that seminar and being touched by the wrong people. People who promise you easy solutions that never work and always leave you disappointed. This one and that one who claims to have just the right anointing for your ailment and if you’ll give them x-amount of dollars, you’ll be healed. Or some other foolishness.
The Bible says, in all those twelve years, these doctors didn’t help this woman. In fact, it says, as she ran out of money, she got worse. So now, here she is---there are no more doctors’ to go to. And even if there was, she’s out of money and can’t pay one. She’s at the end of her own efforts in trying to work things out on her own and she now finds herself in dire straits. Am I talking to anybody? She’s in desperate need of a touch from the only Physician Who has the power to heal and make her whole again. And the cost is her total trust and faith in a man called Jesus. Total trust and faith in His Word that says, healing is her‘s if she will only believe.
Maybe thats where you are today. Possibly, you find yourself here in this place of need, but praise God, let hope begin to arise in you because there’s a Healer passing by today. And all you have to do is just reach out and touch Him with your faith. Be willing to put down fear and unbelief and expend the cost of courage and faith thats required. Dare to believe God for the seemingly impossible. Dare today to take that step of faith, even though everything around you is telling you the very opposite. Dare to silence those voices that are telling you its no use to hope and believe that Jesus can and will touch your life.
Your head may be screaming at you and telling you, it’s too late. It won’t work. Miracles are not for you and besides, the clock on the wall says you’ve run out of time. Listen to me, the devil is a liar! All time belongs to God, and as the anointed Word goes forth and you allow faith to arise in your spirit to believe God, then your time is tied right in there with His time. We have no time except HIS time. Therefore, it’s important that we get in sync with God’s timing for our lives.
But like this woman, maybe you’ve tried everything there is to try in hopes of making the pain in your hungry heart go away. Maybe your heart has been heavy with the pain and grief of a failed marriage. Perhaps it’s the loss of a parent or a child. Perhaps you’re still carrying around the baggage of past failures that are over and done with but yet, you just haven‘t been able to let go.
I have a ‘word’ for you today, the Lord says, “Let go of that baggage because it’s keeping you from coming into that intimate place with Him where He longs to fellowship with you. Dump all the former things of the past that are weighing you down so you can’t move forward and embrace your destiny in God.” The Lord would say to you today, “Dump the file and put a new program in and hit run. Run to Him.
Run with passion and zeal into the new that He’s had prepared for you since the foundation of the world.” Praise the Lord! A lot of you are going to be set free today. A lot of you are going to reach out in faith and you’re going to touch Jesus and embrace your future in God and all that pertains to. Hallelujah!
You don’t have to continue to live under condemnation, guilt and shame for things of the past---things that God has already forgiven you for. Stop listening to the lies of the devil and forgive yourself because God has. Let those old offenses go to the graveyard of your past where all dead things are to be left.
Once you do this, get yourself before God and settle it by His Word once and for all that you’re His child. That you’re His righteousness through the blood of Jesus, therefore, determine in your mind and heart from this day forward to never look back on those past things again. Trust that God‘s enabling grace will be there to help you take this step of faith toward your future. He gives grace to the humble so receive it now, then go forward with new focus and direction in the purposes and plans as God reveals them to you. Amen! Praise the Lord!
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BEING IN A FEVER:
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Mark 1:29-31, “And forthwith, when they were come out of the synagogue, they entered into the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. 30-But Simon’s (Peter’s) wife’s mother lay sick of a fever, and Anon, they tell Him of her. 31-And He came and took her by the hand (He touched her), and lifted her up; and immediately the fever left her, and she ministered (served) unto them.”
You see, this is how a lot of us are at times when we allow the devil to get us down and depressed us because of circumstances. You get so down with despair that all you want to do is just curl up somewhere and die. And when you get to this place, you‘re exactly where the devil wants you. Immobilized and out of his way. In this condition, you’re not a serious threat to him and his evil deeds.
When that blackness of oppression settles in over your mind like a heavy fog and you feel like you’ll never get up again, you‘re following the devil’s plan for your life, not God‘s. Are you hearing what I’m saying to you? The devil’s the one who talked you into laying down in the fever of despair and hopelessness. He’s the one who deceived you and got you to get into doubt and unbelief concerning God‘s Word and His promises to you.
Listen, the devil was hoping you wouldn’t ever find out the truth and realize that he’s a liar and that he’s lied to you. He didn’t want you to know that by an act of your will and your faith, you can touch Jesus. And that one touch from Jesus is powerful enough to raise you up so you can be made whole of your plague. You see, the devil carefully planned your demise so you wouldn’t ever get up. He wanted to bury you.
He wanted to keep you from the wisdom, wholeness and the love of God. His goal was to keep you in bondage to the point that you‘d be one less Christian he‘d have to deal with. Hear me now, because you’re a child of almighty God---that alone is a sure enough reason for the devil to be nervous about you. When you’re your weakest, thats when God shows Himself strong through you so that when you just say ‘no’ to the devil, he has to flee from you. And when the devil leaves you, the angel’s of God come in to minister to you and help to strengthen you. Hallelujah!
You see, whether you realize it or not, the devil knows you’re already a threat to his kingdom, no matter how weak you may be at the moment. He just don’t want you to know it. You must really have an anointing on your life that you’re not aware of yet because the devil sure was hoping you wouldn’t get your faith in line and in submission to God’s Word. He’s tried so hard to blind you so you won’t see that all you need to do is rise up in faith and resist him in Jesus name (James 4:7).
Like I said, just say a simple, “no.” The devil may have wanted to keep you wallowing in depression and self-pity so you‘d continue to be a defeated Christian, but God says, “No. This is My child and I’ve put My Spirit in her---I’ve put My Spirit in him and when the enemy comes in like a flood against you, I’ll raise up a standard against him. You just reach out and touch Me and watch how I turn things around in your life for good.”
The devil may want to shut you up but God doesn’t want your voice to be silenced. He wants you to shout His praises from the house-tops and in the streets. He wants you to let your voice be heard in praise to Him and give the devil a nervous breakdown. Praise God! The weakest Christian on the planet who bears the name of Jesus is the devil’s worst nightmare because you’re covered with the blood and the Holy Spirit is in residence empowering you through God’s Word to pull down his strongholds. Hallelujah to the Lamb of God!
God doesn’t want you to allow the devil to neutralize you and steal your peace or your joy. He doesn’t want to see the devil kill the dreams and visions He’s given you or destroy your hope in God. But you see, you have something to do with that yourself. God moves when you move out in faith to take Him at His Word. And right now, many of you have been in the fever of things such as unforgivness toward other‘s from your past.
Perhaps, some of this has just happened recently and you‘re still allowing yourself to be offended at the person or persons. Jesus said, “when you stand praying, forgive, so that you would be forgiven of My Father who is in heaven.” This is part of being healed and being made whole. Unforgivness toward others is a hindrance from receiving your miracle from God.
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I AM YOUR ANSWER:
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If you continue to hold onto the offence and you refuse to forgive the person, then you block God’s forgiveness from flowing into your own life so you can be free of this kind of bondage.
When you fall into all kinds of temptations there is an emptiness inside your soul and you’re looking for something to fill that empty void. It makes no difference what you‘re doing to try and fill the emptiness, there is absolutely nothing here in this natural world that's going to satisfy your soul but Jesus Christ of Nazareth! And He promises in His Word that when you do fall from the path of righteousness that you can come to Him and confess your sins---repent and turn from it. 1 John 1:9 says that, “God is faithful and just to forgive you of the sin and cleanse you from all unrighteousness.”
You need a touch from Jesus today like never before. You need to allow Him to come in and fill that emptiness in your soul and He will. If you don’t know Jesus as your Lord and Savior, you can call out to Him from a sincere heart and He will come in and be the Lord of your life. The TV. commercials, books and the movies may tell you that you can find fulfillment in this thing and in that thing---just try this new drug, it’s a gas man. It’ll tweak your physce like wow! Oh yes, no doubt, it’ll give you a high buzz for a little while but when you come down and you’ve landed in crash city, you’ll still be just as empty, just as lonely and just as needy for God as you were before.
Many people in the body of Christ are hooked on prescription drugs because of depression and nerves. There are those who suffer from panic attacks. Jesus said, “LET not your heart be troubled...” And He told us “We’ve not been given a spirit of fear but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” Jesus also said, “Come unto Me and I will give you rest...” What’s He saying here to all who are in the situations?
What is God saying to those who are in dilemma’s that have just overwhelmed you and you don’t know what to do about it? He’s plainly saying, “I Am your Answer. I Am your Healer. I Am your Deliverer, and I Am passing by you right now. Reach out by your faith and touch Me.” And when you do, like the woman with the issue of blood, virtue will go out of Jesus and into your body. His anointing will go into your situation to bring peace, healing, restoration and wholeness.
In case you didn’t hear me the first time, listen again, I said, Jesus is your Healer. Jesus is your Deliverer and Jesus is your Provider for everything you have need of. And the first thing you have need of is a touch of His love upon your heart and life. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever would believe in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). And John 4:8, “God is love.” If there’s one thing that Jesus would have you to know right now, it is this---you are loved and you are accepted in the beloved Jesus. You are valued, you are created unique, you have worth and you have a destiny in God to fulfill here on this earth.
Human hearts are hurting all across our nation and around the world and with God, it hasn’t gone
un-noticed. I want you to know that there’s a Healer passing by in our midst today and His name is Jesus. And if we’ll just simply believe His Word and reach out in faith to touch His garment (His anointing), you will be healed and made whole. Why is this so? Why does God want you to know this so strongly right now?
Because He wants you to know how very much He does love YOU and you have His approval. How very much you are of value to Him---even more than the sparrows that fall to the ground, He says. He wants you to know that you matter to Him. He loves individually each and every person on the face of this earth with a love that cannot be comprehended. Just simply believe it and receive God’s love for you by faith.
He wants you to know that as your heart aches, so does His heart ache because He loves you. He wants to comfort you and remove the guilt, the shame and fear from your life. He wants to heal your hurting heart. He wants you to know that as you’ve wept tears of hurt, so has He wept tears right along with you. His heart aches for you and He wants you to come like a child, flying into His arms and say, “Father, I hurt. I need your healing touch.” When you’ve been touched by the Master, you’ll never be the same again. Everything around you will change for the better. Everything will look and feel different. Thats because He’s touched the very core of your being. He’s touched your heart with His love.
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FROM A SINNER TO A SAINT:
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Just one touch from Jesus can turn you from a sinner to a saint. From a murderer to a messenger of God. This is what happened to Saul of Tarsus, who was transformed from Saul to Paul. And from that moment on, after his conversion, instead of persecuting Christians, he spent the rest of his life preaching the good news of Jesus Christ. Preaching the good news of the Anointed One and of His anointing.
I’m going to say it yet again; just one touch from Jesus can radically change your life for the better. And He wants to radically change your life today for the better---exceedingly and abundantly beyond what you can imagine (Eph.3:20). Let’s see from the Word what happened to Paul.
Acts 26:13-15, “At midday, O king, I saw in the way a light from heaven, above the brightness of the sun (Jesus will out-shine the sun), shining round about me and them which journeyed with me.
14-And when we were all fallen to the earth, I heard a voice speaking unto me, and saying in the Hebrew tongue, “Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me? It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.
15-And I said, Who art thou, Lord? And He said, “I am Jesus Whom thou persecutest.”
Sometimes, the touch we receive from Jesus can be very gentle while other times; His touch is strong enough to knock us slam off our high horses of pride. Then, He’ll stand us upright on our feet in humility and righteousness and love toward other’s, sending us forth to fulfill our destiny. This is what happened to Paul, and at least, he had enough thought about him to cry out real quick and call Jesus, ‘Lord.’ In that moment, he was born again and set on the path of his calling to take the gospel of Christ to the Gentiles.
Even in that brief exchange on the road to Damascus, Saul, now Paul would see such things by revelation that many of his day had not seen yet. And on this day, he saw what John tried to describe to us in the book of Revelation when he said; he saw One as being a “fire from the loins up and a fire from the loins down.” John was describing Jesus in His resurrected, glorified body that was so bright with the glory that it looked like a fire. That is some kind of awesome! That’s Jesus, King of King’s And Lord of Lord’s!
Paul saw this briefly himself when he encountered Jesus. Peter, James and John had also been privileged to witness Jesus being transfigured, which was a pre-figure of His glory to come. I believe what Paul saw and experienced was beyond what the other’s had witnessed. I believe this because Paul was persecuting Christian’s and Jesus took this personally. He said, “When you’ve done it unto the least of these, you’ve done it unto me...” And that's whether what you’ve done is for good or bad.
But Jesus didn’t say, “Saul, why in the world are you persecuting that little old Baptist church down on the corner? They’re a group of good people who aren’t bothering anybody, so why don’t you just go on about your business and leave them be?” This is not what Jesus said. He said, “Saul, Saul! Why are you persecuting ME!!” That one touch from Jesus turned Paul completely around from the road to destruction he was going down and set him on the road of righteousness to preach the good news of the gospel. Hallelujah!
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ALLOW GOD TO TOUCH YOUR NEED:
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There are many more such events in the Bible where people received a touch from Jesus and they were healed and made whole. There was a man named Jarius who had a little daughter who was ill. Jarius asked Jesus to come and lay hands on her to be healed but before He could get there, here came this woman with the issue of blood. Sometimes, we think Jesus has just forgotten all about us and our needs. Sometimes, we even wonder if He cares about our problems? We tend to think that He’s doing all kinds of good things for other’s but somehow, we’ve been overlooked. The devil is a liar! God, your heavenly Father knows the “very number of hairs on your head.”
God said, His ways are not our ways and His thoughts are higher than our thoughts. The reason God doesn’t give us every detail of the things He tells us to do is because He wants us to learn to trust Him more. We would have the tendency to trust our own intellect and give ourselves the credit instead of the credit going to God where it belongs. Because God tries to teach us to wait on Him for things to come and to trust Him regardless, we think He’s either too late, or He’s not coming at all to meet our needs. Another lie of the devil. He said, He would come, and He will.
He said, “He supplied ALL of our needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus” (Phil.4:19). He didn’t say in that Scripture when it would be. He just said, He would. Plus, He said, if we wouldn’t grow weary and faint, we would reap in due season. Which means, God’s timing. And I tell you again, that if you’re in need of a touch from Jesus, then you’re in God’s timing. Reach out with your faith and touch Him. Receive from Him and allow Him to heal you and make you whole.
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IT’S YOUR CHOICE:
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Many of you today are faced with the choice of stepping out in faith to take God at His Word concerning some situation in your life. You also have the choice to continue believing what the devil has relentlessly lied to you about. “Hast God said? God’s lying to you. He’s not going to give you that new church building you’ve been asking for. He’s not going to bring in and save your wayward son or daughter. He’s not going to fix your marriage or supply you the money to get out of debt, etc. etc.”
Jesus said, “Nothing is impossible with God.” He also said, “All things are possible to Him who believes---believes what? Believes that all things are possible with God.” You see, “For with the heart man believes unto (whatever it is you believe) righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made (of what you believe).”
In light of that, lets look at this woman and see that, first of all, she had a need. God says, “I know what you have need of before you even ask Me.”I don’t know of too many people today who don’t have a need of some kind. But I do know this, having a need qualifies you for a miracle touch from God on your life and situation. Amen!
This woman had a need for healing in her physical body. She needed to be made whole, spirit, soul and body. “God says, “I am the Lord who heals you.” This is where many of you are today, needing a healing in your physical body. Some of you need a healing in your emotions because of left over guilt and shame from your past. Some of you need a healing in your finances, while learning to steward the money God puts in your hand as He instructs you. God says, “Beloved, I wish above all things that you may prosper (financially, materially) and be in health (divine health), even as you soul (your mind, will, emotions) prospers” (3 John 2).
Some of you just needs to get saved. God says, “For by grace are you saved through faith, and not of yourselves, it is the gift of God” (Eph.2:8). You need to give your heart and life to Jesus Christ and let Him be your Lord and your provider instead of worrying where your next meal or your next dollar is coming from. God says, “If I take care of the sparrows that fly and know each one that falls to the ground, how much more will I take care of you? Are you listening? Jesus is the answer to every need you have now or ever will have in the future.
He says to you, “I AM your Provider and there’s no other that can take care of you like Me. I AM there with you in the middle of the night when you’ve walked the floor and cried, thinking you’re all alone. Not so, I saw every tear that fell and I longed for you to just call on My name, but you didn’t. You thought you could make things better in your own strength.”
Jesus says, “I AM there with you in the morning when you get out of the bed all depressed and you think you just can’t make it through the day. I AM there to help you by My grace if you’ll only ask Me. I AM there with you in the noontime when you’re worrying about what you’re going to fix for dinner---when you have no groceries in the house. I AM your Provider” the Lord says, “if you will only call out and ask Me to be, you will see that I AM what I say I AM.” Praise the Lord!
The Bible says, “Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved”(Romans 10:9). Shall be delivered, shall be healed, shall be set free and made whole, spirit, soul and body. Amen. All you have to do is call out by faith and say, “Jesus, help me. I can’t do it, I can’t help myself.” If you’ll do that, I promise you on the authority of God’s Word, He’ll meet you today at your point of need and you won’t be disappointed. Amen! You’ll be glad of heart and you’ll be flooded with His peace and joy. Hallelujah!
You see, you’re no different than this woman with the issue of blood---she needed a touch from Jesus. You need a touch from Jesus today so He can take your issues. All of those things past and present that you’ve shoved in the closet and shut the door on and have pretended they‘re nolonger an issue. Today, the Lord is moving upon your heart by His Holy Spirit, urging you to give Him all of your present issues that you’re trying to reason out in your mind and come up with a solution. Jesus wants to take those things from you and touch you with His life. And in His life is everything you need to overcome and rise up out of the pits of depression, despair, discouragement, lack--whatever is your immediate need. In His life is victory and glory for you, not defeat.
1-The Woman with the issue if blood, she had a need.
2-She needed to be healed and made whole.
3-Her need made her a candidate to receive a miracle touch from Jesus.
4-She received her need met.
The Choice of Her Actions:
1-made a decision of her will, based on a desire to be well and on hearing Jesus’ preached Word.
2-The Word produced faith in her to believe she could receive from Jesus.
3-She confessed her faith, “If I may but touch the hem of His garment, I shall be whole.”
4-She had determination to get to Jesus and receive her miracle touch.
5-Resisted obstacles and hinderances---kept pressing on through circumstances.
6-Finally touched His garment (anointing) and was made whole (nothing missing, nothing broken. Completeness) in all areas of her life.
7-Jesus said, “Daughter, YOUR faith has made you whole.”
And she went home in peace, healed and made whole of her plague. She received restoration, not only in her body but in her finances (she’d spent all her money) and in her family as well. Are you ready for your miracle touch from Jesus? Then reach out and touch Him; because The Healer is passing by.
Prayer:
Father, in the precious and matchless name of Jesus, I stand in agreement with those who are reaching out to you right now by their faith. You see the needs. You know the hearts who yearn to have your touch upon their lives. You hear the cry of those who are in situations that they don’t have the answers. They’re putting their trust in You to give them Your wisdom and direction for every thing they face in this season.
Touch Your people now in the mighty name of Jesus and bring to each one, healing and wholeness for their, spirit, soul and body. Bring salvation to their households and to their extended families. Heal and restore broken relationships as You move on the hearts to show mercy. Forgive that one who has caused emotional pain. Lord Jesus, we praise you. We bless you and honor you. We thank you for taking our place on Calvary, for being bruised and wounded for our iniquities; for taking the chasetisement of our peace upon yourself; for taking every sickness and disease into your own body, for receiving those 39 stripes on your back and shedding your blood for our healing. Thank you, Lord, that by Your stripes, we were, and we are healed.
I exalt Your name, Jesus, and give you glory for all that you’ve done in behalf of your people, and for all that you’re yet to do for those who seek your face. Thank you for drawing each one closer to Yourself and showing all your unconditional love. I bless You, Lord, for answered prayer and for the miracle touch of Your love and anointing upon Your people this day, in Jesus name. Amen.”
Plain As Day Ministries
Shirley Williams
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Thank you Shirley for sharing these precious and priceless words of wisdom and encouragement. I have really been blessed by this and I believe it was a Word in season for me. Thank your for your closing prayer, I receive every word in faith for God's healing touch and timing in my life.
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