Faith For Healing: The Woman With The Issue of Blood
The sermon today is going to be about a woman with the issue of blood.
25 And a certain woman, which had an issue of blood twelve years,
26 And had suffered many things of many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse,
27 When she had heard of Jesus, came in the press 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 that 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.
34 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
Let’s look at this woman; if we think about it, her issue is more than physical. She was bleeding for 12 years, surely it has caused her to suffer mentally as well. The Bible said that she did everything she could to get better, spent all her money to see many physicians, but alas, her condition worsened.
Even worse, she was a Jewish woman, and by cultural tradition, she was considered unclean. So she was shunned by society. She wasn’t able to participate in any public activities; she was even exiled from her family. She was a reject, rejected by her parents and everyone. The Bible doesn’t even mention her name or marital status. Now let’s assume she was married; perhaps her husband stayed with her and spent all their money to get her better. But 12 years? The fact that if she had a husband and he wasn’t mentioned may imply that he had left her. Say she wants to ask God for help; by custom, she needs to go to the temple. However, she also couldn’t do this because she was in exile.
By observing her story, we as women can empathize with her. She is the poster child of someone who was rejected by family, society, and even God (the temple; we know Jesus did not reject her). So many daughters of God have been deeply hurt by the world, like this woman in the Bible.
This woman in the Bible perhaps even feels shame because of the rejection. As someone unclean, anyone who touches her will become unclean and need to be purified for 7 days after washing in the ocean. So imagine staying 12 years without human touch. How alone she must have felt.
She must have asked so many questions. Why didn’t God save her or heal her? Back then, when someone befell a misfortune, society usually assumed that person must have sinned against God. We can’t even imagine how frustrated and embarrassed she must have felt.
She was tormented, she lost everything. Perhaps she came to a place where she hated herself and didn’t see the point of living anymore. She may have been angry and bitter. But she heard about Jesus, and she said if only she could touch His clothes, she would be healed. And she was right; she was immediately healed when she touched the hem of His clothing. Today, all of us need a touch of Jesus. His touch is healing.
Healing Your Soul: Pastor Asangika’s Testimony
But Jesus didn’t stop at her physical healing; He wanted to go deeper. He healed her soul, He called her daughter, and said she had been made whole. Then He said, “Go in peace.” She was probably in an emotional storm, but Jesus declared peace over her, and since then, she has been restored.
Now, there’s another story. It’s not a Bible story, but it’s a true story. There was a girl who was born in a Christian home; her father was a pastor, and she grew up knowing God. When she was 15 years old, her father left home. She said to her father, “Don’t go,” but he didn’t care and he left. This girl grew up, studied, graduated, and worked. She was looking for something else, love. She did find love, however, she found it in a married man. She knew the truth; she knew it was wrong, but she was desperate for love. She was wounded by a man, and she needed a man to complete her. She knew she was wrong, but she didn’t listen to God. After a few years, she realized that the love she had received was counterfeit. It was fake. She broke down into pieces, and she didn’t want to live anymore. She felt immense shame and pain that she thought the only way out was to die. There was so much pain that she wasn’t able to bear it anymore. However, that day, Jesus met her and said that He loved her. She said, “How can you love me? I hate myself, I hate the things that I did!” Jesus, in His perfect love, said He loved her and He wanted her. That was the beginning of that girl. And I (Pastor Asangika) am that girl.
Note: From this point onwards, this blog is written in the first person point of view (Pastor Asangika’s)
Look at what God can do. I was the black sheep of my family. Who would have thought I would be standing here, preaching the gospel? I am not even worthy to share the gospel, but here I am. My Jesus has declared me worthy. My Jesus took all my broken pieces and made me whole. Now I share my stories with my daughters too, and I encourage moms to share their mistakes without shame so daughters can learn from them. There are no perfect people; everyone makes mistakes.
Jesus is close to the broken-hearted; He is binding their wounds. He is very much still in the healing business today. He wants to heal your hearts too.
Now you may know another story, my testimony about the birth of my son, Joshua, 4 years ago. I have to go through a battle for 34 weeks. With the grace of God, I can come to church on Sunday, but during that time my condition was so bad that I couldn’t even go to the bathroom alone because I was scared that I would fall. My husband had to help me. During the birth, my husband had to take me to the hospital in the middle of the night. As soon as the hospital personnel saw me, they put me in the red zone. They said my life and my baby’s life are in danger. The doctors put all the wires on me and when I saw their face I saw fear. They fear for my life and the baby’s.
The doctors said they need to prepare for all the equipment for they have to do a C-section for me. But my Jesus showed up and I gave birth safely. The doctor had said that my son will have a dandy walker’s syndrome, but praise be to God, he is born a healthy baby boy, without the syndrome! However in that battle, I got wounded physically and spiritually.
After having the victory, I would sit in my bed and I would cry. I was wondering why would I cry? I delivered the baby safely and he is a normal, healthy baby boy, free of dandy walker’s syndrome. But I kept crying day after day. One day, God revealed to me that I was wounded from the battle. When we go through battles, through the storm of life’s hardships, our souls got wounded. But, God is a healer of our souls.
Jesus Wants To Heal Your Soul, Will You Let Him?
As a pastor, it is hard for me when I pray for people and I don’t see the answer. I prayed for them but when I don’t see the change, I got wounded too. When I see the wound of other people, I feel them too. That’s why I prayed to God to heal our souls. We have been rejected by many. Even as a church, during the pandemic, we have been rejected by other brothers or sisters in Christ. But God wants to heal us.
I want to ask God to heal us from rejection and fear of rejection. Jesus understands, because he went through it. He was rejected by the Heavenly Father when he was carrying the weight of our sin on the cross. He understands our heart and he doesn’t want us to live like this. He wants to heal us, but we have to be brave to admit and ask for healing. Sometimes we buried our wounds so deep that we forget about them, and we live in denial.
Let’s imagine that we have a house and a guest will come. In order to look perfect, we set aside all things we don’t want them to see in one room and lock it away. With time, things accumulate there. It’s the same way with our soul. We accumulate wounds and we don’t want to face it because they were painful, so we set them aside and we cover them with bandaids.
As long as we don’t heal these wounds, we are going to carry them into another relationships. For example I was a very jealous woman. You can ask my husband, he is not here now but I assure you that he would have agreed with me. My husband couldn’t talk with other women otherwise I would make a scene. Until God healed me and dealt with all my wounds. Today if any ladies in church talk to my husband, I am not jealous anymore. I have been set free because I know my worth. I am worthy. I am loved by the most important person in the world, the creator of the universe.
Now, when my husband doesn’t respond to me very well, the number one love of my life (God), speaks on my behalf to my husband! And my husband will come to me and say sorry. I don’t even need to put a fight, because my battle has been faught for. I am sharing my story with you to convince you that we don’t have to live in our wounds, we have to heal. Acknowledge all of our wounds and take action like the woman in the bible. She fought for her healing, through the crowd.
When we are wounded, we look for love in all the wrong places. But when we are healed and we know we are fully loved by God, we are whole. Like this woman in the bible, I want you to be determined today to touch Jesus and receive your healing. Give room to Jesus and let Him begin to make you whole.
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