Mark 5: 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. 34He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.”


    Many times it is hard for Western women of the 21st century to fully comprehend the restrictions that women lived under during the days that Jesus walked the face of the earth.  Our culture is so very far removed from the customs and traditions of the ancient Hebrews.  In studying what was permitted and what was not permitted, one thing we understand is that Jesus did more to elevate the status of women than any other single human being in all of history. His compassion faileth not.
    The woman described in Mark 5, had been ill for twelve (12) long years.  Not just a headache.  The King James Version calls her ailment as an "issue of blood."  Other translations describe her affliction as: "...constant bleeding,"  "...a discharge of blood,"...."...a hemorrhage,"..."chronic bleeding."..."a bloody flux."  Under hygienic social restrictions the woman would have been banished from normal routines.  She was considered "unclean."  Much like a person diseased with leprosy , she would have been excluded from community activities and forced to announce her "uncleanness" when in a public place.  This woman had endured such a heavy weight of afflictions for over a decade. Yet, hope sprang to the forefront of her soul as she heard the testimonies of those others that had been perfectly healed of divers kinds of illnesses.  So hopeful was she that she dared to defy the societal restraints that accompanied her affliction and seek relief at any cost.  Perhaps it was her desperation that prompted her courage or her courage that circumvented her desperation.  Perhaps the two worked in tandem. Nevertheless, the woman assumed a position that would both hide her from judgmental eyes and position her to touch "but the hem of his garment."  
     On her knees, under the radar of the critical Pharisees, she hunkered down and waited for the crowd to carry Jesus past her quivering body.   For she "thought, If I can but touch his clothes, I can be healed."  Two very exceptional realities are presented to us in this passage. First, the position of humility is by and far the one that gains ground in the spirit world.  We have been versed in the Proverb: "Pride goes before a fall."  However, the enemy has done a switcharoo with this verse:                                     Proverbs 61:18 states: " Pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall."
The difference is life threatening.  If a person believes pride may make them fall, they are rather confident that they can get back up and continue on.  But, if pride brings destruction, there is no recovery.  Pride is a deadly sin whether you are saved or an unbeliever.  Only the opposite spirit will bring us into the healing presence of Almighty God; "...humble yourself under the mighty hand of God and in due season He will lift you up." 
       Secondly, our unnamed heroine in  Mark 5, was tenacious. Not only  willing to get as low as necessary to obtain what had been beyond her grasp for twelve very bloody years, but  her bold, clandestine assertiveness  won for her the desire of her heart.  Her  remarkable unspoken  faith  manifested in a prophetic act of laying hold of the goodness of God, even the hem of His anointed garments. Immediately, the issue of blood was dried up and she knew in her body that she was healed.
       Amazingly, she was not the only one that knew that healing virtue had flowed downward to fill the valley of despair.  Jesus, stopped and asked His disciples to identify the person that had received the healing impartation.  Encompassed about by hundreds, maybe thousands of bustling, eager inquirers, the disciples were"put-off" that the Master would even ask such a question.  "Are you serious?'' they replied.
     Jesus was serious for He had felt the virtue leave his body.  Silently he searched for the glow of supernatural health that would be evidenced on someone's countenance.  Just a few feet away from Jesus, she suddenly appeared at his feet, again.
Trembling with awe-struck fear and the after -effects of the anointing that breaks every yoke, she haltingly confessed that she was the recipient of His ever-flowing mercy and grace.  Kindly, gently, with great compassion the Lord lifts her to her feet and pronounces a blessing: “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.”
     Do you find it compelling that even though she was already healed, even though Jesus already knew that healing virtue and gone from His body, he still instructs her to go in peace and be freed from suffering.  Was this an admonition to throw off the lingering emotional traumas that so often accompany pro-longed physical afflictions.?  He released peace over her troubled psyche and instructed her to walk free of any lingering emotions of self-pity, fear or rejection.  "God in peace and be freed from your suffering." 
     Touching the hem of His garment always brings healing.  And when we are open with the Lord's questioning, and "tell Him the whole truth," we often find ourselves pouring out of our hearts the horrible years of horrific trauma that will continue to  hamper even our healing if not identified and released. Jesus knew this and dealt with this woman on all three levels of her being:  1) physical, "Your faith has healed you. 2) spiritually, "Go in peace." and 3) emotionally, "be free from our suffering."
     Let us not neglect such a great salvation!  The Lord has truly proided for us everything we need pertaining to life and godliness, let us not give up until we walk healed, whole and in complete peace and freedom. 
AMEN!

The conflict between Israel and Gaza continues.  It will be so until the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords comes to establish his government on planet earth. However, we are not mute bystanders in this whole drama.  We have been given specific assignments in the spirit.  One, of course is to pray for the peace of Jerusalem..."For Zion's sake, will I not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest until the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness and the salvation thereof as a lamp that burneth...I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O, Jerusalem, which shall never hold thy peace day nor night; ye that make mention of the Lord keep not silent.  And give Him no rest till he establish, and til He makes Jerusalem a praise in the earth." (Isaiah 62:6-7)
     Another assignment, perhaps overlooked by many, is to be just as concerned for our Christian brothers and sisters that are caught in the crossfire of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict.  I must admit that I, too, have been unaware that there even existed a Church in Gaza.  A recent article by CBN News, highlighted the plight of some 1,500 believers in the Muslim stronghold of 2 million known as the Gaza Strip.  These, our brothers and sisters in Christ, the "household of faith" are enduring the same daily mortar shells as their Islamic neighbors. However, they have turned their trial into a testimony.  Opening the doors of their churches, they are receiving their fleeing countrymen and offering a place of refuge.  They are using this tragic and deadly situation to offer the hope of the Gospel: the Good News Of Jesus Christ.  As  instructed in Galatians 6:10, "So then, as we have opportunity let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith."   
     As we daily pray for the peace of Jerusalem, let us pray for our family of faith that needs encouraging and strength.  Let us remember those that are in conflict as if we ourselves are there.(Hebrews 13:3)
     The following article gives specific prayer points that the believers in Gaza have asked that we pray, let us be faithful:

CBN NEWS REPORT
BETHLEHEM, Israel -- Israeli military leaders say they hit 45 terror sites in Gaza overnight Thursday, including a Hamas command post. Israeli aircraft also killed a senior Islamic Jihad leader and two of his sons.

And Palestinian sources say Israeli ground troops and Hamas gunmen fought intense battles in the north and center of the Gaza Strip.

Meanwhile, with fighting now in its eighteenth day, another pause for humanitarian aid may be on the horizon.

Gaza Christians

Like Muslims in Gaza, Palestinian Christians are also suffering in this war.

"We hardly go outside the house," Hamed, a secret Christian in Gaza, told CBN News. "There are missiles and rockets flying everywhere, bombs going off. It's so scary."

In an exclusive phone interview from Gaza City, Hamed described to CBN News what life's been like since the conflict started.

"The situation is very dangerous," Hamed said. "We only go out to buy food when there's a pause in the fighting. Even then we're not sure if a missile will hit or not. However, we thank God none of the believers have been hurt or killed so far."

There are no reliable figures, but estimates put the number of Christians in the Gaza Strip at about 1,500 out of a population of nearly 2 million.

Hamed is a key leader in the evangelical community. Despite the chaos, he says Gazan Christians are quietly encouraging their fellow citizens.

"We are sharing scripture verses with our neighbors, telling them Bible stories, and using Facebook and text messages to encourage people not to give up. We have only Christ to depend on," he said.

Church Provides Refuge

During a brief humanitarian truce this week, some 1,000 Palestinians, almost all of them Muslims, left their homes and sought refuge in one of the only two churches in Gaza.

Nahed al-Sarfawi's home is in Shijaiyah, a suburb of Gaza, where Hamas had rockets, tunnels and command centers. She said she received a recorded message from the Israeli military to evacuate the area to protect their lives.

"We were given a warning that our house would be demolished. So we came here to the church and they told us it was safe," al-Sarfawi told CBN News.

Archbishop Alexios, head of the Greek Orthodox Church in Gaza, said many like al-Sarfawi lost everything.

"They don't have anything. They left their houses with their clothes. They have to carry their children, their babies," Alexious said.

The archbishop has hardly had time to sleep, trying to ensure that his place of worship turned refugee center is meeting needs of the displaced.

"Now we try, together with my neighbors, to help them as much as we can, to give first of all water, to give food to the babies, milk, and to give medicines to those who are in need," he explained.

Hamed says the gesture by the Greek Orthodox Church has brought some unity.

"Everyone's suffering in this conflict, Christians and Muslims, so when the church opened its doors, people all felt they were together," he said.

Hamed is asking people around the world to pray for the church in Gaza.

"There are four things you can pray for," he said. "We need wisdom on how to share the Gospel with those who are broken and have lost everything. Second: Pray for our protection."

"Third, we need endurance and strength to hang on," he continued. "And fourth: for the Lord to open doors so we can meet the physical needs of people when this war is over."