MARK 5:24-34
24 So Jesus went with him, and a large crowd was following and pressing against him. 25 Now a woman suffering from bleeding for twelve years 26 had endured much under many doctors. She had spent everything she had and was not helped at all. On the contrary, she became worse. 27 Having heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his clothing. 28 For she said, “If I just touch his clothes, I’ll be made well.” 29 Instantly her flow of blood ceased, and she sensed in her body that she was healed of her affliction. 30 Immediately Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and said, “Who touched my clothes?” 31 His disciples said to him, “You see the crowd pressing against you, and yet you say, ‘Who touched me?’” 32 But he was looking around to see who had done this. 33 The woman, with fear and trembling, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell down before him, and told him the whole truth. 34 “Daughter,” he said to her, “your faith has saved you. Go in peace and be healed from your affliction.”
CONTEXT:
After hearing about Jesus, this woman sought Him out, believing He had the power to heal her. Not only did He heal her perfectly, but He also commended her faith and encouraged her that the healing had come from Him because of her faith. Jarius, whose daughter was dying, was also present during this event, and the evidence of this woman’s faith ought to have encouraged his own faith.
HEAR:
Our need for physical healing reminds us of our need for spiritual healing and salvation. Earthly cures may temporarily satisfy, but they cannot provide life everlasting.
Take this time to listen to the Holy Spirit and pray. Specifically think about:
Where are you seeking cures that cannot satisfy? (v 26)
Ask the Holy Spirit to bring to mind those in your life (peers, classmates, coworkers, neighbors, friends, family) who need ultimate healing.
Where in your life is God calling you to give testimony to Him? (v 33) In what ways can your faith encourage others?
RESPOND:
Jesus is the ultimate healer and the sole source of salvation; let us boldly reach out to Him and let our faith be expectant to see Him move.
Respond to God in prayer. You can specifically be thinking about the following:
Pray for healing from mental illness, addiction, and disease. Pray as well for spiritual healing in Boston. For new salvation in the city, new sons and daughters, and for souls to find rest.
Ask for a strengthening of faith in the church, that we would be boldly reaching out to Jesus. (v 27-28)
Pray that our faith would be evident in our daily lives and it would work to encourage those around us.
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