Daughter, Your faith has healed you....

Luke 8: 40-48

There are two stories of how faith was rewarded in this passage. This week I think we will focus on Luke 8:40-48 Here is a summary if you have not read the passage.

The Woman who had an issue of Blood....

In this story, Jesus was actually on his way to Jarius' house and the crowds were so thick around him that they were almost crushing him. A woman who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years came up behind him and touched his cloak. Immediately her bleeding stopped.

"Who touched me?" Jesus asked. Peter told him that all of the people were crowding and pressing against him. But Jesus said, "Someone touched me; I know that power has gone out from me." Then the woman, seeing that she could not go unnoticed, came trembling and fell at his feet. In the presence of all of the people she told why she had touched him and how she had been instantly healed. then he said to her, "Daughter, your faith has healed you, go in peace."

Discussion:

1. This woman must have had tremendous faith that Jesus would heal her. It is one of the only times where I can remember Jesus not know who he had healed...sort of indirectly happening. Almost not necessarily willed by the humanity of Jesus but by his spiritual conscientiousness and power. Jesus admits that he has felt that power had gone out of him, but wants to know to whom. It made me think of the Holy Spirit and how he pleads for us even when we cannot do it for ourselves. How he intercedes for us. What are your thoughts on this?

2. When the woman admits to the crowd that she had had and issue with bleeding, if they did not know, this must have been a bit embarrassing for her. She was so brave and willing to proclaim what Jesus had done for her. Are we generally this willing to share what has happened in our lives through our faith experiences? It seems like in that time, she would have really been, "putting herself out there for humiliation" as far as how society viewed women. What are your thoughts on this?

Reading for next week:

Luke 8:49-56

Hannah, A Woman of Faith

I Samuel 1-2:11---Please read this on your own, but this summarizes.

Hannah is a barren woman. She continues to ask the Lord to give her a child. Hannah tells the Lord that if he gives her a son, that she will give him back to the Lord to serve him all of the days of his life. The Lord gives Hannah a son, and she in return does what she promised. She gives takes him to the house of the Lord as soon as he was weaned and leaves him with the priests to serve God.

Discussion:

• Can you relate to this story? Please share.
• Do you think you would have kept your end of the deal in the end?
• How did Hannah's faith lead her actions?
• How does this story affect you today?

I can relate to this story, I told my husband earlier this week that we should have named our oldest son Benjamin, Samuel...because as you will find in the reading, Hannah named her son Samuel, because she asked the Lord for him. The Hebrew translation of Samuel is."heard of God."

My husband and I tried for 16 months to have our first child...while that may not be long compared to many people, it seemed long to us. Of course, everyone we knew was getting pregnant and having children. After a year, we conceived and lost a baby. This was really hard on us. After this happened, I just kept praying, and it dawned on me that God had a specific little life that he was waiting for..a child whom He already knew and had planned...and for some reason, I was at peace with that, and not as sad about things...then finally after we were really at peace with things, we conceived our son Ben. Such a challenge and such a blessing! Full knowing that God has a plan for his little life! As I have read this story, I am so impressed with Hannah, re-reading it as a mother, I am so impressed with the fact that she was able to let him go, away from her, and back to serve God. It was her faith and courage that led his outcome of being the first Judge of Israel, and such a faithful leader for God. I have tried to think of other stories in the bible where someone asks for child, and God hears their prayers, and after a time of faith, he blesses them. Here are some other people I thought of:

Elizabeth, in the New Testament, wife of Zechariah, mother of John the Baptist,

Sarah, in the Old Testament, Abraham's wife, Issac's mother, Jacob's grandmother.

Rachel, in the Old Testament, Jacob's wife, mother of Joseph and Benjamin

The consensus that I came to was that the Lord hears the prayers of a faithful women, and after enduring the wait, he bestows his blessings in ways we could never have imagined. Although it must have been hard for Hannah to give Samuel up, the Lord did bless her with more children...and I have to say, I cannot even imagine how proud she must have been of her little boy as he grew and became such a great man of God.

Next week: Luke 8:40-56

According to your faith, it will be done to you...

Matthew 9:27-31

As Jesus went on from there, two blind men followed him, calling out, "Have mercy on us, Son of David!"
When he had gone indoors, the blind men came to him, and he asked them, "Do you believe that I am able to do this?"
"Yes, Lord," they replied.
Then he touched their eyes and said, "According to your faith will it be done to you"; and their sight was restored. Jesus warned them sternly, "See that no one knows about this." But they went out and spread the news about him all over that region.


Discussion:
This is a small passage, but I think it holds so much wisdom from Jesus. Such a lesson about faith..."Blind Faith"....no pun intended! It can be looked at literally, because the men were actually void of sight, or figuratively, from a perspective of the men being void of "sight" which could be the wisdom of a correct path or perspective.

1. How much faith do you have that God will follow through with something when you ask it from him?
2. How often do we forget to ask, until a task or a problem is already in motion?
3. In this passage it seems that Jesus was not sure it was time for him for word to "get out" so to speak. Do you feel that there is ever a time to "keep quiet" for awhile about a prayer that has been answered for us? If so, what would kind of situation would that be?

Next weeks reading....

I Samuel Chapter 1 and Chapter 2 vs. 1-11.

Have a great week!

CB

Fall Study: Living By Faith

What Does it mean to "Live By Faith"

I have spent some time trying to think of another study for this fall, but it seems like the words are flashing in neon lights in my mind. So, that is what we are going to study. This fall I would like to encourage everyone to figure out just what living by faith means in our day to day lives. Lets look at what actions and circumstances lead us to taking leaps of faith and what the Bible teaches of the blessings that can be bestowed on us when we do.

For next week, lets read Matthew 9:27-31

Discussion:

When I was a child in elementary school we lived in Denver Co. I distinctly remember a few times when I had been having a hard week with at school, that I prayed that it would snow so hard that schools would be closed. Now understand, that if you live in Colorado, it has to be a huge blizzard and snow at least a couple of feet before schools are closed. I learned at a very early age that if you truly believe it can happen...it can..and it did. There were a few times when after I prayed, I woke up the next morning to find my parents in front of the news checking to see if schools were closed. Looking back, it was possibly just coincidence, but in my young head God had heard my prayers and I felt so blessed and excited! The power of blind innocent faith and the prayers of children I think are so powerful and heard in God's eyes. Sometimes I wish my faith was as blindly strong as it was when I was little....

Anyway, there are many more stories I could share, but for me faith is something I am always working on...and forgetting that I am not having enough of.

This week I want to encourage you to please share with us and comment on a time in life that your faith carried you. I think this will be a great way to introduce the study before we get into our readings for next week!

The Summer Study is Coming to a Close!

Just thought I would post to let you know that the end of the summer has crept up on me! We have done quite a bit of studying on the subject, "Where do you Draw the Line?". I have exhausted my materials, but I hope this has been a reflecting study for you. It has really challenged me to take a deeper look into myself and my actions. I plan to start another study, hopefully after labor day! If you have any suggestions on materials that you might want to study, please let me know. Also, if you would like to be the host of the study for a month or so, I can arrange that by having you e-mail me the lesson weekly. Please let me know if you are interested. Thanks for logging on! We will see you back next month!!
In Him,
Carrie Brown

A Brother Who Sins Against You...

Matthew 18:15-19

"If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over. But if he will not listen, take one or two others along, so that every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen to the church, treat him as you would a pagan or a tax collector."
"I tell you the truth, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. "
"Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them."

Discussion:

I find it interesting that the word for BIND in vs. 18 in the Greek is: Deo with and line over the "o" and it means to tie, bind or imprison.

The word for loose in the same verse in the Greek is: lyo with a line over the "o" and it is a verb that means to loose, release, untie; to break, destroy.

I had always sort of read that verse for some reason putting in the work "LOSE" instead of Loose...which is really how it reads.

So anyway...

Questions:

• How many times to we get the order of going to our "brother or sister" a little confused?How often do we go to others before we go to the person that we feel wronged or offended by? Is that a sin on our part? This is something that I am truly working on...because it seems so much harder to get the courage up to confront someone, rather than just blow off steam to other people about the circumstance. I will admit, when I do this in the right order it really feels so great, and usually brothers and sisters in Christ who truly care about each other really want to right any situation.
• What does it mean to us to Bind things on earth? Does it mean that we are harboring ill will? Does that mean that God is binding some glorious things that we could have bestowed upon us in heaven?
• It does not say in this verse that if they completely agree with you, you have won. It says if they "listen" you have won. I think that is something I need to remind myself of. Do you have thoughts on this??? Where do you draw your lines here?

Testing the Spirits...

I John 4:1-6
Dear Friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every Spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world. You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us; but whoever is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we recognize the Spirit of truth and the spirit of falsehood.


The Greek word for "Spirit" in vs. 1 is pneuma which is a noun meaning spirit, heart, mind; Holy Spirit, ghost, wind, breath.

The Greek word for "test" in vs. 1 is dokimazo which is a verb that means to test, try examine, or interpret.

The Life Application NT Commentary helps to explain that in vs. 4, "Some Christians want to do this Spiritual Battle as individuals. They take the word "you" as "the spirit who lives in me" but the pronoun is plural, referring to the community of believers. Believers have the personal assurance of the Holy Spirit's presence within. But they must not attempt to do battle with Satan alone. They need others for prayer, resources, advice, guidance, protection, healing and more."

Discussion:

Okay, when I first read this, it looked really hard to explain/interpret...but while studying it I realized it is one of the most essential passages for this whole "where do you draw the line" study. As Christians born again with Christ in his death and resurrection we are lead by the Holy Spirit which serves as our conscience, heart, and our moral/Spiritual guide. Obviously, if you believe that there is a Holy Spirit from God that is guiding you, have you ever thought about the fact that Satan has his own spirits that try to deter you from your correct path??? This passage tells us that we need other Christians for prayer, and advice to sort of keep ourselves in check. It is scary that there are powerful spirits trying to mess with our hearts, minds and consciences! I think this is why it is so important to surround ourselves with Christian friends!

• How do we "test" a spirit? Are you sure you are always listening to the Holy Spirit vs. one of Satan's spirits trying to feed your mind?
• I think prayer is so important in this "game" because that is what it seems to be. Do you feel like your prayer life is where it needs to be so that other spirits cannot creep in?
• What do you believe about spiritual warfare? How do you make what seems to be an abstract concept, real and concrete in your everyday life?

This passage was so much to think about it! I hope your week is a blessed one!! Please remember Earle's mother(my husband) who is undergoing cancer tests this week and surgery.

-CB