People with a past (1)
2022-03-14Luke 13:12 NKJV
The Bible says: ‘There was a woman who had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bent over and could in no way raise herself up. But when Jesus saw her, He called her to Him and said to her, “Woman, you are loosed from your infirmity.” And He laid His hands on her, and immediately she was made straight, and glorified God’ (v.11-13 NKJV).
The woman couldn’t walk properly because she had been held captive by ‘a spirit of infirmity’ for eighteen years. That’s a long time to struggle with something. And during that time, she had come to church and received no help. Then Jesus ‘called’ her to the front. We might ask why He didn’t just heal her in her seat.
Here are two reasons: 1) God wants us to exercise faith and act on His Word. When we live with an unsolved problem for a long time, we can start to think, ‘This will never change.’ So, before God changes our circumstances, He changes our minds and enables us to see new possibilities. That’s ‘faith’. The Bible says, ‘Without faith it is impossible to please and be satisfactory to Him. For whoever would come near God must [necessarily] believe that God exists and that He is the rewarder of those who earnestly and diligently seek Him [out]’ (Hebrews 11:6 AMPC). And today, God wants to see you moving towards Him.
2) God wants us to invest in our own deliverance. When we have an investment in something, we value and protect it. That way, when Satan tries to bring the problem back, we can confidently say, ‘No, I won’t take it. That’s no longer who I am. I’m a new creation in Christ.’