Category: Christian blog

Sometimes our problems can be too embarrassing that it is hard to even ask God for a deliverance. A woman having a flow of blood for twelve years, who had spent all her livelihood on physicians and could not be healed by any, is a perfect example for the scenario. She is probably the only person who could not openly ask Jesus Christ for a healing, because her issue was too embarrassing to be addressed publicly. But that did not stop her from having faith to receive healing from the King of compassion. She thought to herself, “ It is ok if I can’t ask out loud, I can still touch Him and receive healing. He doesn’t even have to know. It is enough if I touch Him. If He can touch the blind and the lepers and heal them, I should receive healing too, by touching Him”. And she was healed immediately.

Jesus wanted to honor her faith and asked who touched Him. If not for that confrontation, the woman would have missed out on an opportunity to glorify God. She came trembling and falling down before Him, she declared to Him in the presence of all the people the reason she had touched Him and how she was healed immediately.

And Jesus said to her, “Daughter, be of good cheer; your faith has made you well. Go in peace”.Luke 8:48

Let us boldly take our untouchable issues to the creator of the Universe. Nothing is too filthy for Him to cleanse. He has seen it all and yet loves us enough that He laid down His life for us on the cross.

As we grow in our relationship with God, we understand the character and the heart of our Almighty God and God opens our eyes to see how He ordains each happening in our lives.

Along with the other beautiful women, Esther was also taken to the King’s palace. Let us see the order of events that happened to understand the ordaining wisdom of our Almighty God.

1. Esther, instantly got favor in the custodian’s eyes. She got special favor in the King’s eyes too. Without second thoughts, the King made her the queen. God gives special favor for His children.
2. Mordecai discovered the plot against the King and reports it to Esther. Esther informs the King in Mordecai’s name. She did not take credit for informing the plot. She gave the credit to Mordecai for whom it was due.
3. Haman – an Amalakite – received the highest honor next to the King. The King himself had commanded that everyone including the royal officials at the King’s gate should bow down or kneel down and pay respect to Haman. Amalakites were God’s enemies whom God desired to eradicate from the face of earth. Mordecai obeyed God by not bowing down before His enemies. Standing up for God demands us to take sharp turns towards God. Mordecai did the right thing by saving the King’s life, but when a choice had to be made between obeying the King’s command and God’s command, he chose to obey God.
4. Because of the anger Haman had against Mordecai, he tricks the King to sign a decree against the Jews.
5. Hearing this news, Mordecai wore sack cloth and wailed as he went to the King’s gate and conveys the news to Esther and asks her to plead to the King for mercy. He reminded her that God will save His people one way or the other. It is her choice to be part of saving His children.
6. Esther asks her people for a fasting prayer and then takes action. She risks her life and goes to the King. God gives favor in the King’s eyes again.
7. God put His wisdom in her request to the King. Instead of asking for mercy, she invites the King and Haman for a dinner.
8. Haman, instead of rejoicing about the special dinner invite, is consumed with anger over Mordecai and makes gallows for Mordecai.
9. Because of God’s ordaining hands, that night, the King could not sleep. He asks for the book of good deeds to be read and finds out about Mordecai’s good deed. In the mean time, Haman comes to the courts to request for death sentence for Mordecai – as if eradicating the entire community of Jews is not enough.
10. God’s divine intervention causes all honor which was recommended by Haman ,to be given to Mordecai. To Haman’s extreme humiliation, all honor was done to Mordecai by Haman himself.
11. Hearing this, Haman’s wife and friends realize that Haman’s downfall has started and that God of Israel will protect His children.
12. Esther reveals the plot of Haman to the King on the next day. Haman was hung to death in the same gallows that he prepared for Mordecai.

Take aways:-

1. Do the right thing in God’s eyes – even if we have to do it all by ourselves.
2. God will surely defend His children, when we take a stand for Him.
3. God’s wisdom thwarts the crooked wisdom of His enemies.
4. Allow God to write your story. He writes the best story for His children who obeys Him.

Bethesda means “House of Mercy”. What happened at Bethesda? A crippled man who had been an invalid for 38 long years was also beside the pool, along with multitude of sick people, each awaiting the stirring of the pool by an angel. The first one to get into the water while the water was stirred got healed. This man waited for his turn for 38 long years. Jesus sees him.

Jesus knew that he was awaiting his turn for a long time. Yet he asks “do you want to be healed?”. We also tend to lose focus and hope and “waiting” might become a habitual act, lacking expectation. Jesus stirs in hope into this man by asking this question. When our Hope becomes crippled with the wait and our wait becomes a habitual act, Jesus comes to us and meets us where we are and stirs in hope. The man hoped for a helping hand from Jesus to get to the pool. But with Jesus, a word is all that is needed to put an end to our crippling wait. 

Today our wait can also be for many things – healing, deliverance, fulfilling of promise, blessing-the list goes on. Jesus sees us, knows our wait time, comes and meets us where we are, stirs in hope and then with a word, puts an end to our wait. 

Just as this man and multitudes of others waited for an angel, today there are multitudes of people who are stumbling in the dark, trying to find meaning in their money, status, power etc. They are as helpless as this man as they do not have anyone to intercede for them in prayer for their salvation. Their life wastes away in despair. As believers, it is our responsibility to intercede for anyone God puts in our path so that God would redeem their soul through salvation and free them from the infirmity.