Fulfillment Is Moving From Victim to Victory

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Fulfillment Is Moving From Victim to Victory
Mark 5:25-34

            What are your limitations? What are the handicaps and the hang-ups that haunt you on a daily basis? Maybe they’re physical. Most of us have things about our physical bodies that are somewhat less than perfect. It could be something as severe as a degenerative genetic disease or vain as an unattractive face. Some of us struggle with emotional and psychological disorders like anger, depression, fear, worry or various forms of neurosis. Perhaps your weaknesses are in the spiritual arena. You’re often plagued by doubt. Or there’s a particularly nasty temptation that you keep yielding to.

I want you to take heart this morning for two reasons. For one, you are not alone in feeling victimized by your deficiencies and weaknesses. We, the human race, are broken people and no one is excluded. They say that misery loves company and, if that’s true, there’s plenty of company.

The bigger reason that I want you to be encourage this morning is that you don’t have to be a victim to your limitations. God wants you to have victory over them. He wants you to reach your God-given potential despite your handicaps. God wants you to have a fulfilled life. For some his design is to supernaturally bring healing. For others our heavenly Father wants to actually use our shortcomings to bring something amazing out of our lives. This morning we’re going to discover how to put ourselves in a place to be used by God despite our limitations. We’ll do this by looking at some examples from the Bible.


HOW TO HANDLE YOUR HANDICAPS

Let’s begin by examining Mark 5:25-26. Jesus was on his way to heal the critically ill daughter of a local synagogue leader. Throngs of people crowded around him, anticipating the spectacle of a miracle. Within that multitude was a woman with a severe limitation. “And there was a woman in the crowd who had had a hemorrhage for twelve years. She had suffered a great deal from many doctors through the years and had spent everything she had to pay them, but she had gotten no better. In fact, she was worse. (NLT)

We’re not exactly sure what was wrong with this woman. The Bible simply says that she had a flow of blood for 12 years. It was likely some type of uterine bleeding besides a monthly period. This may not seem like a big deal to you, but in the Jewish culture such a condition posed a severe handicap. She was considered perpetually ceremonially unclean.

Leviticus 15:25-27 says, “Now if a woman has a discharge of her blood many days, not at the period of her menstrual impurity, or if she has a discharge beyond that period, all the days of her impure discharge she shall continue as though in her menstrual impurity; she is unclean. Any bed on which she lies all the days of her discharge shall be to her like her bed at menstruation; and every thing on which she sits shall be unclean, like her uncleanness at that time. Likewise, whoever touches them shall be unclean and shall wash his clothes and bathe in water and be unclean until evening.”

In practical terms this means she would never be allowed to enter the Temple for worship. According to the law, sexual intercourse with her would be unclean and forbidden. Thus, no man would marry her. Any person who touched her or her clothing or the furniture of her house (if she even had one) would be considered unclean. In essence, this woman was an outcast. She would not have been allowed to circulate with normal people. She’d tried different doctors and medicines, but nothing worked. The most remarkable thing about this woman is that despite her constant bleeding and social stigma and loss of her income in search of healing, she never gave up. This leads to our first point..


1. Don’t allow defects to defeat you.

Your attitude toward your limitations determined whether or not you can launch past it. Studies reveal that patients who have a positive outlook are more likely to survive or at least survive longer than those who give in to despair. The same is true with every defect we face we can let them defeat us and give up on life or keep moving ahead in spite of what plagues us.

An invalid was told that she could never escape from her prison of pain and weakness. “Oh, well,” she replied quickly, “there’s a lot of living to be found within your limitations, if you don’t wear yourself out fighting them.” “Young lady,” the doctor replied, “I wish I could have you preach to about a hundred of my patients a year.” The lady was Helen Keller who said, “Face your deficiencies and acknowledge them, but do not let them master you.”

If you ever start defining yourself by your difficulties you’ve been defeated by them. If you make excuses about what you can’t do certain things because of your challenges you’ve been defeated by them. Don’t follow the pattern of our culture and label yourself with a disease or dysfunction. If you do, you’ve been defeated.

Let me offer a word to parents as well. Please do not label your children. If you call them shy, slow, stupid, ADD, ADHD, dyslexic, or whatever, you’re aiding and abetting their defeat. They’ll use their limitation as an excuse for any kind of behavior or for not achieving their potential.

The next point isn’t found in the story, but it must have been true. How did this woman survive in her unclean state? How were her daily needs met? If she couldn’t associate with the general public for fear of contaminating somebody, who provided for her? She must have had friends looking out for her. There must have been people in her life who loved her enough to become ceremonially unclean every once in a while to take care of her needs. She followed a practice that we must use to handle our handicaps too.


2. Count on your community.

There is no shame in asking for help. With some limitations community is a necessity. Let me encourage everyone: surround yourself with community. It is God’s means for sustaining us through our handicaps and often for healing us of our problem. One of the best ways you will be able to do it here at Faith very soon is to connect with a small group. By being a part of a small group you will intentionally involve yourself in the lives of other believers.

Let’s get back to the story. She had heard about Jesus, so she came up behind him through the crowd and touched the fringe of his robe. For she thought to herself, “If I can just touch his clothing, I will be healed.” Immediately the bleeding stopped, and she could feel that she had been healed! Mark 5:27-29 (NLT)

Again we see the tenacity of this woman. She did not give up. She had accepted her illness, but she never stopped going after healing. This leads us to the next point. If you want to handle your handicaps continue to …


3. Reach for restoration.

Why did the woman approach Jesus from behind and not just ask him outright for healing? This woman was an outcast. Because of her condition, she would not have been allowed to approach Jesus. To talk to him would be unthinkable. So she approached him the only way she could – secretly. And it was enough.

In those days people believed that personal power could be transmitted through clothing, so this woman reached for her best option. And she was healed. She could feel in her body that she was healed.

What happens next is a humorous twist to the story. Jesus realized at once that healing power had gone out from him, so he turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who touched my clothes?” His disciples said to him, “All this crowd is pressing around you. How can you ask, ‘Who touched me?’” But he kept on looking around to see who had done it. Then the frightened woman, trembling at the realization of what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and told him what she had done. And he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace. You have been healed.” Mark 5:30-34 (NLT)

Not only did the woman feel the healing of her own body, Jesus felt it too. When God pulls off a miracle he lets you know.

Somehow Jesus knew that a miracle had taken place. He wanted to know who God’s grace had been extended too. I personally think he enjoyed seeing these things happen, especially when they were unexpected like this.

For her part, the woman was scared to death. It was wonderful and terrifying all at the same time. That the human reaction to the presence of God: joy mixed with holy fear.

Why was she afraid? There were a number of possible reasons. For one, when she touched Jesus she made him ritually unclean. You don’t casually expose holy men to your diseases. She may have also feared that the healing power was illegitimate. Because she took the healing power without asking, Jesus might reverse it or worse, curse her for making him unclean. It could also be what we see happen again and again in the Bible. Any genuine display of God’s power brings a certain amount fear. From time to time Christian claim that God is showing up at certain services and events. They’ll say things like, “The Holy Spirit is thick in here today.” Some folks will shake and fall down or cry or laugh. Those encounter with God may or may not be genuine. But if I don’t hear about a holy fear falling over those people, I discount it. If there’s not some recognition of individual sin in the presence of a perfectly sinless God, something’s wrong. When God comes in power there is joy, but there’s also fear and trembling.

That’s what this woman felt. Realizing that she could not conceal what had happened she falls down at Jesus’ feet and confess all. The possible rebuke did not come. Instead, Jesus praised her for her faith.

His clothing had no power to heal, but he did. The woman’s faith in Jesus, skewed though it may have been was sufficient to unleash the power of God into her life. She experienced healing from this handicap because of her personal faith in the Lord. This leads us to the next point:


4. Forge on with faith.

All too often, difficulties, limitation and handicaps are cited as the reasons why people lose their faith. They conclude that either there’s no God or he doesn’t care about them personally or that he’s angry at them. None of these are true. The very context of the story tells us about God’s desire for our wholeness. Jesus was on his way to heal the daughter of an important town leader. The woman with the flow of blood was a nobody. Not only was she healed, but Jesus took the time to connect with her personally.

Her faith did not cause God to care. Her faith revealed God’s care. Whatever your limitation may be, don’t give up on God or yourself. Forge on with faith and give God time to reveal himself and his intentions to you. To do this you must believe that everything that happens to you – good or bad – has been orchestrated by God for your benefit. When things are going well or at least fairly well it’s easy to believe in the love of God. It’s when things get tough that it’s difficult and we must lean evermore on our faith in the goodness of God. Let faith move your forward.

Before we leave this subject there’s still an aspect that must be addressed. What happens if I don’t find healing? What if the handicap or the illness never goes away? Some would say that if you have enough faith you will be healed of any and all diseases. If you run into one of those people, run away from them. Their spiritually dangerous because they’re promoting a view not upheld by the Bible. In fact, one of the authors of the Bible, Paul, who wrote most of the New Testament, suffered from some kind of physical disorder that never left him until the day he died. He writes about it in 2 Corinthians12:7-9, 10b, “But to keep me from getting puffed up, I was given a thorn in the flesh, a messenger from Satan to torment me and keep me from getting proud. Three different times I begged the Lord to take it away. Each time he said, “My gracious favor is all you need. My power works best in your weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may work through me. …For when I am weak, then I am strong.” (NLT)

All kinds of speculation surrounds Paul’s “thorn in the flesh.” Some have suggested malaria. Some say there was a temptation or personality defect. His thorn may have even been a person, demonically inspired to torment Paul. It’s more likely that he suffered from a chronic eye condition. After all, after his conversion to Christianity he was blind for a few days. Then in his letter to the Galatians, Paul makes reference to his suffering and reminds his readers how they were ready to pluck out their own eyes for him. (Galatians 4:14, 15)

This powerful man of God, who had performed miracles with his own hands and words prayed for healing three times, but did not receive it. The only answer he received was “My gracious favor is all you need. My power works best in your weakness.” In other words, God was going to use Paul’s disability to accomplish some greater purpose.

This lead us to our last point. If God doesn’t take away your difficulty …

5. Look for the Lord in your limitation.

He has allowed into your life for a reason. Look for it. With Paul, the reason was humility. If you go back and read the context, this man had seen heaven with his own eyes. It’s enough to make anybody’s head swell. God gave him a handicap to keep him humble, to keep him dependent on God and not his own abilities or so-called goodness.

The great thing about our limitations is that they get our focus off the superficial stuff and center us on what really matters. This, in turn, leads to true contentment. If you’re observant you may have noticed that most of our dissatisfaction with life comes through things that don’t matter.

Look for the Lord in your limitation. Ask him to reveal what he’s trying to accomplish through it. You don’t have to be a victim to your disabilities. Let God launch you past your limitations. Remember that fulfillment is moving from victim to victory.

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