Am much too excited to sleep. 23:48 and my eyes are smarting with sleep but I am like a little girl who has her first day of school tomorrow. If you are like Princess that’s a 15 out of 10 on the happiness scale.
Ok, the word play in the Bible is its richness, its beauty and wisdom can help you decipher truths cleverly placed there.
Hold onto the reason for my excitement a little while longer please. Let me tell you a story, or rather retell a story you must have heard.
As a kid, some of the stories in the Bible had me wide eyed in shock. Now I grew up in the era of King James Version so the tales seemed more shocking, more gruesome. One I vividly remember was the woman who had 'the issue of blood'.
What! In my little mind, she was bleeding thru her eyes, ears, mouth, nose, forearms. Man! For 18 years. Man! didn't she bleed out?!? Did she have friends? Did her mum have to wash her handkerchiefs? Weren't they very many?
Now, no one was going to answer my questions. Either because they were many and rapid or it was because they thought it was a happier place for me seeing the world that way. Believe me it wasn't! I pitied her and it bothered me for a long time.
Well, God's been gracious enough to remove me from that place and I am glad to report, I now comprehend 'the issue of blood' clearly.
She would have had few friends, no children, no husband, no work, couldn't drop in for a cup of tea at the neighbours, couldn't go to church. Some guys at the market must not have sold her their merchandise. If they had promulgulation, she couldn't go, nor vote.
It wasn't good. She couldn't live life to its fullest.
She must have had heartfelt passions smothered by her condition. She had the choice to resign to her condition, extinguish her dreams OR search with earnest a life like those her peers, cousins, sisters did. They lived in fullness.
Hearing the neighbours child cry in neglect, tugged at her heart. She mumbled under her breath, when I get mine, I swear to love and protect them.
I imagine the last doctor to visit the area from a far away land and who was said to be the best in the field, didn't even examine her.
All wasn't lost, she must have said to herself. If she wasn't dead yet, there was an ending to this story. She chose to believe she'd hold her blessings in form of her children.
Her mother must have seen the fire in her eyes when they weren't lowered, which was often. My daughters dreams burn bright in her eyes. I'd break her heart to dissuade her to hold onto them, but neither did she want to give her daughter false hope.
'Where are you going?' mother enquired. 'Out briefly', she replied. 'Remember there'll be a big crowd today with that Jesus fellow coming to town. Wear your veil and keep your distance. I'd hate you to get into trouble.'
'Mum's concern was valid but she'd drop dead if she knew my plan. I've got to try. I've got to know if indeed I can live life in its fullness. I'll be quick and rush home. No one will ever know I was there.' She thought to herself.
Hours later, in the heat and dust, and in the effort to remain discreet, the moment came. Trembling with fear mixed with anticipation, she tried to hold onto Jesus's tunic, maybe to even have a piece of it, but He moved suddenly and she only got to lightly touch the very bottom of His tunic.
Just as she was starting to be filled with regret and a bit of anger for her wasted chance, she felt it. A warmth, a peace, a power she'd never experienced before. A rebirth. A newness. As the divine warmth coursed thru her body, she knew from this moment, she would never be the same.
She was now smiling, lost in the sensation and the realisation of the possibilities of what lay ahead. Muffled sounds in the background, the crowd staring at her radiance revealed the veil now on her shoulders. The untouchable. She was so so so so happy. Everything else didn't matter. 18 lost years.
The untouchable, now given a new beginning. She now knew intimately few understood. Few would really fathom.
Its true. When one understands, really understands the verse, the proclamation, the promise, the truth, that when one is in Christ, He is a new creation.
When one is in Christ indeed there is fullness of joy, robust joy. There is healing, broken hearts pieced together instantly with hope. Addictions, snapped up, despair erased. Peace you can't contain. It will wake you up in the middle of the night.
When one has become one with Christ, you are given a new authority that immediately changes your stance. One where you throw your shoulders back with confidence of who you are. An heir to a lasting, solid kingdom, loved, protected, provided for, have a helper, have a new family, ....I could go on but you see the Bible is full of who you are when you are when you are in Christ.
And thats why at 01:43 I am so so so excited. I can hardly wait for the sun to rise so I can walk in this proclamation, this truth, I am a new creation.
Life and its challenges will be watching for me to set my foot out of bed later this morning, but I know when its moved from just being words I've read, I've heard a thousand times over, the heart knowledge cements my resolve to honour my positioning.
Like the lady we've talked of today, we will never ever be the same when we encounter Christ and become His own.
Snap up with greed, relish and savour what God says of who you are in Christ. They are not just words. Its truth.
Ok, the word play in the Bible is its richness, its beauty and wisdom can help you decipher truths cleverly placed there.
Hold onto the reason for my excitement a little while longer please. Let me tell you a story, or rather retell a story you must have heard.
As a kid, some of the stories in the Bible had me wide eyed in shock. Now I grew up in the era of King James Version so the tales seemed more shocking, more gruesome. One I vividly remember was the woman who had 'the issue of blood'.
What! In my little mind, she was bleeding thru her eyes, ears, mouth, nose, forearms. Man! For 18 years. Man! didn't she bleed out?!? Did she have friends? Did her mum have to wash her handkerchiefs? Weren't they very many?
Now, no one was going to answer my questions. Either because they were many and rapid or it was because they thought it was a happier place for me seeing the world that way. Believe me it wasn't! I pitied her and it bothered me for a long time.
Well, God's been gracious enough to remove me from that place and I am glad to report, I now comprehend 'the issue of blood' clearly.
She would have had few friends, no children, no husband, no work, couldn't drop in for a cup of tea at the neighbours, couldn't go to church. Some guys at the market must not have sold her their merchandise. If they had promulgulation, she couldn't go, nor vote.
It wasn't good. She couldn't live life to its fullest.
She must have had heartfelt passions smothered by her condition. She had the choice to resign to her condition, extinguish her dreams OR search with earnest a life like those her peers, cousins, sisters did. They lived in fullness.
Hearing the neighbours child cry in neglect, tugged at her heart. She mumbled under her breath, when I get mine, I swear to love and protect them.
I imagine the last doctor to visit the area from a far away land and who was said to be the best in the field, didn't even examine her.
All wasn't lost, she must have said to herself. If she wasn't dead yet, there was an ending to this story. She chose to believe she'd hold her blessings in form of her children.
Her mother must have seen the fire in her eyes when they weren't lowered, which was often. My daughters dreams burn bright in her eyes. I'd break her heart to dissuade her to hold onto them, but neither did she want to give her daughter false hope.
'Where are you going?' mother enquired. 'Out briefly', she replied. 'Remember there'll be a big crowd today with that Jesus fellow coming to town. Wear your veil and keep your distance. I'd hate you to get into trouble.'
'Mum's concern was valid but she'd drop dead if she knew my plan. I've got to try. I've got to know if indeed I can live life in its fullness. I'll be quick and rush home. No one will ever know I was there.' She thought to herself.
Hours later, in the heat and dust, and in the effort to remain discreet, the moment came. Trembling with fear mixed with anticipation, she tried to hold onto Jesus's tunic, maybe to even have a piece of it, but He moved suddenly and she only got to lightly touch the very bottom of His tunic.
Just as she was starting to be filled with regret and a bit of anger for her wasted chance, she felt it. A warmth, a peace, a power she'd never experienced before. A rebirth. A newness. As the divine warmth coursed thru her body, she knew from this moment, she would never be the same.
She was now smiling, lost in the sensation and the realisation of the possibilities of what lay ahead. Muffled sounds in the background, the crowd staring at her radiance revealed the veil now on her shoulders. The untouchable. She was so so so so happy. Everything else didn't matter. 18 lost years.
The untouchable, now given a new beginning. She now knew intimately few understood. Few would really fathom.
Its true. When one understands, really understands the verse, the proclamation, the promise, the truth, that when one is in Christ, He is a new creation.
When one is in Christ indeed there is fullness of joy, robust joy. There is healing, broken hearts pieced together instantly with hope. Addictions, snapped up, despair erased. Peace you can't contain. It will wake you up in the middle of the night.
When one has become one with Christ, you are given a new authority that immediately changes your stance. One where you throw your shoulders back with confidence of who you are. An heir to a lasting, solid kingdom, loved, protected, provided for, have a helper, have a new family, ....I could go on but you see the Bible is full of who you are when you are when you are in Christ.
And thats why at 01:43 I am so so so excited. I can hardly wait for the sun to rise so I can walk in this proclamation, this truth, I am a new creation.
Life and its challenges will be watching for me to set my foot out of bed later this morning, but I know when its moved from just being words I've read, I've heard a thousand times over, the heart knowledge cements my resolve to honour my positioning.
Like the lady we've talked of today, we will never ever be the same when we encounter Christ and become His own.
Snap up with greed, relish and savour what God says of who you are in Christ. They are not just words. Its truth.
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