Matthew 9:18-26 KJV
18 While he spake these things unto them, behold, there came a certain ruler, and worshipped him, saying, My daughter is even now dead: but come and lay thy hand upon her, and she shall live.
19 And Jesus arose, and followed him, and so did his disciples.
20 And, behold, a woman, which was diseased with an issue of blood twelve years, came behind him, and touched the hem of his garment:
21 For she said within herself, If I may but touch his garment, I shall be whole.
22 But Jesus turned him about, and when he saw her, he said, Daughter, be of good comfort; thy faith hath made thee whole. And the woman was made whole from that hour.
23 And when Jesus came into the ruler's house, and saw the minstrels and the people making a noise,
24 He said unto them, Give place: for the maid is not dead, but sleepeth. And they laughed him to scorn.
25 But when the people were put forth, he went in, and took her by the hand, and the maid arose.
26 And the fame hereof went abroad into all that land.

Faith is something you can not buy. Faith is something that comes deep within the heart of man that will not be denied of truth and the will of God. Faith sometimes brings disappointment and often victory. Our desire does not always meet God's will. To define God's will is not always visible to man. If we look at the cross, who would of tried to run if in Christ's position without the full knowledge of glory as Christ had. He knew what was on the other side of the cross where the onlookers could only see the cross for their blindness of horror and sorrow. There as to be a level of hope and knowledge to pick up one's cross and follow Jesus, but often it is blind faith that carries one through the darkest hours of a situation. Was there faith at the cross, alot of cruel mocking went on. The disciples and the women at the cross in position of sorrow, not understanding, in their full humanity of fear, without the empowerment of the Holy Spirit at that moment. Instead the woman are weeping, the reality of 24 to 36 hours of horror now etched in their minds. On Sunday the stone is rolled back where he was burried. An earthquake happend, and there appeared an angel that descended and rolled back the stone, before them. They did not see Christ come out of the tomb but his body was not there. Two soldiers laid dead at the stone that rolled away because of the earthquake. There mindset of three years of miracles whirling in their heads at this point as the reality that Christ has risen. The otherside of the grave, the empty tomb told of the change that occurred.

These two events in today's scripture reading above is something that takes faith, one to believe it can be done and two to ask, or to act on faith without doubt. How many miracles had the ruler seen before he went asking Jesus to raise his daughter if she be dead or just to heal her. How many miracles had he witness from afar, before tragedy attacked his family. Desperation of I got to go find that miracle worker and ask him to come and help my daughter. He reaches Jesus and approaches not worrying about worthiness or that he was a roman ruler of that area, but seeking Jesus on the knowledge Jesus was able to raise his daughter up if she was dead. I do not think he done to many resurrection at this point, instead, I think the ruler understood there was a resurrection to come, a resurrection that would be. If Jesus was who he seem to be, he could raise the dead. He came asking Jesus to come.

On their way a woman with even more faith then this man, did not even want to bother Jesus about her need. She just wanted to touch the hem of his garment, to get close enough to see if his garment he wore had power, because it was touching him. It like ministers that prays and people know they pray come and seek them out to pray for their families and friends in times of crisis. The minister reaches Jesus through prayer, reaches because they see the miracles that come through those prayers of the minister as being answer when nothing else could be done to help. The reliance on man's ability often in the fore front of the human mind. What is my ability or someone else ability to make a change, to do the impossible. The woman had been to doctors, but no one had been able to help her. I can imagine she had even asked every woman how to stop her bleeding as well. I hate to think what some one might of even suggested in her village.

How many miracles had the woman with an issue of blood seen or heard about that Jesus had done, before she touched that garment the world will never know. But when i see that woman in heaven I going to ask her. Jesus said who touched me. The woman fearful spoke up, I did. He tells her daughter your faith has made your whole. Because she had believed she was whole.

As we move on with the story of the girl, her father and Jesus goes to find the people already planning the funeral and are mourning her death. Jesus has them all removed from the room. Jesus said she was not dead she was alive. Now we all hear stories where people were buried alive. I do believe she was dead, for Jesus took her by the hand and she arose from where she laid. Jesus took her outside and presented her to the crowd of mourners and fame grew and spread about him, because of the miracle.

Everyday with Jesus is sweeter then the day before goes and old church hymn. Yet the reality that faith is why the day grows sweeter with Jesus is clear, because the work he was doing glorify his Father in heaven and sent shockwaves throught he crowd. It takes faith to walk before a crowd of people and ask for help, it takes more faith to act on faith without asking. The woman was a child of faith already, she was reaching out and taking what was promised by God to her as a believer. As a believer we are promised he is a healer of all our diseases. She just reached out and touched the garment. Most of us do not have that kind of faith. The kind of faith to claim it and hold to it and reach for and have it. We get stopped on the reach for and have it, because the hook and line and sinker can't see where the hem is on the garment. Our faith not so strong to just grab hold, but if Jesus said it then are we able to claim it, in a form of grabbing hold or are we fishing in the dark for the miracle because of lack of faith. If we see the miracle and know that power of God, then why is not all healed. The slightest of doubt, the slightest of a lack of faith, can control our ability to see the hem of the garment of Jesus.

The ruler whose daughter was raised to life knew if Jesus would come to his daughter all would be okay. He was not at the point of saying the word is enough to heal my daughter. Or send me a prayer cloth and I will lay it on my daughter. Instead he needed Jesus to come to heal his daughter. Do minister's struggle with faith. The answer is yes. Do minister struggle with reality of a miracle that Christ does in their own life and life of others. Sometimes the answer is yes. The emotional rollercoaster of the human soul is probably a condition not full grasped or admitted too. I have meet ministers that will never seek a doctor for wellness unless it is obvious health issue that could be consider abuse if they did not. They go with extreme protest to the human world knowing their God is able. What wrong with the picture, the mindset that doctors are devils and can not be used by God. They fail in their rational to see science and medicine as part of faith in God for a believer. God is able to use medicine and also to defy medicine with a miracle that doctors can not understand because what they did had nothing to do with the miracle, another presence was there to do the work of healing. In other words God's Spirit moved right in the middle of the doctors to heal and evidence of a miracle was given to the medical field to testify of his power. God allows science to do many things, but true miracles come from God. A miracle is not something necessarily repeated as a science procedure would be. Jesus had some wash there eyes in pools of water, others he put mud on and some he spoke the word for the healing of the blind. Jesus did miracles. The need for physicians to do procedures will always be in this world for healing. Jesus was doing miracles, things the medical world could not do. The woman had gone to doctors and was healed, the blind was able to see, the lame able to walk, and the lepers cleansed and made whole.

Medical science gets in the way of faith. Faith gets in the way of science all the time. The miracles that often are written about doctors in that day in time had no knowledge on how to treat. Though times have changed and many diseases are known about and how to treat it, there are still things science can not do. As the knowledge of one cov victim surviving came forth, it gave a small glimpse of hope other could survive. Hope does something to the human will all on its own. It more medicine then a doctor can pump into a person through an IV tube or bag. It change the human will to I am dead, to I might be able to live. It was not enough to keep people alive, but it gave people strength as doctors worked out the issue of how to treat the disease. My husband been having issues now with his leg and his back for number of years, but when his issue flaired bad this time, we grasp that doctors might not be able to fix the problem, and we still pray for the miracle, because we know God can fix his back, and leg. I sharing from the opposites side of having receiving miracles to praying for someone in need of miracle. Why because to pray for someone is not the same as oneself for a miracle. It knowing that power of God is available for healing but why is God making us wait for someone elses healing. The woman with the issue of blood had waited long enough for the miracle she reached out hoping her miracle would come with just a touch, she knew he was able.

Is faith more then hope, or knowing the will of God is to heal all his children? His faith more then understanding sometimes one has to go through all the doctors to know they can't do something to grab the hem of the garment and claim what is rightfully yours as a child of God. People of faith struggle and say whatever is the will of God, and they accept as the will of God. Yet are people of faith just fishing in the dark not able to grab hold because of lack of faith? Lack of evidence that God's power is the only real possible solution for the miracle? One loose a leg or arm and the part lost could not be saved to be restore, it definitely will take a miracle of Jesus to be made whole. Yet some will say it be in heaven not on this side of eternity. I say one never knows what God will do and that all things are possible. Then the person with lost limb gets artificial limb that might even be better then the old limb as far as endurance and what it made of. That is not miracle, but a solution to the problem until the healing power comes. Our wait on this side is hard. I know because I waited to be rid of pain for 14 years when God healed me. I have had to many miracles in my life not to know that God is real. However to wait to be willing to wait is hard. To say God is able is more then words to a person that had experienced or witnessed healing in another person's life. It not with malice or deceit, it saying I believe God can heal you. I am saying God is able because of my experience when the world could do nothing to change my situation. That is the hope God is able to bring to a person. That the power of Jesus, in the life of a believer. It is one worth sharing to say God through His Son can set you free by the Holy Spirit.

Dear Heavenly Father, strengthen our faith with the knowledge you provide for each of us, knowing you have the power to heal. In Jesus precious name, Amen.

Continual Scripture Study: Luke 7:22 KJV
22 Then Jesus answering said unto them, Go your way, and tell John what things ye have seen and heard; how that the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, to the poor the gospel is preached.