Woman Thou Art Loosed! 20th Anniversary Expanded Edition (16 page)

http://wtal.destinyimage.com/ch10

I believe it is important that women get healed and released in their spirits. I’m excited about what God is doing. I believe that God will move freshly in the lives of women in an even greater way.

God knows how to take a mess and turn it into a miracle. If you’re in a mess, don’t be too upset about it because God specializes in fixing messes. God is saying some definite things about women being set free and delivered to fulfill their purpose in the Kingdom.

G
od knows how to take a mess and turn it into a miracle.

Let’s look once again at the infirm woman of the Gospel of Luke, chapter 13:

And He was teaching in one of the synagogues on the sabbath. And, behold, there was a woman which had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bowed together, and could in no wise lift up herself. And when Jesus saw her, He called her to Him, and said unto her, Woman, thou art loosed from thine infirmity. And He laid His hands on her: and immediately she was made straight, and glorified God. And the ruler of the synagogue answered with indignation, because that Jesus had healed on the sabbath day, and said unto the people, There are six days in which men ought to work: in them therefore come and be healed, and not on the sabbath day. The Lord then answered him, and said, Thou hypocrite, doth not each one of you on the sabbath loose his ox or his ass from the stall, and lead him away to watering? And ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom satan hath bound, lo, these eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the sabbath day? And when He had said these things, all His adversaries were ashamed: and all the people rejoiced for all the glorious things that were done by Him.
Luke 13:10-17

When the Lord gets through working on you, all your adversaries will be ashamed. All your accusers will be ashamed of themselves. All the people who contributed to your sense of low self-esteem will be ashamed when God gets through unleashing you. You won’t have to prove anything. God will prove it. He will do it in your life. When He gets through showing that you’ve done the right thing and come to the right place, they will drop their heads and be ashamed.

We have already shown how this woman was so bound by satan for 18 years that she could not even straighten herself up. She had a past that tormented her, but Jesus set her free. He unleashed her potential that satan had bound up.

Many women in the Church have not really seen Christ as the answer to their dilemma. They go to church, they love the Lord, they want to go to Heaven when they die, but they still do not see Christ as the solution to their problem. Often we try to separate our personal life from our spiritual life. Many see Jesus as a way to Heaven and the solution to spiritual problems, but they fail to see that He is the solution to all of life’s problems.

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esus is the solution to all of life’s problems.

Can you imagine how hard life was for that woman who was bowed over? She had to struggle, because of her problem, to come to Jesus. Few of us are crippled in the same way. However, we all face crippling limitations. We can be bowed over financially. We can be bowed over emotionally. We can be bowed over where we have no self-esteem. He wants to see us struggling toward Him. Jesus could have walked to this woman, but He chose not to. He wants to see us struggle toward Him.

He wants you to want Him enough to overcome obstacles and to push in His direction. He doesn’t want to just throw things at you that you don’t have a real conviction to receive. When you see a humped-over person crawling through the crowd, know that that person really wants help. That kind of desire is what it takes to change your life. Jesus is the answer.

I may seek help by going from one person to another, but only He is the answer. I may be sick in my body, but He is the answer. If my son is dead, or insane on drugs, and I need Him to resurrect my child, He is the answer. If I am having family problems with my brother who is in trouble, He’s the answer. It doesn’t matter what the problem is, He is the answer.

Jesus touched this woman. There’s a place in God where the Lord will touch you and provide intimacy in your life when you’re not getting it from other places. You must be open to His touch. If you can’t receive from Him, you may find yourself like the woman at the well, who sought physical gratification (Jn. 4:18). If you seek only the physical when you really need intimacy, what you end up getting is simply sex. Sex is a poor substitute for intimacy. It’s nice with intimacy, but when it is substituted for intimacy, it’s frustrating.

Jesus knew this woman. He was the only one who truly knew her. He touched her and healed her. He unleashed her potential that had been bound for 18 years. You can accomplish everything once you have been called to Jesus. From that moment on you become invincible.

However, most likely your words have hindered you. Often we are snared by the words in our own mouth. The enemy would love to destroy you with your own words. Satan has turned your back against you. He will use your strength against you. Many of you have beat yourself down with the power of your own words. You have twisted your own back. The enemy worked you against yourself until you saw yourself as crippled. Reverse his plan. If you had enough force to bend yourself, you’ve got enough force to straighten yourself back up again.

O
ften we are snared by the words in our own mouth.

The Lord told this woman the truth about herself. He told her that she was loosed and set free. He saw the truth despite what everyone else saw. She was important.

The religious critics didn’t like what Jesus had done. His power showed how powerless their religion was. They accused Him of breaking the law by performing a miracle on the Sabbath day. Christ acknowledged their hypocrisy by addressing a common occurrence in the area. They all valued their livestock, He said. Then He reminded them that they would loose their ass on the Sabbath so that it could get a drink. Surely this woman was more valuable than any animal. She could be loosed from her pain and sickness regardless of the day.

Sometimes pain can become too familiar. Ungodly relationships often become familiar. Change doesn’t come easily. Habits and patterns are hard to break. Sometimes we maintain these relationships because we fear change. However, when we see our value the way Jesus sees us, we muster the courage to break away.

He is your defense. He will defend you before your critics. Now is the time for you to focus on receiving the miraculous and getting the water that you could not get before. He is loosing you to water. You haven’t been drinking for 18 years, but now you can get a drink. With Jesus, you can do it.

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esus will defend you before your critics.

Have you been a beast of burden? Some of you have been a pack horse for many years. People have dumped on you. You’ve had to grit your teeth. You’ve never been allowed to develop without stress and weights, not just because of the circumstances, but because of how deeply things affect you. Our God, however, is a liberator.

The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? When the wicked, even mine enemies and my foes, came upon me to eat up my flesh, they stumbled and fell. Though an host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear: though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident. One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to enquire in His temple.
Psalm 27:1-4

You must reach the point where it is the Lord whom you desire. Singleness of heart will bring about deliverance. Perhaps you have spent all your time and effort trying to prove yourself to someone who is gone. Maybe an old lover left you with scars. The person may be dead and buried, but you are still trying to win his approval.

In this case, you are dedicated to worthless tasks. You are committed to things, unattainable goals, that will not satisfy. Christ must be your ambition.

Luke 13:13b reads, “
And immediately she was made straight, and glorified God.
” Christ dealt with 18 years of torment in an instant. One moment with Jesus, and immediately she was well. For some things you don’t have time to recover gradually. The moment you get the truth, you are loosed. Immediately she recovered.

Once you realize that you have been unleashed, you will feel a sudden change. When you come to Jesus, He will motivate you. You will see that other woman in you. You need to blossom and bring her forth.

Notice the sixteenth verse of Luke 13. “
And ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom satan hath bound, lo, these eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the sabbath day?
” He called her “a daughter of Abraham.” She may have been bent over, but she was still Abraham’s daughter. Don’t let your condition negate your position.

She was unleashed because of who her father was. It had little to do with who she was. The Bible doesn’t even mention her name. We will never know who she was until we reach Heaven. Although we don’t know who she was, we know whose she was. She was a daughter of Abraham.

Faith is an equal opportunity business. There is no discrimination in it. Faith will work for you. When you approach God, don’t worry about the fact that you are a woman. Never become discouraged on that basis when it comes to seeking Him. You will only get as much from God as you can believe Him for.

F
aith is an equal opportunity business.

You won’t be able to convince Him, seduce Him, break Him down or trick Him. God will not move because you cry and act melancholy. Now, you may move me like that. Certainly that works with men, but not with God. God only accepts faith, not just feminine rhetoric, not hysteria—just plain old faith in God.

He wants you to believe Him. He wants you to personalize the truth that you can do all things through Him (see Phil. 4:13). He is trying to teach you so when the time for a real miracle does come, you’ll have some faith to draw from. God wants you to understand that if you can believe Him, you can go from defeat to victory and from poverty to prosperity!

Faith is more than a fact—faith is an action. Don’t tell me you believe when your actions do not correspond with your conviction. If your actions don’t change, you might still think you are tied. When you finally understand that you are loose, you will start behaving as if you were set free.

When you are loose, you can go anywhere. If I had one end of a rope around my neck, I would only be able to walk the length of the rope. Once I am unleashed from that rope, I can walk as far as I want. You are whole; you are loose. You can go anywhere.

Hebrews chapter 11 is a faith “hall of fame.” It lists great people of God who believed Him and accomplished great exploits. Abraham is given tremendous attention in this chapter. He is revered by millions as the father of faith. He is the first man in history to believe God to the point where it was counted as righteousness. He was saved by faith. Jesus said that the infirm woman was a daughter of Abraham. She was worthy. She had merit because she was Abraham’s descendant and had faith.

There are two contrasting women mentioned in the faith “hall of fame.” Sarah, Abraham’s wife, is listed. Rahab, the Jericho prostitute, is listed as well. A married woman and a whore made it to the hall of fame. A good, clean, godly woman and a whore made it into the book. I understand how Sarah was included, but how in the world did this prostitute get to be honored? She was listed because God does not honor morality. He honors faith. That was the one thing they had in common; nothing else.

The Bible doesn’t talk about Rahab having a husband. She had the whole city. Sarah stayed in the tent and knit socks. She moved wherever her husband went and took care of him. There was no similarity in their lifestyles, just in their faith. God saw something in Sarah that He also saw in Rahab. Do not accept the excuse that because you have lived like a Rahab you can’t have the faith experience.

God wants you to believe Him. Make a decision and stand on it. Rahab decided to take a stand on the side of God’s people. She hid the spies. She made the decision based on her faith. She took action. Faith is a fact and faith is an action. She took action because she believed God would deliver her when Jericho fell to the Israelites.

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aith is a fact and faith is an action.

Sarah received strength to carry and deliver a child when she was well past childbearing age. She took action because she judged Him faithful who had promised (Heb. 11:11). She went through the birth process and delivered a child not because of her circumstance, but because of her faith. She believed God.

God wants your faith to be developed. Regardless of your position and your past, God raises people up equally. Faith is an equal opportunity business. No matter how many mistakes you have made, it is still faith that God honors. You see, you may have blown it, but God is in the business of restoring broken lives. You may have been like Rahab, but if you can believe God, He will save your house. You know, He didn’t save only her. He saved her entire household. All the other homes in Jericho were destroyed. The only house God saved in the city was the house where the prostitute lived.