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

F
URTHER
C
HALLENGE
:

http://wtal.destinyimage.com/ch13

We have dealt with many aspects of the story of Jesus healing the infirm woman. However, in this chapter I would like to look at an issue underlying the miracle. It does not really concern either the woman or Christ. It is the time of healing: the Sabbath day.

The Sabbath is a day of rest. It is a day of restoration. Following creation, on the seventh day, God rested (Gen. 2:2). Rest is for the purpose of restoration. It is not just because you’re tired. It is during a time of rest that you replenish or receive back those things that were expended or put out. It is during the time of restoration that the enemy wants to break off your fellowship with the Lord.

R
est is for the purpose of restoration.

I don’t want you to think of rest just in terms of sleep. Please understand that rest and restoration are related concepts. The enemy does not want you to have rest. You need calmness or Sabbath rest because it is through the resting of your spirit that the restoration of your life begins to occur.

It is not a mere coincidence that this woman was healed on the Sabbath day. The Bible goes to great pains to make us aware that it was during the Sabbath that this woman experienced her healing. The Sabbath was meant not only for God to rest, but also for God to enjoy His creation with man. The issues are rest and communion.

In the nation of Israel, God used the Sabbath day as a sign of the covenant. It proved that they were His people. They spent time in worship and fellowship with the Lord. That is the Sabbath. It is real communion between the heart of man and heart of God.

T
he Sabbath is real communion between the heart of man and heart of God.

When Jesus began to minister in a restful situation, needs began to be manifested. The infirm woman’s need was revealed in the midst of the Sabbath. You can never get your needs met by losing your head. When you calm down, God speaks.

When you start murmuring and complaining, the only thing God can focus on is your unbelief. When you start resting in Him, He can focus on your problems and on the areas of your life that need to be touched.

When you begin to enter into real worship with God, that’s the best time to have Him minister to your needs. That’s the time God does restoration in your life. Satan, therefore, wants to break up your Sabbath rest.

Jesus healed this woman on the Sabbath. One thing you can’t seem to deliver religious people from is their being religious. Sometimes I would rather deal with rank sinners than with religious people. They esteem religiosity above God’s creation. They are more concerned about keeping doctrine than about helping people. Man is God’s concern above everything else.

The infirm woman was not sitting around complaining. She was not murmuring. She was not hysterical. She had a problem, but she was calm. She was just sitting there listening to the words of the Master. She brought her problem with her, but her problem had not dominated her worship.

C
hrist is our Sabbath rest.

I want to zoom in on the Sabbath day because what the Sabbath was physically, Christ is spiritually. Christ is our Sabbath rest. He is the end of our labors. We are saved by grace through faith and not by works, lest any man should be able to boast (see Eph. 2:8-9). Jesus said:

Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light.
Matthew 11:28-30

The rest of the Lord is so complete that when Jesus was dying on the Cross, He said, “
It is finished
” (Jn. 19:30). It was so powerful. For the first time in history, a high priest sat down in the presence of God without having to run in and out bringing blood to atone for the sins of man. When Christ entered in once and for all, He offered up Himself for us that we might be delivered from sin.

If you really want to be healed, you’ve got to be in Him. If you really want to be set free, and experience restoration, you’ve got to be in Him, because your healing comes in the Sabbath rest. Your healing comes in Christ Jesus. As you rest in Him, every infirmity, every area bent out of place will be restored.

The devil knows this truth, so he does not want you to rest in the Lord. Satan wants you to be anxious. He wants you to be upset. He wants you to be hysterical. He wants you to be suicidal, doubtful, fearful and neurotic.

There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. For he that is entered into His rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from His. Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.
Hebrews 4:9-11

Sometimes it takes work to find the place of rest and calm. Our hectic world does not lend itself to quiet and peace. It creates noise and uneasiness. Even though the infirm woman was bowed over and could not lift herself, she rested in the fact that she was in the presence of a mighty God. He is able to do exceedingly and abundantly above all that we may ask or think (Eph. 3:20).

Jesus also confronted the woman at the well with some exciting truths.

Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: but whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.
John 4:13-14

Jesus was sitting at the well waiting for someone to return. He was relaxed. He was calm and resting. He knew who He was. God doesn’t get excited about circumstances.

Another time the disciples and Jesus were on a ship. A storm arose and appeared to be about to sink the ship. However, Jesus didn’t become concerned about circumstances. In fact, He was sleeping, resting in the middle of a crisis. Everyone else was running all over the boat trying to figure out how they would get into life jackets and into the lifeboats. Was Jesus resting because He was lazy? No, He was resting because He knew He was greater than the storm. Jesus rose up and spoke to the winds and waves and said, “
Peace, be still
” (Mk. 4:39).

When you know who you are, you don’t have to struggle. You don’t have to wake Him up.

W
hen you know who you are, you don’t have to struggle.

That was Christ’s attitude when the woman at the well met Him. When this woman came down with her waterpot on her shoulder, she was all upset and worried about the water she needed to draw. Jesus was sitting by the well. He began to demonstrate calmness. He told her, “If you drink of the water that you have, you will thirst again, but if you drink of the water that I have, you will never thirst.”

The woman saith unto Him, Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw. Jesus saith unto her, Go, call thy husband, and come hither.
John 4:15-16

Jesus shifted the focus of the conversation to the real need.

The woman answered and said, I have no husband. Jesus said unto her, Thou hast well said, I have no husband: for thou hast had five husbands; and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband: in that saidst thou truly.
John 4:17-18

Like this woman, you can get yourself into situations that wound and upset your spirit. These kinds of wounds can’t be healed through human effort. You must get in the presence of God and let Him fill those voids in your life. You will not settle it up by going from friend to friend. This woman had already tried that. She had already gone through five men. The answer is not getting another man. It’s getting in touch with
the Man—Jesus
.

The woman at the well threw down her waterpot and ran to tell others about the Man she had met at the well. We too need to get rid of the old, carnal man. Some of those old attachments and old ways of living need to be replaced with the calmness of the Spirit.

This woman could never have rid herself of the old man until she met the new Man. When you meet the new, you get the power to say good-bye to the old. You will never be able to break the grip on your life that those old ways have until you know Jesus Christ is the real way. You will never get it straight without Jesus. You must come to Him just as you are. Knowing Him will give you the power to break away from the old self and the ties that bind.

W
hen you meet the new, you get the power to say good-bye to the old.

If you have something that has attached itself to you that is not of God, you won’t be able to break it through your own strength. Submit yourself unto God, resist the enemy, and he will flee from you (see Jas. 4:7). As you submit to God, you receive the power to resist the enemy.

This woman didn’t even go back home. She ran into the city telling everyone to come and see the Man who had told her about her life. You do yourself a disservice until you really come to know Jesus. He satisfies. Everyone else, well, they pacify, but Jesus satisfies. He can satisfy every need and every yearning. He heals every pain and every affliction. Then He lifts every burden and every trouble in your life.

You have had enough tragedy. You have been bent over long enough. God will do something good in you. God kept you living through all those years of infirmity because He had something greater for you than what you’ve experienced earlier. God kept you because He has something better for you.

You may have been abused and misused. Perhaps all those you trusted in turned on you and broke your heart. Still God has sustained you. You didn’t make it because you were strong. You didn’t make it because you were smart. You didn’t make it because you were wise. You made it because God’s amazing grace kept you and sustained you. God has more for you today than what you went through yesterday. Don’t give up. Don’t give in. Hold on. The blessing is on the way.

I dare you to realize that you
can do all things through Christ who strengthens you
(Phil. 4:13). Once the infirm woman knew that she didn’t have to be bent over, she stood straight up. Jesus told the woman at the well to get rid of the old. He wanted her to step away from that old pattern of selfishness. Suddenly, she recognized that she didn’t have what she thought she had. The sinful things that you have fought to maintain are not worth what you thought they were.

I’m referring to some of those things that have attached themselves to your life in which you find comfort. Some of those habits you have come to enjoy, some of those relationships you thought you found security in, were not profitable. Often we settle for less because we didn’t meet the best. When you get the best, it gives you the power to let go of the rest.

The infirm woman didn’t panic because of her crippling disease. She had been in torment and pain for 18 years. When she came into the presence of Jesus, she relaxed in Him. She expected that He would take care of her. The result was a wonderful healing. The woman at the well expected water, but left the well having found the Savior. She sought temporal satisfaction, but found eternal satisfaction.

That’s what rest, the Sabbath, is. It is the ability to find eternal satisfaction in Jesus. The world will never give us peace and satisfaction. Jesus offers both freely.

R
est is the ability to find eternal satisfaction in Jesus.

The woman who has struggled can find satisfaction. You can find hope for your soul. It is found in the Master of the universe. He will not deny you because of your past. He will not scrutinize your every action. He will take you as you are and give you rest. He will provide a peace that will satisfy the very yearning of your soul.

And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
Philippians 4:7