Christ Church Daily Devotion March 6 2024

This is a Daily Devotion from Christ Church on March 6, 2024, focusing on a story from the book of Mark. It tells of a woman who had been suffering from bleeding for 12 years. Despite seeking medical help and spending all she had, her condition only worsened. When she heard about Jesus, she believed that touching his clothes would heal her, and it did. Jesus felt power leave him and asked who touched him. The woman came forward, trembling with fear, and Jesus told her that her faith had healed her. The devotion encourages us to stay faithful to God in times of trouble and to be inspired by others' faith stories. It also emphasizes the importance of giving thanks to God for healing and inspiration. Welcome to Christ Church's Daily Devotion for March 6, 2024. Today we will be reading from Mark, Chapter 5, Verses 25-34. And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. She had suffered a great deal, under the care of many doctors, and had spent all she had. Yet instead of getting better, she grew worse. When she had heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak. Because she had thought, If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed. Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt, in her body, that she was freed from her suffering. At once, Jesus realized that power had gone out of him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, Who touched my clothes? You see the people crowding against you, his disciples answered. And yet, you can ask, Who touched me? But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it. Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet, and trembling with fear, told him the truth. He said to her, Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering. This week our devotionals are focusing on how we respond and stay faithful to God when bad things happen to us. This woman had been dealing with this physical ailment for 12 years. She could have become very bitter and even cursed God, but she chose to keep searching for the healing that God would send. Here in today's scripture, more details than usual are described in this story. And we are allowed to overhear the conversation between Jesus and this woman. She is afraid, but Jesus says, Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering. For 12 years this woman had been suffering. She had spent all that she had seeking doctors that would bring her healing, but instead she was getting worse. But she never lost her faith in God. During all these years of suffering, Jesus knew that the healing power had gone out of him, but he reflected the light back upon her, declaring that her faith had brought her healing. And notice that God, through Jesus, also gives the gifts of peace and freedom from suffering. When we or someone dear to us has been healed through God and the medical teams God has given to us, it is impossible not to tell this good news. This woman was inspired in her faith by the stories of others along the way. Now she had a story to inspire others. Your personal worship option today is, Whose faith story has inspired you to keep the faith? Do you have a story of God's healing in your own life? Pause for a moment or a few moments today and give God thanksgiving for those who have inspired you and for God's healing.