Welcome to Kendra Graham’s Online Bible Study! This is a place where we can come together and share in our journey towards Scriptural truths and spiritual maturity. We pray this will be a safe, respectful, resourceful place to come and discuss God’s Word…to discover What it says…What it means…and What it means to you!
Make sure you don’t miss a post, just enter your email in the “Subscribe Via Email” in the upper left hand corner of our blog. It’s free and you’ll receive these post straight into your email inbox.
Kendra Graham notes from Ephesians 6:14b + Mark 5:27-29
Ephesians 6:14b …having put on the breastplate of righteousness.
Mark 5:27-29 After hearing about Jesus, she came up in the crowd behind Him and touched His cloak. (28) For she thought “If I just touch His garments, I will get well.” Immediately the flow of her blood was dried up; and she felt in her body that she was healed of her affliction.
THE FACTS:
Ephesians 6:14b: Put on the breastplate of righteousness.
Mark 27: After hearing about Jesus, she came, in the crowd behind Him, touched His cloak.
Mark 28: “If I touch His garments I will be well.”
Mark 29: Immediately the flow of her blood dried.
THE LESSONS:
Having “put on” the breastplate of righteousness… there is an action verb here… the word “put on” in the Greek is the word, “endyo” which means: to reach to put on, to sink into. When I read this verse and the definition of endyo, I immediately thought of the woman who was covered in issues in Mark 5:25-34. This woman had an issue of blood for 12 years that she could not fix. This woman tried everything she could to fix her issue, every doctor, every remedy and instead of getting better, she got worse. In the society of the day, this woman would have been isolated from family, deemed unclean and uninvited to attend church, functions, parties or fellowships. The issue this woman had would have left her ashamed, destitute, desperate, and deserted.
Then… she hears about Jesus! Jesus is said to be the Messiah! God with skin on! He was within her reach.
Jesus within reach! Hmmmm so…. would you have run out to find Him? We love to say the Sunday School answer… “Of course! Jesus is there!! Lucky her!” Really? Often times my reaction when things are bad… when my life is covered with issues that continue to get worse no matter how hard I try, is to be kind of mad at God… fold my arms, sigh, and say, “Oh, Jesus is here is He? Well, do I have a bone to pick with Him!” We don’t run out to find Him, nope, we sit, arms folded in our pride, and demand He comes to us and give us an explanation for all the mess. If we are being honest…
This woman… low on iron… exhausted… hurting… desperate… decides to fight the crowd, she is determined to go in spite of have very valid reasons to stay home. The customs of the day were such that every person she touched or that touched her, would become unclean, so going out into a mob… probably could have gotten her stoned to death… if people knew her issues. This woman being weak and tired could be trampled to death, not having the strength to fight to get to Jesus… I mean that is what it would take. To get to Jesus would take everything she had.
See this here… don’t miss it… determined and driven against a physical crowd and an emotional crowd keeping her down, telling her she is filthy and unclean and undeserving, yet she fights. This woman will reach for that righteousness, that cleanliness of Jesus if it is the last thing she does. This woman is on the ground crawling… how do I know that? She reaches for the hem of His garment, not the lapel.
This woman is very aware of her status, she comes in absolute humility. No demands, no fist flying in the face of Jesus, no anger or bitterness, just desperation. Feel this here, press into this crowd, feel the feet stepping on her hands as the crowd is electric with anticipation of Jesus being there… feel her garments being stepped on, dirt being kicked in her face, maybe even an unsuspecting sandal in the face. This woman coming to Jesus, invisible in a crowd of people, no one knowing what she is going through… can you relate? This woman refuses to give up until she sees it! There it is! The tip of the tassel on the hem of His garment! It’s Jesus!
Jesus knew she was there… she was the one lost sheep in the crowd of sheep that day. That crowd could have been created just for her… would she be desperate enough to press in here? Against the odds? Jesus was pleading, seeking, calling, stirring… desperate to save… she was the reason He came.
This woman…think about it… was willing to make Jesus unclean! Jesus unclean! What do you think about that? That is what it takes to be healed. That which has covered our hands and made us unclean, we must give to Jesus. This is the reason Jesus came. Jesus would choose to hemorrhage Himself, blood flowing from His veins even to death, since that is what it would cost Him to make her clean… yet He stays within reach! I love this! Did Jesus kick the hem of His garment her direction? Can you see it? Can you see the love in His eyes he has for this woman, scraped, battered and bruised…. by more than just the crowd… to see how intent she is on getting to His presence? Can you hear in His heart, Jesus pleading, “REACH! Come on woman…. R-E-A-C-H! You can make it! Reach, and I will put on my righteousness all over you! Covered… CLEAN!”
The woman reached as far as her fingertips could go and she held on to Jesus, and immediately let go of all the issues that plagued her.
Healing is found in the presence of Jesus. If you are willing to fight the crowd of emotions like anger, bitterness, judgment, unforgiveness, and misery… if you can reach with all that is in you to make Jesus unclean with all your issues, He will cover you in His grace, mercy and righteousness.
The breastplate covers your vitals… your issues will kill you, unless they are covered with the very righteousness of God. No one can reach for you, you must reach with your own hand.
Come… do not delay. Get into the Word of God today because you were created to walk with Him, know Him and you desperately need Him whether you see it or not. Jesus died to give you victory through this valley, but you will have to reach for it.
APPLY IT:
Are you desperate enough to come to Jesus… or do you prefer to coddle your pride and the million reasons you should stay away? Will you reach for your therapist, a friend to pander to your way of thinking, continue to try to atone for your own issues–to no avail–or will you reach for Jesus? Will you stay in His presence holding on to the hem of His garment as long as it takes to be well even if being well doesn’t look like you have demanded?
LIVE IT OUT:
Today, I will reach for His presence, fighting the sleep I would rather have. I will choose God’s Word and His presence before the busyness of life awaiting me this day demands my attention.
HOMEWORK: John 15:1-8
NOTE: If you are unable to attend Kendra’s winter Bible study at The Cove in person (January 12 – February 16, 2016), we will continue the online study as well, using lessons shared during the LIVE study. We are also streaming the study LIVE via Periscope. You can catch the replays here.
Not sure how to use Periscope?
1. You must first sign up for Twitter (it’s free). Click here for step-by-step instructions.
2. Then you sign up for Periscope (it’s free). Click here for step-by-step instructions.
You don’t have to have Periscope to watch the replays. You can just click on the links below.
Click here to watch Week One’s study with a special performance by artist Jared Emerson.
Watch Week Two’s message on TRUTH here.
Watch Week Three Message here. Kendra shines a Light on the woman with issues.