Iron Rose Sister Ministries

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Published: 19 July 2022

Written by Lisanka Martinez, volunteer with Iron Rose Sister Ministries in Venezuela

To rejoice in good health is a blessing that few people actually get to enjoy. Between contamination, inadequate nutrition, stress, and emotional conditions, we tend to suffer with some physical, mental, emotional, or spiritual illness.

The majority of women experience many of these interrelated conditions at the same time. Among them is PMS (premenstrual syndrome). These disorders are very common among the women in my family, and for many years, for that very reason, I suffered from intense pain and discomfort for more than a week every month. For this reason, the Bible story about the ill woman or the woman who touched Jesus’ robe (that we see in the gospels of Matthew 9:20-22, Mark 5:25-34, and Luke 8:43-45), has always seemed extremely extraordinary—to think of a woman who was bleeding for twelve years, in the health and hygiene conditions of that time. And the part to most highlight is that she was considered impure or unclean (as some traditions say) and what the laws of the Jewish people stated, as we see in Leviticus 15:25. With no remedy for such a lengthy time, her physical, mental, and emotional strength must have diminished.

However, the story, although brief, gives us an excellent example of the love of God, shown through His Son, for someone who dared to risk this step with a humble act of faith, which brought about her desired healing.

I read one perspective about this woman that showed that she was someone who had lost all of her money on doctors who couldn’t heal her. She had nothing to lose and might gain everything. The only thing she could receive was to be rejected and she had already faced rejection. Even still, to avoid this risk, she sought the blessing by trying to sneak by. Impossible! God always notices us. Even though she was invisible to the multitude, in this way, she was able to touch our Savior’s robe in spite of all the people that separated her from Him. That didn’t stop her. She was able to approach Him. In her mind, she knew that one touch would heal her and that it wouldn’t hurt anyone.

There are some who see this from Jairo’s perspective and reason that this desperate father that begged for healing for his daughter, could have thought that this woman, in her act of desperation and faith, had detained the Teacher, that time and the possibility of healing for his daughter had been taken away. Yet we know that it was not like that. Quite the opposite. Jairo witnessed a miracle even greater than healing. When it comes to blessings of healing, there are always enough for everyone.

The woman who touched Jesus’ robe knew that the minimal contact with Him would be a blessing in her life, just as many of us have experienced in our own lives. She did it and immediately felt the healing power in her body. Jesus noticed it, stopped, and asked who had touched Him. Even though His disciples tried to explain the obvious, that it could’ve been anyone who touched Him, Jesus awaited the faith-filled response to His spiritual question. The healed woman, still trembling, is seen as a testimony of the reach of God’s power for those who have faith and, through that faith, receive the greatest blessing. Jesus speaks to her directly and tells her that she is healed from her physical illness, along with the valuable addition that she has also been saved by her faith. What a wonderful reward! She was seeking physical healing and also received salvation, declared from Jesus’ own lips.

Can we say that we will ask for and await our own healing miracle? Or, like the woman in the story, will we, through faith, touch Jesus’ robe and obtain the marvelous blessing of first spiritual healing, and also physical healing? In what ways are we seeking healing?

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Published: 14 July 2022

Written by Deanna Brooks, volunteer with Iron Rose Sister Ministries in Arkansas

“Be patient. God isn’t finished with me yet,” is a sign we often saw several years ago. The message is true. We are works in progress.

We rejoice at the birth of a baby, when he cuts his first tooth, takes his first steps, says his first words… but before we know it, he has breezed into the teen years, then adulthood comes all too soon, and he’s holding a babe of his own.

Scriptures compare the Christian life to our physical growth.

Baptism is referred to as the new birth. First Peter 2:2-3 reads, “Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation— if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.”

In Hebrews 5:12-14 we read, “For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.”

Romans 12:2 reads, “Be not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”

Ephesians 4:11-15 tells us, “And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and from by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.”

All these scriptures indicate that the Christian life is a growth process. We never read of a point where we stop growing.

In Romans 7 Paul tells of his struggles. He wants to do good and right, but he still struggles with sin.

We, too, will have struggles, but we need to remember Paul’s words in Philippians 3:13-14, “Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”

Satan wants us to stay buried in the past… to remember the wrongs we have done, but growth happens when we put those sins behind us and learn from them. There may be consequences or regrets, but we can’t dwell on it. We must look forward.

So, how do we continue to grow? Think back to childhood… you practiced writing your numbers or letters over and over until it became second nature. You practiced your arithmetic facts so you did not need your fingers to add 3+4.

Likewise, we practice love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Gal. 5:22-23).

Ephesians 4:29 reminds us, “let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up.”

Like Paul, we continue to grow… we have a goal, and we keep focused on it. How?

1. Bible study… not just a quick reading. Find a passage and meditate on it.
2. Prayer… we have access to the throne room of the Holy One, and He hears us.
3. Fellowship… surrounded with godly people who can help us grow… remembering a good friend is one willing to confront if he sees us headed the wrong direction, like Nathan did David.
4. Reach out… others are watching. Get to know them and help them walk in the steps of the Savior.

Ephesians 2:10 teaches it is God who is working in us: “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”

Peter closes his letter with, “But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (3:18). Let’s strive to continue growing until we are called home.

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