Good Morning!
There was a lady who suffered from a
disabling spirit. She suffered for
eighteen years. Jesus saw her suffering
and he touched her and healed her.
Eighteen years, which is a long time to be all bent over, unable to
stand up straight, always in pain; eighteen years is a long time indeed. It is hard to imagine suffering like this
for eighteen years; it is even harder to imagine the joy that this woman must
have felt. She was in pain all that
time. She probably never had a good
night’s sleep; she probably didn’t interact with her neighbors much; she probably
had few friends. She didn’t really live;
it was more of an existence wondering if tomorrow would be any easier than
today. She lived like that for eighteen
years before she was healed.
How long have we lived in pain? How long have we let the weight of a past sin
keep us awake at night? Perhaps it has
changed the way you have interacted with other people. If the pain is from a fight or argument with
a family member, some had to “choose” who they “sided” with. If you battled substance abuse, and lost, you
may have lost a spouse or parent or child through the painful event. Maybe you said something, took something,
left something, or just ran in a moment of panic and left everything in a
shambles. It has played on your mind and
weighed on your heart the whole time.
The devil loves those times and
events. He loves to keep telling you
that you have gone too far. He loves to
tell you that there is no way back. He
loves for you to have a disabled spirit, one that knows no healing, one that
knows no hope. The devil wants you to
suffer from this condition for years; actually, he wants you to suffer your
whole life. He wants your spirit
disabled so that you will not listen to God.
The devil wants you to think that what God is saying is not for you.
Yet God is speaking to you, through his
Word and through his sacrament, he is reaching to you with his words of
healing. Those words, “you are
forgiven.” God offers you those healing
words and no matter what the sin, what the past painful event, God forgives you
and wants you to be healed. He wants
your spirit to be enabled to hear his words and to trust his promise. He wants your spirit to live in harmony and
communion with His Holy Spirit. God
wants to renew in you that clean heart.
God seeks to give you the power to heal the wounds that exist in our
lives and in our relationships.
No matter how long you have suffered from
the pain of sin, no matter how long you have been weighed down; God forgives
your sins, all of them, whether you have carried them for eight days or eighty
years; God forgives you. Trust his
promise and stand upright and throw off the weight of sin that disables your
spirit. Live in God’s mercy.
Father, by your great mercy we have hope. Because of your unfailing love we fear no
sin. Lead us to trust in your
unquenchable desire to have us live with you in your kingdom. Guide and protect us. Be with those who are still burdened by the
weight of sin. Bring them healing and
hope. In Jesus’ precious name we pray,
amen.
God’s Peace,
Pastor Bret
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