Will I Ever Get Better (Mark 5) | Ps. Keith Pittman

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In the Gospel of Mark, chapter number five, starting at verse number 25, the word of the Lord says this.

And there was a woman who had a discharge of blood for 12 years, and who had suffered many under physicians, and had spent all that she had and was no better, but rather grew worse.

Somebody say grew worse.

She had heard reports about Jesus and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his garment, for she had said, If I can just touch his garment, I will be made well.

And immediately the flow of blood dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease.

And Jesus, perceiving in himself that power had gone out from him, immediately turned about in the crowd and said, Who touched my garments?

And his disciples said to him, You see, Lord, there's there's so many pressing around you.

And he looked around and said, Someone touched me.

But the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling and fell before him and told him the whole truth.

Somebody say, whole truth.

And he said to her, Daughter, your faith has made you well.

Go in peace and be healed of your disease.

I think in the spirit, in fact, I know there are some among us that have been struggling for for so long that it almost seems like it's a part of our identity.

I believe that there's some among us that have have have wandered into that space of hopelessness where we we don't even believe that Jesus can move on our behalf.

Today, you're in the right place.

Because today, not only are we going to make space for what you have been walking through, but we're also gonna invite Jesus into it.

So today I want to speak to us around a question that I think all of us have or have had at some point, and it's simply this Will I ever get better?

Let's go to the Lord and let's invite him into this.

Lord, we thank you so much for your faithfulness, we thank you for your presence, we we thank you for your grace and and and Holy Spirit, we we invite, we ask, we we prepare, we position ourselves to have a move of your spirit.

We we didn't come to hear words from man, we we didn't come to be impressed, we we didn't come for any show, but we we came for an encounter with the living God.

So, Lord, we check our expectations and everything that we preconceived is going to be at the door, but yet we do come and expect it that we're going to hear from you.

Come on, church.

I don't want to be the only one praying.

Father, we declare that this ground is holy, and we are expecting that we're gonna have an encounter with you.

We're believing that we're gonna see transformation as a result of what you're doing in this atmosphere.

It's been set, your spirit is moving and chains are broken.

And so, Father, I believe that the word that you're about to declare is about to shift some things in the atmosphere.

I believe healing and miracles are amongst us, but we first have got to be honest with ourselves and say, Will I ever get better?

But I'm gonna give you the ending right now.

Yes, you will, in the name of Jesus.

So, Holy Spirit, move and do what only you can do.

We ask that you give us open eyes to see you and only you.

We ask that you give us open ears to hear your truth above all else.

And Lord, we pray for the depositing of your word in our open hearts, the seed of the uncorruptible word of God, that it takes root and it produces fruit in our lives.

A faith-built church says, a faith-built church says, Amen and amen.

As you take your seat, say hello to someone around you.

We are so so glad that you are with us, whether you're joining us online, whether you're in our family lounge, whether you're listening to the podcast later, however you find yourself with us today.

I truly believe that there are no mistakes or coincidences in the kingdom.

You're exactly where God has positioned you to be for such a time as this.

Can I get a good amen to that?

I hope you guys came prepared to hear a word because I know I came to preach one.

Let me let me come over here next to you, Vinny.

I hope that they came prepared to hear a word from the Lord because I came to preach one.

Did you come prepared, Vinny?

I come prepared.

Okay, Vinny said he came prepared.

Is anybody gonna leave Vinny alone?

Did we come prepared to hear a word from the Lord today?

All right, all right.

That's that's what I need.

I I I'm a big fan of all forms of storytelling.

I I I love whenever something can be so captivating and so riveting that it almost makes you not want to blink because you're afraid that you may miss something.

I have all of these technology and wearable devices that are like monitoring heart rates, sleep patterns, and all these other type of things.

And I've been I've been one of these people that have been sitting watching a TV show, and it has to remind me to breathe because I'm so consumed with what I am presently witnessing.

One of the things that I've seen that has been growing in popularity within cinema has been like this one-shot movement that's happening, and ultimately what that is, is it's when the director makes the choice that when they say action, there's no cutting.

The camera is just in the middle of the chaos, and they're just moving from room to room.

There's no break, there's no break in the action, and it literally makes you feel like you're immersed in the moment.

No editing, no CGI, you're just seeing raw movements.

There's entire movies that have been shot that way, so it's compelling when you feel like you blink, you may miss it.

It's so riveting and captivating.

And honestly, the reason why I say that is because I believe that that is the way that Mark writes.

When you read the Gospel of Mark, everything is like movement and moment to moment, and it feels like you can miss anything.

But I genuinely believe that Mark chapter number five is probably one of the most epic, room-altering, constantly moving cameras you'll see in scriptures.

Let me paint the picture for you.

Jesus has just healed a man of a demonic spirit.

In fact, the text tells us that he was bound with an unclean spirit.

Shackles and chains, which is a vivid depiction of what was happening in his inner reality.

But but he has an encounter with Jesus, and he's found sitting clothed in his right mind.

This breakthrough was so seismic, it was so significant, it was so life-altering that the community witnessed it, and their response to that moment was, Jesus, we want you to get out of the town as soon as humanly possible.

Isn't that an interesting paradox that that they could witness a man that they literally seen bound and chains, literally in a graveyard, go from being bound, going from being a space of not having any mobility and productivity in his life, that when he has an encounter with God and that he's literally found clothed in his right mind, the response of the community is they begged Jesus to leave.

Something that I've seen in my own life is that when people benefit from your bondage, they will be agitated by your freedom.

There are certain communities that you may be connected to that benefit from your dysfunction.

There are certain spaces you may find yourself that actually are good with you being broken.

But the moment that you begin to pursue Jesus, all of a sudden you begin to agitate them because your freedom requires them to beg their own question of where is the condition of their soul.

They tell Jesus to leave, they beg him to leave, and so now Jesus gets in the boat and he goes back on the other side.

The crowds are all around him, pressing him, trying to get a glimpse of him, and then it parts like the Red Sea as an influential man named Jairus shows up and he comes and he prostrates himself before Jesus.

The camera is zooming in on this man.

You can see it zooming in at this man in the feet of Jesus, and he begs Jesus to come to his home and to heal his daughter.

The writer of the gospel is very intentional here because we see the word beg shows up two different times.

Once, when they begged Jesus to leave after a miraculous breakthrough, and then that exact same word that appears in the Greek, which literally means to urge, to plead, to implore, to beg, that very same word is used with speaking with this man inviting Jesus into his home.

That, my friends, I believe is the dividing line of the human heart.

Knowing that the presence of God is available to all of us, I think it compels us all to have one of two responses.

Either I'm going to beg Jesus to enter into my life and into my home, or I'm going to urge him to distance himself from me.

Because what we know about freedom is that it's beautiful, but it is absolutely disruptive.

The scripture tells us that as Jesus hears the burden and the cry on this man's heart, they begin to make movement towards Jairus' home.

They're saying, make room.

Jesus is coming through.

They're making their way to his home, and just when you think we're about to get to the doorway where Jesus enters in Chairis' home and the healing takes place, the camera slowly pans up, and we see a woman who's in the distance.

A woman where the details of her face are made out as of yet.

Jesus is in the foreground, she's the blur in the background, but we begin to see the persistence of this woman drawing closer to Jesus.

The clock is ticking, a little girl is dying, a father is pleading, the crowd is pressing, and then we see that Mark interrupts this story with another character.

The text tells us that the woman was dealing with a discharge of blood for the past 12 years, and she suffered many things in the hands of physicians.

She spent everything she had and she only grew worse.

Now, when we hear this, it's easy for us to identify with the struggle, but I think there's something we can miss because this is not just a medical condition, this is a life condition.

This is not just a pain in her body, the struggle became her identity.

It's a pain in her relationships, it's a pain in her finances, it's a pain in her spirituality.

Because for a Jewish woman in that context, this dysfunction wasn't inconvenient.

It literally marked her as unclean.

That means that her suffering has layers.

It means that she's she's living in a world where people can look at her and say to themselves, stay away.

She's living in a world where she's had to normalize being in isolation.

And here's what I know that's how some of us feel today.

It's not just enough that you're dealing with a dilemma, but you're also being misunderstood while you're in this dilemma.

It's not just that you're hurting, but it's that you're being labeled while you're hurting.

It's not just that you're struggling, but you're being pushed to the edge of society within your struggle.

That kind of suffering makes it really difficult for you to be honest about what's going on in your life.

The text tells us that this has been going on for 12 years.

That's not a detail, that's the point.

Because 12 years is long enough to watch hope rise and fall, rise and fall again.

12 years is long enough to try things that work for other people, but yet it's still not working for you.

12 years is long enough to ask that question, will I ever?

12 years is long enough to stop expecting healing and just start managing the pain.

That's where a lot of us live right now.

We're not believing for freedom, we're just learning how to function within our brokenness.

We're not dreaming about tomorrow, we're just trying to survive today.

We're not praying big prayers, we're trying to make it through the week.

Twelve years is long enough to carry the quiet grief in our body that nobody sees because we've gotten real good at showing up without revealing where we are.

That means that once you get used to that limp long enough, it just becomes a part of the way that you walk.

Once you've been struggling long enough, it just becomes a part of the way that you function.

That means that it's possible to show up at church every single week with your hands lifted up high, but still have that whisper in your soul that I've stopped even praying about this.

To manage my own disappointment, to manage my own ex my missed expectations.

So I can worship with my hands lifted high while not believing that the one who is on high can actually move in my situation.

I can I can sing songs unto the Lord, but I stop believing that the truth of those songs are a reality in my life.

I can give unto the Lord, but I stop believing that God is a provider.

We find ourselves at this space where we genuinely begin to whisper in our souls, will I ever get better?

And then we slip into, I will never get better.

Because the text tells us that as she was doing everything she could to fix her condition, it says that she didn't get any better, but in fact, it actually got worse.

She was doing everything that she knew to do, and she and she didn't get any better.

She tried, she suffered, she paid, and she only got worse.

That means that the ache in her soul is not just a physical pain, but there's another layer of her ache which is also a disappointment.

The ache of a wasted investment.

The wake of I trusted.

I did my part, I followed the plan, and it's not working for me.

The more and more that I try, the worse it continues to get.

Some of us knows what this feels like on multiple levels.

And for us, I remember the same thing happened to us last year, where we had our car, our beloved car was like a part of our family.

And we had very little issues with this vehicle.

But then we kind of got at that 165,000 mile mark, and then the check engine light popped on.

And and and for me, I was conditioned where the check engine light is just a suggestion.

It's just, it's just like, hey, it's there.

We declare the name of Jesus over it, and we're gonna keep on moving.

But Megan, on the other hand, she's a little bit like, hey, what's up with that light?

What's up with that light?

So she was like, we need to go get this checked out.

So I take it to a mechanic that I trust, and he looks at it's like oh man, like this is an easy fix.

This is only gonna be like$200.

Great, we'll do it.

Two weeks later, check engine light comes on again.

And then he's like, hey man, like, oh, this is a this is a minor fix, this is only a$45 fix.

Oh, great, I I got that.

Three weeks later, we back at the same mechanic again, and now it's an$800 fixed.

And each time we tried to fix something, it triggered something else in the vehicle.

And then I remember looking back two months into this journey, thousands of dollars later, the more I spent, it seems like the worse it got.

The more that we invested, it seemed like the less peace we were having.

Every time we got in a car, now there's smoke.

Every time we got in the car, there was that weird noise.

Every time something was happening, Megan literally thought the car was going to explode.

So it got to a point where I was like, fine, we we just need to give this thing in and go and get something different.

But here's what I want you to know.

Many of us know what it feels like that the more and more we invest in something, the more that we give to it, the more that we serve it, the more that we try to fix it, we touch it, we tweak it, and it only seems as if it's getting worse.

For for some of us, that means this.

I've tried therapy and it only got worse.

We went to counseling and it seems like it only got work.

I took the medicine and it seems like it only got work.

I read the book and it only got worse.

We did the routines and it seems like it only got work.

I created some boundaries and it seems like it only got work.

I took accountability and it seems that it's not working.

I went to church once that month and it seems like it's not working.

I went to small group twice, and our marriage is still struggling.

I've done everything I know to do, and it doesn't seem like it's working.

You can imagine the despair and the hopelessness that exists within us, but for this woman who's been in this dilemma for 12 years, but then we see a shift in the camera.

Because while she's been dealing with this despair for 12 years, while she's been in this struggle for the past 12 years, verse 27 says, in spite of the isolation, in spite of the rejection, in spite of the shame, it says that she heard reports about Jesus.

There was something that began to shift on the inside of her because, in spite of her dilemma, she had heard reports about Jesus.

She didn't have her own encounter.

But what scripture tells us is that by the time that we find this point in Jesus' ministry, he had already multiplied the fish and loaves.

By the time of Jesus' ministry, she would have been made aware of the demonic man whose chains were broken off of him.

By the time we find this part of Jesus' ministry, he had touched the lepers and they were set free.

She began to identify that if Jesus could do it for them, then I believe that he can do it for me.

She was recognizing that her faith began to build because the word reminds us that faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God, that sometimes I can hear what God is doing in your life, and it begins to activate something inside of me because the Bible I read says that God is not a respecter or favorite of persons.

So I believe that if he did it for you, then he'll do it for me.

The same God that was parting red seas, them is the same God that is making a clear path for me right now.

The same God that brought healing, them is the same God that's moving right now.

I've seen God heal cancer, so I believe if he did it for you, then I'm declaring it for me.

I'm not sure who I'm talking to, but sometimes when we can just hear a report from the Lord, it can shift our entire internal atmosphere.

The type of report that causes us to reach for the presence of God.

So the text tells us that she risks, she risks it all.

She comes up behind him and we can see Jesus in front, and she's in the background, and her picture becomes into focus because she's pushing through the crowd.

She's risking everything because contextually a woman with this particular condition was rendered unclean, which means that she's supposed to be in isolation.

They thought that her sickness may be contagious, so you're not allowed to be in certain proximities, but she was willing to risk it all because she said, I need Jesus.

She was willing to push through her weakness because she said, I need Jesus.

She was willing to push through her fear because she said, I need Jesus.

She was willing to push through the shame because she knew I need Jesus.

She was willing to push through the voices that were telling her to stay back because she knew that she needed an encounter with Jesus because she had a resolve on the inside of her.

And I believe that there's many in here that are feeling the same thing is I can't stay like this any longer.

I refuse to feel like this tomorrow.

And if Jesus is in vicinity, I'm not going to throw away my shot.

I'm going to press in because the grace of God is here right now.

She was willing to deal with the shame.

She was willing to deal with the judgment.

She was willing to deal with all the people that were watching her because she knew that Jesus was her only hope.

And then we get to verse number 28 where it says that she says within herself, if I can just touch the hem of his garment, I would be made well.

She made this statement that sometimes we can miss the weight of her words.

Because that word said isn't just a filler, it's an inner declaration.

The interesting thing is there is no theological matrix that shows in scripture where that was ever a precedence, that you would touch the hem of a priest's garment or any person's garment and that you will be made whole.

But something on the inside of her said that if I can just get into the presence of God, if I can just touch heaven, then I'm declaring over my life my situation is going to change.

I decree that this moment is going to change everything.

She began to prophesy over her own situation.

This is why the Bible says life and death is in the power of the tongue.

That many of us are prophesying demise over our life.

We're prophesying destruction over our life.

But if I can encourage you right now, what would it look like if you look at your situation?

Is safe, but I decree that by the end of this week we are going to be made well.

I declare in the name of Jesus that this situation has no dominion over my family any longer.

I decree, as you would see a herald when they were making an announcement from the king, I declare, let it be known that today is the day that the enemy loses his grip on everything in my life.

I decree that this is the day that I see the atmosphere shifting in my family.

I declare in the name of Jesus that today everything shifts for me.

She was a woman who was desperate for the things of God, and she declared God's truth over her life, and it changed everything.

She didn't need more information, she needed an encounter.

She didn't need another opinion, she needed to be in the presence of the king.

Because in the hands of everything else, it failed her.

The hands of systems, they failed her.

The hands of experts, they they failed her.

The hands of people that wanted to exploit her her wealth, they failed her.

The hands of money, they failed her.

But in the hands of Jesus, it changed everything.

I want you to hear me, church.

What fails in the hands of others is healed in the hands of Jesus.

What failed in the hands of others, it is healed in the name of Jesus.

This is not a gimmick.

This is not a magic story.

This is not superstition, but this is the word of God interrupting our dysfunction with the truth of his word because she chose to put her life into the hands of the one who literally shaped the universe.

She chose to put her life into the hands of the one who blesses children.

She chose to put her life into the hands who can break bread and multiply it for the multitudes.

She chose to put her hand her life into the hands of the one who will be pierced so that she can experience healing.

What fails in the hands of others is healed, is restored, is rejuvenated in the hands of Jesus.

And the beautiful thing is, this is the moment where the text gets a little uncomfortable.

Because what it says is that as Jesus is making his way to Jairus' house and he's moving through the crowd and he's trying to get there, that she reaches out by faith and she touches him with this declaration.

And literally, she feels that she is healed instantly in that moment.

Healed.

She feels it, she knows it.

This is an amazing moment, and she can begin to drift away back into obscurity, knowing that she has finally made well.

But but what the Bible says is that her touch was so faith-filled that as Jesus is walking, he came to a stop because he felt power come out of him.

He literally felt power, he felt anointing, he felt grace come out of him, and he stopped where he was.

And he turns to his disciples and he says, Who touched me?

Peter, if you look at it in Matthew's account of this very same story, Peter ever, the spokesman, but always putting his foot in his mouth.

I love how Peter tries to correct Jesus sometimes because Jesus ain't like, Hey, who touched me?

And Peter's like, hey guys, sit back, I got this.

I'm Lord.

There's a ton of people around you.

There's tons of people pressing upon you.

How are you even asking this question?

He's trying to like see if this was a riddle.

And Jesus said, No.

I felt power come out of me.

Someone touched me.

What Peter missed and what we can miss is there's a big difference between bumping up to Jesus and getting a touch from Jesus.

There's a big difference between coming to church and brushing against Jesus once every three to four weeks and actually touching Jesus and making it a part of your lifestyle.

There's a big difference from reading my Devo and brushing up against Jesus to then touching Jesus and feeling his power.

I believe that there are moments where God is asking us, are you willing to elevate the way in which you engage me and touch me, not brush up against me, not meet a quota, not check a box.

But if you're really willing to get into my presence and touch me by faith, I wonder what our church would look like if we were a group of people that reached out and said that today we're gonna have an encounter with the living God.

I remember when Megan and I were going through seasons of despair, finances, sickness, injuries, and back.

And my mindset was simply this if I can just get into the presence of God, I know that we'll be made whole.

It became a lifestyle, it became a statement, it became a way of life.

If I can just get to church this Sunday, I know I'm gonna hear a word from the Lord.

And sometimes I had to crawl in, sometimes I had to cry, wiping away tears as I walked in.

But every time I oriented my life to prioritize the presence of God, I never walked away regretting him because I got exactly what I needed.

The power would flow out and it would begin to hit me in a way that I knew that God is with me, He's with us, and we're gonna be okay.

I want to challenge us to stop being people that are content with checking the box and following statistics of occasionally encountering God and saying, I'm gonna orient my life around this.

I'm building my life on the foundation.

I am in the church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it because this I know my faith will touch God and his power will flow into every area of my life.

It was such a powerful moment, and so the text tells us that after Jesus makes this statement, who touched me?

That she comes up and she finally admits it, fear and trembling because she was so used to being ashamed, she was so used to being isolated, she she potentially could have thought that that Jesus was going to tell her, You shouldn't have touched me, because remember her lifestyle, the worse she was, she wasn't supposed to touch anyone.

So this is a moment that could have brought great, great shame.

But Jesus was not trying to embarrass her, he was trying to free her.

Because it's possible she could have touched Jesus, kept it a secret, went into obscurity, and never really walked in her deliverance.

But Jesus wanted to redeem and restore her dignity.

He didn't want this to be something that was done in secret, but he wanted the power of God to be demonstrated by her faith.

Can I can I speak to us for a moment?

Because I think very often we we can come into spaces like this, and maybe the expectation is that we have it all together.

Maybe the assumption is that you've been walking with God for X amount of time and you shouldn't struggle with things.

So when the power of God is available and He's inviting us to go public with our faith, the shame and opinions of others can keep us from engaging the presence of God.

And instead of walking in true deliverance, we're walking with partial healing.

Hear me?

Partial healing is still total bondage.

So God is trying to bring us to a place where are you willing to bring it to the light?

Sadly, we've created a culture, specifically in the West, where when we engage God, it's a secret.

I often say that our relationship with God is personal, but it's not private.

But I'm saying to you right now that we will never do the every head bow and every eye closed moment ever again, because we're not going to be ashamed of declaring that we need Jesus in our life.

The woman went public with her faith, and that brought about transformation in a way that shifted the atmosphere.

It's only here in the West that we're like, I need Jesus, but don't let anybody know about it.

I need a miracle, but don't tell anybody about it.

What is it about the presence of God that we need to be ashamed of?

All of us need the same grace every single day.

All of us need a breakthrough from God.

We all need a word from God, and we're not gonna allow me pursuing healing to be a matter of me being ashamed about it.

The Bible says that she went public with her faith.

Yes, Lord, it was me that touched you.

Yes, Lord, it is me that needs a touch from you.

Yes, Lord, I need a breakthrough, I need a miracle in my life.

We're gonna strip away the shame of pursuing the presence of God.

She went public with her faith and she told the whole truth.

She told that she declared that if I could touch the hem of his garment, I'll be made whole.

She told the story of the pain and suffering that she went through.

She declared it all to Jesus in his presence, and he responds to her in what I believe to be the most significant words we can see in this text.

He said to her, daughter, some of us can miss the significance of that statement.

But when you understand things from her perspective, for 12 years she was called unclean, for 12 years, she was called damaged.

For 12 years, she was called a problem.

For 12 years, she was an inconvenience.

For 12 years she lived in isolation, in 12 years, she didn't have any community, for 12 years she didn't have a family to claim her.

But in one encounter with God, she went from being unclean to being called a daughter.

What is it about our society that we only know people by their dysfunction?

If someone were to ask me earlier, what are you preaching on today?

My response would have been, oh, I'm preaching on the woman with the issue of blood.

Because that's what we know her as.

That's what the heading in our text says.

But what if we got it wrong?

She's not the woman with the issue of blood, she's a daughter who's been redeemed by the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.

He's shifting her identity, and I want you to hear me, he's doing the same thing for you.

You are not your worst mistake, you are not your struggle.

While you may have it and while you need to walk out your deliverance, but what you've done is not who you are.

You are a child of the king.

He calls her daughter, and maybe for some of us, you have not been called that endearing word in the presence of your loving father before.

So I prophesy to you that you are not an addict, you are a son.

You are not a divorcee, you're a daughter.

Maybe those things are a part of your life, but that is not the identity that you build your life on.

Go, your faith has made you well.

He doesn't say go in relief, but he says, Go in peace, go in shalom, go in wholeness, go, and nothing else is fractured, lost, or stolen.

It's a powerful moment because as we're hearing this and we're experiencing this, the text then turns and tells us that we almost lose sight of the fact that we have poor Jairis there who's still waiting for his miracle back at his household.

The camera pans, and you see Jairis saying, like, man, this is great, but my daughter is still waiting on a miracle.

And just as they're preparing to wrap up this moment, someone from Jairis's house comes and says, Hey, listen, your daughter is dead.

Don't bother the preacher anymore.

And this becomes the gut-wrenching part because we see the paradox and the parallel of the 12s.

We have a woman who's been struggling for 12 years, and we also have a young girl who's 12 years old who has just lost her life.

One who is losing life slowly, and one who's lost her life suddenly.

But Jesus is Lord over both.

He's over your chronic suffering, and he's also Lord over your sudden crisis.

He's Lord over the bleeding for years, but he's also the Lord over what seems dead today.

The Bible tells us that Jairus is about to learn a lesson in real time that sometimes Jesus' pace feels like a delay, but he's never late.

He's never late, family.

He stops for the suffering woman, and he still makes time for the dying girl.

Which means that Jesus can hold your interruptions and your urgency at the same time.

He can heal you either way.

He can fix what you thought was beyond repair.

So here's how we respond in this moment.

There are many of us who are on the end of the spectrum that is like the woman who'd been struggling for 12 years.

Secret suffering.

Secret sin, secret anxiety, secret, secret stresses, streak of burden, like things that have just been with us for so long, it seems like it's a part of our identity.

Jesus sees you.

But there's others in here that are in the midst of a crisis.

Sudden news, sudden things that are just interruptions that seem so overwhelming you don't know what to do.

I see that you're in this room as well.

But the beautiful thing is that while both pains are present, they are still under the feet of Jesus.

So here's what I want to do.

We're gonna go into a time of worship.

But I want to pray specifically for people that may find themselves with long-enduring suffering and people that are dealing with uh instant, overwhelming, urgent situations.

So if that's you, I I want to invite you to stand up and come and meet me at this altar right now.

We're just gonna stand here for a moment.

But if that's you, if you know that you need to have an encounter with the living God, if you're willing to push past the shame, if you're willing to push past the discomfort and say that, Keith, I don't care about what nobody says.

If I can just touch the hem of his garment, if I can just get into the presence of God, then I know that I will be made well.

If that's you, I want you to come and meet me at this altar.

For all of us, I want us to stand on our feet as we prepare to go into worship.

But I want you to come and meet me up here at this altar.

Not because this altar is special, but because the altar is a sign of us pushing through the crowds.

This altar is a sign of us going public with our faith, going public with the invitation, and inviting God into it.

And as we can look and see, we are not alone, we're not in isolation.

I want to go ahead and fill this space in.

Come in as close as you can because uh I want to create space for our prayer team is gonna walk by and touch and agree and pray with people as they're coming forward.

But as we go into this moment of prayer and then we're gonna go into worship, I want to first start here.

Everybody that's up at the altar, I want you to to look at me.

Everybody just look at me for a moment.

I want to I want to say this to you.

One, I'm I'm deeply proud of you, and I'm moved by your courageous faith.

I know that some of us may have roles of influence, we may be leaders in our home, we may be successful in other areas of our life, and it can feel very vulnerable, uncomfortable to come before the community of faith and admit that I need to invite God into this moment.

But I want you to hear me.

My life was literally changed and shaped by coming to the altar.

I almost seemed as if I was at the altar every week, but I knew that this is the place where I lay it down and I pick up the grace of God.

So I want you to know that there is no shame, that there is no condemnation, that this is a safe space for us all to be vulnerable.

But I also want to declare over you that all it takes is one moment in the presence of God to change everything.

Because not only does the altar alter it, but sometimes it alters us.

So I want you to be encouraged that God is with you, and we're gonna begin to pray the power and presence of God over whatever your situation is.

I want to ask our prayer team and our prayer warriors to just come and touch and agree as we begin to pray.

We're gonna go into a song of worship to kind of seal this moment in.

But I want you guys to know that Jesus is here, he sees you, he's pleased with you, and I want us all to lift our hands to heaven.

I want you to lift your hands to heaven.

I want you guys to lift your hands to heaven, a sign of stretching our faith.

Heavenly Father, we thank you so much for your faithfulness, we thank you for your grace.

We're not responding to emotionalism, but the Bible says that as we draw close to God, He draws close to us.

So, Father, we press through the fear, we press through the anxiety, we press through the missed expectations, we press through our own disappointment, we press through the doubt, and we still say that if we can just touch the hem of your garment, then we declare, we prophesy, we say that we will experience healing.

And so, Father, I come in alignment with that, and I declare over your people that today is the day that they are made whole in the name of Jesus.

Father, I pray over every precious soul that's up here that is dealing with sickness in their body.

Father, I declare and I decree that today is the day that they begin to experience their healing.

Listen, church, I don't want to be the only one that's praying, but begin to prophesy over your situation, begin to declare God's power over your situation.

Father, I pray for healing in the name of Jesus.

We pray over healing over the mind, anxiety, depression, worry, it's gotta go flee in the name of Jesus.

Sickness in the body, God, I declare that cancer goes, I declare that diabetes goes, I declare that everything that is not in alignment with the power and presence of God that it goes in the name of Jesus.

We prophesy healing over bodies in the name of Jesus and command for cells to respond to the grace of God.

Father, we pray for healing in our spirits where we feel rejected, where we feel wounded, where we've been in isolation for so long that we stop believing that our lives will ever change.

But can you be healed?

Yes, in the name of Jesus.

I pray that they can experience their healing.

Father, I pray for those who are struggling with their finances that you bring deliverance, that you bring open doors, that you bring favor in the name of Jesus.

Father, I pray over broken relationships that need to be mended because in their own strength they can't do it.

But all of those things without you, God, it's just our own efforts.

It's filthy rags, but with Jesus in it, but with the grace of God in it, with the hand of God moving, nothing shall be impossible.

So, Father, I pray that you move on behalf of your people, that you bring freedom, that you bring healing, that you bring breakthrough.

And even now, the Holy Spirit visit our places of work and usher out every demonic stronghold that's been set up against us, visit our homes, and we pray that you usher out every demonic struggle that's in our home.

In the name of Jesus, we declare your name.

We walk in your name, we're healed in your name, we're free in your name, we're authority in your name.

So in the name of Jesus, we receive, we declare, and we walk out our healing in Jesus' mighty, powerful, matchless name.

We pray.

Amen.

Can we give God some praise and let's speak the name of Jesus together one more time?

Thank you for joining us to learn more about Celebration Orlando, a church devoted to reaching the lost, equipping the found, and helping the hurting.

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