Point of Contact

Point of Contact

Mark 5: 22-28

22 And behold, one of the rulers of the synagogue came, Jairus by name. And when he saw Him, he fell at His feet 

23 and begged Him earnestly, saying, “My little daughter lies at the point of death. Come and lay Your hands on her, that she may be healed, and she will live.” 

24 So Jesus went with him, and a great multitude followed Him and thronged Him.

25 Now a certain woman had a flow of blood for twelve years, 

26 and had suffered many things from many physicians. She had spent all that she had and was no better, but rather grew worse. 

27 When she heard about Jesus, she came behind Him in the crowd and touched His garment. 

28 For she said, “If only I may touch His clothes, I shall be made well.”

Matthew 8: 5-8

5 Now when Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to Him, pleading with Him,

6 saying, “Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, dreadfully tormented.”

7 And Jesus said to him, “I will come and heal him.”

8 The centurion answered and said, “Lord, I am not worthy that You should come under my roof. But only speak a word, and my servant will be healed. 

   In the churches I grew up in, there was a saying that people could believe God for something through some “point of contact.”  It seemed to me this fell into one of three ways. 

   The first was like Jairus:  “If You come and touch my daughter she will be well.”  Some people need someone they see as having some spiritual authority to come to them and touch them so they can receive God.  This may be because they do not have the faith to believe they can directly receive a blessing from God so they have to “piggyback” on someone else’s faith to receive their answer. 

   The second was like the woman who had the issue of blood:  “If I can touch Him, I will be well.”  Some people need to touch spiritual authority to receive.  This is a little different from the first type of people.  These need to be in church or be around the pastor or need to go to an evangelist to receive anything from God.  They want to touch someone or something to boost their faith.  There have been ministers over the years who sent out prayer cloths or small bottles of oil to people who would then have something to hold and to touch and it helped them receive their answer from God.  (Don’t laugh, it’s in the book of Acts.)

Acts 19:11-12

11 Now God worked unusual miracles by the hands of Paul, 12 so that even handkerchiefs or aprons were brought from his body to the sick, and the diseases left them and the evil spirits went out of them.

   The third type of people are the type with the faith of the Centurion:  “If you just say the word, I believe it will be done.”  These people know that the power of God is not really in a touch or from a visitation, but in the power of the Word.  The Centurion said he saw the authority that Christ had and his faith was in that authority.  All he required was Jesus’ words and he believed the words and received what he asked.   

   Although my personal wish would be for everyone to be like the Centurion and simply believe God’s Word and have faith to receive from Him, I am not criticizing anyone who needs some type of physical contact to boost their faith.  The point is that you find your faith and can receive what you need form God.  We all are a needy people and have times when we need God’s touch on our lives.  We need to take the lesson from all three of these examples and find our way to God.  None of them just sat and suffered in silence; they all went to find their answer in Christ.  He is the answer we need and He is ready and willing to meet our needs.  Remember the leper who came to Him?  “Lord, if you are willing, You can make me clean.”  And Jesus’ answer is the promise we need to take into our heart.  He reached out His hand to the leper and said, “I am willing. Be clean!”  

   He is holding out His hand to you today and saying, “I am willing.”  Will you believe His word and receive from Him today?

Stephen Cram                                                             February 23, 2014                    

Daniel 1:8

But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king’s delicacies, nor with the wine which he drank; therefore he requested of the chief of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself.

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture is from the New King James Version of the Bible.