It Happened In The FOLLOWING…

(15) But when Jesus  knew it, he withdrew himself from thence: and great multitudes followed him, and he healed them all; ( Matthew 12:15 KJV) 

Something has been on my heart lately. It seems that everywhere that I turn. Whether it’s a fellow blogger or something I see on the television. I hear people talking about sickness and diseases.  It’s everything from depression and anxiety. To addictions and hopelessness. Sometimes what we are battling against can seem so much bigger than God. It saddens me when I read another blogger who doesn’t have a relationship with God struggling with depression or not knowing who God has created them to be.  Here is what I have learned and I pray that you learn as well.  Healing happens in the following of God! The scripture says and great multitudes followed him,  and he healed them all. A multitude is simply just a large number of people. I want for you to get this though. Each person in that multitude had a different issue. They had a different ailment and a different condition. A different disease and a different need. What they all had in common, however, was that they were all followers of Jesus. Some of you may be thinking well  Aqua. I’ve been struggling with (name your issue here) for a long time now and I’ve prayed yet I am still struggling.  Here’s my question to you but have you truly followed Jesus.  There’s a difference between praying and following. Many people will pray for a healing but they won’t go to church. Many people will pray for God to deliver them but won’t bother to open up the bible to see what God has to say about deliverance. These are the same ones who get mad at God because healing doesn’t happen when they want it to. Anybody can pray, especially when things get hard, but it takes a person of faith to follow when things are dark and you can’t see your way through. The scripture doesn’t say when the multitudes of people got healed. It does let us know however that they were indeed healed. It reminds me of the ten lepers. After Jesus told them to show themselves to the priest and as they were on their way they noticed as they walked that they were healed. Healing happens as we walk with God. I remember when I suffered with major depression. Anything that is mental is one of the worst things that you can go through. People have less understanding when you go through an issue that they can’t see. I couldn’t tell you how many people passed me by or got irritated with me because I wasn’t healed when they thought that I should have been. Here’s the thing though,  it was also in that season of my life that God beckoned me to follow him.  It was in that season I’ve begun to study scripture writing them down.  It was in that season that I’ve begun to seek God. It was in a depression that I cultivated a relationship with God. Where I learned to hear his voice and discover little by little who he created me to be. Guess what it was somewhere in the following that depression slowly eased out of my life. I couldn’t tell you when or how but I can tell you that one day I looked up and things didn’t seem so dark and I had a new-found hope and a purpose.

(56) And whither he entered, into villages, or cities, or country, they laid the sick in the streets, and besought him that they might touch if it were but the border of his garment:  and as many touched him were made whole. (Mark 6:56 KJV) 

The last part of this verse really stood out to me. and as many touched him were made whole. Scripture already tells us everywhere that Jesus went throngs of people followed him and he was constantly pressed against. It was those who touched him who were the ones who were made whole. It is something to be able to touch  Jesus in the midst of a crowd. It takes faith to press through in the midst of an obstacle. Believe it or not, the multitudes of people were an obstacle because you couldn’t just walk up to Jesus and just touch him.  You had to press your way through the crowd. Jesus was forever moving so when he moved you had to move. Sometimes in order to touch him.  You had to fight your way through naysayers, negative thoughts, doubt, unbelief, and the what if this is not for real. The word touch means come close or as to be or come in contact with.  So when the scripture says that many touched him they simply came into contact with him. Which if we break it down further contact means to have a meeting,  communication or a relationship with.  You see when we touch  Jesus we come into a relationship with him. In order to touch Jesus, you must also be willing to follow him. We need to quit halfheartedly following him. Then give up halfway through because you tried it and it didn’t work. Now your telling everyone God is a fairy tale you prayed for a week and nothing has changed. Here’s the thing.  You can’t touch Jesus going only halfway. The reason why Jesus made whole those who touched him was that he knew how easy it would have been to give up and turn back in your journey.  He was touched by those who pressed their way through. In spite of what they had to go through. It takes more faith to keep pressing through when you thought that you should have been healed, delivered and set free by a certain point. We touch Jesus when we don’t turn back especially when we thought our prayers would have been answered by now.

(32) Then Jesus called his disciples unto him, and said, I have compassion on the multitude because they continue with me now three days, and have nothing to eat: and I will not send them away fasting lest they faint in the way. (Matthew 15:32 KJV)

Another thing that happens in the following is that we get fed. No, I’m not referring to just physical food but we get fed spiritually. The scripture says that Jesus had compassion on the multitude because they followed him for three days and they had nothing to eat. We know what comes next.  Which was the miracle of Jesus feeding the multitudes with the seven loaves and the two fish?  It was something that the Holy Spirit showed me in this verse. Jesus will never have you to follow him without feeding you something. His word says that he will not send you away fasting lest you faint in the way.  Let’s take a look at it this way.  Jesus feds whole multitude with Seven loaves of bread and a few fish. He didn’t need a lot to feed a multitude. He used what he had nothing more nothing less. A lot of us feel as though we don’t have enough to go feed someone else but God has not only fed us enough to keep us from fainting but to keep someone else from fainting also. Jesus can only feed those who follow him.  Those who spend time taking in his word. Here’s an example that I can use its sort of like a food bank giving away boxes of food. They can’t give away what you’re not there to receive. Even its available in order to access it you must be present. It’s also the same with God.  We can’t have access being fed by him.  If we’re not following him in the first place.

(19) And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. (Matthew  4:19 KJV) 

We also find our calling in the following.  In the following verse. Jesus had just told Peter and Andrew who were brothers as well as a fisherman to follow him and that he would make them fishers of men. In other words, he was going to show them how to save souls. They were already experts in fishing but now instead of it being a job.  It would become their calling and their purpose. It’s when we follow Jesus that we discover our calling. I can guarantee you this that it has something to do with what you are already handling now.  That thing that comes naturally to you.  Is that same thing that God will use in his plan for your life. I  looked up the word follow and it means to accept as an authority,  to seek to obtain; to copy after or imitate.  I realized here to follow after God we must first be able to accept him as the authority over our lives. We can’t try to lead him and then wonder why it’s not working out.  I realized that in the following that we seek to obtain that intimate relationship with our father and I also begin to understand that it is in the following that we begin to emulate God and that our ways begin to fall off as we become a new creation the more that we follow him. Remember that it happens in the FOLLOWING!

 

God’s blessings,

Aqua.