12/4/12

Do You Have the "Bends"?

Ministry to women. That is my focus.

This past Sunday I shared a message from the book of Luke, chapter 13.
"A woman who had suffered with an infirmity for eighteen years, came to the synagogue." 
She was so bent over she couldn't see anything but the ground.
All I said was, "She could have been abused, broken and battered by any a number of things, people, ill health, a demon...".
But Luke describes that on this day, there is a guest speaker in the synagogue. This teacher is Jesus.
He sees the woman. He calls her out saying,
"Daughter of Abraham..".
And from there He announces her healing before even laying hands on her. She then stands up for the first time in almost two decades. Healed. Free.

"What are the things bending you?", I ask. "What are the tragedies of abuse in your life, that have you looking down instead of up? Or, in whom have you battered or caused pain?"

After the service, in the foyer, I stand greeting and hugging many new friends. I look to my left. Waiting in line are seven men, many with tears in their eyes. One man confesses his sin of abuse of his wife to me. He says that God has clearly delivered him. Another young man asks for prayer regarding how he should treat and raise his teenage daughter. Another expresses his shame and wants to be delivered of a genetic curse of abuse in his family.

I'm so moved I can hardly talk..
I'm now bending over - not in pain, but in a groaning-like submission to the call of Christ.

Clearly, this is a divine appointment. Finally, an older man expresses the sentiment of the day.
"Ms. Sue, in my own state of being bent over for the wrong thing, I now want to bend my knee for the right thing."

Once an abuser - now a servant - of the One - who abused His own body for our redemption.

This day was a ministry to men.

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