Donna Schambach: Who Touched Me? (Luke 8:46)

• Let’s read today from Luke 8:43-48, this is the woman with the issue of blood, we know the story. “Now, a woman having a flow of blood for 12 years, “who had spent all her livelihood on physicians “and could not be healed by any, “came from behind and touched the border of his garment, “and immediately her flow of blood stopped, “and Jesus said, ‘Who touched me?’ “When all denied it “Peter and those with him said, ‘Master the multitude, “‘throng and pressure, and you say, who touched me?’ “But Jesus said, ‘Somebody touched me “‘for I perceived power going out for me.’ “Now, when the woman saw that she was not hidden, “she came trembling and falling down before Him, “she declared to Him in the presence of all the people, “the reason she had touched Him “and how she was healed immediately. “And He said to her, ‘Daughter be of good cheer “‘your faith has made you well, go in peace.’” Now I love this story because it’s such a visual of what I’m talking about when we put a demand on the anointing, when that woman touched the hem of His garment, that priestly robe, the tassels at the bottom that she grabbed a hold of Jesus literally felt virtue go out from Him.

01:36 - And He felt it that there was a strength that went out and He didn’t see who was because everybody was surrounding Him. And I want you to know that there are some times, we need to look and understand that when we feel, this may all be new to you. You may feel even while I’m preaching, you may feel a strengthening coming into your body, you may feel that your faith beginning to rise, your heart beginning to accept that Jesus is here to touch you and heal you. Some people feel a heat, they feel a fire begin to burn like they had arthritis maybe in their knees or maybe they feel it in their chest, whether they need a miracle in their lungs. Well, when you start feeling things like that, just start lifting your hands and say thank you Lord for my healing.

02:29 - Because it doesn’t happen the same way for everybody, there might be some that feel a wind that blows on them but Jesus literally felt in his flesh that something went out from Him. Those of us who’ve ministered to people who are sick, we know what this feels like, we know that issue of power that comes when the anointing is flowing through us. I remember I was in Canada and we had a long flight and it was bitter cold, we were in Winnipeg, Canada, and I had to get on these tiny little plane, and I remember the first night of my service there, I had pain all throughout my body, my shoulders, my elbows, my knees and it was unusual for me, I thought, well, maybe it was just that cold plane I was in. And I spoke to the lady that was traveling with me, I said, just pray that I’ll be able to walk to the podium, is unusual. And when I stood at the podium, I couldn’t get two words up because I felt a shaft of the glory of God just begin to reign and all I could do is lift my hands and worship God, all I could do is worship, I couldn’t even speak.

03:48 - And instantly that pain began to leave my body and the people of God just began to worship, it was a mighty move of God. Well, that night when we began to lay hands on people, I just moved down the row and touch them. I really didn’t know what everybody was doing but there was this one lady, she had to practically crawl into the building, she couldn’t walk, she was kind of bent over and her body was riddled with pain and what the Lord let me understand is that I was feeling (chuckling) what she was feeling and He was letting me know what He was about to do. I found it out after the effect, but the minute I touched her, didn’t even know what was wrong with her, that pain instantly left her body, and she walked out of that place and came back the next night, walking in, hallelujah, pain free. See, we can’t always explain the movings of God. And then there was a woman…

04:53 - I want to keep going down the line, there was a woman whose hands were bent over like this, and all of a sudden I just felt that unction I felt that anointing leaving me and my hands went up under her fingers and her hands straightened right up, hallelujah. So this is what I’m trying to tell you, there is a flow of the anointing for God to heal, and we have to be a people that understand that when we sense that move, when we sense that God is moving us direction, don’t let anything hold us back. I love the question that he asked He said, “Who touched me?” and all around Him everybody was bumping into Him. So He wasn’t talking, listen, this is important point, He wasn’t talking about a physical touch, even though she touched Him physically, because when he felt that touch there was a spiritual connection. And so we need to understand that the faith that we have connects us to the faith of Jesus, yes, we can reach out with our hand, yes, I can reach out to you, but really it’s not so much, that’s a symbolic gesture.

06:11 - When I touch my sister she grasped me, that’s symbolism. But what’s really happening is spirit is talking to spirit, amen. When you’re standing here like that, you saying, I’m ready, I’m ready to receive, when I put my hand out I’m saying I’m ready to impart, hallelujah, I receive, I impart, sometimes we’re looking for everybody else to do it for us but when you get hands laid on you don’t say, oh, I got to paint over here too can you touch me here? And then can you get me over here? I’m not a doctor, I’m not a chiropractor, I didn’t come to give you a diagnosis, I just came to give me a deposit, hallelujah, and when you stand, you say, I receive the healing virtue of Christ Jesus, it’s a connection in the spirit and the virtue of Christ will go out. Now here’s something that I think is interesting, it’s unfortunate that we all have to get into this place but what scripture says about this woman was she was a very sick woman, she was so sick that nobody was able to help her, no doctor could help her, all her money was gone,. could I say it to you this way? She had no hope.

07:29 - It’s unfortunate that oftentimes Jesus becomes the last choice rather than the first that we go to, it’s unfortunate. But she was bleeding perpetually, bleeding to death, she was in a very desperate situation. I want you to think about this, and this is a kind of a delicate issue but she was bleeding in a way that would be visible to people around her. Most women would understand that you don’t wanna be in public in that situation, you wanna hide, you wanna cover yourself up, but this is what desperation does. Desperation knows that Jesus is the only answer, and even if it meant I’m gonna have to do something uncomfortable, I’m gonna have to do something that might bring some temporary shame, I have to push past my pride, I have to push past my comfort level because I know if I don’t touch Jesus, I’m not getting healed.

08:41 - And here’s that woman bleeding and in a visual way, throwing herself at the foot of Jesus, look, she was even risking her own life, risking possibly getting trampled to death but she saw something in Jesus that other people didn’t see, and she drew out of Jesus, a miracle that others didn’t get, hallelujah, we’ve gotta be a people that know how to put a demand on the anointing of God. Oh, glory to God, I was in Mexico city, I think it was last year, and we were praying, I wasn’t laying hands on people in Mexico city, you could be preaching to 5,000 people in one service, and it might’ve been an alter about with this much space and people were crammed in halfway to get back the building so I could not get to be able to lay hands on them. And I didn’t find this out to later, but while we were praying and while that anointing was flowing there was a man who had an idea, I didn’t know it, I found it out two days later, but his mother 99 years of age was dying in a hospital, I think it was pneumonia, and the doctors were giving her hours to live, not days, but hours to live, 99 years of age. And while that anointing was flowing he got an idea, he picked up his cell phone and he called his sister and he said, put the phone up to momma’s ear (laughing) and while I’m praying, he said, “Mama, “we’re asking Jesus for a miracle right now.” And I didn’t even know what I was praying for, but it’s not about me, it’s not about our words, it’s about the anointing of God.

10:36 - How many of you know the anointing can go through a cell phone? (congregation cheering) She immediately got a touch from God, got up out of that bed and was discharged that day from the hospital. 99 years of age and free of pneumonia healed by the power of God because somebody put a demand on the anointing. What am I trying to tell you? It may look like a cell phone, it may look like a lounge, I don’t know what it’s gonna look like for you, but when you feel the power of God being dispersed to your direction, just run and grab it and take what God has for you today. Come on, lift your hands and give him praise. (congregation cheering) Hallelujah. (congregation cheering) .