Mark 5:25

Mark 5:25 says, And a certain woman, which had an issue of blood twelve years, Verse twenty-six adds, And had suffered many things of many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse,  If you ever start to think that everything is hopeless, remember this woman.  She had been sick for twelve years and had endured many things at the hands of physicians.  Now, this is not an indictment on physicians, because I know that they can do a lot to help a person, but they cannot cure everything, but God can if we put our faith in Him and He chooses to do so.  We may wonder why God doesn't heal everyone, but we cannot allow the fact that He doesn't to stop us from believing that He has the power to do so or lose our faith in Him.  The woman had spent everything she had on seeking a cure, but only grew worse.  Verse twenty-seven states, When she had heard of Jesus, came in the press behind, and touched his garment.  Verse twenty-eight adds, For she said, If I may touch but his clothes, I shall be whole. Then, she heard that Jesus was nearby and put her faith in Him into practice.  She didn't even believe that she had to talk to Him personally to be healed, but that she only had to touch Him by faith.  We will never see Jesus face to face in this lifetime, but if we come to Him by faith, we will be healed spiritually.  Verse twenty-nine continues, And straightway the fountain of her blood was dried up; and she felt in her body that she was healed of that plague.  When she touched Jesus' garment, she was made whole, not by the act itself but because of her faith in Him. If you would be made spiritually whole today, all you have to do is come to Jesus Christ by faith.  Verse thirty states, And Jesus, immediately knowing in himself that virtue had gone out of him, turned him about in the press, and said, Who touched my clothes?  If you ever feel that Jesus is too busy to hear or care about you, remember this woman.  Jesus knew that someone had reached out and touched Him, because the virtue, His healing power I believe, had gone out of Him.  Even in the press of the crowd around Him, Jesus knew someone had reached out to Him and asked who had touched His clothes.  I believe Jesus already knew who but was giving the woman a chance to publicly acknowledge her faith in Him.  Even though Jesus always knows when a person comes to Him for salvation by faith, which is a personal thing, He still expects them to publicly acknowledge their faith in Him.  Verse thirty-one adds, And his disciples said unto him, Thou seest the multitude thronging thee, and sayest thou, Who touched me?  The disciples once again focused on the crowd instead of on Jesus and the woman.  They basically said with so many people around, how could Jesus expect to know who touched Him.  Even in a crowd, if no one else knows, if a person comes to Jesus by faith, He will always recognize that person individually.  Crowds cannot separate us from Jesus if we come to Him in faith, nor keep Him from knowing who we are individually.  We must do whatever is necessary to get to Him.  Verse thirty-two says, And he looked round about to see her that had done this thing.  Verse thirty-three adds, But the woman fearing and trembling, knowing what was done in her, came and fell down before him, and told him all the truth. Jesus looked around for the woman, and even though she was afraid, she fell down before Jesus and told Him the truth.  We really have no reason to fear coming to Jesus, but even if we are afraid for whatever reason, we need to simply acknowledge to Him that we are coming by faith to be healed spiritually.  Verse thirty-four continues, And he said unto her, Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace, and be whole of thy plague.  Jesus told the woman that her faith had made her whole.  She really didn't have to touch His garment, but simply needed to profess here faith in Jesus.  There is nothing else that we must do to be saved than to come to Jesus by faith.   

Mark 5:21

Mark 5:21 says, And when Jesus was passed over again by ship unto the other side, much people gathered unto him: and he was nigh unto the sea.  After healing the demon possessed man and sending him on his way, Jesus once again crossed over the sea by ship.  The people where the man was healed had asked Jesus to leave, and He did.  They could not have forced Jesus to leave, but He did not force them to follow Him.  We cannot force people to follow Jesus today, but as Christians we are commanded to share the gospel with everyone.  After Jesus crossed over, many people were gathered to see Him.  I believe most probably came out of curiosity or to see how they might physically profit from being in the presence of Jesus.   Many people today look to Jesus for the wrong reason, and when they do they go away disappointed.  Verse twenty-two adds, And, behold, there cometh one of the rulers of the synagogue, Jairus by name; and when he saw him, he fell at his feet, There was a leader of the synagogue who came to Jesus for a particular reason and fell at Jesus's feet.  Verse twenty-three continues, And besought him greatly, saying, My little daughter lieth at the point of death: I pray thee, come and lay thy hands on her, that she may be healed; and she shall live.  His daughter was sick, and the man believed that Jesus could physically heal her.  As a religious leader, it may have been hard for him to come to Jesus humbly and ask for help, since he was a man of authority in the Jewish religion.  We need to be careful that we don't put more faith in religious leaders than we do in Jesus Himself.  The man still felt that it was necessary for Jesus to come and lay His hands on his daughter in order to heal her.  This means that he didn't truly understand Who Jesus was.  Some people today in time of trouble will call out to Jesus for help, not fully understanding Who He is.  Verse twenty-four concludes, And Jesus went with him; and much people followed him, and thronged him. Though Jesus did not need to be physically in contact with the girl to heal her, He went with the man and the crowds followed Him.  I believe most simply wanted to see if Jesus would heal her or fail to do so.  Jesus will come to us and heal us spiritually if we simply put our faith in Him and ask Him to save us.  The first step is to come to Jesus by faith, and if you haven't, once more my prayer is that you will do so today.  

Mark 5:14

Mark 5:14 says, And they that fed the swine fled, and told it in the city, and in the country. And they went out to see what it was that was done. After Jesus allowed the legion of demons to enter the swine and the swine killed themselves, the ones that fed the swine went into the city and the country and told what had happened.  They may have been afraid that they would be blamed for the loss of the swine.  For whatever reason they did this, they were sharing the news of the power of Jesus.  Some people today may encounter a miracle and tell others what happened even if they do not really believe in God's power, but if they do, God's power is still being testified to.  Verse fifteen adds, And they come to Jesus, and see him that was possessed with the devil, and had the legion, sitting, and clothed, and in his right mind: and they were afraid. Then verse sixteen continues, And they that saw it told them how it befell to him that was possessed with the devil, and also concerning the swine.  People came to Jesus to see what was happening and found the man who had been demon possessed sitting, clothed, and in his right mind.  No matter how sinful we may be, if we come to Jesus in faith, He will restore us to spiritual wholeness, and then we need to figuratively sit as His feet and learn from Him. Those who came, instead of celebrating the miracle, were afraid.  If someone who does not believe in God sees a great work of God, they will likely be left afraid.   We often fear that which we do not understand, but as Christians when we see God doing miraculous things we need to give Him our praise and share the news with those around us.  Verse seventeen continues, And they began to pray him to depart out of their coasts.  The people asked Jesus to leave after they were told what happened to the man and the swine.  They were evidently more concerned for the loss of the swine than they were of the healing of the man, and to many people today seem to be more concerned about what it might cost them materially to follow Jesus than about the miraculous salvation that He provides.  Verse eighteen says, And when he was come into the ship, he that had been possessed with the devil prayed him that he might be with him.  Jesus went to a ship to depart when those around Him asked Him to.  If you do not want to be with Jesus, He will not force Himself on you.  As a matter of fact, unless you invite Him into your life, you will never benefit from His death on the cross for you.  Though those who saw the man healed of the legion of demons and the destroyed swine asked Jesus to leave, the man himself prayed, or asked Jesus, if he could go with Him.  We should always want to be close to Jesus, but we cannot just spend all our time seeking what we think is the best way to do this.  We must ask God what He wants us to do instead of asking Him to endorse what we want to do.  Verse nineteen adds, Howbeit Jesus suffered him not, but saith unto him, Go home to thy friends, and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee, and hath had compassion on thee.  Jesus didn't allow the man to go with Him, just as we may at times be told no when we have a plan to serve God in a particular way or place.  Jesus told the man to go home and tell his friends what Jesus had done for him.  We need to start where we are and tell people about the great things God has done for us because we have accepted Jesus Christ as our personal Savior and Lord.  Verse twenty continues, And he departed, and began to publish in Decapolis how great things Jesus had done for him: and all men did marvel. The man went to Decapolis and told the people there what Jesus had done for him, and they marveled at what Jesus had done.  We are not told if they accepted Jesus as their Savior and Lord or not, but the man had done what Jesus asked Him to do.  That is all we can do as well.  We may not have been as demon possessed as this man, but we were all sinners when we encountered Jesus, and our salvation when we put our faith in Him is no less marvelous, and we should tell everyone about our salvation experience.   

Mark 5:9

Mark 5:9 says, And he asked him, What is thy name? And he answered, saying, My name is Legion: for we are many. When Jesus was casting out the demon, he asked what the demon's name was.  This would mean that the demon was real and not just something the man had created in his mind.  The answer to Jesus' question was, "My name is Legion: for we are many."  It is no wonder that the man was uncontrollable, until he came to Jesus.  No matter how many demons there may be in a person's life, the demons will never be more powerful than Jesus.  All a person has to do to be healed is to come to Jesus by faith.  Even a legion of demons were powerless before Jesus.  Verse ten adds, And he besought him much that he would not send them away out of the country.  The demon or demons asked that Jesus not send them out of the country.  Jesus may not always send our demons far away from us, but He will always give us power over them if we continue to put our faith in Him. Verse eleven states, Now there was there nigh unto the mountains a great herd of swine feeding, Verse twelve adds, And all the devils besought him, saying, Send us into the swine, that we may enter into them. The demons, or devils, asked that they be allowed to enter a nearby flock of swine, and Jesus allowed them to.  We might wonder why Jesus didn't just send them away, or even destroy them, and I believe the reason was that there were more lessons to be learned from this encounter.  We may not always understand why God does things the way He does, but we can be certain that it is best way and learn from how He does things.  Verse thirteen continues, And forthwith Jesus gave them leave. And the unclean spirits went out, and entered into the swine: and the herd ran violently down a steep place into the sea, (they were about two thousand;) and were choked in the sea. The herd of swine, nearly two thousand, ran violently down the steep place into the sea, and drowned.  The escape of the demons was short lived, and there must have really been many to affect so many swine. There really is no lasting escape for the demons in life today, even if they think they are manipulating Jesus.  No matter what demon you may be facing today, if you come to Jesus Christ for salvation, He will cleanse you of all of them if you truly put your faith in Him.