No. 18 – The loosed woman – Free at last!

Luke 13:10-17

If you have been bound like this lady for even 18 days how would you like to be free immediately, imagine what 18 yrs must have felt like. Would you like to know someone who could keep you free for the rest of your life? She met Him that day, Jesus.

We have all been bound at sometime by physical limitation, emotional limitations, like rejection, and spiritual limitations like weak faith. We all know the feeling of not wanting to go somewhere in case we bump into someone or our heart goes bump when the phone goes as it may be that dreaded phone call. All these sort of things bind us to some degree, some we deal with like broken friendships and others like sudden death of a loved one, we cannot shake off ourselves. This lady who met Jesus could not straighten herself up (Luke 13:11) There was absolutely nothing that she could do physically, to help herself. She did know that if there was to be any hope for her she had to stay close to God, so she looked after her religious life by being in the Temple on the Sabbath day. She knew where the reading of the Word would give her comfort and encouragement. We are so amazingly blessed today, that we have a way to God through the death of Jesus so we can worship Him anywhere at any time. There are so many amazing ways to receive the spoken Word that strengthens our faith (Romans 1:17; Romans 10:17)

“…crippled by a spirit for eighteen years.” Luke 13:11

Jesus points this lady’s problem to a demon (Luke 13:11) This can be a real comfort to any person who is bound, as we all need to remember the real cause of all our difficulties. Demons have the character of their master, Satan, and they set about lying; thieving; killing and destroying everyone, particularly the children of God. He has a long term plan. When little things go wrong we live with it and are not too upset by this. For example strife in a relationship leads to confusion and every evil work (James 3:16) and after a few unkind words there is real division. We can receive simple physical symptoms of a sickness and in no time we are looking death in the face. We become hardened to the pure voice of the Holy Spirit. We need to deal with these small things very quickly before we find that the demons have a real foothold in our lives and we are really in a big battle of faith and we have let our shield slip.

“…said to her, “Woman, you are loosed.” Luke 13:12

This sick lady was made well by a touch from Jesus. She had a past that tormented her, she couldn’t sort herself, however hard she tried, but Jesus set her free. He lifted a heavy burden from her back and gave her hope and a new perspective on her future. So many Christians are going round weighed down with burdens that we can’t shift ourselves, and they make us more and more tired and miserable because we do not share them with Jesus or anyone else, (Matthew 11:30).

God wants us set free from the loads we carry. He does not want us to become so accustomed to the problem, when the opportunity to let it go passes us by, because we were not looking for it, as we had given up. Problems can be a security blanket and certainly give us something to talk about or can even make us the centre of attention. When you have had a long term problem and Jesus miraculously delivers you and sets you free, you have no excuses to hide behind them, your attitude has to change. If we have emotional handicaps from childhood and have difficulties making friendships, we are the ones that have to change we cannot expect people to make allowances for us. If we do not go to God and get advice and listen to the leading of the Holy Spirit who wants us to be whole in every area of our lives (3 John 2) we will not be able to be free to love and trust others and give ourselves wholeheartedly in any relationship. If we make relationships, keeping God at the centre of our lives then we can overcome any difficulties we may have because of our past or previous hurts. Our attitude (Philippians 2:5) gives us either life or death in our situation, if we allow bitterness to take root (Hebrews 12:15) we bring pain to all our relationships. It does not matter what our problem is if our attitude is not in line with the Word the problem will keep returning.

“Then He put His hands on her…” Luke 13:13

Jesus laid hands on this lady and immediately she glorified God. She knew exactly where her freedom had come from and she knew what she had to do first. Her attitude had changed. This is the way for people to receive healing today, Mark 16:18. Just the touch from a believer encourages the sick person to join their faith to the believer’s and so they know that healing is here, even if there is no change in his body as yet, Jesus has said it so it is done! No doubt just believe.

“Indignant because Jesus…” Luke 13:14

Satan still tried to steal this woman’s long awaited victory by stirring up the religious people round her, but she was holding on to her victory through praise and worship (Psalm 8:2) and giving God all the Glory for her amazing miracle. We need to change our attitude, from a person with a heavy burden and an excuse why we cannot choose to obey the Word, so that we make sure we keep our victory when we see it with our physical eyes. If our attitude of praise and thanksgiving, does not focus on the living God who keeps us, we will lose the victory and our condition will be worse than the first problem (Matthew 12:45). Satan is out to steal in every area, it is a basic truth of the Christian life and Jesus warned His followers often, Mark 4:13. Satan is quite determined to put another problem in our way if the first challenge leads to victory, in order to distract us and take our focus off the living God onto busyness.

Dealing with Disability

1. Praise and worship is spirit activity, no one can bind your spirit only you (Psalm 8:2)

2. Spiritual warfare, remember who is at the root of your problem and what his end is (Revelation 20:10)

3. Be very careful who you listen to, as sympathetic words can do so much damage.

4. Always remember others in your family are also suffering

5. Jesus knew amazing suffering all His life and at the Cross.(Hebrews 4:14-16)

6. Keep focus on the joy that is coming, that is guaranteed (Philippians 3:14; Hebrews 12:2)

7. Train yourself to be thankful (Acts 16:25; Philippians 4:4; 1 Thessalonians 5:16-22)

8. Remember the promise that you will not be given more than you can cope with (1 Corinthians 10:13)

9. Your value has not changed one bit, He loves you as much as ever (1 John 3:1)

Dealing with the disabled

1. Firstly they are very valuable people.

2. They have a hungry spirit so always give them the Word, it is food and life

3. They like being acknowledged and spoken to, even if they can’t speak back

4. They are as vital part of the Body of Christ as any able-bodied person.

5. Never look down on them always move down to their level.

6. Physically disabled do not just have physical needs, they need to be a whole person.

7. Make your speech relevant to their situation.

8. Listen to what they are really saying, be willing to be silent as the Holy Spirit leads.

9. Always pray with them but not necessarily for healing, maybe God is dealing with other issues before healing will come.

When God does do a miracle of healing encourage the person to have a healthy attitude. Getting rid of all the physical supports of disability, but all the emotional ones as well, especially if they are faced with scepticism from friends or relatives. They have to cut all ties with the disabled lifestyle, but be wise regarding the professionals involved and get themselves checked out before coming off medication or stopping treatment. They no longer have any excuses for not visiting that difficult neighbour, or relative, or do a job they hate. There is now no excuse for flying off the handle or not disciplining the children. Healed people often miss out on financial benefits if they have been long-term sick and this can cause stress, and a desire to hold onto sickness. Remember the children of Israel, they had only been amazingly delivered three days from a horrendous life of slavery when they started murmering, Exodus 15:24. That is why a change has to happen on the inside to go with the physical deliverance.

When Jesus does loose us from any burden it is always for a purpose. When the colt was untied as Jesus needed it, to ride into Jerusalem in order to fulfill prophesy, His instructions were to say “If anybody asks you, why are you untying it? You shall say this: Because the Lord has need of it” Luke 19:31. God always has a purpose in our freedom, but if we choose to stay bound like the lady she would have spent the next 18 years just as bent. We need to respond to the moving of the Holy Spirit and be determined to be free. This sometimes does not come immediately and we need to make plans with Holy Spirit. If we are bound by others or wrong relationships which have maybe seemed good to us but we have realised that they are holding us back from fulfilling what God is calling us to do. In this case it is not a good idea to just turn your back on this person we have to speak the Truth in love (Ephesians 4:15). Maybe we are bound to a job through insecurity we need to seek the Lord in repentance and for Wisdom on how to make a change, Joshua 1:5. Lots of the bondage comes from attitudes rooted in fear (John 6:19-21) and we do not have to change anything physically but we have to refocus our lives on Jesus and see things from God’s perspective, (Isaiah 55:9).

“…immediately she straightened up and praised God.” Luke 13:13

This lady as soon as she was touched had her tongue loosed, just like the deaf mute man that Jesus set free in Mark 7:35. Many women have their tongue bound to gossip, slander, negative thoughts, Proverbs 10:18. We need to allow our tongues to be set free by Jesus to only speak the words that He gives us (Psalm 19:14) from a heart full of the Word and praise and thanksgiving from an amazing salvation.

This is such a vital response to any work of God in our life, in order to build our faith to hold onto our miracle, Proverbs 18:21.

No.18 – The loosed woman – Free at last! Challenge Questions

Read the notes about the loosed woman.

1. Which verse really stuck out for you in Luke 13:10-17? Why?

2. Do you think the lady’s attitude to Jesus would have been different if she was able to straighten herself up?

3. In your opinion why did Jesus not lay His hands on the lady until after He had spoken the Word over her that she was free?

4. Do you have any personal testimony of being set free yourself, or have you prayed for someone personally and seen them set free? Please share! Remember we can be bound up at any time in our lives.

Read 1 Samuel 25:1-42

5. Who has died at this time? Name something that he did for David, give verses.

6. Who are David’s new neighbours? Describe their character and household. (1 Samuel 25:1-3)

7. What did David ask his 10 young men to do? (1 Samuel 25:4-9)

8. What was Nabal’s reply? (1 Samuel 25:10-12)

9. What was David’s response? (1 Samuel 25:13; 1 Samuel 21:22)

10. Who now gets involved with David’s problem and how? (1 Samuel 25:14-17)

11. What is her reaction and what does she do, who does she inform and who is not told? (1 Samuel 25:18-23)

12. What is her reaction upon meeting David, and what does she remind him of? (1 Samuel 25:23-31)

13. Is there anything in this section that reminds you of something you can hold onto when you are in a battle so you don’t react from revenge?

14. What is David’s response to Abigail, and what does he say? (1 Samuel 25:32-35)

15. What situation did Abigail find when she returned home? What did she do and what was Nabal’s reaction?(1 Samuel 25:36-38)

16. What was David’s response and what was the result for Abigail? (1 Samuel 25:39-42)

17. What speaks to you personally about this amazing woman?