There’s a popular story in the Bible of ‘the woman with the issue of blood’ that was healed by Jesus. I’ll break down the story in a few, but first, I want you to know why her story is relevant to yours. I believe that in some way, we all need to be healed. Since nobody is perfect, there’s something in us, whether we want to admit it or not, that’s broken. Something inside of all of us, regardless of age, race, nationality, years in God, etc., needs to be healed so that we can be better people. There are literally billions of people walking around with trust issues, low self esteem, physical illnesses, mental illnesses, etc., and in one way or another, we all contribute to that number. So, step one in this process: what in you needs to be healed? Well, whatever it is, I’m here to tell you that regardless of how long you’ve suffered or where the pain is, there’s healing…in His hem. 

Imagine that you know President Obama (or your choice person with power). You know this powerful person so well that whenever things go wrong in your life, community, nation, or even in the global sphere, you can simply call them, and say “hey, powerful person. I need you to fix this issue because it’s really causing issues in my life.”..and they fix it. You know this powerful person so well that they can create opportunities for you or your loved ones to go to school, get jobs, etc. because they care about you that much. You can randomly fly to D.C. (for the free!) and go sit with them for a while to talk about life and all that entails. You essentially have the hook up for a lifetime. That’d be cool huh? Well, what if I told you that you already had that hookup, you just didn’t recognize it? Would you believe me? You, yes you, have that access to God at any point of the day, every day of the week through prayer. I’m here to tell you that regardless of what you’ve done, and what you’ve told yourself, there’s power in your prayer, and hopefully, I can help you realize it in a better way today. 

At my core, I’m a fighter. If I had to describe myself down with one word, it’d be ‘fighter’. If there’s one thing that I’ve had to learn in my short time here on Earth, it’s how to fight. Now, this is interesting to me, because I’ve never been in a fist fight (or physical fight in any sense, actually) a day in my life. I almost got in a fight in the second grade (why? NO idea lol), but a teacher stopped us before either one of us could swing. I got in trouble after that attempt to fight, and decided I would never do it again (hahaha). I do, however, like to fight with my words. I love debating (especially when the person knows what they’re talking about). Why? I believe in the power of words. I know how they can be used to build people up, and tear people down. I’ve used them to build myself up, and at times, I’ve torn myself down. Now, I try to avoid randomly pouncing on people that don’t know who they’re dealing with, so I’ll give ‘warnings’ to inform that I will only go there if they lead the way (lol). My two faves: 1) “you’re messing with a heavyweight”; 2) “don’t start none, won’t be none”. For those of you that may not be familiar with the second phrase (and are wondering why I used such incorrect grammar in a title lol), that phrase essentially means that if you don’t start a problem or altercation, we won’t have a problem/altercation. In order to be effective with statements like that, you have to either deal with super scary people, or be confident in your ability to win. That’s what we’re going to chat about this week, because while a lot of us have that attitude/confidence towards our natural battles, we need it for our spiritual battles as well (I’m even in the Word, saints!! lol). 

As most of us know, I’m still taking my lovely journey through Matthew. A few days ago, I came across the infamous story of the fig tree. Jesus is hungry, walks up to a fig tree, and sees that it is fruitless. So what does Jesus do? Go to another tree, right? FALSE! He essentially curses the tree, and it withers up immediately. If you’re anything like me, you may think this is a bit harsh. Like…Jesus…with all due respect…what..what did that tree do to you? Then, it hit me: it was fruitless. He created it to produce. He created it to give and sustain life. Yet, when He arrives, it looks like a tree and feels like a tree, but there is no substance; there’s just…stuff. This passage showed me that God doesn’t want us to just exist. He doesn’t want us to just be in the right place at the right time. He wants us to produce. He wants fruit. There are a lot of things that I don’t know about God, but one that I do know is that He favors results.