In Luke 13 vs 12

Jesus said "woman thou art loosed from thine infirmity." Not that you will be or can be loosed; but you already are loosed. You don't have to have to act like this; it is when you know it that the deliverance comes. "And you shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free." The moment she knew it; there are things you need to know about yourself. Stop working with old information, you need your database updated on who you are!

Now she has straightened up herself and it is into this cataclysmic state of praise with tears streaming down her face, jumping up and down that people are happy for her except the Pharisees! Understand that while you are happy that you finally got something wonderful, while you walk down the aisle and get married, while you start the business, got that job, clinch the admission, got the new house, never lose sight of the fact that there are people close by and around you who are not happy for what God has done in your life.

Some of the criticism comes as a distraction to rob you of the beauty of the moment; the joy she has not had for 18 years. AND YOU KNOW THAT THERE IS NO JOY LIKE THAT LOVE THAT COMES TO A LONELY HEART; NO JOY LIKE THAT CHILD WHICH COMES TO A BARREN WOMB; none like that joy of deliverance which comes to a crushed soul and twisted body from 18 years of numbness. And at this point comes the critic. People, THERE IS NO CRITIC LIKE A RELIGIOUS CRITIC! YOU HAVEN'T BEEN BEATEN IN THE STREET, BY CLUBS OR STUFFS LIKE THAT UNTIL YOU'VE BEEN BEATEN BY A BIBLE. THE SPIRIT OF CRITICISM WILL ALWAYS USE THE SCRIPTURES TO VALIDATE IT'S RIGHT TO EXIST.

They said (in other words),"I can't believe you healed her on a sabath day". This technicality is scriptural but they used the scripture because Jesus had exposed 18 years of the impotency of their ministry, the incompetence of their priesthood, the irrelevance of their religiosity. His brilliance exposed their dullness and decay, His victory their defeat, His height their shallowness, His holiness their stink and wretchedness. He had shaken up their status quo and they were looking for anything to shut him down.

Anytime you are about to be effective, people will use anything they can. So they grabbed one of the scripture they could and throw it at Him. Technically they were right but THEY HAD THE LETTER OF THE TEXT (WHICH PEOPLE WILL KILL YOU WITH) BUT NOT THE SPIRIT OF THE TEXT (WHICH THEY WILL NOT EMBRACE). THEY TURN TO LEGALISTIC DOGMA, THINGS THAT WERE MEANT TO MAKE YOU BETTER.

And Jesus turns and said to them (in other words), " YOU MEAN TO TELL ME YOU WILL WATER YOUR OX, TAKE YOUR DONKEY OUT OF THE STALL BUT THIS DAUGHTER OF ABRAHAM WHO HAS SUFFERED FOR 18 YEARS SHOULDN'T BE HEALED ON A TECHNICALITY?"

They will throw you different blows from every corner of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation; they will whip you with their anointing; they will harass and embarass you with words of knowledge; they even have facts and figures and they will choke the life of Christ that you are even managing and praying to God to help with their teachings; they will strangulate and stifle your love for God and frustrate the service of your Father in the meanest and demeaning way possible with disgruntled voice and grimace. Then you begin to wonder with many questions begging you for answers like, "Are we not going to the same heaven? Is it not the same God that we are serving? What did I do wrong? This is suppose to be a church, but why this attitude towards me?"

Many questions like that will set your world off balance because you can't seem to align their cutting remarks with the sensiblity of God's word; you may even begin to doubt your initial conviction of what God told you to do. And that's a mistake. But what do you do in the face of this harsh criticism and the bloodiest of all being the religious critics? Should you pack up and leave to pitch your tent elsewhere? Should you withdraw and not make any contributions since you are not welcomed nor loved? Should you modify and reduce the intensity of what you are told to do?

... To be continued...