Title: Reach out your hand
Contents
Bible Text: Mark 3:1-5
reach out your hand
There is a novel called "Monkey Hand". If you hold the monkey's hand and make three wishes, it will come true. An old man took the monkey's hand and made a wish, "I want to win two hundred pounds!" The next day a man came with two hundred pounds. When I asked what the money was, it was said that it was compensation for your son's death in an accident. Two hundred pounds and the son was exchanged. The old man made a second wish. I said, “I want my son to come back,” and the ghost of his dead son returned. The old man trembled at the ghost and said his third wish. “Let my son sleep in peace.” The ghost soon disappeared. Monkey Hands ended up losing the old man's son.
God said to Moses, “What is in your hand?” You asked. When they answered that it was a staff, he said, “Throw it,” and when he threw it, it became a serpent, and when he told it to seize the tail, it became a staff again. The staff was taught and called the staff of God. Moses held the staff of God in his hand (Exodus 4:20). That staff was a miracle staff. With his staff in his hand, he stretched out his hand toward the Red Sea, and the sea parted and became dry land (Exodus 14:21).
Hands depended on writing. Jesus said to the parched man, “Stretch out your hand!” It's about using your unusable hands. How should I use my hands?
Reach out the hand of faith
A crumpled hand is a hand without faith. He tells us to stretch out the hand of faith. There was a woman who had been bleeding for twelve years. He used his hands well to heal the sick. He made every effort to cure the disease, but in vain. One day, when I heard a rumor about Jesus, I began to believe. “If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.” The woman followed Jesus as he passed by. They approached through the crowd and touched Jesus' collar. “If I touch his clothes, I will be saved.” (Mark 5:27-28) With that thought, he reached out and touched Jesus' clothes.
At that moment, the blood stopped flowing. I felt that my illness was getting better. At that very moment, Jesus felt power emanating from him like lightning. The woman trembled in fear when she saw the miracle that had happened to her body. Jesus, who touched me? Just as you are looking for a thief, you are looking for someone who has stolen your power. Not because I wanted to rebuke, but because I wanted to admit it. It was because I wanted to praise the hand that I reached out with faith.
The moment I reached out and touched Jesus' clothes, the disease that had plagued me for 12 years was gone. A woman's hand is the hand of faith. He went to Jesus with a believing heart, reached out and touched the hem of his robe. “Go quietly to Jesus and pour out your heart.” The earnest wish pierced the core of Jesus' power through his fingertips, causing power to burst out like blood. His wish rode through the lines of faith, unleashing his healing powers.
It is faith that draws out the power of Jesus. The woman's hand was the hand of faith. The power was stolen without the consent of Jesus. Jesus said to her, “Daughter, your faith has saved you; go in peace and be healed from your illness” (Mark 5:25-34).
There was a disciple of Jesus with dry hands due to lack of faith. Jesus said to Thomas, “Stretch out your hand and put it in My side; and do not be unbelievers, but be believers” (John 20:27). If you can't reach out your hand, it's because you don't have the strength. I can't reach out my hand because I don't have faith. Reach out to touch the Lord and experience His power. The hand of the Lord casts out demons and heals diseases by the power of God's hand. I hope you will be healed cleanly by reaching out your hand of faith.
Reach out your hands in prayer
“When Moses raised his hand, Israel prevailed; and when he lowered his hand, Amalek prevailed…Aaron and Hur lifted up Moses’ hands, one on one side and one on the other, and their hands did not come down until the sun went down.” Exodus 17:11-12). The victory or defeat of the war was in Moses' hands. Raising your hand is first a sign of surrender. A defeated soldier raises his hand and surrenders.
Prayer is acknowledging one's incompetence. I have nothing. I can't do anything. And raising empty hands is prayer. The raised hand is an act of declaring that God is the only Savior. Moses raised his hand to God as a sign of conviction that the war belongs to God and that God will win. “I cannot defeat Amalek. If I rely on my own strength, I will have no choice but to lose.” It is a sign asking God to destroy it. Moses raised his hands and prayed, and God gave him victory. God defeated Amalek.
What is your Amalek now? Jesus said the enemy is in your household. My enemy is me. He said, “Whenever men meet, I want them not to become angry or quarrelsome… but to pray with holy hands” (1 Timothy 2:8). The man's enemy is angry. Don't fight often, raise your hands and pray to win. We must use our hands as hands of prayer. There are people who raise their hands and pray in the morning. God upholds us and gives us victory.
Moses' hand came down because he was tired. “Therefore, lift up your weary hands and feeble knees” (Hebrews 12:12). When Moses was too tired to raise his hands, he took a large stone and made him sit there, and Aaron and Hur raised Moses' arms. The hand did not come down until the sun went down. At that time, Israel was completely victorious.
At the self-congratulatory event of the world-famous American automobile company, General Motors, the host introduced Charles Kettering, the company's chief engineer, and everyone applauded. The host raised his hand and said, “Here is the hand of Shinhwa.” Then, “What do you think is the most important thing you have ever done with this hand in your life?” I asked. I expected the answer to be that they made the core parts of the car, but I got the wrong answer. “What I did with these hands was to hold my hands and pray.” It is important to hold hands in prayer and hold hands in prayer.
When Peter fell into the water, he struggled and said, “Lord, save me.” Immediately Jesus stretched out his hand and took hold of him. O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” (Matthew 14:30-31).
My unbelieving hands were shriveled. I don't have the strength to do anything. It is an incompetent hand that cannot pray. I can pray, so why worry? The prayer of faith is the prayer of faith. The hand of the believer is the hand of faith. Faith is what you believe with your heart and confess with your mouth. “Stretch out your hand!” What does it mean? It is to pray with strength, your dry hands! Please reach out your prayers and receive answers.
Reach out to fellowship
Reach out your hand! He tells us to reach out the hand of fellowship to our neighbors. The apostle Paul said that the Lord, who had made Peter an apostle of the circumcision, made him an apostle to the Gentiles, and knowing the grace he had given me, James and Peter and John, who were regarded as pillars, also “shaked hands of fellowship” with him and Barnabas. , “We are going to the Gentiles, and we are going to the circumcised” (Galatians 2:8-9). A handshake is the act of holding each other's hands. It is common to see countries and their leaders shaking hands and signing treaties or agreements. It is a scene showing that they are holding hands and having an alliance.
What makes a fellowship handshake?
First, a positive word. Professor John Gottman, an American psychologist, said that positive words are a tool of fellowship. For a happy relationship, say a lot of positive things. Language accounts for 50% of relationship formation. Negative words are shriveled hands. Positive language that connects, rather than words that cuts off a relationship, makes a social handshake.
Second, laughter. Laughter builds relationships. Laughter builds relationships with people. Do you know what diet is called in North Korea? It's 'living up'. When you provoke laughter, it becomes a friendship handshake. There is no other tool that seals a relationship as fast as laughter. When you reach out with a smile on your face, joy in your heart, it becomes a hand of fellowship.
Fifth, give and receive first. Like the Dead Sea, people who only receive but do not know how to give cannot have fellowship. The basic law of human relationships is give and take. An egoist who can only give and receive, cannot shake the hand of fellowship. When you greet, you are greeted and when you greet, you are greeted. A shriveled hand is the hand of a person with whom no fellowship is available.
Fourth, we must meet often. There is something called the “Eiffel Tower Effect”. When the Eiffel Tower was built in Paris, France, citizens protested for its demolition, calling it a "monstrous" detriment to the city's landscape. However, 100 years later, it is the Eiffel Tower that has made France a tourist attraction. Towers that are over 300m tall are natural to see and get better by seeing them often. No matter how much you hate someone, they say that if you meet them twenty times, you will get better. Please see each other often and shake hands.
A son had an argument with his father and left the house. The mother never for a moment forgot her son who left home. I pray every day and think of my son. The mother fell ill and died. Knowing how, the son came to the sick mother and held her hand and wept. As the hour of death came, the mother held her son's hand in one hand and her husband's hand in the other. He took the father's hand, placed it on top of the son's, and covered the rich man's hands with the mother's hands. Tears flowed from the eyes of both men as tears flowed from their mother's eyes. The mother passed away, and the father-son relationship was renewed.
One hand of Jesus held God and his hand was the hand of a sinner, and he died on the cross. The cross is the hand of fellowship. He made sinners join hands with God. Reach out your hand! I hope you reach out to fellowship and expand your relationship with more people.
As Jesus entered the synagogue, he saw a man with a withered hand. The Lord looks at your hands here today. He looks at the dry, unbelieving hands. You look at your dry, prayerless hands. You look at those dry hands that can't get along. “Jesus said to the man with the withered hand, 'Stand up in the middle...' and he said to the man, 'Stretch out your hand! And his hand was restored” (verse 3.5).
May your hands be restored today. Jesus calls out, “Stretch out your hand!” He wants to see the hand of faith. May the hand of doubt gain the strength of faith and reach out. A woman who had been bleeding for 12 years extended her hand of faith. Please extend your hand of faith.
He wants to see the hands of prayer raised. Let's raise our hands in prayer and experience the victory God gives us. Please reach out your prayers and make a miracle reality.
I hope that you will reach out to fellowship and expand the fellowship of the saints with all people and live a life that embraces the world. I hope it will be restored with the hands of faith, prayer, and fellowship. Let it be according to your faith! Be free from your bottle and be healthy!