If I Could Just Touch Him; His Name Is Power!

I stumbled on a verse yesterday that I have never read before or remember ever hearing before. And although I am admittedly not a Bible scholar, it still surprises me when I read something I have never seen or ever knew before.

One of my all-time favorite songs is Revelation Song. And one of the verses contains one of my all-time favorite lines, “…Jesus, Your name is power, breath and living water, such a marvelous mystery,…”

We know Jesus’ name is power. But just how much power, we cannot begin to imagine. Remember the story of Jesus and the woman who had been bleeding for 12 years straight?!

She heard about the Healer, and she KNEW, if she could just touch Him or an article of His clothing, she would find the healing and relief she had been searching for.

“And a certain woman, which had an issue of blood twelve years, and had suffered many things of many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse, when she had heard of Jesus, came in the press behind, and touched his garment. For she said, If I may touch but his clothes, I shall be whole. And straightway the fountain of her blood was dried up; and she felt in her body that she was healed of that plague. 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?”

“And his disciples said unto him, Thou seest the multitude thronging thee, and sayest thou, Who touched me? And he looked round about to see her that had done this thing.

“But the woman fearing and trembling, knowing what was done in her, came and fell down before him, and told him all the truth.

“And he said unto her, Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace, and be whole of thy plague.” Mark 5:25-34 KJV

It clear, this poor woman had been through the ringer. She desperately sought the medical attention of doctors and specialists; she spent everything she had, perhaps borrowed money. She was shunned by society. She was miserable, for 12 long years. And then she heard about Jesus.

There is power in the name of Jesus. There is power in knowing Jesus; in being close to Him; to touching Him and allowing Him to touch you.

Now, for the verse I had never seen before. And speaking of power!...

It’s Acts 19:12.

“…even handkerchiefs or aprons were brought from his body to the sick, and the diseases left them and the evil spirits went out of them.”

What are the events surrounding this bold statement of faith? If you read earlier in the chapter, you see Paul in the synagogue and boldly speaking for three months. However, there comes a time when the influence of the Jews who rejected the message drove him out. Paul continued teaching in the hall of a Gentile teacher named Tyrannus.

“One ancient, though not inspired, writing says that Paul held his meetings at the school of Tyrannus from eleven in the morning to four in the afternoon. This was the time most people rested from work, including Paul, who worked to support himself while in Ephesus…

“Now God worked unusual miracles. Luke states these were unusual miracles and gives an example; that Paul’s handkerchiefs or aprons (literally, “sweat-bands”) could be laid on a person even without Paul present, and that person was healed or delivered from demonic possession.

“…The pieces of material were presumably those which Paul used in his tentmaking or leather-working — the sweat-rags for tying around his head and the aprons for tying around his waist.” (Source: blueletterbible.org)

Handkerchiefs or aprons were brought from his body to the sick! Paul was plugged into the power, and it was amazing power.

The same power is available to God’s faithful people today. We first of all need to know Him and trust Him. We need to have the faith of that woman who left her home searching for the Healer. There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. Acts 4:12 ESV

There is power in the name of Jesus.

by Jeanette Stark – Wednesday, April 12, 2023