Woman, Thou Art Loosed
Junior/Adult Level

The title to this week’s lesson is, “Woman, Thou Art Loosed” but understand if you are a man that this is for you as well.  God wants every child to live in freedom be you male or female.  These scriptures God has brought to my heart so many times this week.  I see so many of you going through struggles and things that have you bound down.  I have those battles myself and God wants us to be free.  We can be free through Christ.  As sons and daughters of The Most High we are entitled to that freedom.  We have to learn that through Christ we are made worthy and we have to, by faith, receive the things that God wants to give to us.  We have to be willing to fight the good fight understanding that the devil will not just hand to us what he has stolen, but the battle is the LORD’S and when we are willing to obey Him, we can win and we can be loosed from the things that has us held captive.  Praise the LORD there is freedom in Christ Jesus!   

Handout:  Woman, Thou Art Loosed

Teacher's Guide

Luke tells this account of Jesus…


Luke 13:10-13 “And He was teaching in one of the synagogues on the sabbath. And, behold, there was a woman which had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bowed together, and could in no wise lift up herself. And when Jesus saw her, he called her to him, and said unto her, Woman, thou art loosed from thine infirmity.  And he laid his hands on her: and immediately she was made straight, and glorified God.


Have you ever been bowed down by something and could not lift yourself out of it?  This woman had been in this situation for eighteen years.  I love that the Bible does not specify what her problem was.  It just says infirmity.  That word infirmity in the Greek Transliteration is Astheneia which means; want of strength; weakness, feebleness of health or sickness of the body, or the soul


We all have something that makes us weak.  That thing that you can not seem to stop doing, or that person you can not seem to stop a relationship with that you know is not ok with God.  What holds you back?  What is your weakness?  What is your infirmity?  Satan surely knows, and he will use it against you every chance he gets.  He is out to ruin your marriage, your relationship with God and family.  When are we, as the body of Christ going to wake up and see that we are in a war, whether we like it or not we are in a battle with evil!  Ignoring it will not make it go away.  We need to rise up with Godly anger and gird our loins with truth, with our swords of the Spirit and charge!  We do not have to sit back and let the devil take our children, our marriages, our jobs, and our rights!  There may be times that we will go down in the fight, but we go down fighting, we do not just go down in surrender, because ultimately the Battle is the LORDS and HE DOES NOT LOSE! 


We rejoice over that, the fact that God is going to win out in the end, but God wants us to live in that victory now!  It isn’t going to just be given to us, we will have to fight for it.  


There are some of you in the world now that are reading this and you know every well what is means to fight every second of your life.  You fight to survive.  There are some of you who do not know where your next meal will come from, some of you who maybe do not have a home, you know what it is like to trust Jesus for your next breathe even.  Then there are others who seem to have everything, it seems to everyone that they have been given everything they could ever want on a silver platter, but what no one sees is the battle that rages inside them.  That war that no one can see.  No one can see that every single day you fight to survive from thoughts of suicide, you trust Jesus just to stay alive because you are so lonely, so depressed, you are in a pit that the enemy has dug for you and it seems like there is no way out.  While you smile on the outside, inside you scream for help but it feels as if no one is hearing you.  It feels like you are losing the battle and you wonder what is the point?  Let me tell all of you right now, whatever your situation, whatever your infirmity, be it depression, drugs, alcohol, poverty, sickness in your body, lusts that you can’t seem to control, food, cigarettes, whatever it is that you battle every day, God hears the heart’s cries!  He hears, I promise you, He hears and He will act if you keep calling out to Him, believing what He says and obeying His words.  Deliverance will come, maybe not overnight, but in time if you keep obeying, it will come. 


Galatians 6:9 “And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.”


1 Peter 3:17 “For it is better, if the will of God be so, that ye suffer for well doing, than for evil doing.”


There is a popular teaching in the church today that if we do everything right, and what Good wants us to do that we will never have trouble and we will be rich and never be sick.  Beloved, this is false doctrine.  The book of Job says this:


Job 14:1 “Man that is born of woman is of few days, and full of trouble.”


Think of the Apostle Paul, and the Disciples.  They were used in mighty ways of God and they all had so many trials and problems.  They were beaten, thrown in prison and all of them but one died because of what they believed in.  Still they lived in victory!  The were over comers through the shed blood of Jesus Christ.  You may be thinking well if it is going to be this way, if I am going to have problems anyway what is the use of trying to live righteously, why not just live according to my desires and have some pleasure in the middle of all this pain?  This is why. 


John 14:26-27 “But the  Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, He shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.  Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you.  Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”


We cannot just live according to this world, in our fleshly desires and still have that peace and that victory that only comes from following Christ.  You will never be more miserable than when you turn from Jesus Christ and follow after your own ways.  I know this because I have been there, and because the Bible tells us that.


James 1:15 “Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.”


We may have troubles and trials in this life, but we are going to whether we are believers or not.  Trouble in life is inevitable.  However, when you have the Holy Spirit of God living inside you, you are not alone!  He will comfort you in times of turmoil and He will keep you from a lot more pain.  He will give you peace in the middle of life’s storms.


Philippians 4:7 “And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”


What is holding you back Dear Child of God?  What is holding you captive?  Do you know that you can be free from it.  It doesn’t matter what it is Christ came so that you can be free and if you are His child all you have to do is call out to Him for that freedom and to obey what He tells you to do. 


Satan will try to hold on to you, he will confuse your mind.  He will make that thing that pleases you so, seem not so bad.  He will show you the beautiful side of it but he will not reveal the trap until after you are ensnared.  Think about your family, your husband, or your wife.  Think about your children, your parents, your true friends.  God has given you those as a gift and all good gifts come from Him. (James 1:17)  Satan wants to take all of that away from you.  He will start making you dwell on the things about your spouse that makes you insane, those things that frustrate you instead of the positive things about him/her.  He will place wonderful excuses in your mind that justify what you want to do.  Oh it’s only one drink, and I only drink socially, or we are just friends, it’s ok if I go to dinner with him/her, there’s nothing wrong with it, it’s harmless, after all we are both adults.  One time turns into two times and before you know it you are in a mess.  Or you say, it’s only this one time I will try the drugs, just this once I will look at this website and I will never do it again.  WAKE UP! 


We need to wake up and see the wool that is being pulled down over our eyes by the devil.  Is that drink worth losing your family?  That other man or woman’s “friendship” is it worth losing everything that God has given you?  You may justify it by, but I love him/her.  They have always been there for me even when my spouse was not.  Yes you may love someone else, you may love them deeply, but God says Thou Shalt Not!  He isn’t trying to ruin your fun, He knows what is best and what will keep us from unnecessary pain and heartache.  He sees the future.  We have to learn to stop living according to our emotions and feelings and start believing God and living according to what He says.  You and I can be free.


Isaiah 52:2 “Shake thyself from the dust; arise and sit down, O Jerusalem:  Loose thyself from the bands of thy neck, O captive daughter of Zion.”


Isaiah 52:11 “Depart ye, depart ye, go ye out from thence, touch no unclean thing; go ye out of the midst of her; be ye clean, that bear the vessels of the LORD.


He is saying, Remove the slave bands from your neck, O captive daughter!  Go now, leave your bonds and slavery.  But it behind you, with everything it represents, because it is unclean to you.  You are the LORD’S holy people.  Purify yourself.  Isaiah 52:12 says that He will go ahead of you and be your rear guard! 


Whatever it is, whoever it is that you feel or think you cannot give up, know that God will give you the strength to.  It will be a battle but you can have the victory over it if you will believe and trust God.  I know this because I have been there.  I’m there now.  There are things that I battle everyday.  It’s not easy, it hurts sometimes, but God is my strength and He is your strength too!  Stand up and fight for what God has for you and take back what Satan has stolen from you in the name of Jesus!


Jesus wants to heal you inside.  He wants to be your everything.  You do not need that alcohol, you do not need all that food that you turn to, you do not need those cigarettes, you do not need that drug, and you do not need that affair.  Let Christ be your comfort.  He wants to, He longs to. 


Matthew 11:28-30 “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.  For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”


Dear Child of God, You have the empowerment of the Holy Spirit inside you.  You can rise up and win this battle that you are facing.  Fight for yourself, fight for your marriage, fight for your children, fight for everything that God has given you.  See the positive things about what He has given you and know that He has given you the best for you.  Anything else would not work in the long run. 


Ephesians 6:10-18 “Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. 11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. 13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. 


14 Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15 and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; 16 above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. 17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; 18praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance”


Dear one if you have not accepted Christ into your heart, you can.  Salvation is a free gift of God.  Satan will try to make you think you do not need it.  That you can be good enough on your own, but you cannot.  No one can.  We need the righteousness of Christ applied to our hearts so that we can be made acceptable before God.  This is not a bad thing, it is a wonderful gift.  You will have someone with you always who will help you in those hard times, in the times of pain, in the times of temptation.  You will have someone who will help you fight.  Someone who knows the future, who can give you discernment and insight.  Someone that will NEVER lead you wrong.  Someone to comfort you and guide you in all things.  Try Jesus, He will NEVER let you down.


Romans 10:9-13 “if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.  For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.  For the Scripture says,“Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.  For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him.  For “whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved.”


Don’t let the devil win your soul.  Let Jesus save it.  Don’t be afraid to pray.  You do not have to speak big words or a beautiful prayer.  God understands you and your heart.  Talk to Him just like you would a friend, a parent, just be honest with Him.  He will hear you and He will show you what you need to do.  Obey it and live. 


You and I can be free through Christ and live in victory, here and in life to come!  God Bless you all, I’m praying for you.  Remember me. :o)


John 8:31-36 “31 Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. 32 And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” 33 They answered Him, “We are Abraham’s descendants, and have never been in bondage to anyone. How can You say, ‘You will be made free’?” 34 Jesus answered them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin. 35 And a slave does not abide in the house forever, but a son abides forever. 36 Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.”


Dear Heavenly Father…

Thank You for being all powerful.  Thank You for the grace and mercy that You give to use every single day that we live and breathe.  Thank You that we can be free in Christ.  Lord help us to open our eyes and see the bondage that has taken us from You and help us to break those bands of slavery from around our necks so that we can live and serve You as Your sons and daughters.  Help us bring glory and honor to You.  Thank You for Jesus and the free pardon of sin.  Thank You for relationship and for love.  Please give us wisdom and discernment about evil and the traps he has laid out for us.  Help us to see it and run away from it no matter how appealing he makes it seem.  Thank You for making a way of escape with every temptation and for loving us the way that You do.  You are the lover of our souls and our strength.  We will ever praise You and worship You because You are worthy of all praise.  In the Mighty, Lovely name of Jesus we pray…Amen.


~*Cindygirl*~
September 1, 2013