I pray that the Lord God, the Father of mercy, may strengthen you in your inner being today. May the victory of Christ be evident in your life on this day!
We are looking at the story of a Canaanite woman who was persistent and thus evoked God’s intervention in her daughter’s life, even though it seemed impossible. She left us an example of faith that is worth special attention.
Yesterday we saw how this woman overcame what I called ‘the human factor’. Today we will look at how she decided to worship God instead of getting offended.
«And behold, a woman of Canaan came from that region and cried out to Him, saying, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David! My daughter is severely demon-possessed.” But He answered her not a word. And His disciples came and urged Him, saying, “Send her away, for she cries out after us.” But He answered and said, “I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” Then she came and worshipped Him, saying, “Lord, help me!» (Mathew, 15:22-25)
First, she had to overcome the ‘human factor’; but after that Jesus said: «I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel»(Mathew, 15:24).
For a long time I did not understand the meaning of this verse, but God opened the truth to me. At that moment the target group of the ministry of Jesus was the nation of Israel, because they had been preparing for His coming for a long time. Jesus was sent to the nation of Israel and then the Gospel would spread further through them. Jesus was not saying that salvation was for the Jews alone. That was not what He meant. When this woman heard Him saying that He was sent to Israel she acted as if she was deaf. She did not respond to these words; she simply ignored them. It was a sign of persistence and tenacity!
The Bible contains the story of a widow who did the same thing as this woman. This widow came to a judge and asked him to protect her from her opponent. And because of her persistence she received what she asked for (Luke, 18: 1-8).
The Canaanite woman refused to receive no for an answer, because she needed a miracle for her demon-possessed daughter. This woman had nothing to lose, so she kept pressing on in faith.
Mothers are protectors, always ready to fight for the health and well-being of their children, whatever the cost. Mothers do not care what others think of them or what name they are called when it comes to fighting for the life of their children. Mothers only care about the end result. God wants us to be like these mothers who fight for their children’s lives no matter the price they have to pay so that their children would be healthy in all areas of life – spiritual, emotional and physical. Mothers protect!
God desires that we all fight for and protect those He has entrusted us. He wants us to be strong so that nothing can stop us on our way to God’s miracle.Further we see that«then she came and worshipped Him, saying, “Lord, help me!» (Mathew, 15:25)
The woman worshiped Jesus on her knees. She did this in the midst of all the people who were there that day. It speaks of her despair; she did not pay attention to her surroundings and she did not care of what the others thought. She humbled herself before Jesus, All of this spoke of her faith.
Through this story God wants to teach us a very important lesson about the place of faith in our walking in victory. Later we will talk about how faith expresses itself.A mother’s faith saves her children. Faith is able to go through any barriers and bring life to places where death seems inevitable. Faith brings freedom to the doomed.
God’s challenge for you today is this: if you want to receive a miracle from God, you need the ability to hear people and see their actions from a different perspective. If you are impetuous and easily offended, your faith will be weak. True faith works by love; offenses destroy love.
Be blessed!
Until tomorrow!
Pastor Rufus Ajiboy
