With Persistence and Faith We Will Receive!

In the Gospel of Matthew, we read the interesting story of a woman from Canaan who came to Jesus to ask Him to heal her daughter. We read from the Gospel of Matthew 15, verse 22: “And, behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts, and cried unto him, saying, have mercy on me, O Lord, thou son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil.

²³ But He answered her not a word. And His disciples came and besought Him, saying, send her away; for she crieth after us.

²⁴ But He answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

Now, there is a lot for us to learn from these verses we have just read. Even though Jesus declared He was sent first to the children of Israel; to heal and to open their eyes spiritually, however we learn from reading that He would not turn anyone away who with faith came to Him asking for His help, like the this woman from Canaan.

The same thing is true today. We all need to come to Him for His help: to heal us from our physical and spiritual illnesses and to save us from the eternal damnation. And just as He did then, today also He would not turn anyone away either who comes to Him with faith!

In this story, we learn that despite the negative answer she received from Jesus, the Canaanite woman did not give up but we see with boldness she placed her request before Him. And we see in the following verse that she was persistent.

²⁵ Then came she and worshipped Him, saying, Lord, help me.

²⁶ But he answered and said, it is not meet to take the children’s bread, and to cast it to dogs.

²⁷ And she said, Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table.

Again, despite the negative answer she received, she still didn’t give up. She continued to be persistent because she had faith that she will receive what she was asking. And that’s exactly what happened. Let’s look at verse 28: 

²⁸ Then Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole from that very hour.

Therefore, as a result of being persistent and of having faith in God it turned out that she received her miracle. Her daughter was delivered from the possession of the demon.

Now, as she persisted in faith to receive the miracle she came for, we see the fulfillment of another Scriptural truth that also speaks about being bold and persistent when we pray: “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.” (Matt. 7:7). 

We also need to learn to be persistent when we pray and not to lose our hope when we do not receive an answer right away, because it doesn’t mean that He didn’t hear us, for Scripture tells us that God is Omnipresent, but because the Lord wants to see if we trust in Him; if we have faith in Him. He wants us to be patient, because patience according to Romans 5:3, 4 leads to hope.

 Also, His timing often is not the same as our time.  He knows what is best for us. And if we truly trust Him, we will know that He is faithful and will answer our prayer, and He will answer in a way that it will turn out to be the best for our situation.  

He doesn’t turn anyone away and that is evident in the following verses:

²⁹ And Jesus departed from thence, and came nigh unto the sea of Galilee; and went up into a mountain, and sat down there.

³⁰ And great multitudes came unto him, having with them those that were lame, blind, dumb, maimed, and many others, and cast them down at Jesus’ feet; and he healed them.” (Matt. 15:22-30). 

Knowing that there are so many needs among our people during these hard economic times, where so many have a difficult time making ends meet, we need to remember the Lord’s compassion towards this woman. We must remember not to lose our hope, but with persistence and faith to ask the Lord Jesus in prayer for His help with our needs, whatever they may be, and believe as she did, and we too will receive our miracle.

By Gregory Doublas

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© Copyright 2012 by Gregory M. Doublas, P.O Box 15552, Fort Wayne, IN 46885.

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