Preserve your faith
Matthew 9: 24-25
“He said to them, “Make room, for the girl is not dead, but sleeping.” And they ridiculed Him.” But when the crowd was put outside, He went in and took her by the hand, and the girl arose”.
A ruler had come to the Lord Jesus so that Jesus would come to his home and raise his daughter from death. When the Lord Jesus arrived at the house, the mourners were there, crying over the girls’ death. They were doing what they knew best to support the family, according to their culture and traditions. Being one of them, this culture and tradition was not foreign to the Lord Jesus. He understood what was going on and the purpose of it. He understood they meant well.
However, Jesus also knew that miracles do not work in an environment of fear, unbelief, doubt and faithlessness. From the scripture that we have cited above, it is obvious that one or all of these emotions were operating in the minds of the people there, because when Jesus made a “statement of faith” saying: “the girl is not dead, but sleeping”, they ridiculed him. “They laughed Him to scorn (Luke 8: 53 KJV). Maybe they thought him to be unrealistic, naive or not connecting with the situation at hand.
By their actions, their statement was “the girl is dead”. That is a statement of the obvious, not a statement of faith. That statement is not “calling things that be not as though they were” (Romans 4: 17). The statement of faith is stating as present what you are trusting God for. Jesus’ trust and faith declaration was that the girl is alive but just sleeping. Now, Jesus had a choice. He could be “nice” to the unbelievers and doubters, thereby symbolically agreeing with them or accommodating them. But the Lord Jesus did something that we are not often brave enough to do. He asked the crowd to leave (Luke 8: 54). They could stay outside, but they couldn’t be around for the miracle. That is what you do with doubt and faithlessness, you send it away from you. Where it would have no influence on you.
Just think about it. Jesus is a guest at somebody else’s house. He took authority, and had the crowd put outside. Essentially, because the father had invited Jesus to perform this miracle, in essence the father had given / handed to Jesus the Spiritual Authority in that circumstance. Jesus had to be bold enough to also insistently stand there, waiting till all the mourners and doubters had all stepped outside, before he attended to the dead body.
Feel the tension. Maybe He had to be firm with some stragglers or hecklers.
Faith is not settling with what is reality. We have to be aggressive in preserving our trust in God’s word, and His promises. Otherwise we will not see the miracles that we’re looking for in our lives. We have to believe God above our families, our best friends, our well-wishes, and sometimes even people that we highly regard in the faith. I want to encourage you today: Be careful who you allow into your faith situation. Preserve that faith in your heart, and act on it. Do not let those who pity you snuff out your miracle.
Application: What faith situation are you in now, that you need to make some changes to? The spiritual realm of faith responds to course correction. God’s desire is to see you win. So, if you need to make changes, make them boldly and see your miracle come to pass.
