Bold Faith: A Girl Restored to Life

Are you willing to wait longer for your miracle so someone else could have theirs? 

Let me introduce you to Jairus. You can read his story in Matthew 9:18-26, Mark 5:21-43, and Luke 8:40-53.

Jairus comes to Jesus because his daughter needs healing. But before he even asks Jesus to heal his daughter, he worships him by falling to Jesus’ feet (Mark 5:22). 

“And when he saw Him, he fell at His feet.”

I can’t imagine the pain, heartache, and fear Jairus must have been going through, but as He reaches Christ, he can’t help but fall to his feet and worship Him. Jairus recognized the power of Jesus and His presence alone brought Jairus to his knees. 

What is the first thing you do when you come to Christ for help?

Do you immediately present all of your needs? (Let me raise my hand to that one!).

Or are you like Jairus and the first response you have when you enter the presence of Jesus is to worship Him? To lay at His feet, to be in awe of His glory.  

Let’s continue through the story. Jairus pleads with Jesus to go with him, lay hands on his daughter, and heal her. As they go, a crowd consumes Jesus, Jairus, and the disciples; full of people wanting to see His healing power, to hear Him preach, to touch Him. Can you imagine the sense of urgency Jairus is feeling at this moment? I envision him waving Jesus forward and moving people out of the way to create a clear path. Trying, with all his might, to push Jesus through. Thinking to himself, “What are these people doing? Don’t they see we are in a hurry? My daughter needs healing now!” 

But as they are moving through this crowd, Jesus stops. He stops because He knew someone had touched Him:

“And Jesus, immediately knowing in Himself that power was gone out of Him, turned around in the crowd and said, ‘Who touched My clothes?’” Mark 5:30

In verse 31, we read the disciples’ reactions: “‘You see the people crowding against you,” his disciples answered, “and yet you can ask, ‘Who touched me?’”

I can imagine Jairus is thinking the same thing! “Jesus, we need to hurry. My daughter needs You to lay your hands on her! Time is of the essence; who cares who touched you?”

But Jesus knows the importance of this moment and the woman who touched Him becomes the center of His focus. You can read more about her bold faith here.

I’ve read this story many times, but it wasn’t until recently that I placed myself in Jairus’ shoes at this moment. His precious daughter is in need of Jesus’ healing power and yet, Jesus stops in the middle of this crowd to talk to someone - and not just anyone, an unclean woman; someone who shouldn’t have been in public, let alone touching others! I wonder if he felt anger in the lack of urgency Jesus was showing to HIS needs. Or frustration that this woman would halt the healing of HIS daughter. 

It made me ask the question:

“Would I be willing to wait longer for my miracle so someone else could receive their miracle?” 

As we continue to move through this part of the story, the Bible doesn’t mention Jairus reacting to this pause in their journey to his house. Instead, as you read, you instantly move to the woman in this story; feeling her fear and heartbreak but also her joy and excitement. She knew in that instant she was healed! 

I’d like to think the same was true for Jairus; that the worship he portrayed at the beginning of the story came flooding back. That he stood in awe of Jesus’ power. That the faith of this woman inspired his faith to grow even more!

I want to jump back to the question a few paragraphs up:

“Would I be willing to wait longer for my miracle so someone else could receive their miracle?”

Has there been a time in your life when you know you are close to receiving the miracle you’ve been longing for and praying for? 

• a new job

• a financial breakthrough

• marriage

• growing your family

• physical healing. 

• reconciliation with a friend or family member

My dear friend, the Lord is a good Father who wants to meet every single need you have. He wants to bless you beyond your wildest dreams! He wants you to be successful, to find love, to be healed. 

But more than anything, He wants you to know Him; to have a relationship with Him!

And there is no greater gift than that. There is no greater miracle than Him giving His one and only Son so that we can truly know Him. 

And when we shift our focus to Him, when we see Him as our Source; when we pray for our desires to align with His will - oh goodness, what He will do in your life when you have a heart chasing after Him!

That doesn’t mean we won’t have difficult moments, days, or seasons. But the way we react to these times in our lives will be very different when we are rooted in Him. 

We see that in Jairus’ life; His initial response to being in Jesus’ presence is WORSHIP! Even though his entire world is spinning out of control, he still can’t help but worship Jesus before doing anything else. Before he even asks for his miracle, he is at Jesus’ feet. 

It’s this reaction that leads me to believe that when Jesus stopped to heal the woman with the issue of blood, Jairus again stands in awe of Christ. That this moment in which he has to wait for his miracle is actually allowing his faith to rise up from within, stronger and more bold than ever. 

There’s so much more to this story and if you continue to read Jairus’ story, you hear the miracle of Jairus’ daughter being brought back to life. But I want to stop here. I want to let the bold faith we see in Jairus inspire you to be bold in your faith, no matter the circumstance. To trust God will bring your miracle to you. You may still be waiting for it, but be encouraged by this man’s bold faith. Be encouraged by God’s perfect timing. 

Be encouraged and be filled with bold faith.