A Different Way to See

Who wants to be challenged by the Word of God? Challenged to rise up and live in the promises of God? My hope is that today you will be challenged.

Did you know that faith shows you your reality? Faith actually perceives as real fact what is not revealed to your senses (Hebrews 11:1). What is faith based on? God’s Word. You hope in faith based on the Word of God. Therefore, faith is based on something that you know, and you believe.

Scripture challenges us and helps us to understand (Mark 5:21-42). Jairus was the father of a twelve-year-old girl who was very ill. In fact, she was dying. Jairus, however, knew something. What he knew caused him to seek out Jesus, and when he found Him, Jairus said this: “Come and lay Your hands on my daughter, that she may be healed and she will live” (Mark 5:23). What does this suggest Jairus knew? That Jesus Christ had the power to heal his daughter. His request seems to suggest great confidence. However, his confidence was about to be shaken. While waiting for Jesus to come to his house, a bad report came. “Your daughter has died” (Mark 5:35); there is no need to bother Jesus; it’s useless! Jesus heard this report as well, but the spoken words didn’t seem to influence Him. He seemed to have a different thought about the situation as reflected by the Word.

First, consider this: Jesus was born a human being and had to grow in wisdom (Luke 2:52). He was also tempted in every way that we are tempted (Hebrews 4:15). Jesus knew the temptation of listening to a negative report or seeing a difficult situation and being persuaded by it. But He is asking us to see according to the truth of His Word and not according to our eyes. He is challenging us to see things differently, from His perspective.

Jairus must have gone back to his original place of confidence in Jesus, because despite the bad report about his daughter, he seemed to hear Jesus’ words instead. Jesus said, “Do not be seized with alarm and struck with fear; only keep on believing” (Mark 5:36). Jairus continued with Jesus to his house where His daughter lay dead according to the report he had received.

Jesus was ridiculed for His stand of faith, for His way of thinking. It is the same for each of us. People will not always agree when we stand upon the Word of God and allow it to inform our thinking and our actions. Jesus teaches us about this situation: “And they laughed and jeered at Him. But He put them all out…” (Mark 5:40). We must keep our focus on Him, separating ourselves from negativity, that is anything that opposes the Lord and His Word. We must be fully persuaded by Him and nothing else.

When Jesus encountered the young girl, He spoke life; He spoke what was in His heart. Out of the abundance of His heart He spoke (Matthew 12:34); what you believe informs your words. The power of life and death was in His mouth and He spoke (Proverbs 18:21). His speech lined up with what He knew and believed. What did He believe? “Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in Me? What I am telling you, I do not say on My own authority and of My own accord; but the Father Who lives continually in Me does the (His) works (His own miracles, deeds of power). Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me; or else believe Me for the sake of the (very) works themselves (Amp John 14:10,11). Now Jesus is asking us to believe the same thing!

And what about the woman with the issue of blood? She too demonstrates confidence in Jesus. She demonstrates it by her actions; as an unclean woman she sought Jesus out in a crowd, an activity that she was forbidden to do. She confirmed it by her speech also; out of the abundance of her heart her mouth spoke (Matthew 12:34). Her believing, her speech and her actions were based on hearing about Jesus; she knew something about Him. “She had heard the reports concerning Jesus, and she came up behind Him in the crowd and touched His garment, for she kept saying, ‘If I only touch His garment, I shall be restored to health” (Amp Mark 5:27,28). This woman was putting a demand on the power of Jesus Christ because of the knowledge that she had about Him!

It appears that she had created an image about Jesus and her situation, about her outcome. The image wasn’t created by the facts of her illness. Her image was created upon knowledge of Jesus and what she believed about Him, His ability and what would happen. Notice, “she kept saying” what she believed and according to what she saw in her heart (you might say what she saw in her holy imagination) by the knowledge of Jesus.

Her tunnel vision on Jesus alone caused her body to experience what she believed. This is exactly what Jesus was telling Jairus, “only keep on believing”. Believing what? Believe his original thought before the bad report came; “Come and lay Your hands on my daughter, that she may be healed and she will live”. Jesus is telling us ‘Don’t be persuaded by your senses, what you see, what your emotions are telling you, but be persuaded by Me, have confidence in Me!’

Since Jesus is encouraging us to do the same thing, you may be asking, ‘Do I have faith for this?’ God instructs us: “Look away (from all that will distract) to Jesus, Who is the Leader and the Source of our faith (giving the first incentive for our belief) and also its Finisher (bringing it to maturity and perfection)” (Amp Hebrews 12:2). And He says that you have been given the measure of faith by Him, through grace (Romans 12:3). Additionally, you, along with other believers, “have obtained like-precious faith” with Peter “by the righteousness of God and your Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 1:1). So, what is Jesus saying? You are fully equipped with faith. Exercise your faith! Use what you have been given! Remember, faith is based on the Word of God and gives you a foundation for your hope, a foundation upon which to believe.