Persistence

Monday 18 May
READ: Matt. 15:22-28
MORE LESSON: Matt. 15: 22

The story of the Canaanite woman shows how you can get anything through persistence.
She needed healing for her daughter at a time when the era of ministering to the Gentiles had not come. She could have claimed that Jesus was not going to heal her daughter because she was a Gentile but she neglected the barriers and asked the Lord to have mercy on her. She knew that the Lord is merciful and always willing to help. I want you to know that it is God's will to meet that pressing need you have if you do not give up.
This woman cried to Jesus, O Lord, thou Son of David . . . verse 22. She acknowledged Jesus as the Messiah. When many Israelites who were the children of the promise didn't believe or accept Jesus as the Messiah, she already knew Him as the Messiah, the only One who had the answer to her prayer.
You will persist with God only when you believe that He alone holds the answer and solution to your problem.

The woman cried to the Lord but the Lord didn't answer a word; however, she wasn't deterred. She kept crying after Jesus and the disciples. The disciples wanted the Lord to send her away and probably tried to but she refused to leave. So the disciples begged Jesus to send her away or do something because, as they said, ...she crieth after us: Matt 15:23. They had to report her to Jesus and that was what she actually wanted; she wanted the attention of the Master. When she got it, the first thing she did was to worship Him (verse 25). Your persistence should not only be in asking the Lord but also in worshipping Him.

Don't stop worshipping the Lord because you have not got what you want from Him; in fact that is the time to worship Him more. Jesus told her, It is not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it to dogs: Matt 15:26. This is where many people would have left in anger but the woman knew that it takes humility to be persistent. Jesus was not being derogatory here, rather He was testing the woman’s humility in persistence. It takes humility for a man to go back to a place where he has failed before and start all over again, not minding whether people mock him or not. The woman answered, Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters' table: v27. Jesus knew she had passed the test of persistence and He answered, O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt . . . Persistence was counted as faith to the woman. You shall acquire your desire if you perspire and do not retire but re-fire.

Prayer/Action
* Pray that all the blessings due you will get to you today , in Jesus’ name.
* Ask God for grace to persist in the place of prayer and not give up.
* Pray against every obstacle that can hinder you from getting the blessing God has for you.

PROPHETIC PRAYER
My portion is with the great; I shall not be less, in the name of Jesus.