Persistence

Friday 28 October
READ: Matt. 15: 22-28
MORE LESSON: Lk. 11: 5-10

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 cried to the Lord, 'Have mercy on me.' 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 and accept Jesus as the Messiah, she already knew Him as the Messiah, the only One who had answer to her prayer.
You will persist with God only when you believe that He alone holds your answer and solution.
She cried to the Lord but the Lord didn't answer a word; she wasn't deterred but kept crying after Jesus and the disciples. The disciples wanted to send her away and probably tried to but she refused to be sent away. So the disciples begged Jesus to send her away or do something, for she crieth after us: Matt 15:23. They had to report her to Jesus and that is what she actually wanted; she wanted audience with the Master. When she got the attention, 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 packed their bags and left in anger but this woman knew that it takes humility to be persistent. Jesus was not being derogatory here, He was testing her 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 will mock him or not.
When she said, ...Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters' table, 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 her; you shall acquire your desire if you perspire and do not retire but re-fire. Sincere seekers who truly have no alternative to Jehovah will not dare to walk away even in the face of the worst delay. Friend, difficult as it is to wait, it pays to wait on God, He will not deny you. Wait on the Lord!

Prayer/Action
* Lord, I receive strength to persist in the place of prayer.
* Pray that everyone waiting on God for one thing or the other will have their strength renewed until answer comes.

TODAY'S PROPHETIC PRAYER
Today I prophesy, any grave, evil net, and trap set for me and my family, catch the planners, in Jesus' name.