The Everyday Prayer

Re:Verse passage – Mark 5:21-23, 35-43(day five) Taking the child by the hand, He *said to her, “Talitha kum!” (which translated means, “Little girl, I say to you, get up!”).
We have seen in previous encounters that Jesus is in fact approachable. People coming to Him and Him listening. That’s how this interaction with a desperate father begins. “My little daughter is at the point of death; please come and lay Your hands on her, so that she will get well and live.”What we learn is that the prayers and pleas of those who seek Jesus never fall on deaf ears. He listens and He hears. There is great peace and comfort found in that truth. But Jesus goes (to her house) and He touches a dead body. Jesus is not intimidated or the least bit reserved in places that are awkward, uncomfortable, or even hopeless for us. In fact, He is confident, encouraging, and able to help (heal and bring hope). So today, welcome/bring Jesus to those most tender and vulnerable places in your heart and life that need hope, wisdom, strength, and peace. He went into their home. He touched her body. He will be there with you!!

Re:Verse passage – Mark 5:21-23, 35-43 (day four)

Jairus was a ruler in the synagogue, which means he had probably heard both the glowing testimonies and the snide complaints about Jesus. If he had never experienced the emergency of his daughter being sick, I wonder what he would have concluded about Jesus? Would he still have committed himself to him and believed? Would he have taken the tone of the other synagogue leaders who looked on Jesus with disdain?

Desperation causes us to say and do things we wouldn’t normally do, but it also shows us what we really believe. Knowing he might later face social consequences from interacting with Jesus, he chose in desperation to have hope that Jesus was the healer others proclaimed him to be. Through this one moment of desperate faith, he and his family experienced the power of God in a way that changed them forever.

In your moments of desperation, have faith that Jesus is as good as he says he is.

Re:Verse passage – Mark 5:21-23, 35-43 (day two)

“Do not be afraid any longer, only believe.”

In life’s events, there is a point beyond which experience has taught you that it’s useless to press for a certain outcome. It’s too late, or too little, or too painful. It’s over, it’s gone, it’s empty. It’s beyond repair, it’s beyond recognition, it’s beyond anyone’s ability. It makes sense that you would come to the conclusion to walk away from hoping for a certain thing. Still, some longings persist. And when those longings keep running into disappointment, you can start to feel despair that no one seems to be able to answer those longings. Jesus goes right there to the deepest places in you. What you thought was ended, over, failed, dead, he can revive. The risen Savior has given new meaning to these words: “It is finished.”

Re:Verse passage – Mark 5:21-23, 35-43 (day two) One of the synagogue officials named Jairus came up, and on seeing Him, fell at His feet ²³ and implored Him earnestly, saying, “My little daughter is at the point of death; please come and lay Your hands on her, so that she will get well and live.” v. 22-23

Up to the point that Jesus actually heals this girl, this is a hard story to read. Imagine the anguish of leaving home with a child who in her last hours of life, knowing that the next breath could be her last. Jarius must have been at the point of desperation to leave home to seek out help. Seeking Jesus was his only comfort. Surely this miracle worker could restore her health, but her life? To hear the words that she had died must have broken him. This was another moment of desperation. Would he dare trust Jesus? What if he put his hope in him only to be disappointed. It would be like losing his daughter twice. Could he endure that? Complete trust is never easy. Jarius’ response was indeed a surrender. He surrendered to logic, to the voices of others, and to the promise of Jesus. When he asks you to believe him, surrender.

 

Re:Verse passage – Mark 5:1-20 (day seven)

And they began to implore Him to leave their region. vs 17

They were fine with a crazy demon possessed man living in their midst. They were okay that he had become something other than a human and could overpower anyone or anything that tried to restrain him, but they were not okay with him being free. They were not okay that there was someone who had the power to control demons beyond their superstitions and beliefs, so they sent Jesus away!

We are so afraid of letting Jesus actually work in our lives that we would rather keep the devil we know around us than take the leap of faith to see what God can do if we would only trust Him. We hold on to our sin. We hold on to our crutches. There are places we do not let Jesus in. Instead, we send Jesus away.

What if we let Jesus in? What if we let Him have ALL of us? The One who can control demons will drive evil away. The One who truly cannot be restrained, not even by death, will give His power to us. We will have power over our enemies. We will overcome our sins. We will find revival!

 

“But Jesus said, ‘No, go home to your family…’” – Mark 5:19

We don’t know how this man became possessed, but we see the devastating effects—separation from his family, isolation from his community, and a loss of his very humanity. That’s what evil does. It isolates, degrades, and destroys.

But Jesus came to restore.

With a word, He cast out the evil spirits, returning the man to his right mind, his family, and his community. Jesus didn’t just free him; He gave him back his life.

That’s what Jesus still does today. He restores what’s been broken, heals what’s been wounded, and calls us back into relationship—with God and one another.

Where do you need His restoration today?

Re:Verse passage – Mark 5:1-20 (day five). And He did not let him, but He *said to him, “Go home to your people and report to them what great things the Lord has done for you, and how He had mercy on you.”
How long had this new believer been saved?  Minutes? Hours? At the most, a day. There was no training or handbook or scripture memory. There was no system for “sharing the gospel”. He hadn’t been to Sunday School or even heard one sermon. Hasn’t been baptized. All he had (all he needed) was his newly found faith and his story. Yet, Jesus gave him the assignment to stay and faithfully tell his story. The story of God’s grace, and a changed heart and a new life. “And everyone was amazed.”

What is the story of your faith?  How you met and encountered Christ?  How your life and heart have changed because of Him?  That’s YOUR story that YOU get to tell. It’s enough. It’s powerful. It’s what people need to see and hear!!  Maybe the Christian faith is more about biography than theology. 

Re:Verse passage – Mark 5:1-20 (day four)

“Go home to your friends and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.”

Mark’s account of the trip across the sea takes all of 27 verses (Mark 4:35-5:20) and the overall trip doesn’t seem to be a long one. Jesus took the disciples across the sea, calmed a storm, healed a man, then went back across. The seemingly short trip for Jesus and the disciples showed Jesus’ power and sovereignty over the physical and spiritual realms. But it also gives us a glimpse of Jesus “leaving the ninety-nine” to go rescue the “one sheep” that was lost. Jesus sought this man out to rescue him and then tell him, “Now, go tell of God’s mercy and goodness.” It was a rescue mission! Jesus went directly to the darkness where no one else would go, seeking the man out to give him new life (reminds me of a bigger rescue mission!).

If you are a Christ-follower, you were, at one time, a lost sheep. Jesus sought us out, too, and He now commands us to “go, and tell of God’s mercy and goodness.” So, what have you been rescued from? Who are you telling your rescue story to? Is anything stopping you?

This week, I have been reminded often of the song, “Here I Go Again” by Casting Crowns. If you are unfamiliar with the song, give it a listen. The song talks about the fear we may feel in sharing the Gospel with somebody. May you be encouraged this week by this weirdly, wild, beautiful account of Jesus’ love to tell your story boldly and without fear, sharing the mercy and goodness that you have been given so freely!

Re:Verse passage – Mark 5:1-20 (day three)

“No one was strong enough to subdue him.”

It might be tempting read the above passage and think, “…except Jesus. Jesus was strong enough to subdue him.” But Jesus doesn’t subdue the man – not in the sense of vanquishing him anyway. Even the unclean spirits aren’t presented as opponents in a cage match won by Jesus. Instead, this remark seems to point out that everyone who had tried to intervene in the man’s life approached the circumstance as a power struggle, not as a redemptive moment. Jesus wasn’t interested in shutting him down, but in raising him up. This man was made (by the very Lord who encountered him that day) to laugh and to know beauty and to love and to work and to rest. Jesus knew the man’s true identity – not a weirdo, but a wonder.