Get Literal

"IF you remain in me and my WORDS remain in you, ask whatever you wish and it will be given to you."
- Jesus Christ, John 15:7.

She was clinging hard to hope.

News about this rabbi had spread like wildfire throughout Syria, even reaching her sea-coast village in northwestern Palestine. Her young daughter suffered, tormented from within by a spiritual evil. The Syrophonecian woman mentioned in Matthew 15 and Mark 7 must have wrestled with doubts. Would the Son of David help her, a Gentile? 

Yet, in spite of her fears, she seeks out the Messiah, the one who said: "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened." (Matthew 7:7)

It's one of my favorite stories, not just because Jesus heals her daughter with a word, but because she pursued Christ's heart. She probably knew very little about the God of Moses (remember, the Pharisees had turned the temple court reserved for women and Gentiles into a market-place - evangelism was not their priority), and the finer points of the Levitical law and OT traditions were unknown to her. All she knew was the lame walked, the blind received sight, and a light had dawned on a land in shadow.

Jesus says he was sent to feed Israel, yet she replies, "But Lord, even the dogs are allowed to eat the crumbs that fall from the master's table." In boldness, she trusted that even the tiniest scrap of God's power and Christ's mercy would be enough to transform her daughter's life. "All those who call on the name of the Lord shall be SAVED!"

This morning, after a conversation with Smyrna's Executive Director, I was convicted to get literal - to take Jesus at His Word and pursue His will in prayer. Jesus said to ask and His Father would abundantly provide...so I'm asking for deliverance for the women in Pakistan, and the children in Turkey, and the students in Ghana, and the men in Somalia...the Maldives..Iran..Eritrea...and the world. The Syrophonecian woman did not have the fullness of knowledge that I have through Scripture, but her words to Jesus overflowed from a believing heart.
I want her heart.
I want to pray, believing that God will work miracles this very hour.