“Don’t be afraid; just believe.”
– Jesus 

Mark 5:36

I think one of the greatest hindrances we have in faith is that so many of us think too little of God.  Not in a sense of diminishing God or the work he can do, but really taking that belief and actually applying it to real life circumstances.  We think too small, and God thinks in abundance.  We see the mustard seed and God sees the mountain moved.  We see the sickness and God sees the healing.  We see impossible, God sees possible.  So why is it so hard for us to believe that God will actually do what he says he can do?

What if we just took God at his word instead of doubting what he said?  “Don’t be afraid, just believe”… just believe that the healing will happen.  Just believe that God is about to do the miracle.  Just believe that God HEARS you and WILL move in that trial.  Just believe.

Think of a best friend or significant other in your life.  You take them at their word.  They say they’ll show up, they keep that secret, they lend you that money, they pay you back, they answer your call… you believe them for it, right?  So why do we treat God like he’s not going to do the same for you and much more?  Why do we minimize what God can do in our own lives?  Because we think too little.  God is limitless in the things that he can do.  Time and time again in the Bible He does the very impossible things that no human can do.  God shows up for His people over and over again, even when the people don’t show up for God.  God keeps his promises, never changes, is faithful, yet we hear the diagnosis and don’t believe that he’ll do it for us.  We think we’re not worthy enough or seen enough to receive the healing.  We limit our limitless God in our own lives.  So again, what if we just took God at his word?  “Don’t be afraid, just believe”.  

Let’s look at the story in which Jesus said this very line.  A synagogue leader, Jairus, went to Jesus because his young daughter was dying.  Jairus believed that Jesus could heal his daughter, despite the pushback he may receive from the Pharisees and others around him.  Jairus ignored the world and went to Jesus.  “Then one of the synagogue leaders named Jairus, came, and when he saw Jesus, he fell at his feet.” Mark 5:22 Two things I notice in this sentence…1. “Jairus came”– Jairus went to Jesus.  When we are faced with anything in life, we must GO to Jesus.  We must bring everything we have to Jesus. 2.) “He fell at his feet” Jairus fell at Jesus’ feet, in full surrender.  We must submit to Jesus and surrender our control, our fear, our doubt- whatever it might be at Jesus’ feet.  At some point in our lives, we have to make the choice to choose surrender over control and trust that God will carry us through.  Letting go of our tight grip of control and releasing it to God changes everything.  

When we surrender ourselves to God, we then make our requests known to him.  We need to talk with God, ask him, share your burdens with him, and open your heart to God.  “He pleaded earnestly with him, my little daughter is dying.  Please come and put your hands on her so that she will be healed and live.” Mark 5:23 Jairus sought God sincerely, with all his heart, he “pleaded earnestly”.  He believed God could and would heal his daughter, so he laid it at Jesus’ feet.  This part of the story intrigues me so much because Jesus didn’t just heal Jairus’ daughter immediately.  He could have, yet he didn’t, but we know that Jesus was at work… he was making his way to Jairus’ daughter.  We can gain confidence from this, that healing doesn’t have to be immediate.  Just because we ask God to heal (fill in the blank), doesn’t mean it is going to be instantaneous.  We ask healing and miracles to a limitless God, and that includes him not being limited to time and death.  

I think one of the tactics of the enemy is the instant gratification he’s given us in our world today.  We receive instant gratification with our phones at any moment we want to know something, see something, do something, find something… whatever it might be.  So many things in today’s society are readily available.  We’ve lost the beauty and confidence in waiting.  With our need for instant gratification, this becomes a hindrance to our belief in the requests we make to God.  We ask God to repair that relationship and it didn’t repair right away… “God must not hear me”… “this must mean he said no”… “we’re still fighting, God must not want us to stay together”… “God doesn’t want to do the miracle”. So when you originally asked for healing in that relationship, did you really believe God would do it? Did you surrender to God or say the request and still hold onto the control of how you were going to fix it yourself?  What if part of the healing is in the waiting?  What if part of the healing is the change that’s happening to you while you wait for the miracle?  

This story in Mark opened my eyes to the fact that when God is working on one healing, he’s also working on another.  When Jesus was walking to heal Jairus’ daughter, he also healed the woman that was bleeding for 12 years.  12 years.  The woman had been waiting for healing for 12 years, which should open our eyes to God’s timing.  Some healing is immediate, instantaneous, miraculous in that timing, but other healing is slower.  Just because healing doesn’t look the same for everyone, doesn’t mean God isn’t working. “Your faith has healed you.” Mark 5:34 Leading up to the woman being healed, we read that she heard about Jesus, she believed in Jesus’ powers, and believed that he could heal her. She sought Jesus and just believed.  “When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, because she thought “if I just touch his clothes I will be healed.” Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering.” Mark 5:27-29 This makes me think that all those years this woman had been relying on her own strength, the strength and wisdom of doctors, when all she needed was Jesus the entire time. So the woman gets healed, but Jairus’ daughter is still sick.  One healed, one still in need of healing.  Pay attention to this next part.  

Just because someone else gets healed, doesn’t mean your healing won’t happen.  Just because God answered someone else’s prayer, doesn’t mean yours somehow doesn’t exist anymore.  This is where worldly thinking starts to creep in.  Be aware of this and continue to put your confidence in God, just believe.  “Your daughter is dead,” they said “Why bother the teacher anymore.” Mark 5:35 Imagine if Jairus listened to the world.  Imagine if Jairus just put his head down, said “you’re right” and walked away?  The healing was so close, yet he would’ve chosen to listen to others instead of Jesus and how different would this story be?  I truly believe that God loves blowing our minds.  I think God loves showing up for us when no human being is able to, when no materialistic thing can, when we cannot and only Jesus can.  “Overhearing what they said, Jesus told him, “Don’t be afraid; just believe.” Mark 5:36  Faith, friends.  This is faith.  We need to replace our fear with faith.  The world’s whispers can get loud, but we must not be afraid and just believe that Jesus will do what he says he will do. I think that’s the biggest part of the story.  The faith of Jairus and the bleeding woman is almost more miraculous than the healing they received.  Their faith was miraculous. While all odds seemed against them, their faith remained- even when it didn’t make sense.  Faith isn’t believing just because everything is good, faith is believing even when things aren’t good and it doesn’t make sense by worldly standards.  

And then the second healing happened. In Mark 5:40-43, Jesus heals the little girl and she’s raised from the dead.  I want to encourage you to not lose faith because of others around you.  There will always be an enemy pushing back at your faith, trying to tear away your hope, but you must continue to trust in Jesus.  Opposition from the world is inevitable but let them laugh.  Let their laughter turn into astonishment, the way it did in this story. The people laughed at Jesus when he said she was not dead, and then it ended in the people being astonished.  Let that laughter fuel your own faith.  Our God is not limited to our finite thinking.  Our God is not limited to the world’s views.  Our God is not limited to our limited minds.  Let us not limit our limitless God.  “Don’t be afraid; just believe.” – Jesus