Verse of the Day 8/9

Mark 5:35-36 While he was still speaking, there came from the ruler's house some who said, "Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the Teacher any further?" ³⁶ But overhearing what they said, Jesus said to the ruler of the synagogue, "Do not fear, only believe."  English Standard Version (ESV)

In this passage in Mark, two miracles take place.  The woman who came up and touched Jesus garment to be healed of her long-time illness and Jairus' daughter who recently became sick and died.  The woman persevered and sought Jesus possibly as her last hope.  Jairus, sought Jesus in a similar fashion, hope was fading and by the time he got to ask Jesus and he could make it to her she had passed away.

The last phrase applied to both of them and it applies to us, "do not fear, only believe." In my Bible I had written the following note from another devotional, " This wasn't a call for Jairus to believe in himself or even to have faith in faith. The verb Jesus uses is in the present tense ("keep on believing"), meaning that Jesus was instructing him to continue with the faith that first brought him there: faith in Jesus and His ability to heal!"

You've probably heard people say that you have to have faith, but a faith that is not grounded in truth has no backing.   Faith in Jesus has the backing of the Father and it has proven itself through history to those who believe.  The key is to keep on believing.

In his sermon on the mount Jesus said "ask, seek, and knock", each of those was in the perfect tense, literally "to keep on"as is shown in the Amplified Bible translation of that verse:

Matthew 7:7Amplified Bible (AMP)  Keep on asking and it will be given you; keep on seeking and you will find; keep on knocking [reverently] and [the door] will be opened to you.

No matter what you face today, have faith, but most importantly have faith in Jesus, and keep seeking, keep asking and keep knocking and the doors of opportunity will  open for you.

--   In Christ,  Mike    Folllow the Verse of the Day blog at http://mikesvotd.blogspot.com  Ephesians 1:7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins,  in accordance with the riches of God's grace.  NIV    

Mark 5:36-40English Standard Version (ESV)

³⁶ But overhearing^[a] what they said, Jesus said to the ruler of the synagogue,"Do not fear, only believe." ³⁷ And he allowed no one to follow him except Peter and James and John the brother of James. ³⁸ They came to the house of the ruler of the synagogue, and Jesus^[b] saw a commotion, people weeping and wailing loudly. ³⁹ And when he had entered, he said to them, "Why are you making a commotion and weeping? The child is not dead but sleeping." ⁴⁰ And they laughed at him. But he put them all outside and took the child's father and mother and those who were with him and went in where the child was.