The Story of Jairus and His Dying Daughter (Part VIII)

(Mark 5:36, 37 NIV) Overhearing what they said, Jesus told him, "Don't be afraid; just believe." He did not let anyone follow him except Peter, James and John the brother of James.

We have been dealing with Jairus and his daughter for quite a while now. I believe it's obvious that I love teaching about the life of Jesus and how He went about doing the will of the Father on a daily basis. The powerful part of studying Jesus' life is the realization that we are supposed to be the same way. It is one thing to read the story of the woman with the issue of blood and Jairus and identify with those coming to Jesus for help. But it is quite something else to read the same stories and identify with Jesus - seeing yourself the Jesus in the story - and believing God to anoint you the same way so that others can come to you for help the way that they came to Him. That is the goal of Christianity. Jesus was God incarnate, no doubt about it, but we are the 'continuation of His incarnation.' In other words we are to continue what He started, living our lives the way that He lived His; manifesting the glory of the Father everywhere we go! But we will never do that if we are stressed out, frustrated, fearful, and disillusioned.

I want to piggy-back off of something I highlighted yesterday and that was that Jesus refused the crowd, and 9 of His 12 disciples, to go any further once He found out the little girl was dead. This reminds me of a story of some frogs. A group of frogs were happily hopping through the woods when two them started racing each other side by side. There they were, hopping and hopping, each making an effort to out-hop the other, when all of a sudden both of them landed inside of a hole. Immediately the other frogs gathered around the top of the hole and the two frogs inside the hole attempted to jump their way out. After a few minutes it became obvious that the depth of the hole was just a bit too much for the frogs to manage, as they kept coming up short. After about an hour the frogs at the top of the hole started telling the ones in the hole to give up and die, because they believed the effort was futile. One of the frogs believed what the others said, he crawled up into a corner of the hole, gave up, and died. The other frog, however, kept jumping. This infuriated the frogs on the outside. The more he jumped the more they yelled at him to stop! But the more they yelled the more he jumped. It seemed like their yelling was giving him extra energy. Finally, one of his leaps was long enough and he made it out of the hole. Do you want to know why he made it? He was deaf! Since he could not hear the other frogs he assumed that they were cheering him on. That's why he kept jumping.

Now, you may be thinking, what does this have to do with Jairus? Actually, it has a lot to do with Jairus' story because Jesus strategically picked whom He wanted to go with Him to Jairus house, knowing what influences He wanted with Him when the pressure was on.

So what does this mean to you? A few things:
1. Surrounding yourself with the right people can fuel your faith. When the frog thought the other frogs were rooting for him he was able to jump longer and higher.
2. Surrounding yourself with the wrong people is dangerous. Some people are dream-killers. They are frustrated with their lives, so they will attempt to frustrate yours.
3. Picking the right people to be with you when the pressure is on just might make the difference between overcoming and succumbing. Jesus only wanted key people with Him when He went into Jairus' house and we should do the same when we are faced with difficult situations.

Father, I thank You for this revelation. I know You have blessed me to be surrounded with a great cloud of witnesses and I am not in this race alone, however, I also understand that everyone who is with me is not for me. I know that some people are dream-killers so I thank You for blessing me to have the insight to know who to share my dreams with, who to take with me into faith-fights, and who to surround myself with when the pressure is on. Two are better than one, but only when both are in-faith. So I declare, by faith, that You reveal to me who those people are and as I connect with them and they with me, together we will assist each other in striving to maximize our purposes and potential before we die! In Jesus' name. Amen!