Jairus was a synagogue leader in the midst of a major crisis. His 12-year-old daughter was on her deathbed, and he knew that her only hope was Jesus. So Jairus seeks out the Master, and falls at his feet, begging him to come to his home and lay hands on his daughter so that she can be healed. As Jesus begins to follow him, messengers from Jairus' house intercept them and announce that the girl is already dead. Jesus ignores the news and turns to Jairus, saying, "Don't yield to fear. All you need to do is to keep on believing." Now, many of us in this man's situation would have undoubtedly started panicking - even screaming and crying - when we heard this kind of news. And we would have missed out on our miracle. But not Jairus. We know that he took the Master's advice, and refused to give in to fear, because the Bible tells us that Jesus raised his daughter back to life. (Mark 5:41-42)

The Passion Translation of Mark 5:36 that I am using here has an interesting footnote about this event. It reads: "At times there must be a holy 'deafness' to the words of others, words that would distract us from the purposes of God." What would happen if each time we are faced with any kind of adversity, we would maintain a "holy deafness" to all of Satan's efforts to cause us to yield to fear and to stop trusting in God? Think about all of the blessings and breakthroughs that would be released into our life if we chose faith over fear every time.

I believe that today, Jesus is saying to you and to me: "Don't yield to fear. All you need to do is to keep on believing." Keep on believing in God's promises. Keep on believing in God's goodness. Keeping on believing in God's ability and willingness to protect you and provide for you. And even the devil himself won't be able to keep God's blessings from you!

Prayer: Lord, when I am in a trial of any kind, help me to refuse to listen to the voices of doubt and unbelief. Help me, instead, to tune in to Your voice, and to walk in faith all the way through to my victory. Thank You that as I refuse to be distracted from Your purposes for my life, I will reap all of the blessings and breakthroughs that You have in store for me.