“Pray, Remembering Always Yeshua Everyday Rescues! (P.R.A.Y.E.R)”

By Ramesh C.Reddy
Pittsburgh Standard

April 29, 2008

Editors Note: The devotional has a background song  which can be heard if you use Internet Explorer.

Observations:
I asked myself who was Jairus?
Jairus was a synagogue ruler..

Interpretations:
I asked myself why it is significant?
He was a synagogue ruler with leadership responsibility but was so helpless when it came to his daughter’s sickness. All his knowledge was not going to save his daughter and he knew that. He also knew that people were gathering at the lake and knew of a leader named Jesus who drew large kinds of crowds. He also knew Jesus could heal and bring restoration to his little daughter’s life. With this in mind, I believe Jairus decided to take action.

Observation/Interpretations:
I asked myself what Jairus did?

1. Jairus came there to the lake where the crowd gathered.

2. Seeing Jesus, he fell at his feet.

3. Seeing Jesus, he pleaded earnestly with Jesus telling Jesus 5 things:

   1. My little daughter is dying.

   2. Please come see my daughter.

   3. Please put your hands on her.

   4. Please put your hands on her so she will be healed.

   5. Please put your hands on her so she will live.

Observation:
I asked myself what Jesus did?
Jesus had recently healed the demon-possessed man and had again crossed over by boat to the other side of the lake. Now without time to spare for Himself, He is summoned again. This time Jesus is summoned by a leader of a synagogue and Jesus went with him.

Interpretation:
I asked myself why it is significant that Jesus went with him?
It is so significant because Jesus heard the man’s specific prayer and acted on it. Jesus saw the pleading of the leader fallen in front of him. Jesus also saw how much he believed and how specific his prayer was for Jesus to come and heal his little daughter.

I decided to look at the 5 points of the leader’s prayer:

Point 1: My little daughter is dying.
The synagogue ruler came to Jesus to let him know the severity of the problem regarding his little daughter who was dying. The ruler did not care how many people were gathered there! He did not even think that as a ruler he needed to be strong so his congregation members do not have a weak opinion of him. Instead, he was open with Jesus and very specifically stated the issue he was faced with.

Point 2: Come see my little daughter.
Now after telling the problem to Jesus, the ruler pleaded with Jesus to intervene, specifically by asking Him to come and see his little daughter. He wanted Jesus in the presence of his dying little daughter because he had hope in Jesus and what Jesus could do.

Points 3-4: Come see my little daughter and put your hands on her so she will be healed.
Jairus did not just want Jesus to come and see his little daughter, but wanted Jesus to put her hands on her. As a ruler of the synagogue, he must have seen Jesus heal many people by laying of His Hands on them. It is also possible this is the same synagogue where Jesus had healed a demon-possessed man once. Right after the synagogue service, Jesus went to Peter and Andrew’s home and saw Peter’s mother-in-law sick with a fever on bed, laid His hands on her, and her fever completely left her and she waited on them. It is possible she was a member of the synagogue that Jairus was a ruler of and knew the power of Jesus and what happens when Jesus lays His hands on people. So, Jairus wanted Jesus to put his hands on her so she would be healed.

Point 5: Come see my little daughter and put your hands on her so she will live.
Jairus wanted his little daughter to live so much and was so scared that she would die. He also knew that Jesus alone had the power to heal her and make her live so He pleaded with Jesus to come and put His hands on her to make her live.

I found it very significant because he wanted something and acted upon it. He pleaded with Jesus to save the life of his daughter. What his desires were, he shared openly with Jesus and Jesus went with him. Jesus went with him!!! That is so exciting!

Implications:
I saw important implications for my own life. I saw how specific Jairus was in his prayer regarding what he wanted. He did not make his prayer general and just ask for Jesus’ healing but pleaded with Jesus specifically showing Jesus how much he believed in what Jesus could do and hoped He would do.

So, what I learned is whatever I want or need, I need to be very specific with Jesus asking Jesus to intervene. It does not matter what my profession or role is when it comes to pleading with Jesus and asking for His help. This means if it is a relationship issue, I need to take that issue very specifically to Jesus and not be general. I need to tell Jesus everything about what I am thinking and what I believe Jesus could do.

This means if it is job-related, I need to be very specific with Jesus and plead with him regarding that issue. This means if it is others-related, I still need to be so specific just as Jairus was specific as he interceded on behalf of his little daughter before Jesus.

When I pray, I need to let Jesus know what He has already done in people’s lives and that He can do amazing things in my life too if He chooses to. For what He chooses will become a reality.

Jesus chose to go with Jairus to see his little dying daughter. As we seek the Lord and plead with Him regarding our own desires, I believe He will give them to us as long as they are not contradictory to His wonderful plan for us.

It makes no sense to want something so badly but for that desire to be out of the will of God. Then, we have just gone our own way and asked the Lord to bless the decision we made. That is not how it should be but we need to ask the Lord to make the decision through us because then He will already be blessing the decision because it came from Him.

I believe because of prayer, Jesus intervened. In the same way, I believe as I seek the Lord in prayer with my requests, He will intervene if He knows what I am asking is not wrong for me. That is exciting to know! It is more exciting that I can plead with Jesus and He will come to me and answer me in His wonderful way as Jesus answered Jairus.

The power of Jesus Christ and His answers to prayer are relevant even now which our family has experienced. When my dad went into cardiac arrest on October 7, 2008, the paramedics when they arrived asked how long has he been DEAD?

That was so scary to hear because they could not get a pulse. We all prayed to Jesus and I asked Jesus to please not let Satan take my daddy. I wanted Jesus to bring back my daddy to life. After the prayer, miraculously my dad started having a pulse and they rushed him to UPMC Shadyside Hospital. There my dad was cared by loving followers of Christ. Even at the hospital time after time we have seen miracles in my dad's life for almost 70 days. My dad was on dialysis, on a peg tube, had a tracheotomy and still was alive. We were also able to find Kindred Hospital in Pittsburgh. Every step of the way has been a miracle.

The greatest miracle of all was even though my dad died physically on December 17, 2008, he is not dead eternally because my mom told us that our dad gave His life to Christ which the Lord confirmed through different means. Thank you Jesus so much. Even after my dad's death, we could see the hand of the Lord working through the funeral arrangements, the places we were at, etc.

We would have loved our dad to still be alive and seeing all the miracles, we also know if Jesus wanted my dad to be here still, he would have. The main point is how many prayers were answered those 70 days impacting believers and non-believers in the hospital. Thank you so much Jesus!

I ask you now dear friend, what place do you give prayer?
Dear friend, prayer can be your best communication with the Lord. Just as Jairus pleaded with Jesus to help him with the situation he faced at home, you can plead with Jesus to intercede and help you as you communicate specifically with Jesus what you desire and where the help is needed. You can tell Jesus how He can help you just as Jairus told Jesus how to help him. That is so exciting. It is more exciting that Jesus patiently listened to the 5 points of the man’s prayer. If he did that for the synagogue ruler, I believe He will do it for you to friend.

Yes, friend whatever you are going through, you can take it to the Lord in prayer. You can be specific with Jesus! You can talk to Him about anything. If it is relationship related, job related, family related, sickness related, etc, Jesus is there to hear you and intervene in your life. I know He is friend!

So many times Jesus intervened in my life and I have seen His love in my life. One night I had a terrible nightmare where I was being pursued by a pig/hog with horns that I felt  unclean. The pursuit got deadlier and deadlier in my dream and I totally froze without being able to move even though I knew my surroundings. I also knew in my dream that Jesus is real and He alone could help me and deliver me so with all the strength I could muster, I tried to shout the Name of Jesus and finally was able to shout ‘JESUS’ in my dream and woke up shouting the Name of Jesus! The nightmare had gone and I felt the power of Jesus working in me because I called on His Name. It was a nightmare but to realize how much Jesus delivered me became a blessing the next morning.

Wow! The Name of Jesus in prayer what power it has! Jesus knew the power of prayer and prayed to the Father on behalf of the disciples being very specific. It is a wonderful prayer found in John 17.

Jesus wants you to talk to Him friend! Yes, He does friend!

Won’t you do that?

Prayer is talking to the Lord and being as specific as possible what you are going through, what others are going through, how you would want Jesus to intervene. Prayer also encompasses praising the Lord! As you come before Jesus and plead with Him with your requests and praise Him for what He has done, He shall listen friend and answer in His wonderful timing. Jesus went with Jairus daughter and He will go with you. Yes, He will! He knows what you need and when you seek Him, His desires will become your desires.

There are desires that I really want to come to fruit and blossom but I do not want it to just be my desire. I want it to be the desire of my Lord in my life. I know as I seek Him in prayer, He will lead me on the right path. He will do the same for each of you!

I don’t know about you but the Lord knows all about you and is waiting to hear from you. He hears us when we call to Him and answers! Oh yes, He does! So come, come to Him as you are and find your rest in Him!

May you come to be able to communicate with Jesus as a friend, 24 hrs a day! Amen!

Friend, you can come before Jesus in prayer now because of what Jesus did on the cross for you. Without the CROSS and the shedding of Christ's blood on the CROSS for the remission of our sins, we could not have boldy approached the throne of grace and find help in time of need. But now we can because Jesus paid the penalty of our sin on that rugged cross in Calvary for you and me. Now when we come to Jesus acknowledging our own sin and shortcomings, asking Jesus to forgive us and heal us, He will. With Jesus in our life, we now can talk with Him and walk with Him because Jesus is alive as He came back to life on the third day to save all.

To pray, you have to believe and to believe in Jesus means you have to forsake all other beliefs in other gods. Prayer is talking but has no power if it is directed in the wrong direction. Jesus said He alone is the Way, the Truth, and the Life and no one comes to the Father except through Him.

This means Krishna cannot save, Buddha cannot save, Mohammud cannot save, Socrates cannot save, etc. Only Jehovah Jireh can save because He became our Yeshua to bring us life. Because we have life and are cleansed of all our sin and have right standing before the Father, we can come with our requests to Jesus and He will answer. Yes, He will. I know He will because God is listening.

This Thursday, May 01, 2008 is the National Day of Prayer. I encourage you all to join me and others at Oakland International Fellowship on North Dithridge Street in Pittsburgh, PA for a time of prayer around 7:30 p.m.

In closing, if you do not have Internet Explorer, I highly recommend you get it so you can hear the background song, 'I Am Praying For You' by Mel and Dick Tunney!

“Pray, Remembering Always Yeshua Everyday Rescues!” (P.R.A.Y.E.R)/”What place do you give prayer in your life?”

Prayer:
Dear Jesus, I love you! Thank you for loving me so much! Thank you for dying for my sin and coming back to life to save me. You Oh Lord love us so much. Thank you so much Lord even though you had done so many healings you did not stop reaching out when you again came across the lake. It means so much to me and I want to thank you Lord for being who you are. You have come to the rescue of us. You have called us to be your children. You came to the rescue of a synagogue leader who pleaded with you and was specific in his prayer. Thank you that you can do the same things for us. You Oh Lord know the desires of our heart. You Oh Jesus, know what we want for us, what we want for others, etc and we hope that what we desire is what you want too for us. This way Jesus, we can know beyond a shadow of a doubt that you will let us have our desire as we seek you Lord. You say in your Word, “Delight yourself in the Lord, and He shall give thee the desires of your heart. Commit your work to the Lord and it will succeed” Thank you so much Jesus for your promise. Jairus delighted in you Lord worshipping in the synagogue and pleaded with you to help his little daughter and you went with him. Thank you that you can work in our lives too. Lord, we also know that you in your love want what is good for us. Many times it is hard for us to see what you want for us is always going to be awesome compared to what we want on our own, so we choose to want what you want Jesus. And Lord, we believe you will give us your best because you love us and we are your children. Thank you Jesus! And Jesus, there are times we will be disappointed because we do not get what we desire. In those times Oh Lord, let our pain be short and sweet remembering that you are our Prince of Peace who will keep in perfect peace those whose hearts are turned to thee! Thank you so much Jesus! I love you so much! Thank you that you hear our prayers and answer us! Thank you for taking intercessory prayer seriously Jesus! Thank you that you have heard our prayer and answered us! Thank you many times you use your Word to answer us and our concerns. In Your Name I Pray Jesus! Amen!