Last time we saw Jesus’ escape from the crowd, and how He calmed the sea. Once Jesus reaches the other side of the sea, He heals the demoniacs, and then He heads back to the northeast shore of the Sea of Galilee.

Luke 8:40-42

40 And as Jesus returned, the people welcomed Him, for they had all been waiting for Him.

The word waiting is the Greek PROSDOKAO, and it means waiting with anticipation. There’s a parallel passage in Mark that talks about the same event, and we’ll skip back and forth.

Mark 5:21

21 When Jesus had crossed over again in the boat to the other side, a large crowd gathered around Him; and so He stayed by the seashore.

This tells us it was a large crowd waiting on Jesus’ return. So Jesus stayed there, and began to teach them again. Now on with the story:

41 And there came a man named Jairus, and he was an official of the synagogue; and he fell at Jesus' feet, and began to implore Him to come to his house;

There were only 12 officials of the synagogue, and Jairus was one of them. Don’t think that he just tripped and fell down at Jesus’ feet! The Greek word here is PIPTO, and it means to throw oneself down at the feet of someone as a sign of high devotion. This was a man who had believed in Jesus!

42 for he had an only daughter, about twelve years old, and she was dying. …

Jesus had compassion on Jairus! Before we get on with this story, think about what this believer did. He did the same thing we all should do! He was in a hopeless situation, and he simply threw himself at the feet of His Savior. What does the Word of God tell us?

Philippians 4:6

6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.

There is no difference between this man bringing his requests to God, and us approaching Him in prayer today. The only distinction is that Jesus is now seated at the right hand of God, ready to intercede for us now!

Prayer sets God in motion to help in time of need! Do you bring your needs before Him, or not?

In Mark’s account, we see the actual request:

Mark 5:22-23

22 One of the synagogue officials named Jairus came up, and on seeing Him, fell at His feet

23 and implored Him earnestly, saying, "My little daughter is at the point of death; please come and lay Your hands on her, so that she will get well and live."

We need to take this request, and apply it to our prayer life, because in actuality THIS IS A PRAYER. The issue with Jairus’ request was not whether Jesus COULD fulfill the request, but whether He WOULD fulfill it. It was only a question of whether it was in accordance with the perfect will of God, or not!

The same thing should be true in your prayer requests. You have to have confidence that He CAN fulfill any request we make of Him. The only issue then becomes submitting to that will, whatever it may be.

We’ll see what happens on the way to Jairus’ house next time.