Holly Furtick delivers a short sermon-style message reflecting on the frustration of unanswered prayer and using the biblical story of Jairus to illustrate staying close to Jesus while waiting for a miracle. She highlights that Jesus went with Jairus into a crushing crowd, argues that the enemy seeks to carry people away from Jesus during delays, and offers practical advice (worship, teaching, journaling, community) to maintain faith and patience. The talk closes with an encouragement to subscribe for more content.
Chapters
Isn't it funny how there's no line to wait on God? Like, God doesn't use a take a number system. And this can be really frustrating because often it feels like God's answering some people's prayers immediately, but mine are going unheard. And here we have Jairus, and he's making progress. He's taking the healer to his daughter. And then Jesus stops. And for 10 verses, Jairus isn't even mentioned. Where did he go? What is he doing while he's waiting for his miracle? The Bible doesn't say. Now I can tell you what I would have done. I would have had some words to say with God. I would have said, excuse me, Jesus, please, we don't have time. My daughter is dying. You said you would put your hands on her and heal her and she would live. Even though that's what Jairus said. That's not what Jesus said. But sometimes, you know, we mix things up. And I would say, please, Jesus, we gotta keep moving. You can come back to this woman. This isn't fair. It's not fair. In my house, there are a couple of phrases that my children are not allowed to say. They're forbidden phrases. Off the top of my head, there are two. I'm sure there's more. The first one is, I hate you. Not allowed to say that. The second one is, that's not fair. First of all, you're not allowed to say that's not fair because life isn't fair. And the sooner you find that out, the better. Second of all, I am trying my absolute hardest to do my best for everyone here. So don't tell me it's not fair. When we come to God with our. It's not fair. We have to remember that he is our heavenly Father and He is perfect. He's not doing his best. He knows what is best for us. And if he doesn't answer my prayer when I want him to, in the time that I think that he should, I have to trust that he is a good father and he is with me and he will not fail me. Let me show you where Jairus was, because sometimes when you read the Bible, you have to look at the clues and draw some conclusions. So let me show you some of the clues. Look back at verse 24. It says, so Jesus went with him. A large crowd followed and pressed around him. Now Skip to verse 30. At once, Jesus realized that the power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, who touched my clothes? You see the people crowding against you. His disciples answered, and yet you ask, who touched me? So imagine this situation. This is a legit crowd, okay? This is like Disney world on the 4th of July. Have you. In some translations, it actually uses the. Describes the crowd as crushing. Have you ever been in a crushing crowd? It's scary. For my birthday, which was just a couple days ago, Stephen took me to see Sir Paul McCartney. It was an amazing night. 1972, you know, we just like, was amazing. Except the only problem was we weren't the only people who wanted to hear Paul sing. And when I tell you the crowd was crushing, we were shuffling to our seats and just people were everywhere. It was like the hold your purse kind of crowded. And I turned around to say something to Stephen, and there was another man. And I panicked for a second, and I had to look around and push through and reach back and grab his hand, because the only way to get through a crowd like that is to stay close. So picture Jairus moving through this pressing, crushing crowd with Jesus. And when you are waiting on a miracle, you have two choices. You can stay close or you can be carried away. And the interesting thing here, Jairus wasn't following Jesus. Mark tells us Jesus went with Jairus. And when you're desperate, the number one tool that the enemy is going to use in your life is he's going to try and get you away, away from Jesus. Jesus is still with you. And the easy thing for Jairus to do would be to drift away from the crowd, to go home. Maybe he could get a few last moments to tell his daughter that he loves her before she passes. But something in him fought to stay close. But people were pressing to touch Jesus. And Jairus had to fight with everything that was in his power to help his daughter. And that meant that his only hope was to stay close to the one that he had faith in, the one that he believed could heal his daughter. How do you stay close to Jesus when your mind becomes so crowded with faith, fear, and anxiety? I know. I know what it's like some days to just feel like the farthest thing from your mind is Jesus. And obviously there's practical things that we can do. I know that I'm biased, but I believe that we sit under a once in a generation preacher every single week. And the things that God speaks through this man, I promise you, you lean in every single week, and it will encourage your faith faster than anything else. And so I know the things that I need to prioritize every week in my life. I know what I need to be playing in my car and in my home. And I know I need to be journaling and fighting to keep my mind focused on Jesus. We know what we need to do, but do we do it? You have to push through the crowd. You have to fight through the crowd to stay close to Jesus. Hey, thanks for watching. I hope that that encouraged you today. Make sure that you subscribe so that you don't miss out on other videos like this, and I'll see you back here next time.
