Self-mortifying Plea

And pleaded earnestly with him, ‘My little daughter is dying'.

Why do we say that this is self-mortifying? In this understanding of Jairus mortifying self, what we see is repentance of a mind, who has consciously and literally died to all that has been his way of living until now. Perhaps he was one of those Jews who might have tolerated Jesus and then again he might not have tolerated Rabbi Jesus. Here is a certainty. As ruler of the synagogue, he would not allow Jesus to do certain things there. He would not have been pleased with or encouraged anyone to come to the synagogue on the Sabbath to be healed. In fact, he would have been adamant and scolding at that. His religiously lawful mind would not have sought anything from Jesus, whom they saw as an imposter, a fake Teacher, who was not of God as He claimed.

I tell you, Jairus had to kill, deny, get rid of all of whom he was to be as he now is, a most humbled and repentant man. Never be deceived about this. It is impossible for you to pray and know answered prayer while self is very much alive and well. There is also no genuine repentance of a person who still has not mortified self. This is what we are told in Romans 8: 13 KJV. For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. The deeds of the body are your works in thought, word and action. They may be ever so small, but the Lord sees them all.

Has it ever struck, or occurred to you that this synagogue ruler’s plea says much about him and Jesus? In his floor position, at the feet of Jesus, he does not only learn prayer, but he learns what is earnest pleading in prayer. Again, I repeat this, without hesitancy or apology. Too many of us think we are pleading earnestly when we are pleading most dishonestly. We shelve some of our ways, but hold our positions of control and authority and expect God to bypass our folly. When Jairus pleaded earnestly, he was a totally repentant man, who gave up all, to come to Jesus and publicly plead with Him for his little girl. Here is a matter of life and death. His little girl is dying and in coming to Jesus in this way, isn’t he publicly acknowledging that Jesus is the Life? Is he not exercising faith in this Rabbi, to heal his dying child?

If we believe, as Scripture says, that a person only mortifies self through the Holy Spirit, then is this not grace bestowed upon Jairus? Earnest pleading never comes from a selfish, self-controlling, self-seeking, self-fulfilled mind and heart. If faith is your stepping, then you will be shown, by the same Holy Spirit, that Jesus’ focus is on Jairus, not his daughter. This is huge for me and I know for others also. Prayer is of God and regardless of how or when we pray, if we are not schooled by the Spirit, how do we expect to pray answered prayers? So many of us are totally deceived in prayer, as we are led to pray according to our self-understanding and self-ways, thus, we end up totally deprived of answered prayers.

Have you seen? Have you heard? Listen and look at Jairus as he pleads earnestly with Jesus. Faith allows us, in the Spirit, to see how Jesus lovingly looks at a praying person, who has died to all that is self and given full focus and attention to Jesus. The giving of life to the little girl is what Jesus can easily do. That is no big thing for Him. What He looks at is how earnest and genuine the prayer is.

What is your plea before Jesus? You have been praying - beseeching and pleading - for a deeply burning heart request. You pray according to you, fasting, weeping and doing all kinds of works which the Holy Spirit never called you to do. Only through the mercy and grace of our Holy Spirit, can we receive this word and live it. We will always know unanswered prayer, when we come without mortifying the self. Jairus is asking for Jesus to help his dying child. Jesus is looking at the father to see whether or not he is obeying the Spirit in him, who helps him to mortify his self-ways and self-works.

Only when you give up using the things of God according to you, working them as you feel the need, will you be in complete obedience in prayer to God. Jesus will hear your earnest pleas in your surrendered life and comfort you. He will take full note of you, acknowledging your posture of self-mortification.

The Lord still honours self-mortification.