People often say Jesus never told anybody “No” when they needed help. Well honestly I know what they mean but they are wrong. There was this one woman…

Matt 15:21-28 Then Jesus went out from there and departed to the region of Tyre and Sidon. 22 And behold, a woman of Canaan came from that region and cried out to Him, saying, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David! My daughter is severely demon-possessed.” 23 But He answered her not a word. And His disciples came and urged Him, saying, “Send her away, for she cries out after us.” 24 But He answered and said, “I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” 25 Then she came and worshiped Him, saying, “Lord, help me!” 26 But He answered and said, “It is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the little dogs.” 27 And she said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the little dogs eat the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table.” 28 Then Jesus answered and said to her, “O woman, great is your faith! Let it be to you as you desire.” And her daughter was healed from that very hour. (NKJV)

So this woman comes to Jesus and asks Him to help her daughter. What does Jesus do? He ignores her. But He answered her not a word. I know he didn’t directly say, “No” but ignoring somebody who is asking you for help is basically the same thing. So Jesus is ignoring her and the disciples are fed up with her. They even ask Jesus to send her away. They were telling her no, too. But she doesn’t give up. She keeps on asking. Eventually Jesus answers her: But He answered and said, “I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” If this isn’t a “No” from Jesus, then what is? So now she has been ignored by God, rejected by His disciples and directly told no by Jesus Himself. Looks pretty bleak, right? Hold on, it gets worse.

She asks Him again. What is Jesus’ next answer? But He answered and said, “It is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the little dogs.” BAM! Another no? Is this woman just not getting it? Come on? Well, she got something, but what she got was something the disciples only realized in Acts 10. It took them years to figure out what this woman already knew. Look at her answer: And she said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the little dogs eat the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table.” Lets pause here and quickly make a few interesting connections:

• She wanted healing and deliverance for her daughter.
• Jesus says if He gave her that, He would be giving away the children’s BREAD.
• Jesus likens healing to BREAD. When we take communion, we break the BREAD in remembrance of His body broken for us. By His stripes, by His broken body we were healed.
• Jesus called Himself the BREAD of life.
• He taught us to pray, “Give us this day our daily BREAD” Our daily life, our daily healing, our daily deliverance. Why daily? Because his mercies are new every morning! That’s why!

Ok let’s go on. This woman has now been ignored by Jesus, rejected by His disciples and directly told no twice by Jesus Himself. How many of you would have given up by this stage? Probably all of us. But she refuses to accept no as an answer. Why? Because she got the following revelation: Jesus is God and God is good. If Jesus is God and He is good then He will help me. If He doesn’t help me, then He is not good and therefore He is not God. Jesus was so impressed with her logic that he commended her for having great faith. Jesus only told two people that He was impressed with their faith. She was one of them. She got what she came to get. She asked God for something, was told no 4 times and left with what she asked for and with Jesus giving her praise! What did she realize that took the disciples until Acts 10? That the Gospel will reach the gentiles.

There is nothing that can stop the blessings of the sacrifice from coming your way. Not even God can say no to them (2 Cor 1:20). The only thing that hinders the power of God is you believing there is something hindering the power of God. This woman knew not even a no from Jesus could stop the power of God. She heard Jesus was setting people free. She heard the Gospel and placed her faith in the goodness of God. Change your mind to change your life. Decide whether you think God is good and follow some stubborn logic!

When you are sick and not receiving your answer, you need to become more stubborn than your sickness that is kicking hard against you. Dig in your heals and refuse to take no for an answer. Especially when the no is coming from you or the devil. God has said YES. If He said you are healed than your sickness is in direct violation of God’s will! Start cracking a whip and chase those thieves out of your temple!

Here is sample prayer you can use:

(Name of sickness), GET OUT OF MY BODY!!!! (Affected part of body), BE HEALED NOW!!

Jesus didn’t pray long prayers of petition when He healed people. He told the sickness and devil what He wanted them to do. Build yourself up in your most holy faith and make that communication of your faith (the authoritative command for your body to be healed) effective by acknowledging every good thing that is in you in Christ Jesus. (see Philemon 1:6 and Jude 1:20) Basically, you need to realize you were healed by Jesus’ stripes and then tell your body and the sickness what you realized! Never give up, never surrender. Even if God says no 4 times…

In Grace,

Cornel