INTRODUCTION Mark 7:24-30 recounts the story of the Syro-Phoenician woman (reproduced here from the New King James Version). ²⁴ From there He arose and went to the region of Tyre and Sidon. And He entered a house and wanted no one to know it, but He could not be hidden. ²⁵For a woman whose young daughter had an unclean spirit heard about Him, and she came and fell at His feet. ²⁶The woman was a Greek, a Syro-Phoenician by birth, and she kept asking Him to cast the demon out of her daughter. ²⁷But Jesus said to her, “Let the children be filled first, for it is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the little dogs.”  ²⁸And she answered and said to Him, “Yes, Lord, yet even the little dogs under the table eat from the children’s crumbs.”  ²⁹Then He said to her, “For this saying go your way; the demon has gone out of your daughter.”  ³⁰And when she had come to her house, she found the demon gone out, and her daughter lying on the bed. You are probably familiar with this famous passage that demonstrates the wisdom, perseverance, and tenacity of a woman who needed the Lord to deliver her daughter from a difficult situation.  Perhaps you also are facing a difficult situation in your life.  The story of the Syro-Phoenician woman encourages us to put our faith in God.  In the last three posts we looked at three aspects of faith revealed in the text. POINT 1: FAITH REQUIRES THE HUMBLE REALIZATION OF OUR NEED POINT 2: FAITH REQUIRES HEARING POINT 3: FAITH REQUIRES PERSISTENCE To access these past devotions, please CLICK HERE. POINT 4: THE OBJECT OF FAITH IS JESUS CHRIST Fourthly, I believe that the main message of this passage is that genuine faith has the Lord Jesus Christ as its object.  In other words, Jesus Christ himself is central to any profession of faith.  The Syro-Phoenician woman said “Yes, Lord.”  The Syro-Phoenician woman acknowledged the lordship, the sovereignty, the worthiness, the power and the authority of Jesus Christ.  She yielded herself to him and responded to him with an attitude of reverence and respect.  Real faith requires us to surrender to Jesus Christ and respond to him with love and trust.  Because the Syro-Phoenician said “Yes!” to Christ, Christ said “Yes!” to her request.  In verse 29, Jesus said to her: “For this saying go your way; the demon has gone out of your daughter.”  In Matthew’s account of this story in Matthew 15:28, Jesus replied: “O woman, great is your faith!  Let it be to you as you desire.”  Christ admired her resolve and the trust that she placed in him.  We learned yesterday that persistence is very important in the walk of faith.  Persistence by itself, however, is not enough.  Genuine faith requires abandonment to the Lord.  We place our lives into his hands and we allow Him to bless us as only he can do.  What made the woman’s petition so effective was her surrender to the lordship of Jesus Christ. CONCLUSION Regardless of what you may be facing today, it is time for you to say, “Yes, Lord.”  No matter how severe your trial or how intense your situation, you must surrender to the Lord and say, “Yes!” to Him.  “Yes” to your will!  “Yes” to your way!  “Yes” to your call!  “Yes” to your timing!  “Lord, I say ‘Yes’ to you!”  Faith in Christ requires yieldedness to him.  The Syro-Phoenician woman yielded to the Lord and received the victory that she needed.  We can indeed learn from her example.  Like this great woman of faith, if we will surrender ourselves to the lordship of Jesus Christ then we too can receive the victory that we need.  Say “Yes!” to the Lord today! Blessings, Wilfred Graves, Jr. www.wilfredgraves.org

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