The Twenty-Fourth Sunday After Pentecost (Eph. 2:14–22; Lk. 8:41–56)

Jairus openly, before everyone, fell at the Savior’s feet and begged the Lord to heal his daughter, and he was heard. The Lord, without a word, rose at once and went with him. On the way to Jairus’s house, the woman with a hemorrhage was healed—certainly not without prayer on her part either, even though she neither cried out in words nor fell prostrate at the Lord’s feet: she had the heartfelt prayer of faith. The Lord heard it and granted healing. The whole thing was accomplished in secret. The woman with the hemorrhage turned to the Lord in her heart; the Lord heard that cry of the heart and answered her petition. In this woman and in Jairus, the prayer is essentially the same, though one may distinguish certain degrees between them. Prayers such as these, full of faith, hope, and self-surrender, are never left unheard. People sometimes say: “I pray and pray, yet my prayer still goes unheard.” But take the trouble to rise to the measure of prayer that is never refused, and you will see for yourself why yours has not been heard. Whether you are in a position of prayer like Jairus, or in a simple, ordinary state like all those standing around him—like the woman with the hemorrhage—when true prayer stirs in your heart, it will assuredly reach the Lord and incline Him to mercy. The whole question is how to attain such prayer. Labor at it and you will attain it. All the forms and orders of prayer have as their aim to raise those who pray to this very measure, and all who go through this course of prayer with understanding reach their goal.