Conviction comes from God. Deal with the issues of your heart in private. Come as you are, then change; make corrections. Our mouth reveals our hearts – listen to hear your own words. Endure honest communication. Jesus came to save HIS PEOPLE not Gentiles; to bring grace (not unmerited favor) but, the power for men to become Sons of God. The Syrophoenician woman, ‘called a dog’, reached out in humility with an importunic prayer. Salvation is not an inherited right. Faith is required.
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Ch. 40: Jesus Heals the Daughter of a Canaanitish Woman
Matthew 5:21-28; Mark 7:24-30
AFTER JESUS had defended his disciples because they ate bread with unwashed hands, he went into the coastal regions of Tyre and Sidon, hoping to escape from the crowds.
However, his presence could not be hidden for long. A Greek woman, native of Syro-Phoenicia, whose little daughter had an unclean spirit, heard of him. She came to him and fell at his feet, saying:
“Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou son of David, my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil.”
But Jesus did not answer her.
His disciples came to Jesus and said:
“Send her away, for she crieth after us.”
But Jesus replied:
“I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”
The woman continued to worship him and said:
“Lord help me.”
Jesus replied, saying:
“It is not proper to take the children’s bread, and to cast it to dogs.”
The woman said:
“Truth, Lord, yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table.”
Seeing such great faith, Jesus said:
“O woman, great is thy faith; be it unto thee even as thou wilt.”
When the woman returned home, she found that her daughter had been healed from that very hour.