Atmosphere is the Key to Your Miracle

One of three instances of Jesus’ resurrection ministry is Jairus’ daughter in Luke 8.

The other two are the raising of the son of the widow of Nain in Luke 7 and the resurrection of Lazarus in John 11. In all of these, when Jesus raised people up from the dead we can see principles to experience our own resurrection of what might have died.

In this chapter, we will look at the raising of Jairus’ daughter. This was a girl who was 12 years of age who died from a sickness. Jairus was the ruler of the synagogue, which would have made him a known person of influence. The account of this resurrection is found in Luke 8:41-42 and also Luke 8:49-56. The reason this story is interrupted for a few verses is because on the way to heal this girl before she died, the woman with the issue of blood touched Jesus with her need. Jesus stopped to minister to her, and this disruption allowed the girl to die. Let’s read this account.

And behold, there came a man named Jairus, and he was a ruler of the synagogue. And he fell down at Jesus’ feet and begged Him to come to his house, for he had an only daughter about twelve years of age, and she was dying.

But as He went, the multitudes thronged Him.

Can you imagine the desperation that was in this father? They have tried everything to get his only daughter healed. It has reached a critical point and the girl is on the edge go death. The father, whose is a well-respected Jewish leader, must now make a decision. Should he maintain his status as a leader of the Jewish religion who is against Jesus on most fronts, or does he go for help for his little girl whom he loves more than life itself? The decision is really no decision at all. He must go get Jesus. He is near, and he knows that if Jesus can just come a touch his little girl, she will be healed and spared of death.

As he reached Jesus, to his relief Jesus agreed to come. The problem was all these people slowing down the journey. Then this woman touched Jesus and virtue went from Him. She was healed. Jesus stopped to dialogue with her. I can only imagine the fear, turmoil, and anxiety in this father as he waited for Jesus to get finished with these people and come and heal his little girl. Then what he feared the most happened. A messenger from his house reached him.

While He was still speaking, someone came from the ruler of the synagogue’s house, saying to him, “Your daughter is dead. Do not trouble the Teacher.”

But when Jesus heard it, He answered him, saying, “Do not be afraid; only believe, and she will be made well.” When He came into the house, He permitted no one to go in except Peter, James, and John, and the father and mother of the girl. Now all wept and mourned for her; but He said, “Do not weep; she is not dead, but sleeping.” And they ridiculed Him, knowing that she was dead.

But He put them all outside, took her by the hand and called, saying, “Little girl, arise.” Then her spirit returned, and she arose immediately. And He commanded that she be given something to eat. And her parents were astonished, but He charged them to tell no one what had happened.

As soon as Jesus heard the negative report, He spoke a word of hope, encouragement, and comfort. He admonished the man not to let fear take hold, but to keep believing. Jesus promised that if he would stay in faith and not allow the emotion of fear to rule, he would see the glory of God.

Many times, fear will try and take hold of us. It will come at unexpected times. Yet if we will listen in those times, the whisper of the Lord will quiet those fears. We will hear His voice say, “Fear not, only believe.” At this point, we must decide who we will believe. Will we believe the fear that is screaming at us or will we believe the voice of the Master whispering to us? The choice will be ours. We must decide who we will believe in this moment. It can determine the outcome of the situation we are in.

As they continued the journey to this man’s home, they found upon arrival mourners creating a wrong atmosphere for the resurrection. Jesus knew that the miraculous could be dependent on atmosphere. He therefore put out all the naysayers who would ridicule. The Scripture actually says that the mourners were laughing Him to scorn. When we scorn something we are saying it is worthless, stupid, despicable, and filled with contempt. These mourners were not there to give comfort. They were there to annihilate faith and stop the resurrection from happening.

Perhaps the mourners in our live are people, or maybe they are just the voices of our own intellect and logic. They are anything that would challenge our faith as we believe for resurrection of that which has died. We must deal with them as Jesus did. He put them out! He did not give room to them. Samuel, as a prophet of God, had to deal with his own mourning. Saul, the one he had anointed to be king, had forfeited the anointing through his own disappointment. Therefore God had rejected him. We find this in First Samuel 16:1. God had to motivate His prophet to come out of mourning and rise again in the anointing.

Now the Lord said to Samuel, “How long will you mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected him from reigning over Israel? Fill your horn with oil, and go; I am sending you to Jesse the Bethlehemite. For I have provided Myself a king among his sons.”

The mourning was causing Samuel to not go about his God-ordained duties and what the Lord needed him to do. The Lord told him it was time to arise and release the anointing again. As we believe for resurrection, it is time for us to stop mourning and allowing the mourners in our life to annihilate faith! We must get up, fill our horn with oil, and go. This in essence was what Jesus was doing when He put the mourners out. He was declaring they would not be allowed to determine what happened or didn’t happen. Jesus understood things they did not. The spirit that was on them to stop this resurrection was going to be humiliated and set in its place.

Jesus dealt aggressively with this thing and would not allow its operation. We too must, with spiritual aggression, put out all the mourners. They cannot be allowed to create the belief system, atmosphere, or any other thing that will stop us from believing. Jesus allowed only Peter, James, and John with the girl’s father and mother to go into where the body lay. Jesus’ perspective was that the girl was only asleep. He had simply come to awaken her.

Just an explanation here: I personally do not adhere to the teaching of soul sleep. I’m not an expert, but my understanding is that there is a thought propagated that when we die we go into a place of soul sleep much like what we experience when we sleep naturally now. It is the idea that we are in a place of semi-unconsciousness. The next thing we will know is when we are awakened at the ultimate resurrection. However, this does not line up with other scriptures. For instance, if this is the case of those who have died, why do we have the cloud of witnesses functioning presently in heaven? They should be asleep somewhere. They are not. They are in heaven granting testimony before the Lord through their words and intercession. Plus, we are told in Second Corinthians 5:6-8 that when we are absent from the body, we are present with the Lord.

So we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord. For we walk by faith, not by sight. We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.

None of this would hint at the idea of soul sleep. When Jesus said He was going to wake her up because she was only sleeping, this was not what He meant. He was alluding to the fact that raising the dead was as simple an act as waking a person up from sleep. Sometimes we make the supernatural much more difficult than it really is.

As stated previously, atmosphere is very important to the supernatural and Jesus’ resurrection power flowing. This is why Jesus took control of the environment. He kicked out the mourners who were ridiculing and scorning. He took a select group into the room where the resurrection would occur. Even though these weren’t perfect in their faith, they were willing to learn and believe. We must know that perfect faith is not necessary for us to see His resurrection power. Faith is not the absence of questions or even fear. It is a choice to not allow the questions and fear to dominate or determine actions. Sometimes faith is moving in agreement with the Lord and His word in the midst of our fear and questions. The whole issue is willingness to believe and choosing to obey. Jesus took this opportunity to train His disciples. They would later be used to raise the dead as well. What they witnessed and learned from these moments would be invaluable for them in times to come.

As they came into the room where the corpse of this little girl was, the Bible says that Jesus said, “Little girl, arise.” The word “arise” is the Greek word egeiro. It is the idea of waking someone up. It means “to collect ones senses.” Jesus simply spoke the word in the atmosphere of faith and the little girl woke up. A whisper from Jesus can bring dead things back to life. When we hear His voice, that which is dead will live again. John 5:25 gives us this principle.

Most assuredly, I say to you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God; and those who hear will live.

Jesus spoke this about the ultimate resurrection of the dead at the end of the age. However, the principle is the same. Dead things come back to life when the voice of the Lord is heard. Hearing His voice washes away fear, doubt, unbelief, questions, and anything else that would hinder us. When we hear His voice, dreams come to life again. Relationships can be healed. Futures can be reset. His voice has the power to bring life to anything and everything that has previously died. When Jesus spoke to this little girl and told her to wake up, resurrection life flowed into her immediately. His voice brings life to what is dead.

Lord, as we come before Your Courts we ask You for dead things to live again. Lord, I take control of my atmosphere. I repent for allowing the “mourners” to determine my atmosphere. I extract and remove these from any and all places of influence. I declare before Your Courts that even in my imperfect faith, You Lord will bring to pass Your resurrection life. I ask for Your word to come into my heart. I ask that Your voice might cause what is dead in my life to live again. Lord, allow dreams, passions, vision, relationships, restoration, and any other thing to live again in Jesus’ Name. May my faith speak before You as I believe the whisper of Your voice and not the screams of fear. Let it give testimony in Your Courts that all that is written in my book might come to pass in Jesus’ Name, amen.