House of Hope Online

March 15, 2026

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Two weeks ago, the word of Lord was titled “Put Out Unbelief” and emphasized how Jesus valued faith in those around Him.  We saw in Mark 5:34 that He pointed out the strong faith of the woman who had a hemorrhage of blood because she believed if she just touched His garment, she would be healed.  Immediately thereafter, in Mark 5:37-42, Jesus only allowed Peter, James, and John to accompany Him to the home of Jairus, the synagogue official, to raise his 12-year-old daughter from the dead.  In this passage He put all those who had unbelief out of His presence before He raised her.  God’s word emphasizes there is an apostasy, or a falling away from the faith, coming at the end of the age and we must be vigilant to guard against that as the Rapture approaches.

In this week’s word, we see Jesus was impressed by the faith of another woman, this time in Mark 7.

Look for Children’s Crumbs

Mark 7:

 25 But after hearing of Him, a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit, immediately came and fell at His feet.

 26 Now the woman was a Gentile, of the Syrophoenician race. And she kept asking Him to cast the demon out of her daughter.

 27 And He was saying to her, “Let the children be satisfied first, for it is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.”

 28 But she answered and *said to Him, “Yes, Lord, [but] even the dogs under the table feed on the children’s crumbs.”

 29 And He said to her, “Because of this answer go your way; the demon has gone out of your daughter.”

 30 And going back to her home, she found the child lying on the bed, the demon having departed.

There are a few things we need to understand about this passage.  In verse 27, the “children” referred to by Jesus were the Jews, as the children of God.  The children’s bread referred to the word of God and all of God’s blessings.  At the time of this conversation, the Jews referred to Gentiles or heathens as “dogs,” so Jesus was saying the Gospel was first for the Jews, then later for the Gentiles.  By using the term “dogs” in verse 27, Jesus was not insulting her but rather testing her faith by challenging her to acknowledge Him as Savior.  When she responded in verse 28 that even dogs under the table can feed on the children’s crumbs, she expressed her belief that a word from God could feed her need for the healing and deliverance of her daughter.

In verse 29, Jesus indicated that she passed the test.  By confessing that even a crumb of blessing from Him is all she needed, she put her faith in Jesus and believed He could cast out that demon without even laying hands on her daughter.  Jesus said: “Because of this answer go your way; the demon has gone out of your daughter.”  In other words, because of your extraordinary faith, the demon has already been cast out of your daughter.

This is an important lesson for us.  In our pursuit of increased faith, we need to hold the power of God in high esteem when we pray.  In the New Testament, the Greek word for God’s power is “Dunamis,” which means abundant, supernatural, and miraculous power that produces mighty works.  We need to begin believing for mighty works that we have never seen done before.  If we believe that even a crumb of Jesus’ power is all that is needed for our miracle, then Jesus will acknowledge our faith and execute that power on our behalf.  He did that for a Gentile woman, and He will do it for us as well.

Ask Jesus to Help with Your Unbelief

Jesus is willing to help us with our faith, as the following passage from Mark 9 demonstrates.  Jesus, Peter, James, and John were returning from the Mount of Transfiguration, another great Dunamis work of God, where Elijah and Moses miraculously appeared to Jesus and talked with Him.  So, Jesus and the three disciples walked from that phenomenal miracle directly to another.

Mark 9:

 14 ¶ And when they came [back] to the disciples, they saw a large crowd around them, and [some] scribes arguing with them.

 15 And immediately, when the entire crowd saw Him, they were amazed, and [began] running up to greet Him.

 16 And He asked them, “What are you discussing with them?”

 17 And one of the crowd answered Him, “Teacher, I brought You my son, possessed with a spirit which makes him mute;

 18 and whenever it seizes him, it dashes him [to the ground] and he foams [at the mouth,] and grinds his teeth, and stiffens out. And I told Your disciples to cast it out, and they could not [do it.”]

 19 And He *answered them and *said, “O unbelieving generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring him to Me!”

 20 And they brought the boy to Him. And when he saw Him, immediately the spirit threw him into a convulsion, and falling to the ground, he [began] rolling about and foaming [at the mouth.]

 21 And He asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?” And he said, “From childhood.

 22 “And it has often thrown him both into the fire and into the water to destroy him. But if You can do anything, take pity on us and help us!”

 23 And Jesus said to him, “‘If You can!’ All things are possible to him who believes.”

 24 Immediately the boy’s father cried out and [began] saying, “I do believe; help my unbelief.”

 25 And when Jesus saw that a crowd was rapidly gathering, He rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, “You deaf and dumb spirit, I command you, come out of him and do not enter him again.”

 26 And after crying out and throwing him into terrible convulsions, it came out; and [the boy] became so much like a corpse that most [of them] said, “He is dead!”

 27 But Jesus took him by the hand and raised him; and he got up.

 28 And when He had come into [the] house, His disciples [began] questioning Him privately, “Why could we not cast it out?”

 29 And He said to them, “This kind cannot come out by anything but prayer.”

In this case, the faith of the boy’s father was weak.  Note in verse 22 he said: “If you can do anything…help us.”  When Jesus challenged His faith, the father said: “I do believe; help my unbelief.”

The significance of this conversation is that the father was real and transparent with Jesus about the weakness of his faith, but that did not disqualify him from the mercy of Jesus.  The Lord went ahead and delivered the man’s son from demon possession.  By doing so, Jesus helped the man’s unbelief!

We Are Going to a Jewish Wedding

One of the rewards of having faith in Jesus is that one day soon we get to go to a wedding in Heaven.

Revelation 19:

 7 “Let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and His bride has made herself ready.”

 8 And it was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen, bright [and] clean; for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.

 9 And he *said to me, “Write, ‘Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.’” And he *said to me, “These are true words of God.”

The Lamb is Jesus, and His bride is the Church.  A review of the ancient Jewish wedding tradition helps explain the symbolism of this vision of John.

Four Phases of a Jewish Wedding

• Phase 1 – Selection of the Bride by the Father: During this phase, the father selects the bride for his son. We, as the Church, have already been selected by Father God as the Bride of Christ.  We are to be a Church without spot or wrinkle, and holy and blameless before Him.

Ephesians 1:

 3 ¶ Blessed [be] the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly [places] in Christ,

 4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him…

Ephesians 5:

 25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her;

 26 that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word,

 27 that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she should be holy and blameless.

The good news is that Jesus sanctifies us and cleanses us by the washing of water (baptism) with the word of God.  He purifies us with the word of God.  Through Him we are made holy and blameless, without spot or wrinkle.

• Phase 2 – Betrothal of the Bride and Groom:  During this phase, the families of the bride and groom agree legally that the couple will be married after an agreed upon betrothal period, during which time the groom prepares a room in his father’s house for them to live.  The legal document also provides the price, or dowry, to be paid by the groom, which is usually supplemented by his father, to take care of the bride.  We are currently in this phase, as Jesus has already paid the price for His bride through His death on the cross, and He is currently preparing a place (a mansion) for us in His Father’s house.

John 14:

 2 “In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you.

This is Jesus’ promise to us, His bride, that He is preparing a place for us in His Father’s house.

2^nd Corinthians 11:

 2 For I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy; for I betrothed you to one husband, that to Christ I might present you [as] a pure virgin.

 3 But I am afraid, lest as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds should be led astray from the simplicity and purity [of devotion] to Christ.

Paul is telling us here to guard our faith from the coming apostasy because we are betrothed to Jesus.  It is a legal obligation to be married at a future date, in accordance with the betrothal agreement that Jesus signed with His blood.  He is obligated to marry us, and we are committed to marry Him.  It is a done deal, so long as we remain committed to the covenant.

• Phase 3 – Marriage of the Bride and Groom:  At the end of the betrothal period, the father determines if the house is ready and if so, he tells the son to go get his bride and bring her to the marriage ceremony.  The bridegroom goes to the bride’s house to get his bride, and they along with the bridesmaids all march in procession to the father’s house.  It is a very joyful, albeit long awaited occasion.  Note that while the bride has an idea of when the betrothal period will end, she does not know the exact date because it is up to the bridegroom’s father to decide.  We currently are awaiting this phase, which represents the Rapture of the Church, when Jesus, at the behest of His Father, comes back for the Church and takes us with Dunamis power and in great glory to His Father’s house.

John 14:

 1 ¶ “Let not your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me.

 2 “In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you.

 3 “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you to Myself; that where I am, [there] you may be also.

Let not your heart be troubled by the tribulation of this world.  You can trust the betrothal agreement that Jesus and His Father drafted and signed for you.  This marriage is going to happen!

1^st Thessalonians 4:

 16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of [the] archangel, and with the trumpet of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first.

 17 Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and thus we shall always be with the Lord.

Jesus told us we will know the season, but not the exact day / time of the Rapture.  The parable of the ten virgins in Matthew 25 emphasizes the importance of being ready for the day the bridegroom comes for us.  In that parable, the ten virgins were waiting for the bridegroom to come, so the wedding procession could take place.  All the virgins had oil in their lamps, but the bridegroom was delayed, and the virgins became drowsy and fell asleep.  At midnight, the cry rang out: “Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet Him!” At that point, five of them realized they did not have enough oil and needed to go out and purchase more for the procession.

Matthew 25:

 10 “And while they were going away to make the purchase, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding feast; and the door was shut.

 11 “And later the other virgins also came, saying, ‘Lord, lord, open up for us.’

 12 “But he answered and said, ‘Truly I say to you, I do not know you.’

 13 “Be on the alert then, for you do not know the day nor the hour.

In the Jewish tradition, the bride and the bridesmaids needed to sleep in their wedding dresses and be ready for the bridegroom to come because, while they knew approximately when the betrothal period was ending, they did not know the exact day that the father would send the son.

So it is with us, we know we are approaching the end of our betrothal period, we know the Rapture is imminent, and we need to be ready.  We need to be sleeping in linens that represent the righteous acts of the saints.

Revelation 19:

 7 “Let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and His bride has made herself ready.”

 8 And it was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen, bright [and] clean; for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.

• Phase 4 – Marriage Supper: Like today’s modern wedding reception, after the marriage ceremony comes the wedding feast.

Revelation 19:

9 And he *said to me, “Write, ‘Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.’” And he *said to me, “These are true words of God.”

I suggest you all eat up at the Marriage Supper of the Lamb because the next event on God’s prophetic calendar is for His Church to follow Jesus to the Battle of Armageddon, watch Him defeat all the kings of the earth aligned against Him, and then to rule and reign with Him for 1,000 years.  You do not want to get hungry during the battle (just kidding).

Closing

The Gospel according to Mark shows clearly how Jesus values faith.  He often explained His miracles as being the result of an individual’s faith.  We have seen in the scriptures that Jesus wanted people of faith surrounding Him, people who had faith for miracles, people who believed even a crumb’s worth of Jesus’ Dunamis power is enough to do major miracles, healings, and deliverances from demonic oppression.

At the same time, we saw the Lord’s willingness to help our unbelief.  Bear this in mind always: the Lord loves us, and He is moved with compassion on our behalf.  He is a God of grace and mercy, by which we all are able to be saved.  Our faith is a gift of the Holy Spirit.  Pray for the Spirit of Faith to envelope us.  Ask Jesus to help your unbelief.

1^st Corinthians 12:

 7 But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.

 8 For to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, and to another the word of knowledge according to the same Spirit;

 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, and to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit,

 10 and to another the effecting of miracles, and to another prophecy, and to another the distinguishing of spirits, to another [various] kinds of tongues, and to another the interpretation of tongues.

 11 But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually just as He wills.

Ephesians 2:

 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, [it is] the gift of God;

 9 not as a result of works, that no one should boast.

And finally, know this:  Jesus is coming soon for His bride.  He is busy preparing a room for us in His Father’s house, and He is coming with Dunamis power to bring us to the marriage of the Lamb.  After being willing to accept children’s crumbs under the table, we will soon have a seat at the table of the greatest marriage feast of all time.  Thank You, Lord!  All praise, honor, and glory are due Him!

Let us pray.

Father God, we praise You for the crumbs that feed the dogs under the table.  We believe and trust in the Dunamis power of Jesus that effects abundant and supernatural miracles, healings, and deliverances.  We pray for the faith to receive those crumbs today as we await the day You send Jesus to get us for the glorious marriage feast.  Thank You for making room for us in Your house.  Help us to spread the Gospel to unbelievers in this nation and beyond.  In Jesus’ name we pray.  Amen.