Emphasis Preaching Journal

Jairus connected his daughter to Jesus through his prayer, his petition, his intercession, his request to Jesus. To understand what Jairus had done, we can borrow a contemporary image used by Olavi Kaukola in his book The Riches of Prayer, where he describes prayer as being like a seat belt with which we fasten our loved ones to God. Here is another striking image which may help us understand the nature of what Jairus and Jesus have done in this exchange: "Prayer is like a telegram sent to God. When it has been sent, it goes ahead even though the sender does nothing.