This desperate woman found comfort in her misery by thinking great thoughts of Christ. The Master had just compared her to a dog, unworthy of the children's bread. And what did she do? She turned his very words into an argument for mercy.

"Lord," she reasoned, "since you are the Master of the table of grace, I know you keep a generous house. There must be such abundance on your table that the children can feast and still have crumbs left over for the dogs. The children won't suffer one bit if the dogs are fed from what falls to the floor."

Do you see what she's doing? She thought so highly of Christ that what she needed—the demon cast out of her daughter—seemed like nothing more than a crumb to him. Think about that. This was everything to her. Her daughter was possessed by a devil! Yet she had such a massive view of Christ that she said, "This is nothing to him. For Christ, this is just a crumb."

Here is the royal road to comfort. Great thoughts of your sin alone will drive you to despair. But great thoughts of Christ will carry you into the harbor of peace.

"My sins are many, yes. But it is nothing to Jesus to sweep them all away. The weight of my guilt would crush me like a giant's foot crushing a worm. But to him? It's no more than a speck of dust, because he has already borne its curse in his own body on the tree. For him to grant me complete forgiveness will be a small thing, though for me to receive it will be an infinite blessing."

This woman opened her soul's mouth wide, expecting great things from Jesus. And he filled it with his love.

Dear friend, do the same. She didn't deny what Christ said about her. She owned it completely. But she grabbed hold of him and wouldn't let go. She even turned his hard words into reasons why he should help her. She believed great things about him, and by believing, she overcame him. She won the victory by faith.

Her story shows us what prevailing faith looks like. And if we want to conquer like she did, we must use her tactics.