Luke 5:17–26 (NIV)
17 One day Jesus was teaching, and Pharisees and teachers of the law were sitting there. They had come from every village of Galilee and from Judea and Jerusalem. And the power of the Lord was with Jesus to heal the sick. 18 Some men came carrying a paralyzed man on a mat and tried to take him into the house to lay him before Jesus. 19 When they could not find a way to do this because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and lowered him on his mat through the tiles into the middle of the crowd, right in front of Jesus. 20 When Jesus saw their faith, he said, “Friend, your sins are forgiven.” 21 The Pharisees and the teachers of the law began thinking to themselves, “Who is this fellow who speaks blasphemy? Who can forgive sins but God alone?” 22 Jesus knew what they were thinking and asked, “Why are you thinking these things in your hearts? 23 Which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? 24 But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” So he said to the paralyzed man, “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.” 25 Immediately he stood up in front of them, took what he had been lying on and went home praising God. 26 Everyone was amazed and gave praise to God. They were filled with awe and said, “We have seen remarkable things today.” Many people struggle to find a time to come before God. They have good intentions, and they even make plans, but all too often there are things crowding us that stop us from really being able to draw near to Jesus. If they were asked, “What else can you do?” They would likely struggle to find an answer that works. In fact, after trying many things they get discouraged, give up trying, and surrender to the idea that, “It’s just not possible in this season of life.” In Luke’s account of the paralysed man, we see something incredible. His dedicated and supportive friends were totally committed to bringing him before Jesus to get his healing. I can imagine all the planning that went into this day. They found out when and where Jesus would be in town. They arranged a stretcher to carry him on, they carried him through town to the location only to find others had arrived before them. It wasn’t that people didn’t want them to encounter Jesus, it’s that they couldn’t. Others had needs as well. They were all there. The whole town, it seemed, was crowded into that one house to meet Jesus, and there was no way they were going to get in. The doors were blocked, the windows were blocked, and maybe even the street was blocked… But I love their dedication. They knew Jesus had the answer and rather than giving up, they thought outside the box, and dragged this poor guy up onto the roof, still strapped to his bed, made a hole in the roof, and lowered the man down, right in front of Jesus. They didn’t give up. They knew Jesus was the answer and so they did everything necessary to get this man right before His face. Jesus is the answer for us and we need to be doing everything we can to come face to face with Him. If what you are doing isn’t working, then try something different. If the kids wake up early, get up earlier; or go to bed later. Turn off the TV. Go for a walk. Take time in your lunch break. Be willing to try anything! If you just can’t see a way to do it, ask God to show you. But be prepared to follow through when He does, because He wants to spend time with you as well. A great example of someone who thought outside the box is Susanna Wesley, the mother of John and Charles Wesley. She not only had 10 children (9 of the 19 she gave birth to died), she had a very difficult life and things were far from easy, but she understood too well the need for time with God, so she would bring her Bible to her favourite chair and throw her long apron up over her head, and spend 2 hours a day in His presence. Her children knew that when mum was under the apron, she was with God and was not to be disturbed except in the case of the direst emergency. Did it pay off? Well, you look at the fruit of her times with God. John and Charles Wesley were two of her sons. John Wesley is said to have preached to nearly a million people in his lifetime. He founded the Methodist Church and was said to have “supplied a new starting point to modern religious history”. His brother Charles was a brilliant musician and lyricist and wrote more than 6,600 hymns, many of which are still in hymnals the world over today. So yes, her prayers paid off. Prayer changes things. Time in God’s presence changes things. So above everything else that happens in your day, make time before Jesus your most important priority of the day. If you’ve tried everything, try something else. Do whatever is necessary to get before His face, because that is where you will find your miracle and the devil knows that all too well.
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Squeeze one more thing into my day…? I just don’t have time.
Have you ever found yourself responding this way? Most of us would love to do more, especially for God (considering all God has done for us). We would like to pray more or read the Bible more, but so often finding the extra time is our biggest challenge and we find ourselves asking things like, “Where do I find the extra time to pray or read the Bible?” And because we find ourselves so busy, these are often two of the first things that drop away. I don’t want to condemn anyone for struggling with this. I actually agree with you. Life can be very busy for all of us. Busy with work, family commitments, running kids to school, sports events, work and visiting friends. On top of that, we are paying bills, maintaining the home, checking Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, binge-watching our favourite TV shows, catching up with friends… our list goes on, and on… So what is “too busy”? Do we have no spare time or is it really just a trendy catchphrase? Is it something we use to justify our schedule? Our day may be full, but our schedule is still OUR schedule. There are things we must do, and there are things we want to do, but either way, every single day, you and I choose how to use the 86,400 seconds we have. You can choose to dedicate a portion of those seconds to God, or you can choose to use them all for yourself, but imagine how differently your day would flow if you just gave God a measly 600 of those seconds every single day. That would still leave 85,800 seconds for you to use. If you will give God ALL of those 600 seconds, and you see what He does with them, I guarantee that you will want to give him a few more. You might even find that you will start wanting to SHARE even more of your seconds with Him throughout the day, just because of what He can do with them. Why not start with the first 60 seconds, and consider the difference just 600 seconds will make…? Joshua 4:2-3 "Take for yourselves twelve men from the people, one man from every tribe, and command them, saying, 'Take for yourselves twelve stones from here, out of the midst of the Jordan, from the place where the priests' feet stood firm. You shall carry them over with you and leave them in the lodging place where you lodge tonight.' "
In Chapter 3, we see Israel approaching the Jordan River on their way to Jericho. In verse 13, Joshua said, “And it shall come to pass, as soon as the soles of the feet of the priests who bear the ark of the LORD, the Lord of all the earth, shall rest in the waters of the Jordan, that the waters of the Jordan shall be cut off, the waters that come down from upstream, and they shall stand as a heap." Now we need to realise that this was in the time of the harvest, and the Jordan River had overflowed its banks. In other words, it was flooded. The fact that Joshua ordered the men to collect 12 rocks from the Jordan (rocks large enough to be used to build an altar to the Lord) means that the priests were only stepping into the Jordan River whilst it was in flood stage, they were also stepping into something that was likely to have a rocky and uneven surface for them to walk on as they carried the ark of God across, and if you've ever tried climbing across the rocks at the beach when the waves are crashing around you, you know how difficult this can be. They had to have complete trust in God. They had to trust that He would stop the water when they stepped in (as He said he would), and they also had to trust that He would keep their footing sure as they stepped into the unknown. Has God asked you to step out into the unknown? Is it uncomfortable? Are you unsure? God would never ask you to step into the unknown, if He did not plan to be right there with you, holding back the waters, and keeping your feet sure. When God has spoken, you can be sure that He knows the beginning from the end, as well as every other step along the way. Just keep in step with Him. Everything will be okay. 2 Chronicles 14:11-12 “It is in your name that we have come against this vast horde. O LORD, you are our God; do not let mere men prevail AGAINST YOU!” So the LORD defeated the Ethiopians in the presence of Asa and the army of Judah, and the enemy fled.
King Asa was in a difficult situation. One day the Ethiopian army with 1 million men and 300 chariots came against him. Asa deployed his armies for battle, but like King David, he had an incredible battle strategy – He asked God, (his Senior Partner) for direction. He knew he couldn’t defeat them, but that didn’t matter because he also knew something else; He knew that even though the battle looked like it was against him, it was actually a battle against God. This was why he said, “O LORD, you are our God; do not let mere men prevail AGAINST YOU!” We often say that the battle is the Lord’s, but what do we do after we say that? Do we continue to panic and worry about what we see, or do we engage God in the whole process? We have the Spirit of God in us (1 John 4:13) and superimposed over us (Acts 1:8). Where we go, He goes; what we speak, He speaks; what we do, He does; and so on. So, we need to realise that if we see ourselves in spiritual warfare, it isn’t just us the enemy is coming against. He is coming against the Lord, and since the battle is against God more than you, it makes sense to seek Him for the strategy in dealing with that and then keeping in step with Him. That way, we can truly say, “The battle is the Lord’s. “No weapon formed against you will prosper” (Is 54:17), “For the LORD will go before you, And the God of Israel will be your rear guard” (Is 52:12). Also, as we continue reading, we see that even though Asa trusted God, three things happened: 1) He still had to go into the battle and fight; 2) He got to enjoy the spoils; and 3) The victory was God’s. This isn’t a battle against you. You are a child of God, so it is a battle against God. It isn’t your battle, it’s His battle! Hand it over to Him and allow Him to have the victory. Give Him the battle and give Him the glory. Paul was never afraid to speak to people. Even on the ship in the middle of a storm, he spoke to several hundred people and encouraged them that God was going to save their lives. It was as though Paul saw himself responsible for the spiritual well-being of those he was around.
I’m pretty sure Paul wasn’t expecting a shipwreck when he first left for Rome, but what we learn from him is that he always allowed God to be in control, and he trusted him to lead him even when things didn’t make sense. As a result, he ended up on an island that he never intended to visit. But at the same time, it’s likely that the people on the island would never have encountered God had God not orchestrated this for Paul to end up on that island. Without Paul, the chief official of the island would never have known Jesus. Consider the challenges Paul went through in this chapter alone. Before he even saw the miracles on the island, he went through a shipwreck and was bitten by a poisonous snake whose bite was supposed to kill him. Paul continued to make adjustments in everything he did so that he could stay in alignment with God’s plan. He trusted God in every step he took. The reason he could do this is found in Romans 8:38-39 - “For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” When Paul’s nephew visits him and tells of a plan he overheard to ambush and kill Paul, Paul isn’t afraid, because He already had a word from God. In Acts 23, the Lord said to Paul, "Be of good cheer, Paul; for as you have testified for Me in Jerusalem, so you must also bear witness at Rome."
Paul wasn’t afraid of the things he saw and heard in the natural, even though it involved a plan to take his life. Why? Because God had spoken and as far as he was concerned, God’s plans and God’s Words held a much greater level of truth and authority than any plans or reports from man’s mouth. Psalm 119:11 says, “Your Word I have hidden in my heart, That I might not sin against You.” Paul was so full of God’s Word and the Holy Spirit, that everything he heard was measured against God’s Word rather than God’s Word being measured against what he knew in the natural. God’s Word is final. Psalm 119:89 says, “Forever, O LORD, Your word is settled in heaven.” We need to have a conviction that regardless of what we see and hear around us, God’s Word is the final authority over any other word. It doesn’t matter if they are people’s comments, social media, the news, a doctor’s report, or plans and policies at the highest level of government. If you want peace of mind, settle that matter in your heart - God’s Word is always final. When Paul gives an account of his experience with God on the road to Damascus, he said, “I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?’” (Acts 22:7) what he didn’t know was that even though he was persecuting people, God was taking it personally.
Why? Because we are far more than just individual people; we are part of His body. In other words, what you go through, He goes through; when you hurt, He hurts; when you are persecuted, He is persecuted. But it isn’t just about us personally; our life experiences; what we think, feel and experience; it’s also about what we give out and what we do. Because the truth of the matter is that when you preach, He preaches; when you lay hands on the sick, He lays hands on the sick. We need to think of ourselves as part of something much bigger than ourselves. When I surrender my life to Jesus, it becomes less about what I want and more about what He wants. Now we all need to put that into practice… Paul was committed to his heavenly calling. Everything he did was with heaven in mind, regardless of the cost, even if it meant he would be beaten, imprisoned, or physically dragged out of cities.
Because he expected to be persecuted he was able to preach in faith. If we hope to not be persecuted, we will hold back in fear. Fear of man, fear of pain, fear of losing friends, fear of rejection, fear of abuse or just fear of losing followers on social media… what holds you back…? |
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