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.

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.