If You Don't Have Faith, Find Friends Who Do!

Mark 2:3-5, 10-11

3 Then they came to Him, bringing a paralytic who was carried by four men.
4 And when they could not come near Him because of the crowd, they uncovered the roof where He was. So when they had broken through, they let down the bed on which the paralytic was lying.
5 When Jesus saw their [the four men] faith, He said to the paralytic, "Son, your sins are forgiven you."
10 But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins" -- He said to the paralytic,
11 "I say to you, arise, take up your bed, and go to your house."
NKJV

James 5:16

16 Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.
NKJV

My Comments:

The entire passage of Mark 2:1-12 gives the account of how Jesus was teaching in, and how it was so crowded that there was literally no more space to fit anyone else. Four men came carrying a paralytic and couldn't get to Him, so what they did was climb to the roof, still carrying the paralytic; broke through the roof, and lowered him down to where Jesus was.

It says in verse 5 that Jesus saw their faith. There is no mention of the paralytic having faith at all, and by reading through the passage, we could assume that it was through the faith of the four men that he was healed.

There will always be a point in life where you find that you just don't have the faith that you can be healed; or that your breakthrough is on the way. When that happens, you're paralyzed metaphorically. In times like that, when you find that no matter how hard you try, you just can't bring yourself to exercise your faith in God that He'll see you through, find friends who can help you with their faith!

Notice what the four men did:

1. "They uncovered the roof."

For them to uncover it they obviously had to climb up to the roof to start with. And consider the possibility that they brought the paralytic with them up the roof. That takes dedication!

2. "They had broken through."

In those days, the roof would most likely have been a thatch roof, a tight layer of dead stems, straw and dried roots. It may be assumed that such a roof would have been easy to break through, except that the Greek word for "broken" is the word "exorusso" of which the root word "orusso" means to dig or to burrow into the ground. By this, we could assume that the four men took time and effort to dig through the roof!

3. "They let down the bed"

In Greek, the impression of letting down the bed is compared as to lowering oneself into a gulf or into a void. It gives the idea of being lowered very carefully. Applying that comparison to the above, it could be said that the four men lowered the bed down very carefully. They had a choice of just dropping the paralytic down, he's already paralyzed to begin with, how much worse could it get?

By the three actions of the four men, we can see that they had a lot of faith that the paralytic could be healed, hence the emphasis on how Jesus saw their faith!

James strengthens this in his letter to the Church, where he encourage the believers to "Pray for one another, that you may be healed" and concluded that sentence by declaring that the "prayer of a righteous man avails much" or it makes "tremendous power available, dynamic in its working" in the Amplified Translation.

So if you find yourself at the end of the rope, unable to hold on and you see yourself paralyzed in your faith, find friends who can stand alongside you, add their faith to what you don't have, and see your healing come to pass!

Tongues & Interpretation: Lynne Hammond

I don't remember exactly when this service occurred, but I believe that the following message in tongues and its interpretation is especially relevant for us this day. It took place in Living Word Christian Center as part of the youth service. The interpretation for that tongue was given by Lynne Hammond.

For clarity of reading, I separated the interpretation into several paragraphs but the entire interpretation was given for one message in tongues.

This is especially dedicated to all those who's been wanting more of God and His plans for their lives; but got tired along the way and are possibly on the verge of giving up. This is also dedicated to those who already have given up and have nothing to look forward to.

[Message in tongues]

Interpretation:

There are certain destinations for each one of you. There is a place to come to. You're not finished yet, but there is a finishing line.This is not the time for you to draw back. This is not the time for you to stagnate or park somewhere and just be happy where you are, but this is the time to move forward.

There are right in front of you, if you could see into the realm of the Spirit. There are right in front of you new places, new things, new doors, new opportunities for each one.

So cry out to Him, press in for those places! For this is the generation that has the greatest mission yet to fulfill! This is the one I've waited for and watched and known. You were the one that I put on the end because you were the one all along I knew could finish the best

So look to Me in these hours. Look to Me in these times. Not to yourself and your own willpower. 

His Power For Your Weakness!

Matt 11:28-30

28 Come to Me, all you who labor (are wearied) and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

29 Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

30 For My yoke is easy and My burden is light."

NKJV

Isa 40:29-31

29 He gives power to the weak, And to those who have no might He increases strength.

30 Even the youths shall faint and be weary, And the young men shall utterly fall,

31 But those who wait on the LORD Shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint.

NKJV

My Comments:

It should be a known fact that the more weary or tired we are, the less effective our immune system is likely to be; thereby leaving us exposed to more types of sicknesses and disease. Experts have advised that we should take time off to relax and not allow ourselves to get too tired in order to avoid having a poor immune system.

We have to note that Man is a 3 part being; he has a spirit, a soul and a body. We stand by the theory that our soul comprises of our mind, our will and our emotions. You can be in a state of relaxation physically and yet have your mind, will and emotions working overtime, which would still have a negative impact on your immune system irregardless of your physical state of activity. Stress can be in any form, whether it be physical or mental.

God has given us a far better way. Like He said to the multitudes, just go to Him, and He will give you rest! He promised that when we go to Him and just learn to follow Him, we'll find rest for our souls.

Therefore when Jesus said that we'll have rest for our souls, in essence He was saying that we'll obtain rest for our mind, our will and our emotions. A state in which even if we engaged ourselves in physical activity, we'll still be at rest, His rest!

Not only that, Isaiah spoke of the Lord that He gives power to those who were weary, and that He increases strength to those who have no strength. (Isaiah 40:29) Even youths and young men will eventually fall and give out as a result of weariness, but those who choose to go to God and wait upon Him, they are the ones who will keep going on, not on their own strength but on the strength of God!

His Healing Power Is Always Active!

Luke 6:19

19 And all the multitude were seeking to touch Him, for healing power was all the while going forth from Him and curing them all [saving them from severe illnesses or calamities].
AMP

Isa 55:11

11 So shall My word be that goes forth out of My mouth: it shall not return to Me void [without producing any effect, useless], but it shall accomplish that which I please and purpose, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.
AMP

My Comments:

The Amplified Translation of Luke's Gospel Chapter 6:19 tells us that God's healing power was all the while going forth from Jesus, healing all who would come to Him.

What this means to us is this, that God's power to heal is never "off", in the sense of one turning off a switch and cutting off the power to it; but that it is always constantly "on"!

God said of His own word through the prophet Isaiah that it never returned to Him void (or without producing any effect, useless in it's application), but that it always accomplished what He purposed it to do! If what He spoke was not accomplished or done, it will never return to Him until it is done!

From the time this was written until our time, we can see that it is God's will that we all be healed in our bodies of whatever sickness or disease we may have in our bodies. As long as there is at least one person sick on this earth, we cannot say that God's Word has been fully accomplished. As such,  we can then boldly declare that His Word concerning healing is still active and powerful even till today for us to hold on to!

So whatever you're going through in your bodies, don't sit there and wonder whether God's power to heal is still present today, just believe that His Word is all the time going out to see to it that you receive your healing!