ICS Daily Devotions
When Jesus Saw Their Faith
Luke 5: 20 (NKJV) When He saw their faith, He said to him, “Man, your sins are forgiven you.”
It is important to understand what faith is so that we can spur each other on to persevere by not looking at the circumstances nor the bad reports. We will remind each other to stand on the promises that God has given to us especially what the individual has received from God as a promise to anchor their faith. Having said that, the individual must be certain that God has given a promise and share the word that they are basing their faith upon.
We should always ask the person who is sick what they are believing God to do in their sickness or illness. We should respect the person, hear them out regarding what the Lord has spoken to them and pray in agreement with them. The person might believe that God will grant them a good surgeon and God will use medical sciences to restore their health. All healings are from God regardless whether they are through medical sciences or divine healing. There are those who will just stand on their faith to believe for a supernatural healing and we should agree with them. We should not impose our faith on others but instead journey with the individual just like Jesus met each person at their level.
Luke 5:18-19 (NKJV) Then behold, men brought on a bed a man who was paralyzed, whom they sought to bring in and lay before Him. And when they could not find how they might bring him in, because of the crowd, they went up on the housetop and let him down with his bed through the tiling into the midst before Jesus.
Thank God that this paralyzed man had four good friends who were not bothered by the fact that their friend was paralyzed. They were not affected by his paralysis or the need to carry him to the meeting. There were two challenges faced by the four friends when they chose to carry their friend to the meeting. The first challenge was that their friend was paralyzed, and the other challenge was that there was no way of getting into the house due to the crowds especially with a stretcher. But they were already full of faith in Jesus’ ability to heal and therefore, they were not affected by what they saw or experienced and the obstacles that came along the journey. They did not even care what people thought of them, neither were they afraid of offending the Pharisees or the teachers of the law! Nothing was going to stop them. In fact, they had such dogged determination to see their friend healed that they climbed up onto the flat roof to lower him down.
Therefore, if we want to be of help and a blessing to those who are going through a very challenging moment in their lives then we need to be faith-filled friends. We need to stand in faith with a fellow believer who is reaching out to God in faith. They need to know that they are not alone in their journey!
Sermon-Series: Friends to Look for in a Crisis
