One of my favorites photographs is this one of our son lifting our grandson, to pick an apple. They had gone apple picking, as a family. And, when our son lifted my grandson to pick an apple, our daughter-in-love took this wonderful picture. And I really love it.
One of the things that I love about it is that we get to see our son helping his own son learn to make choices.
Although our son and daughter-in-love could have purchased a bag of apples, or our son could have picked the apples for his family, he/they didn’t do either of those things. Instead, our son picked some of the apples, but then he chose to lift our grandson up, so that he could choose to grab hold of his own apple. He got to make a choice and to do it for himself.
That picture shows the love of a dad for his child so beautifully. And, because of the love that I see there, it always makes me think of the love our Heavenly Father has for us.
As our son lifted our grandson to grab hold of his apple reward that day, I am reminded of how God lifted me up out of the muck and mire of sin. He lifted me up and helped me to take hold of my eternal reward.
If we call Jesus the Lord of our life, if we have repented of our sin and begun to live for Christ, we have each then experienced that same love.
But, it doesn’t stop there. As followers of Jesus Christ, we should have the heart of God. We too, should desire that none would perish, with out being reconciled to God. And, we should be lifting others up so that they can choose to follow Jesus themselves. We should be lifting them up to the Father so that they too can take hold of their eternal reward.
The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. 2 Peter 3:9
Remember that I said our grandson got to choose? Well, all mankind gets to choose whether they desire a relationship with God as well. God doesn’t force Himself on us. We get the opportunity to seek God and, through faith, grab hold of our eternal reward. Or, not.
And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. Hebrews 11:16.
The problem is that the enemy has deceived those around us. He lies and tells them that God doesn’t want a relationship with them. He says there is no God. Or, he says that they are too bad to be forgiven. And, they then become spiritually paralyzed by his lies.
How many of us have heard someone say, “Oh if I went to church it would fall down”? Some of those people really believe that they are too bad to be forgiven by God. It is not that they don’t want to be forgiven. They just don’t believe they can be. They are spiritually paralyzed because of the lies of the enemy.
Our grandson, although he was lifted up to the place where he could grab hold of his apple reward, could have chosen not to take hold of it and come away empty handed. Similarly, mankind (each of us) can be lifted up to the Father, by those around us, and still choose not to take hold of our eternal reward. We can listen and believe the lies of the enemy and become spiritually paralyzed.
But God gives them and us (followers of Christ) an example of what to do in circumstances like that.
We see the account of a paralyzed man in Luke 5. His friends brought him to Jesus for healing.
“Some men came carrying a paralyzed man on a mat and tried to take him into the house to lay him before Jesus.” Luke 5: 18.
The account in Mark 2:3 & 4 gives a little more detail. It tells us that four men brought their friend to Jesus for healing. It also says that many people had crowded into the house for the same purpose. There were so many people that the men could not get their friend inside to see Jesus. So, they lifted him up to the roof, removed the tiles, and lowered him down through the ceiling.
“Some men came, bringing to him a paralyzed man, carried by four of them. 4 Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus by digging through it and then lowered the mat the man was lying on.” Mark 2:3-4.
And, What was Jesus’s response? “And when he saw their faith, he said unto him, Man, thy sins are forgiven thee.” Luke 5:20 This doesn’t say, “And when Jesus saw the man’s faith”, it says when He saw “their” faith. All 5 of them recognized Jesus as the Messiah.
These men had FAITH! They knew that Jesus could heal their friend and they carried him all the way there. As if that were not enough, they then climb up on the roof, pull and tug and lift him up to the roof with them, tear through the tiles of the roof and lower him down to Jesus.
Because of their faith (all 5 of them) Jesus healed that man!
That man couldn’t have gotten to Jesus on his own. He was physically paralyzed. But, He didn’t have to go with them. He could have protested and refused. Yes the could have drug him physically, but they couldn’t change his heart. If he didn’t want to go, there would have been no healing.
Those 4 men knew that Jesus could heal their friend. They knew and had faith enough to go through all that they did to get him to Jesus. But that man also desired to be healed and trusted his friends, and Jesus for that healing. Because all 5 of those men had faith, the paralyzed man was healed.
What would happen if we showed that kind of faith? And what would it look like if you and I did whatever it took to get those around us spiritually healed? Right now, they too are paralyzed (spiritually) by the enemies lies. What if we were lifting them up to our Savior?
We all have spiritually paralyzed people in our lives. People who may desire spiritual healing. But they need you and me to lift a corner of their stretcher and carry them to Him. So, will we lift them up to Him? Will we lift them up to our Savior so that He can say to them, “Your sins are forgiven”? Or will we just walk by that stretcher and leave them there.
Let’s lift the corners of those stretchers. We can lift them by praying for them. And we can lift them by speaking to them in love. We can also lift them up to Jesus by ministering to them in their need.
Again, we all have spiritually paralyzed people in our lives. But, are we going to leave them there? Or will we lift them up to Jesus?
So, are we willing to carry their bed to Jesus? It takes very little effort if we will each grab a corner. Ready? On three… 1… 2… 3. LIFT, church! LIFT!
Father God, thank you for healing. Thank you for physical healing and, most of all, thank you for spiritual healing, that can only come through repentance and the shed blood of Christ. Thank you for your sacrifice that brought about the possibility of spiritual healing, Lord Jesus. Holy Spirit, break our hearts for what breaks yours. Don’t let us miss a single stretcher, don’t let us walk by one spiritually paralyzed, without lifting them up to you. In Jesus name we pray, Amen.
Have you been spiritually paralyzed by the lies of the enemy? Do you think that the church would fall down if you entered? Do you think that you are too bad for God to forgive? I believed those lies once. But others lifted the corners of my bed. They showed me the love of Christ. And they prayed for me. They ministered to me in my need. And our Savior healed me! He wants to heal you too.
All God requires is a heartfelt prayer of repentance. There is a prayer like that outlined on our Life Preserver page (https://forgiven-n-loved.com/life-preserver/). Please go to that page and pray that prayer (or one similar), from the bottom of your heart. God wants to forgive and heal you. He wants to adopt you into His family as His own precious child.
I am praying that you will pray that prayer. I’m lifting your bed! Once you have prayed that prayer, please, reach out to me at admin@Forgiven-N-Loved.com. I’d love to be in prayer with and for you.
Luv Ya!
