“And when they could not get him to a place in front of Jesus because of the throng, they dug through the roof above Him; and when they had scooped out an opening, they let down the [thickly padded] quilt or mat upon which the paralyzed man lay.” Mark 2:4 (Amplified)
What do you do when your faith hit the buffers? The answer is you build more tracks and keep pressing on. You simply refuse to accept any terminus that stops short of your faith expectation and keep going until it is transformed into a faith’s testimony and the result you were expecting. This mindset was what the five men involved in our anchor story demonstrated. Four men had carried their paralysed friend to one of Jesus’ meetings to be healed, but realised that they had arrived too late to gain access to Jesus to effect the healing. They had determined before they left home that they would not be bringing their friend back on a bed and had proceeded to the crusade venue in faith. Then the seemingly insurmountable roadblocks started appearing just as they will surely appear for you if you desire to emulate their faith action.
The first clue as to the reason why they encountered problems getting to Jesus was furnished by the fact that Jesus was holding the meeting in a house as opposed to an open field, which was more accessible, and reveals the heart of Jesus. It proves that He is ever ready to minister to our needs. People heard that He was around, identified where He was staying, congregated and overflowed and Jesus selflessly began to feed them the spiritual food they craved. By the time the four friends arrived, they weren’t able to get to Jesus. They could have reasoned, “Maybe it is not our day today. We will come another time”, but didn’t. They would have remonstrated with those who had arrived earlier than them and were blocking their path to Jesus, but they had no joy with that approach, since other people also wanted to get to Jesus. They could have given up, but they didn’t. Rather, they determined to find a way to get to Jesus, which in this case involved committing criminal damage by breaking the roof of the house in which Jesus was staying in order to get His attention and in this they succeeded brilliantly or was it criminally? The fact that Jesus was pleased with the way they expressed their faith and rather than castigate, He healed the paralysed man reveals His love for man over things. It is proof that no excuse will wash with God if we fail to press in with our faith and take hold of the fulfilment of His promise to us.
So, where exactly are you on your faith endeavour? Have your faith tracks run out and you are just about giving up on God’s promise to you? The obstacles you are facing presently are no proofs that this is the time to give up. They are simply God’s way of telling you that it is time to raise your game and thus look for a faith-way out of the situation because the bible assures us that nothing shall be impossible for those who believe. Luke1:37. So, keep your faith in perpetual motion and keep pressing in, for you shall surely reach your desired end.
Prayer:
Lord, you specialise in making ways where none previously existed. Make a way for me today and enable me to achieve the end of my faith objective so that my life will indeed please you and my triumph over adversity will bring glory to your holy name. Amen.