Jesus People: Fight for RelationshipSample

Don't Stop Digging

Do you have people in your life who are willing to do whatever it takes, dig however deep, to get you to Jesus? Are you that kind of friend to people in your life?

I can picture the scene of the 5 men in Mark 2. The paralyzed man laying on a bed carried by his four friends. Friends who are more than likely exhausted from the trek to get to the house where Jesus was. Friends who are probably feeling weak and weary from carrying a grown man along with his bed. Friends who won’t give up when the journey gets difficult.

I wonder what their conversation was like on the way to Jesus. I have to wonder if the paralytic had given up hope and was only holding on by a thread because of his friends? Maybe they went to his home to tell him about Jesus and how He can heal but couldn't get their friend to agree to the quest. I picture these determined, faith-filled friends grabbing him anyway, his bed along with him, not leaving him much of a choice.

Jesus People seize every opportunity to fight for people who can’t fight for themselves.

Once they got to the crowded house and were unable to get through the door, did the paralytic chuckle and claim, "I told you so?" Did he beg for his friends to turn around and give up?

These four friends were faithful to keep digging until they could no longer dig. What faith these men had in Jesus! And what friends these men were to do whatever it took to make sure the paralyzed man had the opportunity to be healed.

The guys had to believe that if they could just get their friend to Jesus, he would surely be healed. After all, they traveled all that way and dug a hole in the roof to lower him down, right at the feet of Jesus. Bringing the man back up would be nearly impossible – they are banking on him being able to walk out of the house. This is how much faith they had that Jesus would heal their friend.

And as Jesus sees this man lowered before him, laying at his feet, right in the middle of the house, His first response is to marvel at the four friends’ faith.

What miracles might happen in your life if you had the kind of friends in your corner who will fight for relationship with you and for your relationship with God?

The paralytic is healed because of the faith of his friends. What a testimony! What an encouragement for us to have faith for the people in our life when their faith is shaky.

1. What holes are you digging to get your friends to Jesus?
2. What holes are the people in your life digging to get you to Jesus?

Find the people for your corner that will dig holes in the roof to get you to Jesus. People who will fight for you by fighting for your relationship with Jesus.

Pray: Thank Jesus for the people in your life. For the relationships He has surrounded you with. Beg Him for the people in your life to have the kind of faith that the four friends have. Ask Him to create in you deep faith for those around you who need you to have faith for them.