"Life's Healing Choices" in American Sign LanguageSample

How to Help Someone Find Hope and Healing, Part 1
By Rick Warren

“Therefore [Jesus] is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.” (Hebrews 7:25 NIV)

No one is outside Jesus’ reach.

I believe that small groups are a vital part of helping so-called hopeless people find healing. One of the parts I like best about being in a small group is that you can pray for one another’s “hopeless” cases. We can lean upon the faith of others when we start to doubt.

In Luke 5, a group of guys took their paralyzed friend to Jesus. It’s a great story of a small group of men who took someone needing healing to the feet of Jesus. In this account, we find seven characteristics of a small group that God uses to heal. Today we will look at three of those characteristics, and tomorrow we’ll look at the rest.

Compassion: This man was healed because his friends cared. It all starts with us caring about people who are hurting. Romans 15:2 says, “We should help others do what is right and build them up in the Lord” (NLT, second edition). God used these guys because they were sensitive to a friend’s need. And he’ll use us when we aren’t preoccupied with our own needs and start caring more about others than we do ourselves.

Faith: The men believed God would heal their friend. Take a look at Luke 5:20: “When Jesus saw their faith, he said, ‘Friend, your sins are forgiven’” (NIV). It wasn’t the paralytic’s faith that made him well; it was the faith of his friends. How many people do you know who are so paralyzed they can’t believe in God? That’s when we have to believe for them.

Intervention: These friends didn’t just pray for their friend; they took action as well. It’s not enough just to pray for someone hurting and caught in sin. We have to take action. Jesus says in Luke 14:23, “Go out into the country lanes and behind the hedges and urge anyone you find to come, so that the house will be full.” There’s a slew of examples in the Bible of people taking others to Jesus. Everybody is not a soul winner, but everybody is a bringer.

Talk It Over

What does hopelessness look like?

Do you believe that no one is outside Jesus’ reach? If so, what will you do to bring “hopeless” people to Jesus?

What hurting friend have you been praying for? What can you do to take action and help that person heal?