The Spiritually Paralyzed

Posted on May 4, 2016 by Graeme Wilson in Victory Call

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. Luke 5:18-19

Recently, during a sermon from Luke 5, my mind wandered to a friend who experienced something similar to this in his own life.

In the midst of his addiction, his father dragged him to a men’s retreat.  He brought drugs and alcohol with him.  One evening he was intoxicated and high and was fighting, arguing and wrestling with others. The next morning some of the men at the retreat came into his room and picked him up limb by limb and carried him to the place they were meeting and laid him “at the altar” and prayed and prayed over him.   My friend experienced a dramatic conversion that week and is following hard after Jesus now.  He exudes love and faith to those that know him.  He has been radically transformed by the power of the cross.  God used those men that night to bring him, very much like a paralytic, to meet Jesus.

Why do we so often approach the unsaved as if they should know better?  They are blind but we expect them to see. They are deaf but we expect them to hear. They are mute but we expect them to speak. They are paralyzed but we expect them to walk. They are dead but we expect them to breathe.

Only God can restore their sight. Only God can cause them to hear.  Only God can give them a voice. Only God can heal their paralysis. Only God can bring the spiritually dead to newness of life.

But God may want to use us to lower them through the tile roof.

Don’t be deterred by the spiritually paralyzed friends and family in your life.  Be persistent.  By faith, keep taking them to Jesus and lower them down through the roof.

Blessings, Diane

Diane Hunt served for 16 years on the staff of America’s Keswick until recently when she and her husband relocated to North Carolina. She now continues serving as a contributing writer and Partner Care consultant. Diane is also a Biblical Counselor, speaker, teacher, and author. She delights in the opportunities she has as a women’s conference and retreat speaker to share from God’s word.  Many of her illustrations are drawn from her relational experiences as a wife, mother, and mema. They are the very relationships that bring her the greatest joy and the most fun!