Jesus
will Answer Your Personal Needs.
 |
| Paralytic Lowered Through Roof |
(Art by
James Tissot, 1886-96)
Following
Jesus, watching him work miracles was a fabulous experience. First,
we walked the dusty roads to Capernaum. On the Sabbath, Jesus went
right to the synagogue and rose to teach.
“What
do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth?” a man screamed out. Such a
screaming demon will alarm you, and we all gasped.
“Be
still. Come out of him.”
Jesus
looked at him and ordered silence. The man fell to the floor shaking.
When he quieted down, Jesus raised him to his feet, the man now sound
of mind and body.
At the
home of Simon and Andrew, Simon's mother-in-law lay sick. Jesus
stepped to her bed, took her hand and raised her up. That's all he
did. I didn't hear a word. Everyone in the house watched him.
Later,
on the road, as we walked from village to village, a poor pitiful man
with leprosy begged him on his knees. The man looked awful and
smelled worse. He begged more.
“If
you are willing, you can make me whole.” Needless to say, no one
seemed interested in him, except Jesus.
“I am
willing, be clean,” said Jesus.
The man
instantly looked clean as if someone had bathed him. There was no
smell, just a sweet fragrance in the air.
Now the
next event I found amazing. The roof of this house in Capernaum
seemed to cave in. Men tore it off. Pieces fell to the floor. People
inside backed against the walls. Four men lowered a paralytic through
the roof down into the house.
“Son,
your sins are forgiven,” Jesus said.
The
Rabbis grew huffy. Jesus turned to them, “Which is easier to say,
'Your sins are forgiven', or 'Take up your mat and walk'?”
“Get
up, take up your mat, and go home!” he told the paralytic. The
paralytic stood up and walked out with his friends! Everyone saw it.
In the
town square, Jesus invited the local tax collector to follow him.
Later, eating at the home of this new follower, Levi, Jesus said, “It
is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have come to
call not the good, but the sinners.”
In these
first few days, one thing grew apparent to me. Jesus related to each
person in a personal way. He always did. You'd find the same thing.
Jesus is the answer to your needs. It's like he knows every one. Turn
to him. You'll see.
"Come
to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you
rest” (Mt 11:28, NKJV).
(Scriptures
and story adapted from Mark, Chapters 1 & 2.)
– Bill
Hunt
Prayer
Request:
A
young mother, Shamim Bibi, (2-28-12
Pakistan) has
been ripped from her baby and imprisoned under penalty of death for
her Christian Faith. Also,
Asia
Bibi
(6-19-09 Pakistan)
mother of five children; Pastor Yousef Nadarkhani,
(10-2009 Iran)
father of two sons. Nations
guilty of violations against most
basic
human rights.
"Where
the Spirit of the Lord is, there is Freedom." Actively Pray for
these
and
the
Persecuted World-Wide.
Read
the Story at www.compassdirect.org
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