Turn - Max Lucado [5]
The apostle Paul’s letters contain no appeals for money, or possessions, or comforts—but they are replete with his urgings for prayer.
But the most striking example is that of Jesus.
Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd. After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray.
(MATTHEW 14:22-23)
If ever Jesus wanted to be king, this was the moment; this was His chance. Thrilled apostles boasted of their sucessful missionary journey. They had cast out demons, healed the sick, and recruited an army (Mark 6:12–13, 31). Citizens and soldiers followed them to Jesus (Mark 6:30–31). The crowd numbered five thousand men plus women and children (Matthew 14:21). Raise the scepter Christ, and rally Your army (John 6:15). But He didn’t.
RATHER THAN ACT, HE ASKED GOTI TO ACT.
Rather than ascend the throne of power, He climbed the mountain of prayer.
He went up on a mountainside by himself to pray.
(MATTHEW 14:23)
Why place such a premium on prayer? Simple. When we work, we work. But when we pray, God works. Scripture attaches breathtaking power to prayer.
“When two of you get together on anything at all on earth and make a prayer out of it, my Father in heaven goes into action.”
(MATTHEW 18:19, The Message)
We can be confident that he will listen to us whenever we ask him for anything in line with his will.
(1 JOHN 5:14, NLT)
Is any other spiritual activity promised such fruit? Did Jesus call us to preach without ceasing? Or teach without ceasing? Or have committee meetings without ceasing? Or sing without ceasing? No, but He did call us to “pray without ceasing”
(1 Thessalonians 5:17 NASB.
Did Jesus say, “My house will be called a house of study”? A house of fellowship? A house of music? A house of exposition? A house of activities? A house of political activists? No, but He did say, “My house will be called a house of prayer” (Matthew 21.13).
He is moved by the humble, prayerful heart. “The LORD will hear your crying, and he will comfort you. When he hears you, he will help you” (Isaiah 30:19, NCV).
Mark details a graphic demonstration of this truth.
Several days later Jesus returned to Capernaum, and the news of his arrival spread quickly through the town. Soon the house where he was staying was so packed with visitors that there wasn’t room for one more person, not even outside the door. And he preached the word to them. Four men arrived carrying a paralyzed man on a mat. They couldn’t get to Jesus through the crowd, so they dug through the clay roof above his head. Then they lowered the sick man on his mat, right down in front of Jesus. Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralyzed man, “My son, your sins are forgiven.”
(MARK. 2:1–5, NLT)
You don’t encounter the word prayer even once in that paragraph. But look closely…and you will see its portrait. Four men lowering a friend through the roof into the presence of Jesus. Christ stops preaching, looks up at the men, and then (most certainly with a twinkle) announces, “My son, your sins are forgiven.”
What stirred Jesus? What prompted this surge of grace? Mark wants you to know the answer. “Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralyzed man” (v. 5, italics mine).
The faith of the friends triggered the kindness of Christ.
The paralytic in this account symbolizes all who suffer.
The man has no movement, no treatment, no answers, no hope. He has so little.
But what he does have is significant: He has friends of faith. Friends who care. Friends who help. Friends who strategize and struggle to present the needy to Christ.
The full house and blocked entries only doubled their resolve. “So what if the doorway is packed? We’ll come at Christ from another angle.” They scamper onto the roof. They scurry from one side to the next. Listeners look up. Jesus looks up. Sprinkles of dust fall from the ceiling. Chunks of roof begin to fall and the upside-down head of a friend appears. “There