Thursday, August 8, 2013

Lowering Our Mats


Some men came, bringing to him a paralytic…they made an opening in the roof above Jesus and…lowered the mat the paralyzed man was lying on.  When Jesus saw…he said to the paralytic, ‘Son, your sins are forgiven’” Mark 2:3, 5.

When my daughter was entrenched in her drug use, I created my own adversity.   I was so heartbroken and grief stricken I responded in a sinful way.  I began secretly mounting debt in an effort to run away from my pain.  In essence, I was an adversity runaway.  Secret spending turned to cover up and before long I was paralyzed in my sin.  I prayed that God would heal my daughter and restore her life but to no avail.  I lowered my mat of paralyzed hopes and dashed dreams before Jesus but He was more interested in my spiritual condition, just as the paralyzed man.  The man needed physical healing but Jesus gave him spiritual healing first. 

Our spiritual condition will always outweigh our earthly petitions.  God is certainly compassionate to our needs and desires.  However, in some instances there is something sick in our spiritual life that can be healed through our earthly challenges. We go to great lengths to lower our mats before Jesus, but when we have unconfessed sins that need to be revealed and healed that becomes the focus of God.  Once I began praying about my own transgressions and my fellowship with God, He began healing my spiritual condition and gave peace to my heart.  It was another two years before my daughter was rescued and restored but I was no longer living a paralyzed life.  He had forgiven my sins and I came to the altar with pure prayers.

God will heal whatever is broken within our spirits which many times answers the prayers of the deepest desires of our hearts.

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