Prayer is carrying people, paralyzed by life, to the healing waters of the love of Jesus. We meet a man in John 5, paralyzed and suffering for 38 years, who has been unable to get to the healing waters of the pool. Fred Craddock notes that, perhaps, this was because able-bodied people with headaches, sunburn, and fever blisters continually beat the lame, the blind, and the paralyzed to the pool. What kind of community would allow someone to suffer 38 years without once helping him to the head of the line? At our NLF staff meeting last week, we symbolically created the “pool” through placing a blanket in the middle of a circle. We then invited individual staff to step into the “center of the pool,” representing people paralyzed by life. The rest of us in the circle then picked up the edges of the cloth blanket and gently ruffled it, “troubling the waters.” We asked God to bring healing to our youth, singles, marriages, the community, etc. It was beautiful. I was deeply moved. And I have been carrying people to healing waters of love of Jesus ever since. I also have been asking myself: What are things in our church that impede people from getting to the healing waters of God’s love? How can we be more responsive to people who need to get to His powerful healing water?
30
Jan
