| How to Help Someone Find Hope and Healing, Part 1 |
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| By Rick Warren — Jun 21, 2015 |
“Therefore [Jesus] is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.” (Hebrews7:25 NIV)
No one is outside Jesus’ reach.
I believe that small groups are a vital part of helping so-called hopeless people find healing. One of the parts I like best about being in a small group is that you can pray for one another’s “hopeless” cases. We can lean upon the faith of others when we start to doubt.
In Luke 5, a group of guys took their paralyzed friend to Jesus. It’s a great story of a small group of men who took someone in need of healing to the feet of Jesus. In this account, we find seven characteristics of a small group that God uses to heal. Today we’re going to look at three of those characteristics, andtomorrow we’ll look at the rest.
Compassion: This man was healed because his friends cared. It all starts with us caring about people who are hurting. Romans 15:2 says, (NLT, second edition). God used these guys because they were sensitive to a friend’s need. And he’ll use us when we aren’t preoccupied with our own needs and start caring more about others than we do ourselves.
Faith: The men believed God would heal their friend. Take a look at Luke 5:20: “When Jesus saw their faith, he said, ‘Friend, your sins are forgiven’” (NIV). It wasn’t the paralytic’s faith that made him well; it was the faith of his friends. How many people do you know who are so paralyzed they can’t believe in God? That’s when we have to believe for them.
Intervention: These friends didn’t just pray for their friend; they took action as well. It’s not enough just to pray for someone who is hurting and caught in sin. We have to take action. Jesus says in Luke 14:23,“Go out into the country lanes and behind the hedges and urge anyone you find to come, so that the house will be full.” There’s a slew of examples in the Bible of people taking others to Jesus. Everybody is not a soul winner, but everybody is a bringer.
PLAY today’s audio teaching from Pastor Rick >>
Talk It Over
- What does hopelessness look like?
- Do you believe that no one is outside Jesus’ reach? If so, what are you willing to do about bringing “hopeless” people to Jesus?
- What hurting friend have you been praying for? What can you do to take action and help that person heal?
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Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.
--Proverbs 3:5-6
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In order for us to become men and women of God, He must bring us to a place of total, absolute dependence upon Him. He must bring us to the place where we’re not leaning on our own sufficiency…to a place where we are leaning on Him completely.
Now, each of us prefers to have something or someone to lean upon. We have our own self-styled crutches that help us stand. For some it’s a bank account, for others it’s an insurance policy, and for others it’s a job.
Others lean on their reputation or their appearance or their abilities. Some people lean on their friends or their spouse or their children.
But the fact is God wants to get us to a place where we learn to lean upon Him and not on our own crutches! And God does that by removing the crutches one by one, and then reconstructing our lives upon Him.
I know that this process can be extremely painful. But I want you to know this: It’s always productive and pleasing to God when we get to that place where we lean absolutely upon Him!
So stand strong, my friend…and learn to lean on God!
Lean on God and not on your own crutches.
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