Morning Devotions

Bible Reading: Mark 2:4 And when they could not come nigh unto him for the press, they uncovered the roof where he was: and when they had broken it up, they let down the bed wherein the sick of the palsy lay.

I've always been amazed at these four men who were so very needy of getting to Jesus. They weren't going to let a crowd stop them. No walls were thick enough to stop them. No ceiling could prevent them. When they wanted to talk to Jesus, they made a way. It was huge. It is still huge today for what it tells us.

This picture of four men taking away some ceiling tile to lower their poor, crippled friend down to the feet of Jesus tells us about our evangelism methods, as well as about our personal prayer lives.

EVANGELISM
These men would stop at nothing to get the lost, the helpless, the needy, and the sin-sick into the presence of the Redeemer. When conventional methods failed, they found new ones. When reason failed, invention prevailed. The message is the same, but the methods of getting people into the presence of Christ changes with the situation.

How far are you willing to go to get the lost into the presence of the Redeemer? Will you go to the jailhouse? Will you go to the hospital? How about the Nursing Home? The drug rehab facility? The streets of your city or town? These are where the lost are - and you have Jesus.

What are you willing to do to get the lost into the presence of the Savior? Will you befriend the friendless? Will you help the helpless? Will you stand against the tide of popular opinion and reach across social boundaries?

PRAYER
I sometimes think that the reason more people don't see the hand of God moving among them is that they don't take the time to pray. They are simply too busy. They have too many other things on their priority list. Their "wanter" is not as strong as it should be. Their needs don't cry out for the help of the Savior loud enough in their minds to make this something they want more than anything else. When the need presses hard enough, the wanter wants strong enough, then the person will clamor to have the need met. Christ will fill the need of every soul if we will but come to Him. Blessed is he who will clamor to enter the prayer closet to be with the Lord - even if it means he must put his family and friends aside for a time. They will be there when he returns, but for the moment, an audience with Jesus is all that will suffice.