Don’t give up!

Grace and peace to you in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!

I welcome you to the column of our “Daily word for spiritual strength”.

Today I would like to consider lessons from the lives of four Bible heroes who brought a paralytic man to Jesus. In this history there are some vital lessons we can learn and some valuable principles for successful living.

Here is the first lesson: It is very important not to give up when you have set a goal to achieve something noble.

“ And again he entered into Capernaum after some days; and it was noised that he was in the house. ² And straightway many were gathered together, insomuch that there was no room to receive them, no, not so much as about the door: and he preached the word unto them. ³ And they come unto him, bringing one sick of the palsy, which was borne of four. 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. ⁵ When Jesus saw their faith, he said unto the sick of the palsy, Son, thy sins be forgiven thee” (Mark 2:1-5).

We can see from the above text that these people had a noble desire or goal, – to bring this weakened and paralytic person into the divine presence of God. The miracle that this man needed was possible only in the presence of God. Miracles are available for all of us too, only in God’s presence.

When we come into the presence of God, then all our problems and leprosies disappear.

However, this weakened person in our story couldn’t have come to Jesus and gotten into the presence of God by himself because he had been confined to bed. His four friends have decided to help him in this.

As we can see in the story, despite their noble desire, there was a serious obstacle standing in their way that would not allow them to get directly to Jesus. What was this obstacle? It was the great crowd of people that surrounded Jesus.

One very interesting lesson hidden in this story for us is that: no obstacles could stop these people. These four heroes overcame all the barriers and came to Jesus, entering into the presence of God. These people found a way to achieve their goal and reach their objective. The way they found wasn’t a traditional one, and this way did cost them something. But they have made it and paid the price for it. They disassembled the roof of the house where Jesus was teaching and lowered unto Jesus the bed wherein the sick of the palsy lay.

What does God want us to see through this story?

God wants us to understand that it will not always be easy when we make up our mind to pursue our goals and purpose in life. The person who quickly gives up will never win.

God’s word for you today is this: Don’t give up!

May God bless you on your way to achieving your purpose in life! Please, don’t give in to obstacles, because there are ways to achieve your purpose. If you have gone one way, and nothing seems to work out for you, then try to find another way. If the second attempt also fails, try a third method. You will eventually reach your goal if you will not give up on the way.

May the Lord bless you!

See you tomorrow!

Pastor Rufus Ajiboye