The question for today is: Can a believer in Jesus trust God for the healing (inside or outside) of another person?  The answer (or at least one answer) is found in Mark 2:1-12, where it tells the story of four men who brought their paralyzed friend to Jesus to be healed.  When they got to His house, they couldn’t even get in the door, so they went up on the roof, cut a hole, and lowered the guy down into the room, right beside Jesus.  Then verse 5 says, “Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralyzed man, ‘Your sins are forgiven.’ ”  When the Pharisees condemned Him for forgiving sins, denying His authority, He said, “I’ll prove that I have the authority to forgive sins.” He turned to the man and said, “Stand up, get your mat and go home.”  Miraculous healing.

Where did it come from?  Verse 5 begins with, “Seeing their faith . . .”  Whose faith? Must’ve been the four men.  They had enough faith to go to the trouble to bring the guy to Jesus.  Just regular guys talking about how this Jesus was going around healing people, and their friend had been paralyzed for a long time, and who knows?  What would it hurt?  So they packed him up and took him down there.  And when they got there the place was packed.  They couldn’t possibly get in.  But they didn’t give up.  They kept on pushing the envelope until they reached their goal, to get the guy in front of Jesus.  They didn’t know what would happen.  But it might be worth a try. It’s almost funny.  The passage never said a word about what the paralyzed guy thought about the whole thing.  He apparently never said a word.  All he did was follow instructions.  “He jumped up, grabbed his mat and took off.”

So what does this have to do with us?  Well, in James 5:16 it says, in part: “. . . pray for each other so that you may be healed.  The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results.” ^NLT And who is a ‘righteous’ person?  A righteous person is one who has God’s righteousness in his own personal heart, soul and body; a person who has trusted God with all her heart. Just like it says in Genesis 15:6, “Abraham believed God and it was counted to him for righteousness.”  That’s God’s righteousness, God’s Spirit in your very own heart.  Any person who has God’s Spirit in their heart has the same authority for healing others that Jesus’ has.  It’s Jesus in your own heart. To paraphrase a quote from Martin Luther King, Jr.: “Everybody can be great . . . because anybody can serve. You don’t have to have a college degree … you don’t have to make your subject and your verb agree … You only need a heart full of grace.  A soul generated by love.”  You don’t have to be very smart or very holy.  All you have to do is trust.  Those four guys trusted that God might be able to do something so they did something.  If you (or I) pray, God provides the authority, and the power, and even the healing, in response to our trust.

So the answer is “YES, YOU CAN TRUST GOD FOR HEALING OF OTHERS, INSIDE AND OUT.”  Try it.  If you have a friend that is dying of cancer, or some other dread disease; go see them.  Tell ’em this story and ask to pray for them.  Lay hands on them and pray.  Anoint them with oil and pray.  Who knows?  Something might happen.  Couldn’t hurt.  Might be a supernatural miraculous intervention of God.  The guy might get up and walk out of the hospital.  What did that verse in James say? “. . . pray for each other so that you may be healed.  The earnest prayer of a righteous person (that’s YOU!) has great power and produces wonderful results.”  Maybe it’s not a one shot deal.  Maybe you have to keep on praying for awhile, keep on pushing the envelope until something happens.  If you really care about them it’s worth the trouble.  Heck, you might have to cut a hole in the roof or something.  God will tell you! Remember, these were just regular guys, nobody in particular; God must’ve put this feeling in their hearts.  This “Expectation” Feeling. Finally, it might be a good idea to get three or four of your buddies to go with you, so you can encourage each other.  That may be part of the point of this story.