The Faith of Good Friends

 Tuesday, March 3, 2026

And many were gathered together, so that there was no more room, not even at the door. And he was preaching the word to them.  And they came, bringing to him a paralytic carried by four men.  And when they could not get near him because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him, and when they had made an opening, they let down the bed on which the paralytic lay And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”  Mark 2:2-5

The Faith of Good Friends

Jesus was at a house in Capernaum, a packed house.  So many people were there that day that no one else could get in. The friends of a paralyzed man heard that Jesus was back, and they wanted desperately to take their friend so that Jesus could heal him. They were so desperate that they realized the only way they were going to get their friend in fronst of Jesus was to cut a hole in the roof of a perfect stranger’s house.  And they did it. When Jesus looks up and sees the hole and sees the four men lowering the paralyzed man down, He was impressed. He was impressed with the friends and how they had so much faith for Him to heal their friend, and how they were so willing to take extreme measures for this guy – because of faith.  

How many of us would love to hear Jesus say He is impressed with our faith?  We have friends and we say we pray for them, but do we have the faith of these men when we care for those loved ones in our lives? Do we cut open the roof for them, or just casually mention them in our prayers, if at all? We do not realize the power of intercession and prayer, and we do not fully utilize the power we have in Christ to intercede for others. We have the same power that rose Jesus from the grave - resurrection power! We need to use that power to ask bold things for others, and for our own lives. We work in church, teach, lead, and fellowship, but if we are not truly caring for the people, we are not doing what God has put us here to do. 

Jesus was impressed with their faith because He knew that they got it. They understood that people are more important than ministry. The people are the ministry, or they should be.  It should not be about the program because when the program takes priority, it is the people who suffer. 

These men cut a hole in the roof, lowered their friend down directly in front of Jesus, and Jesus looks up at them instead of focusing on the clear object of this act.  It is clear to everyone there who the person in need is, and what his need is, but he doesn’t get the attention at first.  Jesus sees the faith of his friends, and because He can see their faith, He forgives the sins of the paralyzed man. But that is not why they brought him - right?  They brought him to Jesus so He could make him walk again, but Jesus takes care of business first. The man needed to be healed spiritually more than he needed to be healed physically.  We can tend to let the physical take priority over the spiritual and sometimes, it might be necessary to meet some physical needs to then be able to make a spiritual impact in someone’s life. That happens all the time in ministry, because part of ministry is meeting physical needs. Jesus knew and wanted all these people to know that forgiveness is what we all need more than we need to be saved from our circumstances. 

We can’t change circumstances for others, but Jesus can and will change them in His time. In the meantime, pray.  Pray bold prayers for your loved ones, friends, and for your own needs. Stand in the gap for those who need an intercessor. Stand in the gap for those who need us to carry them to Jesus and lower them through the roof. Pray in faith for others who are lost, hurting, or in need. Use the resurrection power you have to intercede for others.  

Prayer of Intercession

Monday, March 2, 2026

 For this reason I kneel before the Father,  from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.  Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us,   to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. Ephesians 3:14-21

Prayer of Intercession submitted by Kay Crumley 

 

What is intercession?  It is the action of intervening on behalf of another.  It is what we do when we defend someone to another or attempt to explain their intention to someone who might not understand them.  Intercessory prayer is the action of saying a prayer on behalf of another person.  We may pray for one who is in need and is unable or unwilling to pray for themselves.  Or we see the extreme need for God’s hand on their life to meet their need and then we join them in praying for that need.  Romans 8:26 tells us that the Spirit helps us in our weakness by interceding to the Father when we don’t have the words to express our need.  Jada Edwards, from “When we Pray” provides this instruction. 

 

In today’s passage, we see Paul interceding on behalf of the believers in Ephesus.  In verse 14 he has reason to kneel before the Father.  The reason, found in the earlier chapters, include that we are a new family, one body in Christ.  The Jew and Gentile believers are now one family created by Christ that anyone can be a part of. That is a mystery given the cultural division in those two groups of people, yet it is truth.  We are all members of the family of God, vs 15.  That demands unity with one another within His family as we sit next to each other at our Father’s table.    

 

Paul has asked for four things in verses 16-19:  

1. Be Strengthened through the power of His Spirit.  He is the source of all power.  We should pray that our fellow believers be strengthened according to His riches.   

   
   

2. Let Christ Dwell in our inner being.  Your inner being is your heart, the center of your being.  That happens when we abide in Him through our daily walk with Him.  Faith grows by experiencing His provision for each day. Romans 10:7 teaches that faith comes by hearing the Word of Christ.  Spend time in His Word, learn His faithfulness and His character. 

   
   

3. Be Grounded in His Love.  Grow in the understanding of His love that is so vast, so deep that it is beyond our ability to comprehend.  Be rooted in Him that we read about in Psalm 1:3, planted by the water and bears fruit in season.  Pray for our fellow believers that they will know the fullness of Christ so that they are always filled by His love that is more than we can imagine. Be grounded in the love of Christ, not self-love, so that we can intercede for others.

    

4. Be Filled with the Fullness of God.  We can have God present in our lives, as we receive the Spirit as salvation, but we may not be full of Him if we don’t make Him prominent.  We need an all-powerful, always present God. Matthew 22:37-40 is the Great Commandment given to us by Jesus.  Love God first – with all your heart, soul and mind - and other second – loving your neighbor as yourself. 

 

How can we possibly achieve those four things?  That is answered in verses 20-21.  We cannot do that in our own power or efforts.  We can only do that by the power of Christ in us.  He who has more power than we can ask or imagine.  That incomprehensible power in us is what will accomplish the requests in this intercessory prayer from Paul.  All of that is to be to His glory alone, not for our glory.  We must advocate for others with a heart of Christ that He will pour the lavishness of His love on us and our churches.  We serve a perfect God who gives perfect purpose to imperfect people – to the glory of Jesus Christ.   

We Are The Church: A Study in Ephesians “The Power of Prayer”

 

We Are The Church: A Study in Ephesians
“The Power of Prayer”
Ephesians 3:14-21 (CSB)

 

-     Key Truth: The local church is not a destination but a base of operation.

Main Question: What does it mean to lift others up in intercessory prayer and how should we do it? 

1.        Prayer for Strength (14-17a) 

 

2.        Prayer for Love (vs. 17b-19a)

“The Four Magnitudes”:

a.         Length

b.         Width

c.         Height

d.         Depth

3.        Prayer for Growth (vs.19b-20)

 

After the Message: 
 Read Ephesians 3:14-21. How often do you pray for others? How often do you pray for the church and its leaders? How might you adjust your prayer life to lift up and “stand in the gap” through prayer for others this week? 

Special Access

Friday, February 27, 2026

In him we have boldness and confident access through faith in him. Ephesians 3:12

Special Access

It is hard to get an audience with powerful and important people. They often do not have time and will not make time for anyone they consider unimportant and insignificant. As believers, we have the privilege of having an audience with the most important and powerful person of all time – God. 

Paul is speaking to the Jewish and Gentile believers in the church in Ephesus reminding them of some important things. He has been reminding the Gentile believers that they now have the same identity in Christ and inheritance as the Jewish believers. Beyond that he also has been reminding them of the many other amazing benefits and gifts that come from being a child of God. One of those amazing gifts is that we have constant and instant access to God.

Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.  Hebrews 4:16

The "access" we have is like the access only given to the high priest to enter into the holy of holies in the temple. No one else would be allowed to enter into the presence of God. The high priest would have to enter once a year on behalf of the people asking for atonement for their sins. But because of Jesus and his atonement for our sins on the cross we have boldness to enter into the holiest of all.  We have the confidence of being welcomed, accepted, and cherished in the very presence of the King of Kings. We have the comfort of knowing we can go directly to him for mercy, grace, and help in our time of need, and especially in our times of failure.

As his children we can approach God freely, any time we want to. We can go to him without fear because of our faith in Jesus. He loves us and wants us to come to him. This freedom we have with the God of the universe gives us boldness and confidence in our relationship with him – always careful to maintain the holiest and most reverent attitude towards him. We have a heavenly Father who is always approachable. He always wants us to come to him with our hurts, needs, desires, and dreams. 

Have you realized the precious gift you have of face to face time with God? You have been granted all access through the shed blood of Jesus. Don’t hesitate to get before your heavenly Father today.