Not finding any way to bring their paralyzed friend in because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and let him down through the tiles with his stretcher, into the middle of the crowd, in front of Jesus.
(Luke 15:9)
At Journey in Christ's Fall Fellowship this past week, I saw one of our Advanced Discipleship Training graduates from two years ago. We reminisced about how the Lord gave her a precious picture a couple of years ago of being trained to be a "stretcher bearer."
Her picture is based on Luke 15:9. There was a paralyzed man who needed Jesus' healing, but was unable to go to Jesus on his own. A couple of his friends partnered to take him to Jesus. When they could not get through the crowds, they lowered him on a stretcher to Jesus through the roof. And Jesus accepted the man just as he was.
Similarly, my friend saw that she had loved ones who needed Jesus, and not just for temporary physical healing, but for eternal spiritual healing. Because her loved ones were spiritually paralyzed, they could not approach Jesus on their own. So, my friend began to see how the Lord was training her to be one of the bearers of the stretcher to carry her loved ones to Jesus.
Such a beautiful picture!
INTERCESSORY PRAYER
This picture reminds me of interceding on the behalf of our loved ones. Before we try to help our loved ones on our own, we must humbly go before the Lord in prayer to acknowledge that we cannot help our loved ones apart from Christ (John 15:5) and apart from others in His body (Philippians 1:5).
INTERCESSORY PARTNERSHIP
Then, on the wings of prayers, the Lord partners us with others in the His body to minister His hope to our loved ones.
Our underlying partnership is with Christ Himself in our union with Him. Our outworking partnership is with each other in His body responding to Christ as the Head of His body.
It is humbling and awesome to witness Christ lead us together in ministering to others. Christ, for whom and through whom all things were created (Colossians 1:16) expresses His creativity through us, partners in His body.
In the case of the paralyzed man in Luke 4:19, the creativity of Christ was evident in the lowering of the man on a stretcher through the roof. For us, it will be just as creative, even in ways the world will ridicule us for, but always in ways that will glorify Christ!
CLOSING
Last week, I partnered with others in praying for and carrying a dear friend to a year-long Christ-centered men's rehabilitation facility. He is no longer "paralyzed" with no hope, but needs time with the Lord to learn how to walk in his new-found hope!
The Lord Jesus Christ is our hope.
(1 Timothy 1:1)
Thank you for your partnership through this Rest Stop! Your fellow stretcher bearer,
Stretcher Bearer 
