First Thing

Luke 5:¹⁷ “On one of the days while Jesus was teaching, some proud religious law-keepers and teachers of the Law were sitting by Him. They had come from every town in the countries of Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem. The power of the Lord was there to heal them.” (NLV)

On this journey of restoration, God has restored our sights and restored our sounds. And over the next few days, God is restoring movement in the Name of Jesus. Our focus scripture for the next few days is Luke 5:17-26 (please read). The Bible says in Luke 5:¹⁷ “On one of the days while Jesus was teaching, some proud religious law-keepers and teachers of the Law were sitting by Him….” (NLV, emphasis added). Think about it, what were they doing sitting by Jesus? Did they want to learn from Him or were they just looking for occasion against Jesus? It is important that we do not make the mistake of thinking that everyone by us is with us or for us. However, the truth is that there are more with us than against us. So, do not worry too much about those who are against you. Kings 6:¹⁶ “Don’t be afraid!” Elisha told him. “For there are more on our side than on theirs!” There are more with us than against us.

By the time Jesus was done restoring movement to this man, everyone there said, “We have seen very special things today.” By the time God is done restoring you, everybody will say we have seen something special in this life in the Name of Jesus. Luke 5:²⁶ “And they were all amazed, and they glorified God, and were filled with fear, saying, We have seen strange things today.” (KJV, emphasis added). By the time God is done with you, everyone around you will be amazed. They will glorify God and will be filled with fear, saying, “We have seen strange things today.” The New Living Translation puts it this way, “Everyone was gripped with great wonder and awe, and they praised God, exclaiming, “We have seen amazing things today!” Everyone in your life will be gripped with great wonder. Your life will lead people to praise God. Everyone will exclaim, “We have seen amazing things in this life”. That is your story in the Name of Jesus.

The next thing that stands out from this story is that Jesus addressed the deeper need of the man first. We need to Address Deeper Needs First. Most times when Jesus says, “Get up, take up your bed, and walk”, there are so many things that have been cascaded into that instruction. However, in this man’s case, Jesus broke it down. Luke 5:²⁰ “When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the man, “Friend, your sins are forgiven.” (NLV). Jesus addressed the deeper cause of the situation. Sometimes, we want to toy with things at the surface, but God wants us to go to the root cause of the situation. Before healing him, Jesus took care of his sin.

Prayer: Father, in the Name of Jesus, go into my foundation and take out everything hindering my physical, mental, financial, and spiritual restoration of movement. Amen!