Advent Devotional #6 — Your Faith…for Others

Dec 18th 2015

READ

Luke 5:17-26

…when He saw their faith, he said, “Man your sins are forgiven you.” 

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Lynn loves babies, and a baby is what Lynn was picturing when she and Dan signed up to be fosterparents about five years ago. Instead, they were asked to welcome into their home a 12-year old boy from difficult circumstances, and there was tension from the outset. Their new foster son “had never really had his father involved,” Lynn explained, “so he immediately loved Dan. But he had a mom, so I was a conflict in his life from day one.”

Lynn found herself struggling to love her foster son, who ended up being with the Nolds far longer than they anticipated. Then one afternoon while meeting with a group of women, Lynn had an experience that changed everything. As the women were praying for her, “slowly their voices kind of faded away,” Lynn recalled, “and I had this whisper in my heart [and] I know it was God because it’s not something that I would ever think of.” What God said to Lynn in that moment was, “If you can’t love one, how can you love my city?” With those eleven words, God shifted Lynn’s perspective completely.

That same evening she decided to “pamper” her foster son, taking him shopping then to dinner at his favorite restaurant. That night at bedtime, he began asking Lynn deep questions about God. After their talk, she offered that he could wait to talk to Dan or anyone else in the family if he ever wanted to pray to ask Jesus into his heart. To her amazement, her foster son did not want to wait for Dan, or wait at all; he asked to pray right then with Lynn.

“This kid that I thought had no hope of ever being soft towards God,” said Lynn, “in six hours from that prayer time, he had – with me – wanted to pray and receive Christ.” It was a redemptive day, one in which God’s presence – through His unmistakable voice – had an eternal impact.

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Notice in Luke’s story, that this crippled man was brought to Jesus by his friends. And when Jesus saw their faith…not the faith of the crippled man, but their faith, He healed their friend. He forgave His sins. Did you ever stop to think that your faith might be important for someone else’s experience of God? I just want to take it out of the “my experience of His presence” category for a day or two. Did you ever stop to think that someone else’s experience of God might require your faith? At Calvary we often say that everyone has a team. Whose team are you on?

QUESTIONS

Who is waiting for you to bring them to Jesus?

When Jesus sees your faith, will it bring someone closer to His presence?

PRAYER

“Jesus, I want others to know you too. I want others to experience your presence. There are people in my neighborhood, people where I work, people in my school who need you? Please give me an opportunity to help them come to  you. Grow my faith for them.”
Take a moment and pray for someone that God is laying on your heart to invite to Jesus, to church, to lunch. Ask God to give you faith for them.