Breakthrough

It’s hard to imagine how desperate they felt. They were a tight-knit group of friends who had grown up together. But one day, one of them – let’s call him Reuben – climbed a tree to pick some peaches and fell. He broke his neck and was left paralysed. It was desperate because they lived at a time with no hospitals and no welfare, no wheelchairs and no hoists. Reuben wouldn’t live long.

That’s when Simeon mentioned a healer had come to town, so they rolled Reuben into a makeshift stretcher and set off to find him. Hearts sunk when they arrived. Crowds jostled around the door. No hope of getting near.

“What about the outside stairs and breaking through the roof?” After some lively discussion about the householder’s potential reaction, they hauled their burden up the weathered stairs and began scraping away at the dried mud of the roof, pulling away tiles to make a gap, until finally they lowered Reuben down right in front of Jesus.

Jesus did the rest. Far more than they could have hoped for! They knew the guilt their friend had carried for years and watched in awe as Jesus declared him forgiven and raised him to his feet.

It took effort but they broke through and saw a breakthrough.

This gospel story is such a beautiful picture for us of the power of our prayers together to bring breakthrough in situations that look paralysed and stuck..

I wonder is there a situation where you want breakthrough?

I believe God is calling us to press in for more. Sometimes I am too much like the England team in the second half of that woeful match, not expecting to take territory, not expecting breakthrough.

For them and for us, it comes back to making the effort to bring our burden, the areas where we are stuck, whatever or whoever it is, to Jesus. Honestly, it can feel like an effort but God gives us himself and each other to help. None of those friends could have done it alone.

I have been thinking with great gratitude of those who have prayed with me and for me over the years, helping me lift my burdens to Jesus. We need each other. I wonder if there is someone who can share yours, or someone who needs you to share theirs.

There is more power in our prayers together than we imagine.

I cannot think of a move of a God that happened without groups praying. In I857, America was in moral decline, like us now. The delightfully named Jeremiah Lamphiah started a weekly prayer meeting in New York. Wall St crashed and by 6 months later, around 30000 businessmen were meeting daily to pray. The Movement caught like fire across the States and 1,000,000 were converted in 2 years. It was called the“Great prayer meeting revival”!

Prayer together brings breakthrough, beyond all expectations. It is an effort but worth it. Look at the common denominator in countries where the church is growing – prayer together.

In all the ministry I am doing, I am increasingly convinced that it is the prayer before that leads to the transformation afterwards. I am so thankful to all of you who pray for me in the work in prisons and elsewhere!

Satan whispers that our prayers don’t matter, that God can do it anyhow if he wants but as Pete Greig perfectly puts it “It is God’s will to use our free will to co-create reality with Him”. 

That is extraordinary. It’s worth breaking through to see what God will do.