This was their chance. Four friends had heard that this Man, Jesus, was coming to town. Now this Jesus was no ordinary teacher. Stories had been circulating around town, causing the people to buzz with anticipation, expectation, intrigue, speculation, and even skepticism. Everyone wanted to catch a glimpse of Him. People wanted to come hear this Teacher who did not speak or teach as the Pharisees or religious leaders did, but delivered words of life with authority and power. It was as if He were a messenger from another world, another Kingdom altogether.
When He stepped onto the scene, miracles happened. Demons came out of people. Those who had leprosy were supernaturally healed and made clean. In fact, everyone who came to Jesus received miraculous healing from sickness and disease, as well as deliverance from demonic torment. Could it be that this Jesus would also extend a healing touch toward their paralyzed friend?
They started walking toward the house where they heard Jesus was teaching. Maybe along the way the four men told their paralyzed friend the stories they had heard about this Miracle Worker, building his faith and expectancy for the miracle they were all anticipating.
But then, there was a major obstacle. Jesus was there, teaching in the house. The problem was that the massive crowd made it impossible for the men to push their way through and bring their paralyzed friend to Jesus. They could not even get near Him. The One who had the ability to bring a supernatural solution to their friend’s impossible condition was just out of their reach. Would they experience a miracle, or go home the same way they came?
Maybe this is just how you feel today—like Jesus is just out of your reach. Maybe your miracle feels out of reach. Or maybe you have been like these four friends and you are carrying someone else’s burden, believing for their breakthrough, praying for their healing. But you have experienced roadblocks along the way. Setbacks keep pushing against your progress. The obstacles keep coming against you. Day by day the impossibility level rises. They call the disease terminal. The marriage is all but over. The anxiety is relentless. The thoughts of fear, terror, worry, lust, doubt, and anger just keep coming. The addiction is too strong and the grip of bondage is too tight.
You know that Jesus is able to do something about your situation. After all, He can do anything He wants—He is God. But the crowded house—the obstacle and seeming impossibility—causes you to wonder, “Jesus, I know You are able…but are You willing? I know You can transform my impossible situation, but do You want to?”
The four men were faced with a vital decision that we face every time we are confronted with the impossible. Option 1: they could embrace the crowded house as God’s perfect will for their friend’s life, assuming that because they could not easily get to Jesus, it was not His will to heal their paralyzed friend. This option embraces everything that happens in life as God’s sovereign will and downplays the idea of pressing past impossibility to receive a supernatural solution.
If they selected this option, the four men would turn back, head home, and their friend would have remained in the same paralyzed condition perhaps for the rest of his life. Too many believers embrace this option today, not because it is theologically correct, but because it is all they have ever known. And plus, no one is providing a solid, scriptural alternative.
In the pages to come, I want to equip and empower you to live out the second option. As you will come to discover, these four men did not simply go with Option 1 and embrace the impossible situation as God’s will. They demonstrated a completely different perspective, which I want to help you develop and activate. By the time you’re finished reading this book, it is my hope that you would not only want to choose Option 2, but that it would be a way of life for you and your default option in every situation you face. By God’s grace it is possible to look at our impossible situations with expectancy and faith.
I have watched many good, Jesus-loving, Bible-believing Christians simply embrace the circumstances life brings their way as God’s will. Opposition. Overwhelming odds. Those things in life that are declared terminal. Sicknesses. Relationships. The spiritual climate of their family or city. When situations come against us that are considered terminal, our tendency is to embrace an experiential faith. We let the situation that comes against us become God’s will instead of measuring it beside God’s will. While there is mystery to God’s will that we’ll never know this side of Heaven, there is also clarity and revelation we are meant to understand now. God’s Word reveals God’s will concerning our lives. It is vital that we know what God’s Word says about the different situations we experience because not everything that comes into our lives is God’s perfect will for us.
I hear it time after time after time: someone is going through a difficult situation—be it an illness, a divorce, mental or emotional pain, family turmoil, or a continuous series of unfortunate events—and they are desperately searching for God’s plan and purpose in all of it. Often, God’s plan involves us overcoming the overwhelming thing that has come against our lives. We cannot afford to believe the lie that everything that happens in life is orchestrated by God’s sovereign plan. He caused it. He orchestrated it. He set it up. He has a plan.
God absolutely has a good plan and a perfect purpose for each one of us, but it is quite different from the realities that so many Christians embrace and teach as His will. God’s perfect will is actually on the other side of the barriers, impossibilities, and circumstances we mistakenly believe are sent from Him. His will is not simply embracing whatever comes our way. Instead, God’s will invites us to experience His supernatural power invading impossibilities and overthrowing circumstances that do not agree with His perfect plan.
Not everything that comes into our lives is God’s perfect will for us.
What is the secret to experiencing and releasing this power in our lives? Breakthrough faith. I want to help you develop and unleash a personal faith that persists through every problem, perseveres through all circumstances, and breaks through every barrier that is in disagreement with God’s Word.
I have included a section at the end of each chapter providing a summary of the main topic that we explored.
In addition, I will be providing lists of highly recommended resources for further study. These authors will take you into greater depths of understanding and revelation on some of the topics that we reviewed in part.
Go to www.mybreakthroughfaith.com for more dynamic resources on each of these topics.