Four for the 4 Who Stood at the Door
Sunday, April 19, 2009 at 06:44PM "Children, go where I send thee / how shall I send thee? / I'm gonna send thee four by four, four for the four who stood at the door..."
The line actually should be "four for the four who climbed on the roof, removed the thatch, and lowered their paralyzed friend down to see Jesus..." (Mark 2:1-5) but that wouldn't be as catchy as the rhyming version.
What certain faith these four men had. They carried a paralyzed man to get him in the presence of Jesus, because they must have believed Jesus could heal the man. The Bible doesn't say how well they knew the man or even whether they knew him at all. But their faith is evident by what they did.
When these four believers could not get the paralytic through the doorway, they did not turn away or let the paralytic down. Instead, they took the extra step of climbing on the roof and digging through the thatch to lower the man into the presence of of Jesus. The crowd inside the house wouldn't make room for the faithful four to carry their companion inside, so they forced the crowd to reach up and accept the burden of the paralytic's weight as he was lowered down to get in front of the Lord.
When Jesus witnessed the simple, direct faith of the four men who brought the paralytic on his mat, He said to the paralytic, "Son, your sins are forgiven."
Why did Jesus say this to the paralytic who was carried, and not to the men who carried him? This is an indication that the intercession or prayers of a righteous man can move God on behalf of others (James 5:16). The effectiveness of the four mens' faith justifies the belief held by many after the death and resurrection of Christ that the sick could be healed if they were only placed in the right spot so that the Apostle Peter's shadow should fall on them as walked by, so great was his faith (Acts 5:15.)
How often do I want to give up on praying not only for others, but for myself as well, when an obstacle is put in the way of my answer? How much can I learn from the faith of four men who stood at the door, and didn't back off when they were turned away from the presence of God?
faith, forgiveness, healing, intercession 
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Reader Comments (1)
I was most inspired by this article. A group of ladies just had a discussion on intercessory prayer this past Sunday. Very enlightening. I forwarded the comments to all of the ladies in hopes that all will be blessed