A Friend to the Friendless
7/30/25
When I was a little girl I used to find myself praying for the actors and actresses in the movies I watched. To this day I can’t pinpoint when or why I started doing this, but I have memories (and journal entries) that show it was often on my mind.
I know I wanted everyone to come to know Jesus and be saved. But after that prayer the one I can remember the most was this: “God, please send them real friends. Please send people into their lives who won’t want anything from them but to love them.”
It’s amazing the difference a friend can make in your life.
As I was writing that just now the story came to mind of Jesus healing the paralytic man. Maybe you remember it…
One day while Jesus was preaching inside a home, several men came carrying their paralyzed friend between them. They wanted to bring him to Jesus to be healed, but “…finding no way to bring him in, because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and let him down with his bed through the tiles into the midst before Jesus. And when he saw their faith, he said, ‘Man, your sins are forgiven you.”’ [Luke 5:19-20]
A couple minutes later the scene culminates with Jesus commanding the paralyzed man to pick up his mat and walk, and he does so - rejoicing at his healing all the way home.
I love how the Bible tells us the reason that Jesus forgave the man and healed him was because He saw the faith of his friends. Jesus never addresses the paralytic man’s faith in this particular story, but the faith of his friends won a miracle for him that day.
That’s incredible. Every time I read this story, it leaves the same singular question in my heart: “Who am I carrying to Jesus today?”
Can you take a moment to answer that question for yourself? (Another way of answering this could be to consider if there’s anyone you know who really needs a friend right now.)
Maybe your immediate thought was of someone you know in real life, and if so, please reach out to them! Send them a text or call them out of the blue today just to check in.
But I also know this group is full of prayer warriors and intercessors, and one of the most beautiful things about intercession is that we get to advocate for those we’ve never met. So I’d invite you to sit a little while longer and see if anyone else comes to mind.
Has a certain name stood out to you in the news recently? Is there a specific actor, actress, or director from something you watched recently? Once God settles a specific person in your heart and mind, I want to encourage you to take a few minutes to pray for them. You may never meet them in real life. They may never know your name.
But right now you have the chance to step in as their friend and take them before the Lord. And just as we witnessed in the Bible story above, your faith in Jesus is powerful to make a difference in their life.
Do you believe that?
Who will you carry to Jesus today?











