December 29th, 2025 Devotional

Living Water Vineyard – Devotion

Forgiveness First… Then Blessing

Yesterday at Living Water Vineyard, we were teaching from Matthew 9, along with the parallel accounts in Mark 2 and Luke 5—the story of the paralyzed man brought to Jesus.

And as we were walking through that passage, something beautiful happened.

Several people experienced healing, especially in their knees and backs. Nothing dramatic. Nothing forced. Just quiet moments where people realized, “Something changed.”

What stood out was when it happened.

It happened as we were teaching about forgiveness.

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Jesus Starts Where We Often Don’t

In the story, the man comes to Jesus for healing. That’s the expectation. That’s the need everyone can see.

But Jesus begins somewhere deeper.

“Son, your sins are forgiven.” (Mark 2:5)

Before strength returns to his legs, Jesus restores his standing with God.

Forgiveness isn’t a delay.

It’s not avoidance.

It’s the foundation.

Jesus is showing us that the greatest miracle isn’t what happens in the body, but what happens in the heart.

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He Didn’t Get Himself to Jesus

There’s another detail we often miss.

The man never got himself to Jesus.

He couldn’t walk.

He couldn’t push through the crowd.

He didn’t have access.

But he had four friends who believed in Jesus enough to do whatever it took.

When the door was blocked, they didn’t turn around.

When the crowd was in the way, they didn’t wait.

They climbed the roof, tore it open, and lowered their friend right into the presence of Jesus.

Scripture tells us:

“When Jesus saw their faith…” (Luke 5:20)

Sometimes faith looks like friends carrying you.

Sometimes blessing flows because someone else refuses to give up on you.

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Forgiveness Before Healing

When Jesus forgives the man, the room gets tense.

Because anyone can say forgiveness.

Only God can actually do it.

So Jesus connects the invisible with the visible. He heals the man—not to impress the crowd, but to confirm His authority.

Healing doesn’t replace forgiveness.

Healing confirms who Jesus is.

That’s the Kingdom on display.

And that same pattern—forgiveness first, blessing following—didn’t end in the Gospels.

You see it clearly in the life of Oral Roberts.

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Carried by a Praying Mother

Oral Roberts grew up poor in rural Oklahoma in a pastor’s home. Faith surrounded him, but his heart wasn’t fully surrendered yet.

As a teenager, Oral was tall, athletic, and good-looking. He was a gifted basketball player with big dreams, enjoyed the attention, and later admitted he was lukewarm toward God.

Then sickness stripped everything away.

Tuberculosis wasted his body. He dropped to around 95 pounds, coughed blood, and was confined to his bed. Doctors said there was no hope.

But one thing never stopped.

His mother’s prayers.

When Oral was too weak to move toward God, she carried him in prayer. She reached out and asked a traveling healing evangelist to come—not to a revival meeting, but to her son’s bedside.

There, Oral didn’t just ask God to heal his body.

He surrendered his heart.

Forgiveness came first.

Then healing followed.

What began in a quiet bedroom became a life marked by blessing and calling.

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Why This Matters for Us

That story mirrors Matthew 9 perfectly.

   •   Someone too weak to help themselves

   •   Faith carried by others

   •   Forgiveness before healing

   •   Blessing confirming God’s authority

Jesus doesn’t forgive as an afterthought.

He forgives because forgiveness realigns us with the Kingdom.

And from that place, blessing flows.

Yesterday—just like in Matthew 9, Mark 2, and Luke 5—the power of the Lord was present to heal.

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Reflect

1. Is there an area where I’m asking Jesus for healing or blessing, but He’s inviting me first into forgiveness?

2. Who has carried me toward Jesus when I was too weak to get there on my own?

3. Who might God be asking me to carry right now?

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Scripture to Sit With

   •   Mark 2:5 — “Son, your sins are forgiven.”

   •   Luke 5:20 — “When Jesus saw their faith…”

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Prayer

Jesus, thank You that You forgive us completely.

Help us receive Your grace and become people who carry others to You.

Amen.

— Living Water Vineyard 💧