ROLFC 21 Day Fast - Day 14 TREASURE #14- As a child of God, I have been given: Healing and Made Whole… “Now a certain man was there who had an infirmity thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he already had been in that condition a long time, He said to him, “Do you want to be made well?” –John 5:5-6 Thought: Thirty-eight years?! Suddenly, your three-day cough pales in comparison. Whenever I find myself complaining, I always find a way to count my blessings, especially when I know that others are going through the same thing I am, and often times even far worse. This is an interesting story, for it has some twists that will greatly encourage you. We find here a man who has been sick for 38 years. We don’t know exactly what his infirmity was, because the bible does not go into detail. I believe God wanted to leave it blank for us to fill it. Because just like this man, we have some type of issue going on in our lives that disables us from diving into all the riches of the grace that Christ came to give. He was probably worst of all the people that were in the vicinity where this conversation with Jesus took place, because we read in John chapter 5 that everyone else made it into the healing pool, which means he was slow to get up. Some people are like that. They know the place they need to go, the place of outpouring, the place of healing and grace, but they are just so slow to get up and go. They sit and lie at home depressed and discouraged, when they should be in the house of the Lord where they can be made whole by the move of the Spirit’s healing presence. After 38 years, however, this man had given up all hope. He got used to being sick; he forgot what it felt like to be whole. This is who Jesus approaches out of all the people there. Why? Jesus is close to the brokenhearted, and He knows that without His help, this man will never become whole again. On this note, I want to point out a significant fact. Jesus knows that this man has been in this condition for a very long time. So why does Jesus even bother to ask the question, “Do you want to be made well?” My friend, don’t miss this most important climax of the story. Jesus saw that he had been sick for so long that he had lost his will and determination to be whole again. Jesus was dealing with this man’s will and determination! Some of us have been floating around in our failure for so long we’ve lost sight of our will to succeed! Have you ever just accepted defeat, given up on the goals you have in life? Have you ever been stripped of your will, your enthusiasm, your power to move forward? It reminds me of times when I have been neglectful in filling up my gas. Every time my gas indicator points to “E”, I always hear my dad’s voice, “A responsible person always fills up his gas tank when it gets down to a quarter full.” Well, there was this one time, when I had been totally irresponsible, and the indicator was now on the other side of “E” with a blinking yellow light. Needless to say, I was stressed out and worried that I wasn’t going to make it to the gas station. I turned off the A/C, because I was told that was supposed to help save gas. It started to get hot, so I rolled down the windows. This was no time to look cute; I was trying to maximize every drop of gas I had. Then, I turned off the radio. I knew that had nothing to do with gas, but it made me feel like I was saving gas! Finally, I could see the gas station from where I was. So I lightened my foot off the pedal, and was driving like my grandma. Finally, I came to the stoplight just before the gas station, with my eye locked in already on the gas pump I was going to use. The light turned green, and just when I was about to accelerate, my car died. Have you ever experienced a power failure? You saw the provision, the healing, the wholeness; it was at your fingertips, but you couldn’t quite get there. That’s where God steps in to supply the power, and to challenge you to WILL and DETERMINATION again! If you ask God, He will pour back into you the will to ask what you desire Him to do in your life! And you will rise up, take up the mat where your infirmity lies, and walk! Prayer Focus: Pray for God to bring healing and wholeness to the church family. Ask for God to move with miracle working power in the church. Pray that God would give you the boldness to walk by faith and claim His healing in every aspect of your life.
Posted on: Sun, 26 Jan 2014 07:08:41 +0000
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