Do You Want to Be Healed?
You search the scriptures because you think they give your eternal life. But the scriptures point to me! Yet you refuse to come to me to receive this life.
[John 5:39-40]
In John chapter 5, we find the story of a man who had been handicapped for 38 years. He was lying beside the pool of Bethesda along with others who were sick, blind, lame, etc. This pool was significant and is believed to had been a healing sanctuary for those who believed that miraculous cures were possible. In John 5:4 (KJV), it reads, "For an angel went down at a certain season into the pool, and troubled the water: whosoever then first after the troubling of the water stepped in was made whole of whatsoever disease he had."
The scripture goes on to say that when Jesus saw him and knew that he had been ill for a longtime, he asked the man, “Do you want to be healed?” I loved Jesus' approach. He already knew the man's issue, so immediately presented the man with a question that indicated there was a solution available.
What would your response be if someone walked up to you and asked if you would like $50,000? If you are you somewhat like me, the answer would be a sarcastic and definitive, YES! $50,000 would answer many prayers that I've prayed in regards to a few student loans.
Back to the story… in John 5:7 the man replied, “Sir, I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.” Now, this response may have been valid, but note that the man did not directly responded to Jesus' question. Jesus did not ask him "Why have you not been healed?" or "Why are you still laying beside the pool?" Take a moment and think back. How often do we choose to glorify our issue and present excuses rather than choose to accept the possibility of healing or a positive change? His response, like ours often have, indicated that he had been in that condition for so long that his will was as paralyzed as his body.
Whenever we present our issues to God, he will always present a solution. I can think of many times when God allowed a conversation to take place and in that conversation he provided the solution to my issue. God will present the opportunity for healing or deliverance from something that has crippled us spiritually. The sad thing is that sometimes, we will subconsciously (consciously for some) reject the solution and justify the problem with excuses of why things are the way they are, and we continue to wallow in the issue.
Right after the man presented his excuse, Jesus' response shook the foundation. In verse 8 Jesus said, “Get up, take up your bed, and walk.” He did not entertain the man's excuse or give the issue any more talk time than it deserved. It was not the man's faith that activated his healing. Jesus spoke with authority and the man's body responded. This is the same authority that we have access to when we receive Jesus as our Lord and are governed by the Holy Spirit.
So what issue(s) have you given authority to in your life. What excuses are you presenting to God as reasons to why you are in the state you are in ? Now let me clarify, there are some things that may be bit harder to confront than others, but with God all things are possible (Matthew 19:26). Your healing can come by way of receiving the peace of God that goes beyond your understanding concerning your issue.
As we come to the end of this man's story, we find that Jesus has one last interaction with him. In verse 14 Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, “See, you are well! Sin no more, that nothing worse may happen to you.” In this particular case, it is indicated that the man may have sinned in a manner that lead to his issue of 38 years. I am not noting that is the reason for all issues we face, but this has been the case for some, but thank God for the new covenant of grace. There is nothing we've done or anything that will come against us that God cannot restore us from. His love displayed through Jesus on the cross gives us the authority to walk in healing from any manner of disease and sickness. “He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed.”(1 Peter 2:24)
Healing is yours. Receive it. Get up, take up your bed, and walk.
Heavenly Father,
Thank you for Jesus bearing my sins, so that I may live in righteousness. Today I choose to take hold of every issue of my life and lay them at your feet. I ask that you pour out your Spirit so that I may take hold of the confidence to walk in the healing provided for me through Jesus by way of the cross.
In Jesus name, Amen.
