Today I was reading John 5:1-15. It spoke about the crippled man who had lain by the healing pool for 38 years and not been able to get in to be healed. The cripple complained that he had no one to help him and how others always got in before him. I had thought to myself, "Well just go in anyway!". The whole premise of the healing pool was that the first one in would be healed but I thought, "well you could try it!", at the same time realizing this came from my belief that God can heal anytime and anyone whereas the cripple probably didn't have that same faith. Then God spoke to my own heart and I realized that I have been doing the same thing. I have spent many, many years complaining that others were already doing what I longed to (and felt God wanted me to) and doing it very successfully, so why should I bother? What if I failed or was just deluding myself?
The next few verses slapped me upside the head! Christ says to the cripple "Get up! Take up your mat and walk." In other words; stop making excuses and get moving! Quit looking at others and comparing yourself to them and their lives and do what you believe I AM is calling you to do! Stop living in fear and trust God to provide the results.
I was at a Beth Moore simulcast on the weekend and one of the points she made was "Fear is the crippler of a walking, talking miracle." When we don't trust God and allow fear to cripple us we are allowing Satan ground he doesn't deserve.
Psalm 44:5 says "Through you we will push back our adversaries; through your name we will trample down those who rise up against us." (NASB)
O, Lord, remind me that you are more powerful than anything I fear. Open my eyes to what holds me back from following you and through your name to push back and "GET UP! TAKE UP MY MAT AND WALK!!"
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