This morning we continue our series, “The Miracles of Jesus,” by looking at a situation in John 5 again.
Before we get into the miracle, let’s look at the foundational scripture I will share be sharing with you all year.
(Psalm 126:4 TPT)
Now, Lord, do it again! Restore us to our former glory! May streams of your refreshing flow over us until our dry hearts are drenched again.
This is a season of refreshing and restoring for us. I pray you get refreshed and restored as we study each miracle.
(John 5:1-13 TPT)
1 From Galilee, Jesus returned to Jerusalem to observe one of the Jewish feasts.
2 Inside the city, near the Sheep Gate, there is a pool called in Aramaic, The House of Loving Kindness, surrounded by five covered porches.
3 Hundreds of sick people were lying under the covered porches—the paralyzed, the blind, and the crippled—all of them waiting for their healing.
4 For an angel of God periodically descended into the pool to stir the waters, and the first one who stepped into the pool after the waters swirled would instantly be healed.
5 Among the many sick people lying there was a man who had been disabled for thirty-eight years.
6 When Jesus saw him lying there, he knew that the man had been crippled for a long time. Jesus said to him, “Do you truly long to be well?”
7 The sick man answered, “Sir, there’s no way I can get healed, for I have no one to lower me into the water when the angel comes. As soon as I try to crawl to the edge of the pool, someone else jumps in ahead of me.”
8 Jesus said to him, “Stand up! Pick up your sleeping mat and you will walk!”
9 Immediately, he stood up—he was healed! So he rolled up his mat and walked again! Now Jesus worked this miracle on the Sabbath.
10 When the Jewish leaders saw the man walking along carrying his sleeping mat, they objected and said, “What are you doing carrying that? Don’t you know it’s the Sabbath? It’s not lawful for you to carry things on the Sabbath!”
11 He answered them, “The man who healed me told me to pick it up and walk.”
12 “What man?” they asked him. “Who was this man who ordered you to carry something on a Sabbath?”
13 But the healed man couldn’t give them an answer, for he didn’t yet know who it was, since Jesus had already slipped away into the crowd.
So what does this mean for you today? A few things:
1. To walk with God effectively, you must be driven by purpose and not need because God is not driven by need.
— The more you walk with God and discern who to acknowledge and embrace His grace, the more you will get to where you are driven by purpose and not by need.
— I have made this point before, but it is worth repeating. If you are driven by need and not by purpose, it will be difficult for you to put God first, and it will be easy for satan to manipulate you.
— When you are focused on need, the only thing on your mind is YOU and what you need. Living this way makes you too selfish to hear from God. Further, living this way, you will never maximize the purpose and potential God placed in you because God’s purpose is NOT all about you. God is looking to impact the world THROUGH you, and you will miss out on that impact if you make your life about selfish pursuits.
— Needy people are quick to point out what they cannot do because of what they are facing. They are driven by circumstance instead of being driven by purpose. They need all the conditions to be right in order to make progress. In contrast, purpose-driven people set the conditions for their own success!
— God is not moved by need. He is moved by purpose. If God allowed Himself to be moved by need, then satan could create need all over the world and basically dictate God’s actions. While God does not allow Himself to be driven by need, unfortunately, many of His children do.
— A needy person who does not strive to find their divine purpose will always remain needy and need-focused. They will live their lives from episode to episode, trying to get their needs met, barely getting by. This is not how we are supposed to live. This is NOT #TheGraceLife at all.
— God did not bring you into the world to live so focused on meeting your own needs that you fail to fulfill your purpose. God wants you to be blessed so you can BE a blessing to others. That’s how Jesus lived, and it is how we are supposed to live. Jesus walked past hundreds of people who were sick, who clearly had needs, and did ONLY what the Holy Spirit led Him to do. He healed one man and then left. We must get to the point where we are SO confident in what the Holy Spirit is telling us that we can live the same way.
2. Jesus was not trying to make a name for Himself.
— If you want to walk with God and enjoy the benefits of His amazing grace, you must acknowledge the fact that God will make your name great and not live with a focus on making your own name great.
— Jesus healed the man and then told him NOT to tell anyone who did it.
— Jesus was not performing miracles to draw attention to Himself.
— Jesus only wanted to bring glory to the Father.
— God told Abraham that HE would make his name great. And God will do the same for us.
— Living #TheGraceLife means that you are seeking to bring glory to God’s name on this planet, and you are not out pursuing selfish desires.
— When you live #TheGraceLife you know you are not a self-made man/woman. You are a God-made man/woman. You are focused on making God’s name great, and as you do, He will make your name great!
— In this season of refreshing and restoring, let’s get back to the place where our lives are ALL ABOUT HIM!
3. Sometimes, your faith needs to be reignited.
— When Jesus asked the man if he wanted to get better, the man in the text started to give Jesus a bunch of excuses. Jesus knew the power of God was present to heal. This means that Jesus understood that God’s grace was available for healing to take place. However, I have taught you many times that God’s grace is accessed through our faith. So Jesus needed the man to exercise faith.
— The man’s response, full of excuses, complaints, and frustration, shows us he had lost hope. Maybe there was a time when he could see himself healed. There was a time when he believed he would be the first one in the water. But because of his many failed attempts, he could no longer SEE IT. This is dangerous because in the Kingdom of God if you can’t SEE IT, you can’t HAVE IT! Your legs will never take you where your soul has never been!
— Jesus needed to get the man to believe again. So Jesus said, pick up your bed and walk. At that moment, the man had to decide. He could either remain where he was, in a condition that had him bound for 38 years, or he could try to do something that he hadn’t been previously able to do. But for him to try it, he was going to have to attempt it by faith.
— Put yourself in a man’s position for a minute. You’ve been stuck in a paralytic condition for 38 years. Someone comes out to you out of the blue asking you questions. Maybe you sense in your heart that this may be an opportunity from God. The man asks you if you even want to get better. You gave him a bunch of excuses. Then the man asks you to do something that you clearly have not been able to do for 38 years. What do you do?
— Notice how Jesus did not address any of the man’s excuses. Jesus just told him to do what the Father was providing. Faith always speaks to your TO BE stage from your RIGHT NOW stage. Faith calls the end from the beginning. Jesus was speaking the language of faith. Now that the man needed to do was receive what Jesus was saying and then attempt, by faith, to do the seemingly impossible.
— Jesus’ words reignited the man’s faith. He tried it. He tried to get up, and miraculously, he was able to do it. Although he had pretty much given up on the possibility of ever being healed, an encounter with Jesus changed his legs and his life in an instant! The man got up, took up his bed, and walked away from the pool!
— Sometimes, your faith needs to be reignited. In this season of refreshing and restoring, if your faith had gotten to the point where it was stagnant, I believe that it will be reignited in throughout this series!
4. It takes faith to receive what you believe God has already provided.
— We must believe in the power of God to heal us, but we must also take action.
— God does all He does for us by grace (unearned and undeserved).
— But God requires us to live by faith.
— Faith receives what God has already provided.
— Faith is an action word.
— The man in the text had to attempt to do something he had not been able to do for 38 years.
— Faith is something you SAY or DO, based on what you believe God is revealing to you.
— What God reveals is His grace. The way you respond is in faith.
— Faith will require you to attempt to do things, even at the risk of looking foolish, just because God said.
— In this season of refreshing and restoring, we need to get back to simply taking God at His Word.
— We move because God said. That’s it. That’s the life of faith, and it is how we tap into God’s grace.
5. It’s never too late for God, and nothing is too hard for God.
— The man in the text was healed after 38 years.
— He has not been able to walk in almost four decades, and with one encounter with Jesus and the grace of God, he was walking in seconds.
— God’s healing power is limitless. God’s healing power is not limited by time or circumstances. Never forget that!
6. Sometimes, healing is not just physical. This man needed to be healed in his soul (the way he was thinking).
— When Jesus came to the pool, He didn’t just heal the man’s physical ailment. He also healed his soul. He restored his faith.
— In one moment, the man was giving a bunch of excuses (“Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up…), but in the next moment, he was walking.
— His physical condition had taken a toll on his soul.
— Jesus needed the man to receive his healing on the inside before it would manifest on the outside.
— Many times, soul restoration must precede physical healing.
— A soul that does not believe cannot receive from a God who can do all things!
7. Religious people are too focused on human performance to tap into the grace of God, and they are quick to criticize those who do.
— The religious people in the text criticized Jesus for healing someone on Saturday. It’s partly due to the fact that they could not heal anyone on any day.
— Putting the blame on others is a tactic that keeps you from confronting your inadequacies.
— If you live your life focused on your humanity, you will never be able to tap into the divinity God placed in you.
— Religious people are humanity-focused. Grace-based people are simply focused on doing whatever the Holy Spirit leads them to do. They are not focused on rules, laws, parameters, and limitations. They are open to whatever God wants to do; however, He wants to do it.
— Religious people are quick to question, criticize, and argue over what you did and how you did it. Grace-based people know that walking with God will often cause you to be misunderstood, so they don’t participate in the arguments. Jesus never argued with the Pharisees, Sadducees, or the Sanhedrin. He just did whatever the Holy Spirit led Him to do. Thi is the way we are supposed to live.
That’s enough for today.
Declaration of Faith:
Father, I thank You for Your love and grace! I believe this is a season of refreshing and restoring for me!
As I study the miracles of Jesus, my faith is reignited and increased!
I learn from Your Word this morning to be led by Your Spirit in all things, and at all times.
I learn that Your Spirit will often lead me to do things that don’t make sense. As a result, people may question or criticize what they do not understand. But I won’t engage in futile arguments. I will simply do what You lead me to do, how You lead me to do it.
I am driven by purpose and not by need. I see myself the way You see me. I believe what You believe about me. And I am on this planet to make Your name great. I don’t have to make a name for myself. You promote me, advance me, increase me, and bless me, all by Your amazing grace!
Nothing is impossible for You! And You live in me. Therefore, nothing is impossible for me! I enter into this day knowing GREATER IS COMING FOR ME! I declare this by faith. In Jesus’ name, Amen!
This is Today’s Word! Apply it and Prosper!
