DIG for Friday the 12th of January…..take a step of faith into your healing…..John 5 v 9

In my DIG yesterday I wrote about the account of Jesus healing the man at the pool of Bethesda.

I wrote of the need to take responsibility and ‘do something’ to help manifest our healing.

I think I need to clarify this a little; we need to take a step of faith, believing that we are healed.

In this account we see Jesus telling the man the following; to rise, to take up his bed and to walk (John 5 v 8).

In verse 9 we read something similar, however it is important to read this carefully, as sometimes what is missing from the Word is as important as what is there!

We read that he did take up his bed and he did walk, but we read nothing about his rising.

What we read is that he was made whole.

I believe that this tells us that he was healed as he was rising up!

He was healed as he took a step of faith and moved into his healing; he was healed as he was rising up.

Now this is only one model of healing that Jesus used, but it is a model where we see a step of faith involved in healing.

In a sense it is similar to the woman with the issue of blood where Jesus tells the woman that it was her faith that made her whole (Matthew 9 v 20 to 22).

In faith, she acted and took a step towards her healing.

At times I believe that we need to walk out in faith and ‘do something’ to aid the manifestation of our healing.

Speak this out today…..”Thank you Lord that I see many models of healing in the Word and thank you that your will for my life is supernatural health”.

John 5 v 9…..And immediately the man was made whole, and took up his bed, and walked: and on the same day was the sabbath

 

 

Advertisement

DIG for Thursday the 11th of January….take some responsibility for your own life…..John 5 v 8

I’ve been thinking about the account where Jesus heals the man at the pool of Bethesda, and also issues around personal responsibility that we can see in this account (John 5 v 1 to 9).

Jesus asked the man if he wanted to be healed; the man then made an excuse as to why he was not, blaming other people in fact.

Jesus then told him to do something, and it was at this point, when the man actually moved that he was healed.

Now, I am not saying that healing from Jesus is conditional; the Word says that by His stripes we were healed (1 Peter 2 v 24).

However we do have a responsibility over our actions to help make our healing manifest, and also to keep the healing we have received.

There are natural and spiritual laws that we are required to adhere to in this life.

Yes, we have been healed by the stripes of Jesus, however if we continue to think we are ill, speak out that we are ill, eat too much, drink too much and take no exercise our healing may not be made manifest.

Or we may see healing manifest but if we continue in our bad thinking and bad behaviours we may not see our healing manifest for long!

So, I hope you can see that I am not saying we have to perform or work to be healed, however we do have some responsibility to see our healing made manifest and stay.

In recent months I have recognised that my weight was a health issue.

So, I started telling myself that I was lean and fit, and that I did not need to eat so much, however I also required to take responsibility for my behaviour and actions.

Used together, my thinking, speaking and actions are making a difference in my life.

We all have personal responsibility for our thoughts, words and also actions; taking responsibility will help us immeasurably in our life.

Speak this out today…..”Thank you Lord that you loved me enough to give me free will, and thank you that I can take responsibility for my own life”.

John 5 v 8…..Jesus saith unto him, Rise, take up thy bed, and walk

DIG for Monday the 31st of July…..stop making excuses and do something…..John 5 v 8

Once again I have been drawn to the account of Jesus with the man at the pool of Bethesda.

This is a vital account, giving us a picture of the responsibility we have when receiving of the good things provided by Jesus.

This man had been making excuses for his lack of healing and had been relying on others (John 5 v 6 and 7).

Jesus asked him to do something and then He was healed; he rose and took up his bed.

Now, I am not saying that works are required for us to be healed, however we have to play our part.

We have to act as if we are healed, we should be speaking out that we are healed.

We need to stop making excuses and behaving in a negative manner.

You see it is our mind-set, our thoughts and our words that impact directly on our lives.

If we act sick we will stay sick, however if we believe we are healed and act that we are healed we are for a more likely to see our healing made manifest.

The man in this account stopped making excuses and took actions that helped ‘promote’ his healing.

For us it is not that Jesus will heal us, it is that Jesus has already provided healing and we need to act in a manner to receive it.

Jesus has provided but we have to receive!

Speak this out today…..”Thank you Lord that you have already provided for my healing through the finished work of Jesus”.

John 5 v 8…..Jesus saith unto him, Rise, take up thy bed, and walk

DIG for Saturday the 22nd of July…..do you want all what Jesus has provided for you…..John 5 v 6

Jesus provided so much more for us through His finished work than just a ticket into Heaven.

But for so many people that is all their salvation is, an assurance of life after death.

Well, Jesus came to provide life, and abundant life, for us before death.

Jesus has provided healing, wholeness, acceptance and prosperity among other things.

When Jesus met the impotent man at the pool of Bethesda He asked him what I used to think was a silly question; He asked him if he wanted to be healed (John 5 v 6).

But this was of course a valid question, either the man did not want to be healed or did not know healing was available.

Jesus of course had the power to heal but the man had to want it for himself.

There is a similar issue in the church today.

People either do not want to be healed (I have seen this!) or do not know that healing is available, that healing has been provided.

Jesus is still asking today, through His Holy Spirit and through His disciples (those who do believe in healing), do you want to be healed?

Do you want to be healed today?

He is asking you now if you want all those things that He provided at the cross; He is offering them to you right now.

All you need to do is believe and accept; and of course then thank Him!

Speak this out today…..”Thank you Lord for the finished work of Jesus and thank you for the healing that this has provided for me”.

John 5 v 6…..When Jesus saw him lie, and knew that he had been now a long time in that case, he saith unto him, Wilt thou be made whole?

DIG for Friday the 2nd of September…..no eternal consequences but consequences here on earth…..John 5 v 14

As a pastor and teacher I hear myself saying a lot of the same things time and time again.

One of my regular sayings is that our sin has no eternal consequences any more but does have consequences here on earth.

I think this verse in the Gospel of John helps highlight this.

We can see that the man was made whole before Jesus spoke about his sin.

The sin had no effect on Jesus’ relationship with the man and whether or not he would be healed and made whole.

We could say the same about abundance, acceptance, mercy and compassion, indeed anything that Jesus gives to us.

We could say the same about our salvation in fact; our sin has no effect on this eternal consequence.

However after he was healed the man was warned about sin in case something worse happened to him.

This shows us that sin has consequences to us here on earth.

We can be hurt by our sin as we open a door to the enemy, our family and friends can be hurt by our sin, but it has no effect on God or our eternal destiny.

God cannot even see this sin anymore according to Hebrews 10 v 17.

The ‘grace message’ does not advocate that we can sin, God forbid Paul says!

But the ‘grace message’ (or what I prefer to call the Gospel or the truth) assures us that if we should fall we are not lost and do not lose our relationship with the Lord.

Speak this out today…..”Thank you Lord for the finished work of Jesus and thank you that ALL my sin has been dealt with at an eternal level”.

John 5 v 14…..Afterward Jesus findeth him in the temple, and said unto him, Behold, thou art made whole: sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee

DIG for Monday the 29th of August…..stop making excuses and do something…..John 5 v 7 and 8

Jesus is far more ‘diplomatic’ and compassionate that I am, and we see this side of His nature in the account of the impotent man at the pool of Bethesda; we also see Jesus putting the responsibility for healing back onto the man himself.

What I see in this account is a man making excuses and complaining; “I cannot do this on my own”, “I need help”, and “It’s not my fault I cannot get into the water”.

Jesus just tells him to get up, take his bed and walk.

Jesus tells him to do something; he tells the man to get on with it!

What I see is Jesus telling him to stop making excuses and take some responsibility.

This is the diplomatic and compassionate part of Jesus coming in, I think I would have said, “get a grip, stop making excuses and do something for yourself”.

Even in compassion though Jesus gets right to the heart of the matter, advising the man to do something for himself.

How often are we making excuses, blaming others for our own failures and lack of success?

How often do we push away responsibly onto someone else, even onto God?

If we are being honest this is quite a common issue in the church.

We need to take responsibility for our own walk and take the appropriate actions; this could be many things such as studying the Word, speaking out healing, being more friendly etc.

Speak this out today…..”Thank you Lord that you have given me authority and power to take responsibility and help myself”.

John 5 v 7 and 8…..The impotent man answered him, Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool: but while I am coming, another steppeth down before me. Jesus saith unto him, Rise, take up thy bed, and walk

 

DIG for Sunday the 28th of August…..do you want to be healed…..John 5 v 6

I have to say that love reading through the Gospel of John to provide inspiration for my DIGs just now.

This Gospel is just dripping with the love, mercy and compassion of Jesus.

There are at times however a different side to Jesus, when He asks the difficult questions of people (these of course are asked out of love, mercy and compassion).

Take for example the infirm man at the pool of Bethesda at the start of chapter 5.

He has been sitting at the pool for a “long time” waiting to be helping and healed, yet Jesus asks what at first could be seen as a silly question.

Jesus says (to paraphrase), “Do you want to be healed?” (John 5 v 6)

The obvious answer we would say is of course he wants to be healed.

But this is maybe not so obvious to Jesus as He asked the question.

The simple fact is that there is some people who do not want to be healed; I’ve been in church leadership now (including healing ministry) for about 10 years and I have seen this very thing myself.

People identify with their illness and people fear losing benefit money if healed.

Healing was provided for all at the cross and is an essential part of our salvation, our ‘sozo’.

We have to choose however to be healed by believing and understanding , then thinking that we are healed and speaking out that we are healed.

This passage is a valuable lesson to us all with regards to healing.

We can learn that we need to want to be healed and we need to accept that others may not make that choice.

Speak this out today…..”Thank you Lord that you provided healing for us all through the finished work of Jesus Christ”.

John 5 v 6…..When Jesus saw him lie, and knew that he had been now a long time in that case, he saith unto him, Wilt thou be made whole?

DIG for Friday the 5th of February…..do you want to be blessed and made whole…..John 5 v 6

I’ve written about this verse a number of times now but it always has an effect on me when I read it.

It did seem a silly question when I first thought about it; I always thought of course he would want to be healed.

But Jesus asked the question and of course He knows better than I do!

Now as a more experienced pastor I understand that there are people who do not want to be healed, and in the same way do not want to live a prosperous and abundant life.

Jesus came so that we might have an abundant life (John 10 v 10).

God wants us to live in health and prosperity (3 John 2).

Yet there are Christians who want to live a different way, thinking poverty is the way to live and thinking that God sends illness and sickness as a way to help.

These Christians are wrong!

They do not understand the Word and as a result do not understand the true nature of God.

If they did understand God and did understand what Jesus did for them they would want (and would claim) healing and prosperity.

Do you understand the Scriptures?

Do you know that Jesus died so that you might be healed, made whole and live a prosperous life?

If you are unsure about these questions you need to delve into His Word and find the answers.

Speak this out today…..”Thank you Lord for your Word and think you for the truths held within”.

John 5 v 6…..When Jesus saw him lie, and knew that he had been now a long time in that case, he saith unto him, Wilt thou be made whole?

DIG for Thursday the 21st of January…..your life is your responsibility, so do something…..John 5 v 8

I hope and pray that the DIGs over the last few days have not been condemning for you, I actually find them liberating!

There was a picture on Facebook that I really appreciated the other day: “There is always a reason why things happen, sometimes it is because you made stupid choices”.

This is indeed the way the world works; we do things and it has consequences, sometimes there are good consequences and sometimes there are bad ones.

God is not the author of what we see in our lives.

God does have a plan and purpose for our lives and if we find it, and step into it, this plan will always be good.

But God is not the author of bad things in our lives.

Bad things happen as we live in a fallen world full of fallen people and we ourselves often make bad mistakes and bad choices.

But this is a good thing, as we can also make good choices and good decisions.

At the pool of Bethesda Jesus met an ill man and the first thing Jesus asked him was did he want to be healed (John 5 v 6).

The man went on to give excuses as to why he was not healed and Jesus’ response was to tell him to do something (John 5 v 7 and 8).

My friends, we need to want change in our lives and we need to take responsibility for this change and do something.

The best thing we can do (as I’ve said in the last could of days) is to get into the Word and increase our knowledge about God and Jesus.

We will then start making better choices as our knowledge of the Word and of the Lord increase.

Speak this out today…..”Thank you Lord for your Word and thank you for the knowledge and direction held within”.

John 5 v 8…..Jesus saith unto him, Rise, take up thy bed and walk

DIG for Saturday the 17th of January…..if a person does not want to change you cannot make them…..John 5 v 6

As a pastor, and also as a Christian, it can be challenging sometimes trying to help people.

The fact is that here are people you just do not want to change.

They can be lazy, not want to take responsibility for themselves and want other people to do everything for them.

Let me tell you, you cannot help someone like that.

In John 5 we see a picture of this being played out at the pool of Bethesda.

Jesus asks a man there is he wants to be healed (John 5 v 6).

Instead of answering the question the man makes excuses, blaming other people for his lack or need.

Jesus, in an assertive way, tells the man to do something and take action (John 5 v 8).

The man was sitting around waiting to be helped instead of helping himself, but when he took responsibility and did something his healing was made manifest.

I think the most important point here however is that Jesus asked him if we wanted to be made whole.

This shows that not everyone does want this; some people do not want to be changed for the better and nothing we do will change that.

I am not being defeatist here, but if Jesus asked the question we need to be aware of this too.

It is admirable to want to change and heal people, but they must be willing to take responsibility and do their part.

I have learnt over the years not to condemn myself and give myself a hard time if I cannot help this type of person; you can try but they must want to change.

In the same way, please do not be hard on yourself it you are trying to help people with this mind-set and you do not see “success”; you have not failed.

I would suggest that you move on and try and help someone else, someone who wants help and wants to change.

Speak this out today…..”Thank you Lord that through Jesus and His finished work any person can be changed for the better”.

John 5 v 6…..When Jesus saw him lie, and knew that he had been now a long time in that case, he saith unto him, Wilt thou be made whole?