Many times, when someone deals with sickness, disease, or lack over a long period of time, it can bring an attitude of defeat and hopelessness with it. The longer we experience symptoms, pain, the loss of mobility or use of a limb, the more likely it is for us to begin to accommodate sickness and disease and accept that we will always have that condition, lack and loss. Proverbs 23:7 says, “As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.” What we are currently experiencing in life is ultimately a result of our thought life. But thank God, Jesus provided everything for life and godliness through His death, burial, and resurrection. We have been given the mind of Christ and can be totally healed, delivered, and set free today! Each of us can live a victorious life through Jesus Christ.
The man found in John 5, who was laid daily at the Pool of Bethesda for 38 years was in just such a place. The man found himself laid daily in what appeard to be a sea of hopelessness. He found himself in the midst of others who were also sick and hopeless. We can see the hopelessness in the conversation he had with Jesus. Jesus asked, “do you truly long to be healed?” The man’s response to that question tells us a lot about the man’s expectancy. In verse 7, the man responded, “The sick man answered him, ‘Sir, there’s no way I can get healed, for I have no one who will 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.’”
The man was well versed in what he couldn’t do, what he couldn’t have and why he couldn’t be healed! Here are five reasons he thought he could not be healed:
- His hope and focus was solely in the stirring of the water and his inabilities, instead of God, His promises and abilities;
- He had no one to carry him;
- He was not strong enough;
- He was slower than everyone else; and
- He never was close enough to the water when the water was stirred.
As the man laid there daily, he ran these reasons why he would never get healed through his mind. He probably carried on conversations with others around him who were also laid at the pool and spoke words of defeat and failure with them. In his mind, there was no way he was ever going to overcome his limitations and get healed. But thank God he met Jesus our Healer.
Now, in comparison let’s look at the women with the issue of blood. She was also sick. This time for 12 years. She spent all she had. In spite of everything she attempted, she continued to get worse. But she never gave up. In Mark 5 it says, “She had heard [reports] about Jesus, and she came up behind Him in the crowd and touched His outer robe. For she thought, ‘If I just touch His clothing, I will get well.’” In Matthew’s account he writes, “she kept saying within herself.” The women:
- Believed that there was hope to be made well;
- Believed she was going to get well, in spite of the doctors report and her condition;
- Believed that Jesus would heal her;
- Continued to confess the results. She kept speaking the answer instead of thoughts of defeat and death;
- Focused on the healer not her disease;
- Saw herself whole and free from the disease;
- Never quit or gave up;
- Knew that it was against the Jewish law for her to be out of her house, but refused to stay in the condition she was in;
- When she saw the crowd, she did not accept that it was just too hard for her to get through that crowd. Against all odds, she continued to crawl through the crowd until she touched Jesus’ garment;
- Refused to believe that it must not be the will of God for her to be healed;
- Could have given up because Jesus was just moving too fast for her to ever reach him; and,
- Did not allow opposing thoughts or obstacles to deter or discourage her from pressing in and receiving her healing.
It says, in 2 Corinthians 4, “We, having the same spirit of faith, according as it is written: “I believed and therefore have I spoken, we also believe and therefore speak…” You could say, as a man believes in his heart and speaketh with his mouth, so is he. She believed in her heart, and she continued to speak what she believed until she touched the hem of Jesus’ garment. She had expectancy, and she was empowered through her faith and was made whole.
Now back to the crippled man at the Pool of Bethesda. What Jesus really said to the man that day was. Are you ready to abandon how you see yourself in this crippled state and begin to see yourself receiving the strength necessary to make you whole again enabling you to get up and walk?
Jesus redirected the man’s thoughts of hopelessness to thoughts of receiving his healing. Jesus could have agreed with him, but instead gave him words of life and hope. Jesus said to him, “Get up; pick up your pallet and walk. Immediately the man was healed and recovered his strength, and picked up his pallet and walked.” Thirty-eight long years of hopelessness came to an end. The man got up and left his disease behind.
God’s thoughts for us are for good not bad. He desires for us to thrive and excel in every area of our lives. Jeremiah 29:11 AMPC, God tells us, “For I know the thoughts and plans that I have for you, says the Lord, thoughts and plans for welfare and peace and not for evil, to give you hope in your final outcome.”
In Phillipians 4:8, AMP, Paul talks about our thoughts, “Finally, believers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable and worthy of respect, whatever is right and confirmed by God’s word, whatever is pure and wholesome, whatever is lovely and brings peace, whatever is admirable and of good repute; if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think continually on these things [center your mind on them, and implant them in your heart].”
When we focus on the Word of God and act on it, situations miraculously and effortlessly begin to line up with the promise of God. The man could have continued to wallow in defeat, but his expectancy was raised and he chose to take new thoughts and act on the Word of Jesus. The Word worked immediately and the man was made whole.
Let today be your last day of sickness, disease, lack and loss. Leave the hopelessness behind and receive your miracle. Let the Word of God renew your mind to the truth of the Gospel and who you are in Christ.
Right now, begin to release your faith in the promises of God and receive healing for your body and restoration in every area of your life just as the man at the pool of Bethesda and the woman with the issue of blood did. Begin to fill your heart with words of life and start living the destiny God has planned for you long before the foundation of the world. Remember, God loves you and you are victorious through Christ Jesus our Lord!
Blessings
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