Walk!
In John 5, Jesus asks what seems to be an obvious question to the man who is laying by the pool. “Do you want to get well?” The man doesn’t answer the question; he just gives a reason as to why he hasn’t been healed so far. “When the water is stirred, I have no one to help me into the pool.”
I hear Jesus ask me the same type of question, “Lynn, do you really want to carry out my Word? Do you really want to share my heart with others?”
Jesus’ command to the man by the pool was “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk” (verse 8)
I believe His words to me are similiar. “Get up! Do what you have already been instructed to do. Exercise perseverance, discipline. Be teachable. DO the work of the ministry.
When this man did what Jesus commanded him to, at once he was cured. He picked up his mat and walked.
What Jesus commanded of this man was that the man partner with Jesus in his healing. Jesus didn’t just do it for him; he had a part of the miracle. For the man to obey, it required him to go outside of the norm; outside of what the religious people around him approved of (carrying his mat on the Sabbath). It didn’t really matter what the religious people thought; he was obeying Jesus.
This theme keeps circling in my time with the Lord. Jesus doesn’t always do the obvious. Jesus doesn’t always work in the same way. Jesus cannot be put in a box.
His command to me is “Listen to the Spirit and obey!”
“In order to have what I have always wanted, I will need to do something I have never done.”
Oh my goodness Lynn…this is the EXACT same message I received from one of my on-line devotionals today!!!!! (I’m going to forward it to you!)
I loved that quote at the end of your writing – do you know who said that? “In order to have what I have always wanted, I will need to do something I have never done.”
I really sense God calling me to something new. I hear Him saying, quit asking Me for direction, and start following what I’ve already said to you. You KNOW what I want you to do…now do it!!!
God is using you to speak to my heart today! Listening without obedience is pretty empty. Thanks for this holy nudge today!
Love ya,
Joy