Made Well
Do You Want To Be Made Well
A couple of Sundays ago pastor read a scripture passage from John 5 It reads “5 After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.2 Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, which is called in Hebrew, Bethesda, having five porches. 3 In these lay a great multitude of sick people, blind, lame, paralyzed, waiting for the moving of the water. 4 For an angel went down at a certain time into the pool and stirred up the water; then whoever stepped in first, after the stirring of the water, was made well of whatever disease he had. 5 Now a certain man was there who had an infirmity thirty-eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he already had been in that condition a long time, He said to him, “Do you want to be made well?”
When Pastor said Jesus asked the man if he wanted to be made well…..I thought duh of course he would. Then it was as if I heard the Holy Spirit say to me “Do you want to be made well Angie?” Do you want to be healed physically, spiritually and emotionally? I am going to be completely honest and vulnerable with you. My thought was… I don’t know. I don’t know if I want God to heal me. That means I would have to give up a lot of stuff I’m hanging onto. That means I would have to truly surrender to God and trust him with everything. You see right now in my life I am blind by the sin in my own life, I am lame because I have put shackels around my own ankles by the choices I have made. I am not allowing God to move me because of these, and I am paralyzed with fear of what is next if I do surrender. I am not one of those people waiting by the pool hoping to be first in the pool. Instead I am ignoring the stirring of the water (spirit of God) hoping I can just get by with the minimum. I know there are too many people today that are doing the exact same thing. God is calling you to surrender everything to him….to give up….to repent…. But you don’t know you if you want to. I have heard many pastors say it’s comfortable where you are at and that’s why you don’t want to surrender. That’s not it at least not for me. It’s definitely not comfortable knowing God is calling YOU. God has chosen YOU. God is looking straight at YOU and all you can do is look the other way because you don’t know if you want to give up because it hurts every time you do. It hurts a little deeper every time you get closer. I’m sure the lame man knew if he tried to get to that pool by himself it would hurt. It would just be another disappointment when someone else stepped into that pool before him. Why put himself in that position again? Why become vulnerable to disappointment and hurt and rejection yet again? Because today is YOUR day that’s why. Because God chose you… he called you and he has a plan for you. That day the lame man became an example for the whole world to see and read about the greatness of God’s plan. That whole story was part of God’s great plan. Your life is part of God’s great plan. So…… do YOU want to be made well? Do I want to be made well? Yes it will take owning my junk and surrendering to God, but God is not asking me to get cleaned up or well on my own. He is asking me to give up, to admit where I am at and come to him as I am. He is simply asking if I want to made well, to be made whole.
I share this with complete transparency and honesty because I believe God asked me to. I hope this helps someone else crawl out of the rut or pit that they may find themselves in.
