A little time in the Word every day changes you. Take a few minutes, put yourself in these verses and ask yourself the questions at the bottom of the post.
Afterward Jesus returned to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish holy days. Inside the city, near the Sheep Gate, was the pool of Bethesda, with five covered porches. Crowds of sick people—blind, lame, or paralyzed—lay on the porches. One of the men lying there had been sick for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him and knew he had been ill for a long time, he asked him, “Would you like to get well?”
“I can’t, sir,” the sick man said, “for I have no one to put me into the pool when the water bubbles up. Someone else always gets there ahead of me.”
Jesus told him, “Stand up, pick up your mat, and walk!”
Instantly, the man was healed! He rolled up his sleeping mat and began walking! But this miracle happened on the Sabbath, so the Jewish leaders objected. They said to the man who was cured, “You can’t work on the Sabbath! The law doesn’t allow you to carry that sleeping mat!”
John 5:1-10 (NLT)
What would it be like to be sick for 38 years?
Do you think at the beginning of his illness he was hopeful that he would get better? What do you think would have happened as time passed and there was no healing?
Why did Jesus ask him if he wanted to get well?
Do you think he had given up over time?
What was the man's response? Was it true he couldn't?
When we say "I can't" in our lives, is it true or is it the easy answer?
What did Jesus tell him to do?
When we need to overcome something in our lives, does Jesus give us instructions?
What did the Pharisees think about this life changing miracle?
When people in your life see how God is changing you, are they more interested in status quo or the miracle that is happening within?
What about you? When God is calling you to do something, are you more worried about what it will look like to others or are you willing to embrace the change and obey?