by Debbie Kay
10/22/2009 / Miracles
You can insert here whatever problem or situation you may be waiting on God to take care of. You might say, well of course you can't just pray up a new car or a new job, but I'm very sick, or I'm believing in God to pay off my bills, or fix my children.. Any one of a thousand scenarios would fit, and there are just as many excuses as to why we are still sitting by the window waiting for God to take care of it.
So if God wants us to be financially secure, healthy with happy secure and healthy children, why is it that we are still waiting? What exactly are we waiting on?
John tells of a man in Jerusalem that was very sick and had been so for thirty eight years. There was a pool there known as Bethesda. It was known that in certain seasons an angel of the Lord would come and stir up the waters. The first person to step in would be completely cured of whatever ailment he was afflicted with. The Lord set up the situation in which the problem of those around could be "fixed" but there was a stipulation that must be met in order to get the miracle the man had spent thirty eight years waiting for. He had to be the first in the pool.
Now Jesus came by the pool one day and saw the man, knowing he had been there for a long time, just waiting on the side of the pool, (looking out the window and waiting) He asked the man, "Do you even wish to be well?" I kinda wonder if Jesus might have been shaking his head thinking, well, I've stirred up the waters over and over for you and I've sent my angels to show the way to your healing, but your still sitting here, just waiting. What are you waiting for?
The man answered Jesus by saying that he did indeed want to be healed, but each time opportunity knocked, or the waters were stirred, someone would step over him and get there first. Someone else always got ahead of him. He complained that there was just never anyone there to put him in the pool.
Are we complaining that if someone else would just do something or the other, the problems in our lives would be fixed? Are we saying, well God of course I want to be financially secure, and I'm waiting on that great opportunity, but you see when it happens, I just never have anyone that will help me take advantage of it first. Then someone else steps over me and I just keep on waiting.
Now the man waiting at the pool surely believed there was miraculous healing powers in the water when the angel stirred it up. After all he had been waiting and watching for thirty eight years and had no doubt seen the many other sick stepping over him and being healed. He believed God could fix his problem but he was never quite ready to step into the water when God prepared it for him. Now maybe he couldn't walk, maybe he was so very sick and weak that he was just always beaten to the water by those not quite as sick as he. I just believe in all that time, I would have squirmed my way to the edge of that pool, and been hanging on the edge with one finger for the moment God presented the solution so I could jump on it before anyone else could even blink! Thirty eight years is a lot of time to ready yourself for action, when God presents the way.
When the man told Jesus he just couldn't get to the water. Jesus told him to get up, pick up his mat and walk. Take action!! Get up. He told him to get away from the window and Get UP!
"Pick up your mat." Clean up your mess. Now my Mother might argue that this is a biblical commandment to make up your bed and maybe it is. Maybe Jesus was telling us to clean things up around us and be ready when I tell you what to do. Pick up your mat and get ready! Get your affairs in order so that you are ready to walk when Jesus says to walk. You'll notice so far he didn't say lay there and wait until the water comes to you!
"Arise pick up your mat and Walk!" Step out and start walking. Stop sitting by the window waiting for your miracle to run up in the front yard like Ed McMan with a big check! Start walking. God can't guide you in the right direction if you are sitting still. You might make some wrong turns, but as long as you are walking God can guide your steps, even turn you around if you get off track.
Stop now waiting on someone else to change so that your circumstances get better, begin changing yourself. Don't wait and pray that God instructs someone else to put you in the pool, begin praying that God will give you the strength and wisdom required to 'get in the pool' yourself, so to speak.
Don't sit in front of the TV day in and day out waiting on the right numbers to come up in the lottery so that your bills are paid off. Get a job, even if you are flipping burgers, your on your way to paying your debt. Who knows, God could have already stirred the waters at McDonalds and the man waiting to give you your dream job eats BigMacs daily! You just need to jump in the pool to meet him!
If your hurting, find someone that is hurting worse and lift them up. There is no greater blessing than to be a blessing to someone else.
The bottom line is, stop looking out the window daydreaming about the day that your miracle appears. Get up, pick up your mess and start walking!
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Article Source: http://www.faithwriters.com-CHRISTIAN WRITERS
