Thursday... Would you like to get well?

John 5:6 (NLT), "When Jesus saw him and knew he had been ill for a long time, he asked him, 'Would you like to get well?'"

Now I can ask you that question. I can, but my asking it is totally different from Jesus asking it because he can do something about what is wrong with you.

Now friends are great to have, they really are. There is so much they can do for us. The same is true of our family. They can in so many ways make such a difference in our lives and it is so great to have them but Jesus can do so much more and this man here in John 6 had been lying there sick for thirty-eight years. And the fact that Jesus knew that shows how different he is from us.

We celebrated last night my daughter's birthday. Now Margaret, my wife and I were the only ones around that table who were at her birth. We did all we could to make sure she wasn't born on Friday the thirteenth and we made it. She was born in the first hour of Saturday the fourteenth. But there is so much more about Stef that we don't know but God does and he can and wants to make such a difference. Yes, we had a part in her birth but God was and is the one who brought it about and who has been there with her all these years. And I'm not going to tell you how old she is.

Now Jesus here in John 6 went to this pool of Bethesda in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate where there were crowds of sick people and he knew that one of them had been lying there sick for thirty-eight years. He not only knew that but verse 6 says, "When Jesus saw him and knew he had been ill for a long time, he asked him, 'Would you like to get well?'" So let me ask you, "Would you like to get well?"

Jesus not only knows about the situations in our life, but he can also do something about them. And that is a tremendous extension of the benefit of having a relationship with him. He not only knows but he cares and he can do something about it.

So what did this man say? And this is also very important. Verse 7 says, "'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 always gets there ahead of me.'" That was why all those sick were there.

Verses 3-4 in the Amplified Bible says, "In those porticoes lay a great number of people who were sick, blind, lame, withered, [waiting for the stirring of the water, for an angel of the Lord went down into the pool at appointed seasons and stirred up the water; the first one to go in after the water was stirred was healed of his disease.]" Yes, God even today provides ways for us to be healed. But this guy had no one to help him get into the water.

Yes, God wants us as his followers to be there to make a difference in people's lives. We are a part of his plan. And Jesus was there on this particular day to take care of this guy. What was Jesus response? Verse 8 (NLT) said, "Jesus told him, 'Stand up, pick up your mat, and walk!'" There will be ways that He wants us to show that we believe that He will do what He says He will do.

And then verse 9, "Instantly, the man was healed! He rolled up his sleeping mat and began walking."

Now later, Jesus found him in the Temple and that was a great place for this man to have gone. Verse 14 says, "But afterward Jesus found him in the Temple and told him, 'Now you are well; so stop sinning, or something worse may happen to you.'"

This is so important for us to see. Jesus says in verse 24 (AMP), "I assure you and most solemnly say to you, the person who hears My word [the one who heeds My message], and believes and trusts in Him who sent Me, has (possesses now) eternal life [that is, eternal life actually begins - the believer is transformed], and does not come into judgment and condemnation, but has passed [over] from death into life." And that is why God sent His Son, Jesus to earth and that is the greatest miracle that He can do in our life.

Yes and that is how we really get well. So just tell Him right now, "I give you my life" and then tell someone what you did. So, would you really like to get well? Then give Him your life. Yes, yes! #todaysbeginning

Tuesday... I wonder what would happen if we didn't take the credit?

Nehemiah 6:16b (NLT), "They realized this work had been done with the help of our God." Tuesday... I wonder what would happen if we didn't take the credit? Over in the Old Testament in the book of Nehemiah it tells of a major task that through the leadership of Nehemiah was accomplished. The walls of Jerusalem had been torn down and God had laid it on Nehemiah to build those walls back up. It was definitely an almost impossible task but Nehemiah 6:15-16 says, "So on October 2 the wall was finished - just fifty-two days after we had begun. When our enemies and the surrounding nations heard about it, they were frightened and humiliated. They realized this work had been done with the help of our God." Now, we so many times want to take credit for doing the impossible. It would make such a difference for us. But I wonder what would happen through us if God got the credit? Psalm 96 tells us what we are to do. Verses 2-3 says, "Sing to the LORD; praise his name. ...

Thursday... Maybe we need this word today.

Psalm 57:1b (NIRV), "There I will stay until the danger is gone." Thursday... Maybe we need this word today. There are words in life that give us confidence no matter what we are facing. Now we have to believe them in order for them to have an impact. David wrote Psalm 57 while he was in a cave hiding from Saul who wanted to kill him and he says in the last part of verse 1, "There I will stay." It was a safe place and Saul didn't know that he was there. But he doesn't stop there. With confidence he said, "There I will stay until." And until is definitely a word of faith and confidence. "There I will stay until the danger is gone." Do we need that today? Let me give you the whole verse. In verse 1 David says, "Have mercy on me, God. Have mercy on me." And that is a great place to start in times of trouble. Maybe that is what we need to pray today, "Have mercy on me, God. Have mercy on me." It is so great to have someone...

Tuesday... We just have trouble listening.

1 Corinthians 13:7 (NLT), "Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance." Tuesday... We just have trouble listening. Over in Jeremiah 25:4 (NLT) it says, "Again and again the LORD has sent you his servants, the prophets, but you have not listened or even paid attention." And Jeremiah went on to tell what was going to happen. There will be consequences if we do not listen to what God says through his Word. Now the Apostle Paul over in 1 Corinthians was having a problem with some professed Christ followers who were having trouble at listening. And we too can have problems at listening. We can think that being a Christ follower means we do a lot of finger pointing and we give up on people who don't do what we say. We can even do that in our families. But Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 13:7 (NLT), "Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance." In verse ...

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