This statement came from Jesus during one of the many miracles he performed. For the benefit of anyone who is not familiar with the story, my paraphrased summary is this: There was a place in those days where people with various ailments went to, seeking for help. It was a pool, which was periodically stirred by an angel and the lucky person to dive in, first got cured of any disease they had.

A certain man who was lame for 38 years was also there. Now, though in his condition for 38 years, it doesn’t really say how long he had been by the pool, except the fact that Jesus knew the man had been there for a while.
So, this is what unfolds between the man and Jesus.

Firstly,  the man had no idea of whom Jesus was. He did not seek out Jesus,  Jesus went to him and asked him a question, ” Do you want to be made well? “.
Now, one might wonder what sort of question that was, afterall the man was lame and he was by the pool where people only came to when they needed a miracle, was it not obvious enough to Jesus ?  why did Jesus ask him that question,  as if to offend him?

Pay close attention to the man’s response, and you might get a clue as to why the question in the first place.

The sick man answered Him, “Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; but while I am coming, another steps down before me.” John 5: 7 NKJV

The question wasn’t why haven’t you been healed yet?
The question was, do you want to be healed?

I believe that the question was a challenge to the man, and just as that man was challenged on that particular day, someone is being challenged now.

Do you want to see a change? Do you want to come out of that situation? Do you want to be well?

You may have been in the same hole for as long as you can remember, but the question today is not why you are there, but do you want to come out ?

To sincerely answer this, you may have to forget every past formula which you may have applied and be willing and ready to apply yourself afresh.

Jesus’ response to the lame man was “Rise, take your bed and walk.”

My initial reaction was, hang on a minute,  the man is lame, how can he rise up, how can he walk?

That is precisely what he had not been able to do all those years, and now Jesus orders him to do just that ? What am I missing here, I asked myself? Then I read it again. The man was listening to Jesus,  he was hearing Jesus’ word, and Jesus word is LIFE.

The very strength the man needed was coming to him through the word he was hearing, and it was up to him to apply himself to the word he was hearing.

The principles haven’t changed,  it is still the same. If you apply yourself to the word of God that you hear, strength to do the impossible will come.
So many people are the the state of perpetual hearing and never applying so they are not experiencing any changes in their lives and they wonder if it is at all real, be assured that it is as real as it can be.

The word of God works, but you have to apply it. In Luke 8:11, it says … the seed is word of God.

That is your starting point to getting up, your starting point to walking, the seed of the word of God. The lame man was lame until he heard the word that Jesus spoke, and he acted on that word by obeying it, and that’s when his miracle came. The word, like a natural seed, will remain in seed form or remain as a seed until you plant it, in this case, until you put it to work.

The word you don’t put to work remains in seed form and is non beneficial to you.
So today is a day to apply the word,take up your bed, and begin to walk.

Every blessing
Kingdom