ENEMIES OF YOUR SOUL
”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.”
One of the things I honor most in the evangelical churches is altar calls. I believe giving a man an opportunity to respond to the word of God is the greatest gift you can ever offer.
When it was my time to respond, many were the voices that were inside my head telling me all the reasons why I should not walk down that aisle and receive my Lord and savior. The most popular was what shall people think? What if I lose my friends? What about my family when they find out I hadn’t been going to mass as taught growing up? What about my club squad when they hear about it?
And I remember wrestling at multiple services before I couldn’t take it any longer and before I had even known my legs were already moving as my mind caught up. When I read through our theme scripture, it was a response to verse 6 where Jesus asks this man if ‘he wanted to be well’ ? You would think that is insensitive of Jesus to ask because who obviously wouldn’t want to walk after years of lameness.
It is very descriptive of our condition when we persist to resist the call of Christ as savior. You cannot desire to be well if you don’t recognize that you are unwell. You cannot recognize that you are unwell unless there is something better to contrast to your situation and you cannot see that contrast unless you are exposed to it.Many want the hand of God but not the fullness of God, yet God does not offer Himself up in bits and pieces. The Bible says Christ gave up His kingly privileges and humbled himself unto death, even death on a cross ().
Child of God, it is God’s responsibility to call you and allocate all the necessary resources for you to receive this message — and He already Has; it is however your responsibility to be available in order to respond. Let it not be said of you that when the waters were stirred, you were absent for your miracle. Selah.
Prayer: Father I thank you for this truth. I am always positioned for the days of my visitation. I refuse to exalt any of my occupations, hobbies, engagements, responsibilities above the settings in which I am positioned to respond to your call. It shall not be said of me that I have forsaken my mercies by fear of man, in Jesus’ name.
CI.
