Page 13 - The Standard Volume 4

to think there was only one way for him to be healed that he didn’t know the man standing before him could make him whole without the pool! Many people are just like the lame man. They’ve been living in brokenness for so long they don’t realize Jesus desires to heal and deliver them. Too often we get stuck in our way of thinking that what we desire will only happen if it comes in a certain way. When God speaks and says, “It’s going to come another way,” it takes us a little bit of time to get ourselves in alignment with that word so we can say, “Yes Lord!” Why? Maybe it’s because we thought our wealth and riches were going to come from an inheritance when a relative dies. Here we are, waiting on our big money to come in and God says, “No, it’s going to come through the work of your hands and I’m placing in you an invention that is going to get discovered and I’m going to put you in front of the right people.” No matter what the circumstance is, we have to be willing and ready to accept that it’s going to come God's way.
John 5:8 (KJV)
“Jesus saith unto him, Rise, take up thy bed, and walk.”
The beauty of our LORD
and Savior Jesus Christ is
how He responds to the
lame man. He could have
said, “I asked you a
question. Can you just say,
‘Yes’ or ‘No’ before you
start sharing your testimony
about your brokenness and
your situation?” No. Jesus’s
response was, “Take up
your bed and walk.” Jesus
already knew how long the
man had been in that
situation and where his
mind was. He knew that
not only did he need
healing in his body, but he
needed healing in his
psyche, his emotions, and in the way he was living. Jesus was saying, “In my making you whole, not only are you going to walk, but you’re going to rise and take up your bed.” In other words, “You’re not going to stick around in this pool area anymore. You have another place to go to because when I heal you, you can’t stay in this broken state. When I heal you and make you whole, you can’t stay among all the people who are yet blind, sick, and lame. Because I've made you whole, you can go back and use that as your ministry to help others, but you’re not going to remain in this state that you have laid in for thirty-eight long years.”
If you find that you still have areas of brokenness in your life, ask yourself, Why am I in still in this state of brokenness when God desires to make me whole? Sometimes in our state— whatever that state is—it’s outside of being whole. We all experience things in life and we don’t know how long they might last. However, we can’t lose sight, we can’t be faint, and we can’t become weary in well-doing. We have to stay
steadfast and unmovable and continue to have faith that God can and will make us whole.
Fighting versus Surrendering
Imagine the look on the lame man’s face when Jesus said, “Take up your bed and walk.” I’ve been here thirty-eight years. Did He just say, “Rise, take up your bed and walk?” Yet, this man got up, picked up his bed and was immediately made whole! You too can be made whole immediately when you allow the Lord to do exactly what he wants to on the inside of you. Oftentimes, we spend more energy fighting the Lord versus surrendering to him. We fight what Scripture says, we fight a role He’s given us, or we fight our position in life.
If we would stop wasting time and energy looking for wholeness in the wrong places like romance, addictions, or in our careers—just because we finally got our dream job, it’s not going to make us whole. Women tend to think that they’ll be made whole when they get married and have children. No, it makes them a wife and a mother. It’s sad to see people get married because they think their spouse will complete them.
No, you can be complete and whole in Christ by yourself!
Psalm 73:26 (KJV)
“My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever.”
Nothing and no one but God has the power to complete you as a person. God is our portion and we are not complete without Him. Truth be told, we are nothing without Him! He wants to make us whole. He desires to be our
strength and our guide. He longs for us to surrender control of the reins of our lives over to Him. When we learn to give up unrealistic expectations for others to meet our needs that only God can meet, it is then that brokenness can be healed and our lives be made whole. When we rely on God alone for the healing and fulfillment
we are seeking, He will give it to us!
Psalm 107:19-20 (KJV)
“19 Then they cry unto the Lord in their trouble, and he saveth them out of their distresses. 20 He sent his word, and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions.”
God designed us to be whole and complete in him. When we’re not, we know there is some surrendering that needs to take place. Remember, it doesn’t matter how long we’ve been in a state of brokenness—just ask the lame man who was made whole after thirty-eight years. The longer we’ve been there, the more we need God to make us whole! S
June 2022 | THE STANDARD 13