Get Up! Pick Up Your Mat and Walk!

Get up! Pick up your mat and walk!

John 5:5-9 One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to get well?” “Sir,” The invalid replied, “I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.” Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked. (NIV)

John 5 tells the story of a man who had been sick for 38 years. He would sit daily near a pool named, Bethesda, hoping that someone would help him to get in. This pool was believed to be a healing pool. Many sick people sat by the pool waiting for the water to signal to them that it was time to get in. However, Jesus saw the man and had compassion on Him. He asked the man if he wanted to get well. The man replied that he had no one to help him to get in the pool. He was unaware that Jesus was the only help he needed. Jesus said, "Get up! Pick up your mat and walk." The man was instantly healed. 

There are times in our lives when we may face situations and hope to have help to get through them. We may watch as others seem to get their breakthroughs, while we sit along the sidelines waiting for ours. As did the man in this story, we sometimes do not know, or can feel that God is right in front of us making preparation for our breakthrough as well.

Rather it be financial, relationships, children, or illness, God has already heard our prayers and is working it out for our good. What God wants us to see is that He is right there in front of us. While we're waiting on a breakthrough to come the same way as someone else, He may have decided to give ours in a total different way. He says, "Get up! Pick up your mat and walk!" Stop feeling sorry for yourself and give Him praises in advanced for what He is going to do. 

See the devil tries to get in our minds, and have us to believe, that what God has said will never come to past. However, the devil is a liar and the Bible says he comes to steal, kill and destroy. He knows the anointing that's over your life. He will do his best to keep you from walking into the destiny God has in store for you. Get up! Rebuke the devil and he is sure to flee. He plays the same game that he has played for centuries but with new tricks. Don't wait in misery for what God has already promised. Claim it! Grab it! Hold on to it! It is on the way!