Friday, 12 February 2021
“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 else always gets there ahead of me.” – John 5:7 NLT
There are many schools of thought on what you need to do to have a successful life. Everyone believes they have the “secret” to success. Some say if you confess your desires to the universe, the universe will fulfil them. Millions have confessed and yet, still no breakthrough in sight. Another school says, if you write down your desires and paste them on the wall, it’s only a matter of time before things turn around. This school of thought even goes as far as quoting scripture to justify its practices (Habakkuk 2:2). Others recommend traveling to a famous Prophet in Nigeria, drinking and bathing in the water he gives you, and because he is a true man of God your success is inevitable (Matthew 10:41). Thousands of rands spent and a bad sunburn later no breakthrough in sight.
The man in the above scripture believed he could only be healed by entering the pool. He believed in that method so much so that in thirty-eight years he had been trying without success. He never even once entertained an alternate method to receive his breakthrough. Even when Christ asked him if he wanted to be healed, he complained that there was no one to help him into the pool. He was in the presence of the Word aka GOD yet he still believed his healing could only come through being submerged into the pool. As Christians, sometimes we become obsessed with methods that we believe are needed for our breakthroughs. If I do the Daniel Fast, an angel will be dispatched to answer my situation. If I serve the man of God then his anointing will rub off on me. If I serve in my local church (with wrong motives) GOD will be pleased. We hang on to these misguided beliefs and miss the most critical requirement of them all. It’s all about Jesus and nothing else, only He can change our situation.
It’s when we come to the end of ourselves and realize that it’s all about Him, only then can the promises of God come to life. Our desperation and our tears will accomplish nothing if Jesus isn’t the centre of everything. Like the lame man, it’s possible to labour for thirty-eight years with no breakthrough in sight. All the theories and schools of thought will come to nothing if the centre isn’t Jesus. It’s when we humble ourselves and reach a point where we realize that no water from Nigeria or serving in a church will lead us to Him if our motives are wrong. The Israelites went around the same mountain for years because they thought they knew everything. GOD allowed them to continue on their pointless exercise to humble them and to show them that they are nothing without Him. Like the woman with the issue of blood who used up all her money and lost all her possessions in the pursuit of healing. It’s when she realized that only Jesus was the way, did she then receive her healing. It’s not the specialist and gynae she needed, she just needed to touch the hem of his garment to receive her healing. This didn’t cost her a cent, it just required her humility and faith in the son of God. What area of my life am I still pursuing physicians and specialists to come through for me? What area needs to realize that I don’t need the submersion into the pool to thrive?
Our desperation and our tears will accomplish nothing if Jesus isn’t the centre of everything
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