Remember the story in the Gospel of John chapter 5:1-15? In Jesus day there was a pool where people went, hoping to experience miraculous healing. “One of the men lying there had been sick for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him and knew he had been ill for a long time, he asked him, ‘Would you like to get well?’ ‘I can’t, sir, I have tried, the sick man said.
This story reminds me so much of people who have struggled with deep hurts, habits or hang-ups, for entire lifetimes, twenty, thirty, fifty years. Issues that have held them back, limited their potential, their relationships their lives for so long they have just about given up. They cannot heal themselves or fix themselves, they can’t, try as they may. Then they come to Celebrate Recovery, many times in an all but hopeless condition, with just enough courage to come through the doors.
Jesus told the man, “Stand up, pick up your mat, and walk.” The man was healed!
This man was so crippled that he couldn’t go any farther on his own. He camped as near as he could to a place where there was hope for recovery. God met him there and brought him the rest of the way. For us freedom may mean getting as close to the hope of healing as we can in our crippled condition. When we do, God will meet us there and take us the rest of the way.
Jesus said, “And so I tell you, keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you.
What I am saying is it doesn’t matter if a person has suffered or struggled with a hurt habit or hang-up for thirty, forty, fifty years, don’t give up, don’t quit. Get as close as you can to Jesus, keep pursuing Him. Never stop, don’t quit before the miracle!
Then Jesus turned to those who had claimed to believe in him. “If you stick with this, living out what I tell you, you are my disciples for sure. Then you will experience for yourselves the truth, and the truth will free you.”
Stick with it, don’t give up, don’t quit before the MIRACLE.
Thank you for sticking with us in this ministry. Miracles are happening!
Jim & Pam