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
