Get Up
The Lord sent me to tell somebody today to GET UP.
I know your season has been hard. I know hell was unleashed against you. I know the battle has been relentless. I know the journey has made you tired.
BUT GOD …
… is in the business of RESURRECTION.
It is time for YOU to rise up, get up, and take up!
In John 5:8, Jesus tells the disabled man at the Pool of Bethesda, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.”
Various versions use different phrases … rise up, get up, take up, pick up! But they all imply the same thing … ACTION.
This passage of Scripture is powerful, and it is rocking me today. This man had been an invalid for 38 years! Nearly FOUR decades.
This is what the Lord showed me today … He was ALIVE, but he was not truly LIVING.
→ His “condition” had caused him to forget who he was. He allowed his “dis-ease” to affect his IDENTITY. ←
The question Jesus asked this man is the foundation of my business and ministry …
“Do you WANT to be made whole?”
In the words of one of my favorite athletes and coaches, Coach Prime, Deion Sanders: “You gotta want it first. Then you gotta work it. Then you have the opportunity to win it. But it all starts with your want. You gotta want this. I can’t want this for you. You gotta want this like no other. Then the work has to happen. Ain’t nobody giving you no W. You gotta go take that thing.”
We all know Jesus could have breathed on this man and healed him. He could have looked at Him and healed him. He could have simply thought about Him and healed him.
But He didn’t.
He asked him a question … Do you WANT to be made whole?
I marvel at the man’s response in the next verse … “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.”
Stop. Right. There.
Do you see that self-pity?? Do you FEEL it? How sad! How unfortunate! How depressing!
But let’s be honest …
This man had every reason to be in a funk. 38 years is a long time to sit and wait on someone else to help you be made whole. Four decades is an eternity to someone who is just waiting on the right person to come along and solve all of the problems in his world.
Here’s the thing I love about Jesus …
He did not rebuke Him. He just reminded him of who he was. ← Read that again.
Jesus did not give him a lecture about how he had been lazy and irresponsible. He did not chastise him for his inactivity. He did not scold him for his lack of faith. He saw his pain, He knew the anguish in his soul … and He simply reminded him of who he was.
How did he remind him?
By asking him something that caused the man to ask himself a hard question, “Do I WANT to be made whole?”
This man’s internal YES created a faith that is magnetic to the King of kings and Lord of lords.
As soon as the man’s FAITH was ignited, Jesus commanded ACTION.
As a result of his ACTION … in an instant … this man was healed … completely made whole … spirit, soul, and body.
His FAITH created a path for his ACTION to ignite his HEALING …and that healing became FUEL for his PURPOSE as he began to tell people about this Man, Jesus.
I came to tell someone today …
You have been lying on your mat long enough!
You have been waiting for someone to help you long enough!
You have been crying over your condition long enough!
Do you WANT to be made whole, Beloved?
Then RISE UP! GET UP! TAKE UP! PICK UP! and WALK forward into your destiny!
Jesus has done His part. The rest is up to YOU.
By the way, Bethesda means House of Mercy or House of Grace.
His mercy and grace will meet you in that place.
Note: I had a dream last night … the Lord is giving NEW MANTLES to people. He is bestowing on YOU what your parents and grandparents did not PICK UP. It’s on you now.
Take up your mat - and your mantle - and walk.