Get up, take your mat, and walk. (John 5:8)

This is the story of the paralytic at the pool of Bethesda who had been immobile for 38 years because he was waiting for someone else to throw him into the pool at the moment when the healing miracle by the angel occurred. One important aspect of this story catches my attention, not the healing of the paralytic but the words of Jesus Christ after the healing.

Jesus Christ told him, “Get up, take your mat, and walk.”

The paralytic is already healed, so why should he take his mat and walk? Why not just tell him to take his mat and throw it away? Here, I want to emphasize a very crucial aspect of each of our lives, especially the painful experiences we go through.

Let us never forget that every painful experience serves a purpose in our lives and will later enable us to assist others. When you have overcome a trial, you become capable of helping others overcome theirs. I pray that this situation, this illness, does not stop you.

DO NOT FEAR, ONLY BELIEVE

(John 11, John 5:1-9)

The difference between God and humans is that when God speaks, His word alone is accomplished without any action on His part, but when a human speaks, they must take action.

The devil uses God’s prohibitions to operate because any word we transgress provides him an opportunity to do so. God comes into our lives first to transform us. Believing in the existence of God implies believing that everything we ask of Him also exists.

Every creature always recognizes the voice of its creator. Just like Lazarus, who was dead but when Jesus called his name, he heard. The word of God creates, while the word of humans does not. The true blessing is the word that God releases over us; God’s word accompanies us.

To let the hand of God work, you must remove the stone. Many people do not see the hand of God because they do not remove the stone, which could be discouragement, doubt, fear, sin, or other obstacles. The man lying at the pool of Bethesda was denied the opportunity to celebrate during the festival due to his health condition. Bethesda (the house of mercy) is where God reveals Himself to us.

There were five porches representing the five ministries. The church cannot function without ministries because it is through ministries that the power of God operates. The angel descends to bring us what God has given us, to convey what heaven has said for us. The devil often attacks us when things are going wrong, just as he waited for Jesus to become hungry. When the angel descends into our lives, it is to announce good news. When God tells us something, we must believe it. Jesus passed through the Sheep Gate to heal the one who had suffered for thirty-eight years. People want to see God.(John 5:2, 8-11)

Definition: Time, an opportune moment, is a chance. God’s time is the time of divine visitation, the time of comfort, the time of success. Success is nothing but being in God’s plan, reaching where God wants to see us. In the verse we just read, it tells us about the pool called Bethesda in Hebrew; remember that the pool is like a lake, and the pool’s water does not flow.

This pool represented a man, the Lord Jesus, because Jesus is the only one with mercy. These people had infirmities, which means in the world, in the church, each of us always has a defect, a weakness. On this earth, no one possesses all qualities.

Around this pool, there were:

• The blind. I want to talk about blindness in two ways:
  • The blindness of Bartimaeus. Some people, despite their knowledge and wisdom, have never seen what others see. They have never seen happiness, motherhood, success. For such people, they must know that God’s time is here, and they should not get discouraged.
  • Jacob’s blindness. After working for 7 years to marry Rachel, he was given Leah. Everything we receive at night is always false, but what we receive during the day is true. The day is the Lord Jesus Christ, and everything we receive in Christ is always true.
• Those who were strong, able to throw themselves into the water, the Levites who could enter the Holy of Holies once a year.
• Those who were weak but had someone to help them get into the water, representing Israel, which had brothers who could enter the Holy of Holies.
• Those who were weak and had no one to help them, which represents people of the nations who had no citizenship rights.

All these people, despite their numbers and infirmities, were waiting for God’s time. We do not know the hour or day of this time, but what is true is that this time is real. Just wait for it.

When this time comes, it transforms lives, consoles, and restores.

This text is an excerpt from the book “BETHESDA” written by Victoire Lufuluabu Kalala VLK.