Now a certain man was there who had an infirmity thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he already had been in that condition a long time, He said to him, “Do you want to be made well?” John 15:5-6
Everyone has their share of struggles. Things that get keep them from showing up the way they’d like. Maybe even experiences that hobbled them in life and regularly trips them up.
And if you’re like me, you know what it’s like to love the Lord, yet have some issues that frustrate you because you know they don’t bear any resemblance to Him. For me, it’s quick temperedness and impatience, although my husband might like to list a few more ;-) Anyway, you’ve prayed for deliverance and followed the “prescribed steps,” but there they sit taunting you. They may even condemn you.
First off, there is no more condemnation for anyone in Christ Jesus, period (see Romans 8:1). Second, this frustration is nothing new. In the Gospel of John, we learn about a lame man at the pool of Bethesda (see John 5). For 38 years he could not walk, but he wants to be well because he sits by this pool where the angel would periodically stir the water. First one in the pool after the stirring gets healed!
Very quickly, he understands the criteria for his breakthrough:
1) want to be healed
2) attempt to get into the pool first.
There’s just one problem, well, really two.
1) He can’t walk.
2) He has no one to carry him to the pool.To put it plainly, anybody with working legs had this guy beaten every time. His best efforts to crawl to the pool failed him, as well as putting hope in people. Enter Jesus. Knowing the man’s been in that condition for some time, He simply asked him if he wanted to be made well.
The lame man answered with the criteria he didn’t meet for healing: there’s no one to help him get to the pool. He didn’t realize the Healer asked him the question. Jesus reduced the criteria to one. He only asked the lame man if he wanted to be well, because that’s all that’s required. The rest is His work.
Likewise, regardless of our lameness, all we need to bring Jesus is our desire to be made well. No hoops to jump through, just absolute dependence on Jesus. He is well able to restore us to wholeness and, as He told the leper, He wants to make us whole (see Matthew 8:1-2).
While He’s transforming us, we can rest knowing that DADDY God deems us perfect in Christ Jesus (Hebrews 10:14)!
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Encourages women to move past the limits of their relationships with their fathers to find identity, acceptance, and unconditional love in the ultimate DADDY-daughter relationship with God.
Vanessa A. Harris 