Hope Without Limits

Is there a situation in your life that you believe that’s just the way it is; this is my life; I just have to deal with it; it’s not going to change?  Do you know what?  You are the same as the man by the Bethesda pool.  Listen to how he responded when Jesus asked him “Are you HOPING to be healed?”  Listen to what his expectation has been all of the 38 years:

“I CAN’T be healed because of my situation.  There is NO HOPE for me.  There is no one to carry me to the pool.”  He actually was NOT hoping to be healed because his circumstances were dictating to him whether or not he had hope.

How did Jesus respond?  He didn’t even address the situation itself.  He just says “Stand up.  Pick up your mat and walk.”

What was Jesus saying?  “No situation limits me.”

Jesus shattered the man’s expectation by saying “Stand up, carry your mat and walk.”  He told the man to do what was impossible without God.  Later when he saw the man he told him – “look at your body it has been made whole and strong. So avoid a life of sin, or else a calamity greater than any disability may befall you.”  

What was the sin to which Jesus referred?  I was stunned as this revelation dawned.  The ungodly expectation that God is limited by any situation in our life to provide for us and accomplish His purposes.   I had always wondered, what was this poor man’s sin who had been sick for so long?  I had never seen that he was trapped by his own beliefs and expectations.  

As I pondered, can this be true the Holy Spirit brought to mind: “is anything too hard for me.” (Jeremiah 32:27)  followed by how the Psalmist David spoke about how his God had destroyed the lion and the bear and would destroy this Philistine as well (1 Samuel 17:37).  What a difference in expectations!

So just what is an ungodly belief or expectation?  It is a belief or expectation about God or our lives that does not line up with Who God’s Word tells us He is and what He can do.

I’ve told you before on this blog I have a great job; I work with wonderful people; I work for an amazing company.  But what I discovered as I read this John 5 passage about the man at the Bethesda pool is my own ungodly expectation, which was I believed that as long as I had to work at any job I was going to have to suffer with Fibromyalgia because of the demands and time required which are things that are not in large in supply when you have Fibromyalgia.  That was my  “no one to carry to me to the pool”.  

Last year I wrote on here  about how God woke me up at 5:15 AM on a Saturday morning with an alarm when I did not have any alarm set on my clock   At that time I felt led to look up John 5:15 which just happens to be the last verse of this passage.  “The man went and told the Jewish leaders it was Jesus who had healed him.”  At that time I claimed that would be my testimony.  (Click here for that post.)

Look at what God is doing now.  He has been working on me for over a year to finally get me to the point of what I wrote in my last post.  Rather than trying to PROVE it’s true that God can heal me, I can just ACCEPT that, regardless of my circumstance, healing (1 Peter 2:24), energy (Rom 8:11) and wholeness (1 Thes 5:23) all belong to me because of who Jesus is and what Jesus has done.

Can I tell you what that will look like?  Nope. Why? Because until now I have believed my healing has had to look a certain way.  Certain things had to happen.  Apparently I was wrong and they don’t!  

What is your version of “there is no hope for me because I have no one to carry me to the pool?”  Is it your health; is it your finances; is it your marriage; is it your relationships; is it your family; is it your job?  

When you read this, please know I am not pointing a finger at you and saying “shame, shame look at what you have done.”  I’m saying “welcome to my world, I’ve been living this”.

Whatever your version is – are you willing to come out of agreement with the ungodly belief that “it” is bigger than God?   And, in place of that lie  are you willing to come into agreement with the truth that He actually can provide for you regardless of your circumstances?  Are you willing to come into agreement with the truth that His hand is not shortened that it cannot save (Isaiah 59:1); that Our Heavenly Father can do all things, and that no thought or purpose of His can be restrained or thwarted. (Job 42:2)?

If you are hesitant to make these choices because you are not too sure what God’s plans are for you.  Let me reassure You His plans are GOOD!  His plans are are to prosper you and not to harm you; to give you hope and a future (Jer 29:11).  Jesus told us He came that we may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance (to the full, till it overflows) –  it is our enemy, the thief, that comes only in order to steal and kill and destroy (John 10:10). 

And the good news just keeps on coming because if we do choose to come out of agreement with ungodly beliefs (lies) and come into agreement with truth, God is faithful to forgive us and set us free from where we have entangled ourselves in these ungodly beliefs.   (1 John 1:19)

When that happens, just as it was for the man at the Bethesda pool … “the future’s so bright, you have to wear shades” 🙂