Transcription
Why most Christians stay sick when healing is already theirs.
Brethren, there he was. 38 years of lying by that pool. 38 years of watching others step into the water before him. 38 years of hope turning into heartbreak day after day after day. Picture this scene with me, beloved.
Around the pool of Bethesda, there was a great multitude of sick people. Blind folks who couldn't see the sunrise. Paralyzed people who couldn't take a single step. Bodies so withered they looked like dried up branches. All of them waiting. All of them desperate. All of them focused on one thing, the moving of the water.
But here's what I want you to think about. Jesus walked right into that scene. And out of all those desperate, suffering people, he stopped at one man. One man who had been there longer than anyone else. One man who had given up hope of ever stepping into that pool in time. Jesus looked at this broken man and asked him a question that will shake your soul. Wilt thou be made whole?
Let me tell you what happened next. Because this story will reveal why so many Christians today are living in sickness when healing is already purchased for them through the blood of Jesus Christ. John 5:2 to4 describes the scene. Now there is in Jerusalem by the sheepgate a pool which is called in Hebrew Bethesda having five porches. In these lay a great multitude of sick people, blind, lame, paralyzed, waiting for the moving of the water.
Can you imagine it? The desperation in that place. Every time that water stirred, there was a scramble, bodies pushing, people fighting to get in first because only one person, just one, would be healed each time the angel troubled the waters. But here's what strikes me about this whole situation. All those people had their eyes fixed on the pool. They were watching the water. They were watching each other. They were watching for their chance. And while they were watching natural things, Jesus, the very source of all healing power, walked right past them.
Listen, church, there are multitudes today just like those people around that pool. They have their confidence in things they can see. They're watching their symptoms. They're watching the doctors. They're watching the medicine bottles. They're watching everything except Jesus. If they would only get their eyes on God instead of on natural things, how quickly they would be helped. But what happened next at that pool will show you the difference between human effort and divine power.
Jesus knew this man had been there a long time. He knew every detail of those 38 years of suffering. And Jesus asks him in John 5:6, "Do you want to be made well?" Now you might think, "Of course he wants to be healed." What kind of question is that? But wait until you hear what the man said. In verse 7, he answered Jesus, "Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up. But while I am coming, another steps down before me."
Did you catch that? The man didn't say yes. He didn't say absolutely. He gave Jesus an excuse. He explained his problem. He told Jesus why it was impossible. Brothers and sisters, I have seen this same thing thousands of times in my ministry. People come for healing and when I ask if they want to be made whole, they start telling me about their problems instead of looking to Jesus for the answer. This man had one eye on the pool and one eye on Jesus. And I'm telling you, there are many people getting crosseyed this way these days. They have one eye on the doctor and one eye on Jesus. They have one eye on their symptoms and one eye on God's promises.
But here's where it gets really interesting. What Jesus said next will absolutely shock you. Jesus didn't sympathize with the man's excuses. He didn't say, "Oh, you poor thing. Let me help you into the pool." He didn't wait for the water to stir. Instead, Jesus speaks in verse 8, "Rise, take up your bed, and walk."
Think about what Jesus just asked this man to do. This man couldn't walk. He had been paralyzed for 38 years. And Jesus tells him to get up and carry his bed. That's impossible. That's ridiculous. That makes no sense to the natural mind. But you know what happened? Verse 9 tells us, "And immediately the man was made well, took up his bed, and walked." Immediately. Not gradually, not eventually, not after a few treatments. Immediately. Glory to God. That's the power that's available right now through Jesus Christ.
Let me share something that will revolutionize your understanding of how God heals. I was in Long Beach, California, and heard about a doctor who had been suffering with a diseased leg for 6 years. When I went to visit him, there were four other doctors in his room. I said, "Well, doctor, I see you have plenty of help. I'll call another day." But as I was passing by later, the spirit of God said to me, "Go join yourself to him." When I went back to that room, the poor doctor looked terrible. He said to me, "I have been like this for 6 years, and nothing human can help me." That's the truth, beloved. People are trying to patch up their lives, but you cannot do anything without God.
I talked to him about the Lord for a while. Then I prayed for him. I cried out, "Come out of him in the name of Jesus." Now, here's what I want you to understand. It wasn't my faith that healed him. It wasn't my prayer. It was the name of Jesus. One touch of his mighty power meets the need of every crooked thing in your body.
But I know what some of you are thinking right now. You're wondering, "Is healing really for everyone? Is it for me?" Let me show you something powerful. Jesus calls healing the children's bread. In Mark 7:27, when that Syrophoenician woman came to Jesus asking for her daughter to be delivered, Jesus said, "Let the children be filled first, for it is not good to take the children's bread and throw it to the little dogs." Did you hear that? Healing and deliverance are the children's bread. Now, if you are a child of God, you can surely press in for your portion. This is not something you have to beg for. This is not something that might be available if you're lucky. This is your bread. This is your birthright as a child of the living God.
But here's where it gets convicting. That woman wasn't even a Jew. She had no covenant right to healing. Yet she said in verse 28, "Yes, Lord. Yet even the little dogs under the table eat from the children's crumbs." And Jesus was so moved by her faith that he told her in verse 29, "For this saying, 'Go your way. The demon has gone out of your daughter.'" And when she got home, she found her daughter perfectly delivered.
Now listen to what I'm about to tell you today. There are many children of God refusing their blood-purchased portion of health in Christ and throwing it away. They're saying, "Well, maybe it's not God's will to heal me. Maybe I'm supposed to learn something through this sickness." Meanwhile, sinners are pressing through like that Syrophoenician woman and picking up the crumbs from under the table. They're getting healed while the children are going hungry. What in the world is wrong with this picture?
Now, I need to tell you something that most preachers won't say. There is a close relationship between sin and sickness. Jesus made this crystal clear to the man at the pool. After Jesus healed him, he found him again later in the temple. And Jesus says to him in John 5:14, "See, you have been made well. Sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you." How many know that your sickness is a direct result of sin? I hope that no one will come to be prayed for who is living in sin. But if you will obey God and repent of your sin and quit it, God will meet you and neither your sickness nor your sin will remain.
James 5:15-16 declares, "And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. Confess your trespasses to one another and pray for one another that you may be healed."
I visited a woman one time who had been suffering for many years with rheumatism. She was all twisted up and had been in bed for 2 years. I said to her, "What makes you lie here?" She said, "I've come to the conclusion that I have a thorn in the flesh." I looked at her and said, "To what wonderful degree of righteousness have you attained that you need a thorn in the flesh? Have you had such an abundance of divine revelations that there is danger of you being exalted above measure?" She looked confused. I continued, "You believe it is the Lord's will for you to suffer, yet you are trying to get out of it as quickly as you can. Look at all these doctor's bottles around your room. Get out of your hiding place and confess that you are a sinner. If you'll get rid of your self-righteousness, God will do something for you. Drop the idea that you are so holy that God has to afflict you. Sin is the cause of your sickness and not righteousness." Church, disease is not caused by righteousness, but by sin.
There is healing through the blood of Christ and deliverance for every captive. God never intended his children to live in misery because of some affliction that comes directly from the devil. Let me tell you what happened at Calvary. Isaiah 53:4 to5 says, "Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. Yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement for our peace was upon him and by his stripes we are healed." A perfect atonement was made at Calvary. I believe that Jesus bore my sins and I am free from them all. I am justified from all things if I dare believe. And listen to this. Matthew 8:17 tells us, "He himself took our infirmities and bore our sicknesses." He took them. He bore them. That means you don't have to carry them anymore. If I dare believe, I can be healed. If you dare believe, you can be healed right now.
Let me tell you what I've seen with my own eyes. At that same meeting in Long Beach where I prayed for the doctor, there was an old man helping his son to the altar. He said, "My son has fits many every day." There was also a woman there with cancer. Oh, what sin has done to humanity. But Psalm 105:37 tells us that when God brought his people out of Egypt, he also brought them out with silver and gold, and there was none feeble among his tribes, no disease, all healed by the power of God. I believe God wants a people like that today. I prayed for the woman with cancer and she said, "I know I'm free. God has delivered me." Then they brought the boy with the fits and I commanded the evil spirits to leave in the name of Jesus. Then I prayed for the doctor with diabetes. The next night the house was packed full. I called out, "Doctor, what about the diabetes?" He shouted back, "It is gone." I said to the old man, "What about your son? We have a God who answers prayer. We have a God whose word has not diminished in power." Psalm 107:20 says, "He sent his word and healed them and delivered them from their destructions."
Now, I'm going to tell you something that most believers struggle with. And I need you to hear this clearly. The problem isn't God's willingness to heal. The problem isn't lack of power. The problem is unbelief. You say, "Oh, if I only could believe." But listen, Jesus understands. He knew that man at the pool had been there a long time. He is full of compassion. He knows that kidney trouble. He knows those corns. He knows that neuralgia. There is nothing he doesn't know. He only wants a chance to show himself merciful and gracious to you. But he wants to encourage you to believe him.
Mark 9:23 records Jesus saying, "If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes." If you can only believe, you can be saved and healed. Dare to believe that Jesus was wounded for your transgressions, was bruised for your iniquities, was chastised that you might have peace, and that by his stripes there is healing for you right here and now. You have failed because you have not believed him. Cry out to him even now like that father in Mark 9:24, "Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief."
But here's the challenge I'm issuing to you today. Will you take both eyes off your circumstances and put them both on Jesus? Will you stop looking at your symptoms and start looking at your Savior? Will you stop making excuses and start exercising faith? Most Christians will never do this. Most believers will keep one eye on the doctor and one eye on Jesus. Most will keep trusting in natural things while giving Jesus lip service. But not you. Not today. Today you're going to make a decision that Jesus Christ is enough, that his word is powerful enough, that his atonement is complete enough.
Now, I must warn you about something crucial. Jesus told that man at the pool in John 5:14, "Sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you." The Lord tells us in Matthew 12:43-4 about an unclean spirit that went out of a man. That house got swept and put in order, but it received no new occupant. And that evil spirit with seven other spirits more wicked than himself went back to that unoccupied house. And the last condition of that man was worse than the first. The Lord doesn't heal you so you can go to a baseball game or a race meet. He heals you for his glory and that from now on your life will glorify him.
I went to a certain place one day and the Lord said to me, "This is for my glory." A young man had been sick for a long time, confined to his bed in an utterly hopeless condition. He was fed only with a spoon and was never dressed. The Lord showed me he was going to shake the place with his glory. The very bed shook. I laid my hands on the young man in the name of Jesus. And the power fell in such a way that I fell with my face to the floor. In about 15 minutes, that young man got up and walked up and down praising God. He dressed himself and went to the room where his father and mother were. He said, "God has healed me." Both the father and mother fell to the floor as the power of God surged through that room. But here's what you need to understand. That healing was for God's glory. That deliverance was so that young man would serve Jesus for the rest of his life. Healing is not so you can go back to your old life. It's so you can walk in newness of life.
Right now, Jesus is asking you the same question he asked that man at the pool. Wilt thou be made whole? Not do you want to feel a little better? Not do you want some relief, but do you want to be made completely whole? There is power in God's word to make that which does not appear to appear. There is executive power in the word that proceeds from his lips. And his word to you today is the same as it was to that paralyzed man. Rise, take up your bed and walk. You may say like that poor man, I have missed every opportunity up till now. Never mind about that. The question is, wilt thou be made whole?
Faith is just the open door through which the Lord comes. Don't say, "I was healed by faith." Faith doesn't save. God saves through that open door. Healing comes the same way you believe and the virtue of Christ comes. Healing is for the glory of God. I am traveling around the world preaching this full redemption because God healed me when I was dying. I'm doing all I can to bring glory to the wonderful name of Jesus. And I'm challenging you today. Will you believe? Will you receive? Will you be made whole?
If God could take a dying man and heal him completely, he can do the same for you. If God could heal that doctor in Long Beach, that woman with cancer, that boy with fits, he can heal you. But you must do what that man at the pool did. When Jesus told him to rise, he didn't argue. He didn't explain why it was impossible. He didn't give another excuse. He began to rise. He found the power of God moving within. He wrapped up his bed and began to walk. Are you ready to do the impossible thing? Are you ready to step out in faith? Are you ready to keep both eyes on Jesus and take your healing? The same Jesus who walked by that pool is present right now. His word has not lost its power. His compassion has not grown cold. His willingness to heal has not changed. The only question is, wilt thou be made whole? Give him your answer. He will hear and he will answer.
Father God, in the mighty name of Jesus, I come before you right now on behalf of every person reading these words. Lord, you know every sickness, every disease, every affliction. You know the cancer, the diabetes, the arthritis, the heart conditions. Nothing is hidden from your sight. And Lord, we declare that by the stripes of Jesus, we are healed. We declare that Jesus bore our infirmities and carried our sicknesses. We refuse to carry what Jesus has already carried. Right now, we command every disease to leave in the name of Jesus. We command every spirit of infirmity to go. We speak wholeness to broken bodies. We speak life to dying organs. We speak restoration to damaged tissue. And Father, we ask that those who receive their healing today will live the rest of their lives for your glory, never returning to sin, but walking in holiness and power. We pray this with boldness and authority in Jesus' name.
I believe with all my heart that as you've learned about God's healing power today, you've been activated into faith. The understanding you've gained is already working in your spirit, creating an expectation for divine healing and wholeness. Comment below with, "I choose Jesus over my circumstances," and share which symptom or sickness you're declaring victory over. Your bold declaration might encourage someone else today who's fighting the same battle. Do not forget to like, hit that notification bell, and subscribe to Shepherd for rare, timeless, and anointed teachings that will help you grow spiritually and walk in the authority Christ intended for you.
Here's your daily practice. Every morning this week, before your feet hit the floor, declare out loud, "By his stripes, I am healed. Jesus bore my sicknesses. I keep both eyes on Jesus today." Throughout the day, whenever a symptom tries to get your attention, immediately quote Isaiah 53:5 and thank God that healing is your children's bread. Before bed, spend 5 minutes thanking God for specific parts of your body that are working correctly, building faith for complete wholeness.
You've just learned the power of keeping both eyes on Jesus for your healing. But what if God has given specific instructions that unlock even greater miracles? What happens when a man's bowels are ruptured, abscesses form, blood poisoning sets in, and three doctors declare the case hopeless? Yet, someone dares to follow God's exact blueprint for healing found in James 5. Why do most churches today ignore these clear biblical instructions? And what are they missing? How can following one simple command from scripture save you from death and forgive a multitude of sins? Check out this next video to discover the biblical blueprint for healing that most believers never use. Hear the shocking story of the man who was minutes from death but lived because someone obeyed God's word exactly. and learn the specific steps you must take when sickness attacks so you can walk in the complete healing Jesus purchased for you.