Get a Move on!!

Another great message from Joel Osteen... ""Your Best Life Now.".....

"In the Bible, we read about a man in Jerusalem who had been crippled for thirty-eight years. He spent every single day of his life lying on a mat by the pool of Bethesda, hoping for a miracle.  This man had a deep-seated, lingering disorder.

I think many people today have lingering disorders. Their maladies may not be only physical; they may be emotional, but they are deep-seated, lingering disorders nonetheless.

They could stem from being unwilling to forgive, holding onto past resentments, blaming the past for their behavior, or other emotional wounds.

Just like the man lying by the pool, some people sit back year after year, waiting for a miracle to happen, waiting for some big event to come along and make everything better.

One day Jesus saw the man lying there in need. It was obvious that he was crippled, but Jesus asked the man what seemed a strange question:

"Do you want to be made well?"

I believe God is asking a similar question of us today. "Do you want to be well or do you want to continue lying around feeling sorry for yourself?"

Jesus asked the man a straightforward question but the man's response was interesting.  He began listing all of his excuses. "I'm all alone. I don't have anyone to help me. Other people have let me down. Other people always seem to get ahead of me. I don't have a chance in life."

Is it any wonder that he remained in that condition for 38 years?

I love the way Jesus answered him. He didn't even respond to his sad story. He didn't say, "Yes friend. I agree with you. You have had a tough time. Let me commiserate with you."

No, Jesus instead looked at him and said, in effect:

"If you are serious about getting well, if you are serious about getting your life in order, if you really want to get out of this mess, here is what you must do: 

"Get up off the ground, take up your bed, and be on your way."

When the man did what Jesus told him to do, he was miraculously healed.

That is a message for all of us today!!

If you are serious about being well, if you really want to be made physically and emotionally whole, you must GET UP AND GET MOVING WITH YOUR LIFE! 

No more lying around feeling sorry for yourself.

You must stop going back to "file number 2" all the time.

Stop making excuses. Stop blaming other people or circumstances that disappointed you.

Instead, START FORGIVING THE PEOPLE THAT HURT YOU.

Today can be a major turning point in your life, a time of new beginnings.  Don't waste another minute trying to figure out why evil things have happened to you or your loved ones.

Refuse to live with a Victim mentality any longer.

You might be saying, " I just don't understand why this is happening to me. I don't understand why I got sick. Why did my loved one die? Why was I raised in such an abusive environment?"

You may never know this answer while here on earth. But do not use that as an excuse to wallow in self-pity.

Leave it alone, get up, move on with your life.

Many of the "why" questions will remain a conundrum, but trust in God, and accept the fact that there will be some unanswered questions for now.

Keep in mind that just because you don't know the answer doesn't mean that one does not exist.  You simply have not discovered it yet.

In the meantime you must muster enough FAITH to say:

 "God, I do not understand it, but I trust you and I am not going to spend all my time trying to figure out why certain things have happened. I am going to trust You to make something good of it.  You are a good God and I know you have my best interests at heart.  You promised that all things will work together for my good."

That is Faith and that is the attitude that God honors.

You and I must learn that even if people may have mistreated you, or someone may have walked out on you, or maybe you prayed fervently, yet God did not appear to answer your prayer the way you had anticipated, that is over and done.

You cannot change the past. There is nothing you can do about it now.

But you must make a decision.

Are you going to sit around a pool for 38 years, or are you going to get up and and get moving with your life?

God is asking you -

 "Do you really want to get well?"

Stay Strong!!!