Lifted

Acts 4:^18-20 “So they called the apostles back in and commanded them never again to speak or teach in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John replied, “Do you think God wants us to obey you rather than him? We cannot stop telling about everything we have seen and heard.”

We will kick off today’s devotional by just spending some time in reading God’s Word. I want you to read it aloud and let God’s Word just explode on the inside of you. I cannot count how many times I have read this passage of Scripture and I am sure you have read it a number of times too. However, God is set to blow our minds so let’s dive in. John 5:^1-7 “Afterward Jesus returned to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish holy days. Inside the city, near the Sheep Gate, was the pool of Bethesda, with five covered porches. Crowds of sick people—blind, lame, or paralyzed—lay on the porches. One of the men lying there had been sick for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him and knew he had been ill for a long time, he asked him, “Would you like to get well?”  “I can’t, sir,” the sick man said, “for I have no one to put me into the pool when the water bubbles up. Someone else always gets there ahead of me.”

So, which question is this man answering because it is not the one Jesus asked? Do not get me wrong, I am not even ridiculing this man. I actually see myself in this scenario and I am asking myself, how many times has God asked you a question and you are just saying something totally different? Would you like to get well? I am asking you today, would you like to get well? If your answer is yes, I agree with you and I say so shall it be in Jesus Name. God will lift you up in spite of your grumbling in the Mighty Name of Jesus.

John 5:^8-11 “Jesus told him, “Stand up, pick up your mat, and walk!” Instantly, the man was healed! He rolled up his sleeping mat and began walking! But this miracle happened on the Sabbath, so the Jewish leaders objected. They said to the man who was cured, “You can’t work on the Sabbath! The law doesn’t allow you to carry that sleeping mat!” But he replied, “The man who healed me told me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’” Church people are amazing, unbelievable sometimes. How can someone be healed and all they care about is a bunch of rules? For you to be lifted, you need to choose who you will obey – the system that has kept you down for decades or would you obey the Jesus that has come to lift you up even right now? Who is it going to be? Jesus!

The first of three things from this story is, God Will Use People to Lift You Up. The way God has set things up is that God will place people around you to lift you up. Today, God will connect you to great men and women that will lift you up in the Name of Jesus.

Prayer: Father, as You lift me up and You use great men to lift me up, empower me to also lift people up, in the Mighty Name of Jesus. Amen!