Among Multitude
John 5:1-9

“Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, which is called in Hebrew, Bethesda, having five porches. 3 In these lay a great multitude of sick people, blind, lame, paralyzed, waiting for the moving of the water.” (John 5:2-3) Bethesda, that means mercy, was an ideal place for people of such needs to be. The Bible pointed out that a great multitude of sick people laid at Bethesda where healing only comes whenever, “…An angel went down at a certain time into the pool and stirred up the water; then whoever stepped in first, after the stirring of the water, was made well of whatever disease he had.”(John 5:4) It was at this location that a man of infirmity of thirty-right years was also lying in wait, with the hope for someone to push him or help him get into the pool that only served first comers. It is possible to imagine that the paralyzed man could lay wait forever without getting into the pool first. Thank God for Jesus, the healing Healer, and the Eternal Surgeon. It was not an accident that when Jesus showed up at the pool, whose name means mercy, located a paralyzed man with no hope of getting healed. Among a great multitude of sick people lying down, Jesus spotted out a certain man with a thirty-eight year infirmity. The paralyzed man was in his lying condition, a condition with no hope, and a condition with no help on site, a condition of no way out. The man with the thirty-eight year paralyses was in a condition where there was no help behind, ahead or on the sides. The man was stagnated and could not get a hand to push him in into the pool first. Are you experiencing a similar situation where everywhere or all the ones you can turn to and the ones you have been turning to are fed up with your condition? John 5:6, “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?” Just as the Lord Jesus spotted the paralyzed man among the great multitude of sick people, so He will spot you in all that has kept you stagnated, Jesus will bring you up out of the multitude of the sick, multitude of lack, multitude of failure, and you will rise and shine for the glory of God. After thirty-eight years of stagnation, in a location where he was witnessing people gaining their motion, the man also received his healing at the commanding word of Jesus. John 5:9, “And immediately the man was made well, took up his bed, and walked…” As a result of being spotted among the great multitude of sick people, the man with paralysis’ story was changed from stagnation to motion, and he was no longer a victim of carry-about.
 
Prayer for today: Locate me O Lord, and bring me out of every area of stagnation into motion, mockery into miracle, in the name of Jesus. Amen   

BELIEVE IN HIM

John 4: 46-54

Believing is having faith, and having faith in Him is believing. The children of Israel were to face a battle in the hand of a great multitude, and there was no way out, but defeat. Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, sought out God, “So they rose early in the morning and went out into the Wilderness of Tekoa; and as they went out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, “Hear me, O Judah and you inhabitants of Jerusalem: Believe in the LORD your God, and you shall be established; believe His prophets, and you shall prosper.” (2 Chronicles 20:22) In the battle, great victory was delivered unto Judah. The word of attention here is to believe. Depending on which God you believe in, if you believe in the Lord God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, you are set for the glory of God upon your life. Have you received Jesus as your Lord and Savior? John 1:12, “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name.” What you receive is what will determine what you believe, and your belief is what will determine what you become. If you have received the word of life, and you are able to believe it, then it will become of you. God is true to His word, but the world is not true to the word of God. God continues to be consistent, despite the world’s inconsistency with the word of God. It does not matter the kind of challenges or confrontation, if we can believe, we are set for great victory. Jesus stated in John14: 1, “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in me.” Believing God for His word is the only way out to engage the world of wickedness. Once during Jesus’ second trip to Cana of Galilee, after having turned water into wine, it was mentioned that a certain nobleman came to see him for healing, on behalf of his dying child. John 4:49-50, “The nobleman said to Him, “Sir, come down before my child dies!” 50 Jesus said to him, “Go your way; your son lives.” So the man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him, and he went his way.” The nobleman did not question Jesus’ command, there were no reports of doubt, but the man was recorded for going on his way. On his way his servant delivered the news of the healing of his child. It was also confirmed that the healing of his child was at the hour when Jesus spoke the word. Do you believe God for any loved one’s miracle? It does not matter the nature of the need, being it barrenness, sickness unto death, or breakthrough deliverance, meditate on the nobleman’s miracle, and God will be provoked on your behalf.

Prayer for today: Eternal God, you are still the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. Concerning all that concerns me let me receive the kind of miracle the nobleman had in the name of Jesus.

WHAT IT TAKES
John 4:1-43

Everyone that has accepted Christ has been able to because He, Himself, is the One that has called us. He mad us, to call us, for the kingdom business, for the glory of God. He called us to follow Him, “Then He said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” (Matthew 4:19) How have you been following Him? Have you been following Him to be a fisher of wealth, or a fisher of men? What has He deposited in you as power that will attract men to Him for their salvation? Mark 6:7, “And He called the twelve to Himself, and began to send them out two by two, and gave them power over unclean spirits.” After having followed Him, He sent them out with what it takes to carry out the kingdom business. He also gave them instructions to keep them focused. The disciples went as directed by the Master, “…They went out and preached that people should repent. 13 And they cast out many demons and anointed with oil many who were sick, and healed them.” Evidently, the power in hand was the anointing oil. The purpose of the call, was to go preach on repentance. This is indeed a confirmation to the word of God in Psalm 107:20, “He sent His word and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions.” Everyone that He called, and ones that followed Him indeed and truth, must have received what it takes to carry out the business of the Kingdom (fishing for men). Have you discovered what the Lord has deposited in you, and what it takes to be a fisher of men? His greatness is unsearchable. When He passed through Samaria, all that He deposited in the life of the woman at the well was strong enough, and it turned many unto Christ in Samaria. It is written in John 4:39-40, “And many of the Samaritans of that city believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified, “He told me all that I ever did.” 40 So when the Samaritans had come to Him, they urged Him to stay with them; and He stayed there two days.” The woman at the well left the well, and became a fisher of men just because Jesus told her all that she had ever done. As a believer, there must be a power that He has deposited in you, because it is not possible to have an encounter with Him and remain the same. Jesus is still in the business of backing believers up in the business of the kingdom.
Prayer for today: Ask God for His mercy and the grace of ennoblement that will activate you as a follower of Jesus indeed and in truth.

ACCURSED THING
Joshua 7

“You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s.” (Exodus 20:17) Not to covet is among the Ten Commandments that were given by God. In all of the Ten Commandments, there is none that can, or should, be taken very lightly, because the consequences are far too much to tolerate. God has given His word and He will never lower the standard of expectation from His children. The children of Israel had just delivered a great blow of defeat over Jericho; they were on a roll, with wars of conquest and expansion because the Lord was on their side. In their attempt to fight the people of Ai, their spying report suggested that Ai was going to be a walk over and there would not be a need for huge number of men for war. “So about three thousand men went up there from the people, but they fled before the men of Ai. 5 And the men of Ai struck down about thirty-six men, for they chased them from before the gate as far as Shebarim, and struck them down on the descent; therefore the hearts of the people melted and became like water.” (Joshua 7:4-5) The children of Israel had violated God’s command; they have failed to obey what the Lord had told them not to do. Joshua inquired from God and God responded, “Israel has sinned, and they have also transgressed My covenant which I commanded them. For they have even taken some of the accursed things, and have both stolen and deceived; and they have also put it among their own stuff..” (Joshua 7:11) Covetousness will cause a man to touch or take an accursed thing; accursed things will lead to stealing and deception. God says do not covet, when you covet you will regret. “When I saw among the spoils a beautiful Babylonian garment, two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold weighing fifty shekels, I coveted them and took them. And there they are, hidden in the earth in the midst of my tent, with the silver under it.” (Joshua 7:21) Are you consciously or unconsciously coveting? It is clear that a silent sin will deliver a loud consequence. The offender did it silently, but it brought a loud defeat upon all the children of Israel. As a result of the sin of covetousness, “…The children of Israel could not stand before their enemies, but turned their backs before their enemies, because they have become doomed to destruction. Neither will I be with you anymore, unless you destroy the accursed from among you.” (Joshua 7:12) Do not sin, so you do not loose the presence of God.
 
Prayer for today: Daddy I ask that you deliver me from every conscious and unconscious way of disobeying your word, in Jesus name. Amen.

SIN OF MOSES
Numbers 20:1-13

Without a doubt, Moses was a giant in the hand of God. God called Moses for His name to be greatly glorified. Moses had forty years of training in the palace, forty years of training as a shepherd, and forty years of shepherding the children of Israel though the wilderness on the way to the Promised Land. It is a very strong message from God, that a man of such a high calling could sin The sin of Moses came to be when, “Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 8 “Take the rod; you and your brother Aaron gather the congregation together. Speak to the rock before their eyes, and it will yield its water; thus you shall bring water for them out of the rock, and give drink to the congregation and their animals.” (Numbers 20:7-8) Moses was to respond to the request of the children of Israel for water when God commanded him to speak to the rock. Failure to listen to a simple command is same as failing to a difficult and challenging command because it will provoke a consequence that could be eternally painful. Moses did not speak as God had commanded, but he went in his own way, “Then Moses lifted his hand and struck the rock twice with his rod; and water came out abundantly, and the congregation and their animals drank.” (Numbers 20:11) Before he struck the rock he had caused the children of Israel out and called them names that God did not ask him to do. The move of Moses did not settle well with God. As a result God responded to Moses and Aaron, “…Because you did not believe Me, to hallow Me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them.” (Numbers 20:12) Life time journey ended up in the wilderness. Just simple disobedience, and Moses was simply terminated from getting to the Promised Land. Moses pleaded to God, but God did not reverse His judgment towards Moses. Indeed not to believe God is not to fear Him, and not to fear Him is not to obey Him fully as commanded. The sin of Moses was serious enough for us to learn that, despite the blood of Jesus, God is to be taken seriously in every area of His word for us not to fall. The apostle Paul warned, “Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.” (1 Corinthians 10:12) If Moses, a giant in the hand of God, a man that saw it all, except the face of God, fell for not believing God to hallow God. It will take the grace of the blood of Jesus for every man to get through the journey of life.
Prayer for today: Father, deliver me from every spirit of unbelief.