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Ephesians 2:8 is a marvelous verse. “For by GRACE we have been saved through faith; and this is not of ourselves, it is the gift of God.” Salvation is a gift of God, by His GRACE toward us. Faith is also a gift from God “as God has allotted to each a measure of faith.” Romans 12:3. Some theologians have used the illustration of a hose carrying water. The water is the important thing, but the hose, representing our faith, is what carries the water from God to us.
Faith in God, no matter the extent of God’s grace, is always needed. Take the example of the lame man at pool of Bethesda in John chapter 5. Jesus, the anointed one, came to one man, lying there for 38 years, waiting for the stirring of the waters. 38 years.
“Do you want to get well?” Jesus asked him. The lame man answered, “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.” 38 years of disappointment. 38 years of suffering. Yet his words show HOPE was still alive within him. And FAITH, for even without a man to help him, he kept trying to reach the waters.
Jesus said, “Get up, pick up your pallet and walk.” Why pick up your pallet? Perhaps Jesus was indicating this was no longer the lame man’s home; he was free to move on, praise the Lord! From past experience of dealings with devils, I suggest the devil at this moment, tried to sow fear and doubt into the man, even as he felt strength coming into his limbs. Doubt that spoke, “you can’t be healed, it is hopeless – and you can’t pick up your mat; that is breaking the Law.” But the man’s faith triumphed, he received the grace of God in the form of a mighty miracle!
The rule keepers could care less about the miracle. They challenged the man immediately for breaking the Sabbath. The healed man did not back down, did not admit to wrong doing: “The one who healed me told me to do this,” he said. Put that in your pipe and smoke it! That’s an idiom I added.
My friend, what challenges do you face? Some long time challenges? Impossible things? Others get healed, promoted, whatever, but not you? TODAY, like this man, keep your hope alive; keep your faith alive. Look to Jesus, not your circumstances not the past. See His hand extended; hear His word of victory, and — COME ALIVE!
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