DAILY ENCOUNTER

HEALING IS A CHOICE

"When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be healed?”" John 5:6

Glory to God! A choice is a decision made between two or more possibilities. It is the act of deliberately deciding what we will accept, pursue, or respond to. While we may not always choose our circumstances, we can choose how we respond to them. This is why healing can sometimes involve a choice. God is willing and able to heal, but there are moments when we must make a decision to rise, believe, and move forward. In John 5, where we took our opening scripture, we encounter a man who had been sick for thirty-eight years. He had been lying beside the pool of Bethesda, where people waited for the moving of the water because healing was associated with the pool. Imagine being in the same environment where people were being healed, yet remaining in the same condition year after year. He had watched others get into the pool and leave healed, but he remained there. After so many years, his condition had become more than a physical problem; it had become a familiar way of life. When Jesus asked him, “Do you want to be healed?”, the man did not immediately answer, “Yes.” Instead, he explained why he had not been healed: “Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool.” Jesus was not asking whether the man was sick. He already knew his condition. He was asking whether the man was ready to leave his familiar condition.

Sometimes, the greatest obstacle to our healing is not the absence of God's power but our unwillingness to make a different choice. The man had become comfortable with the uncomfortable and had spent years watching other people receive what he desired while remaining where he was. His circumstance had become his identity, his explanation, and perhaps even his expectation. But Jesus came to interrupt that cycle. Jesus did not help him into the pool. He simply told him, “Rise, take up thy bed, and walk.” The man had to respond to the Word. He had to make a choice to rise. There comes a time when we must stop allowing yesterday's condition to determine tomorrow's expectation. We cannot continually rehearse why we have not experienced healing while refusing to believe that change is possible. Healing begins with the decision to believe that your present condition does not have to be your permanent reality. The question Jesus asked that man is still relevant today: “Do you want to be healed?” Do you want to be free from the pain, bitterness, fear, unforgiveness, destructive habits, and limitations that have kept you in the same place? You may not be able to change what happened yesterday, but by God's grace, you can choose what you will believe and how you will respond today. Today, make a choice to believe God's Word concerning your life. Make a choice to reject the mindset that says, “This is how I have always been.” Make a choice to rise from the place of prolonged defeat and respond to the voice of Christ. Your circumstance may have lasted for years, but it does not have to define the rest of your life. Rise, take up your bed, and walk. Hallelujah!!!

FURTHER STUDY

Deuteronomy 30:19; Mark 2:10–11; Philippians 3:13–14

REFLECTION QUESTIONS

1. What circumstance, mindset, pain, or limitation have I become comfortable with that God may be calling me to rise above?
2. What decision can I make today to respond to God's Word with faith and move forward instead of remaining where I have always been?

PRAYERS

Father, I obtain grace and the courage to rise from every place of prolonged defeat, disappointment, fear, and limitation. Help me to believe Your Word, obey Your voice, and make choices that move me forward in life. I reject every mindset that keeps me bound to the past, and I choose healing in Jesus's name