S- John 5:¹ Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish festivals. ² Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. ³ Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed 4 and they waited for the moving of the waters. From time to time an angel of the Lord would come down and stir up the waters. The first one into the pool after each such disturbance would be cured of whatever disease they had. 5 One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. ⁶ When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to get well?”

⁷ “Sir,” the invalid replied, “I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.”

⁸ Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” ⁹ At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked.

O- Sometimes we can be so focused on our weaknesses or how long we have had them that we forget that the God we serve is far more powerful than our weaknesses. Then God asks us if we want to get well and the first thing we do is make excuses on why we haven't got better or why we can't get better and we don't realize that God can make any and all of our weaknesses disappear.

The invalid he had tried to receive healing the way other people have experienced healing and it didn't work for him. Lucky for him, God is a God who seeks us out even when we are at the brink of giving up and accepting our weaknesses. All the invalid had to do was realize that he had access to Jesus and his power and to believe and follow His instructions for his life. Once he did that he was delivered from his weakness and began to walk.

A- One area I have always struggled with throughout my life was my weight. I always had a slow metabolism, I have always loved food and was taught at a young age to finish all my food even if I was full. I ran cross country and had a bad coach that would run us ridiculous amounts and it got to the point where I was burnt out and hated to run after that. Then came the excuses of being married and spending hours ministering to people and not having as much time to exercise as much as I used to when I was single.

I have struggled with it for so long that when God asked me if I wanted to get well, like the invalid, I would tell the God who created the universe why I couldn't get well instead of asking Him to make me well.

P-God please make me well in this area of my life and let me be in the best shape of my life as a testimony to your power. Please also reveal other areas of my life where I have been making up reason to tolerate things in my life instead of running to you and asking you to make me well.