God's efforts are strongest when our efforts are useless!

I want you to listen to some revealing dialogue between a man who'd been paralyzed for years. Jesus encounters him at the pool of Bethesda where he'd gone hoping to get into the healing waters (John 5:1-9).

The encounter goes something like this:

[Jesus asks a man who had been an invalid for a long time,] "Do you want to be well?"

"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."

Then Jesus said to him, "Get up! Pick up your mat and walk."

At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked (John 5:6-9).

I wish we would do that; I wish we would take Jesus at His word.

I wish we would learn that when He says something, it happens.

What is this peculiar paralysis that confines us?

What is this stubborn unwillingness to be healed?

When Jesus tells us to stand — let's stand!

What is this peculiar paralysis that confines us?
Yes, God's efforts are strongest when our efforts are useless. So, let's lean upon Him!

From Max's book, He Still Moves Stones.

© Max Lucado. All rights reserved. Used by permission.

Special thanks for the use of images related to Jesus' ministry from The Lumo Project and Free Bible Images.