John 5:6-7 When
Jesus noticed him lying there [helpless], knowing that he had already been a
long time in that condition, He said to him, Do you want to become well? [Are
you really in earnest about getting well?]
The invalid answered, Sir, I have
nobody when the water is moving to put me into the pool; but while I am trying
to come [into it] myself, somebody else steps down ahead of me.
Think about this man’s response
to Jesus. His statement gives us a very revealing look at his spiritual state.
To better understand this, we must
clarify the meaning of the word “invalid”. This word has two pronunciations. 1)
in-va-lid 2) in-val-id. Definition #2 means: an intended point or claim is not
valid, is null or void. Definition #1, in which I will focus on, means: a
person made weak or disabled by illness or injury.
Here’s the point. This man’s response
revealed that he was not only physically disabled but also spiritually
disabled. His first words to Jesus, who asked him a yes or no question, was a
negative statement that had nothing to do with the question. He helped make him-self
weak and disabled by the words that he spoke. Proverbs 18:21 states: Death and
life are in the power of the tongue, and they who indulge in it shall eat the
fruit of it [for death or life]. If his first response to Jesus was negative,
he had a mental stronghold of negativity. Negativity mastered him. He had been
thinking negatively for so long that he couldn’t tell Jesus he wanted to be
healed. The man was weakness, failure and self-pity and his tongue followed. He
achieved what he thought and spoke every time.
Unfortunately, this man’s life reveals a part
of mankind and our nature of negativity. So what can we do differently?
Proverbs 8:6-8 says: Hear, for I will speak excellent
and princely things; and the opening of my lips shall be for right things. For
my mouth shall utter truth, and wrongdoing is detestable and loathsome to my
lips. All the words of my mouth
are righteous (upright and in right standing with God); there is nothing
contrary to truth or crooked in them. When we read the Word regularly and pray
to the Holy Spirit for guidance, we can stop our tongues before they repeat the
negative. We will have scripture to replace the negative thoughts. Then we can
speak the truth of God’s Word, in faith, and see it come to pass.
“Next Level Thinking” requires us
to search out our negative thoughts and words and align them with the Word of
God.
Ask yourself today what fruit am
I indulging in? Death or life?
No comments:
Post a Comment