“The impotent man answered him, Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool: but while I am coming, another steppeth down before me.” — John 5:7 (KJV)
Happy New Week, Yielded People! I trust you all had a great weekend and went to church. Can I share something with you? Many Christians have adopted the world’s mindset that resists leadership and correction, yet when we look at God’s Word and His Kingdom, we see that leadership and submission to godly authority are foundational principles. Standard procedure. God Himself established the structure of the Church, placing believers under the care of shepherds.
We can have opinions and make excuses, but the same God whose promises we believe is the same God who commands us not to neglect gathering with other believers. The standard we hold pastors to in obeying God’s Word is the same standard we should hold ourselves to. Stop arguing with the Word. Go to church. Be submitted somewhere. Be part of a Christian community. A word is enough for the wise, these are wooorrrdssss so it’s more than enough! Now, let’s get into this week’s business.
The Bible gives us a very interesting story of a man who was lame. It doesn’t tell us how old he was, but it does tell us how long he had been lame, thirty-eight years.This suggests that he wasn’t born lame, (please do your research as this is just my personal revelation) He must’ve became lame at some point in his life. I often wonder at what age it happened, but either way, he had to adjust to the life of a lame man. That’s my first observation.
This was someone who had once been functioning normally until tragedy struck. Much like Job, everything can seem to be going well until life suddenly changes. Perhaps you lose your parents and life becomes unstable, or your spouse begins to change, and you find yourself adjusting to a life of pain. From one experience to another, I’ve learned that adjusting is never easy, especially when the circumstances forcing the adjustment are painful. What did you have to adjust to?
Was it learning to live without a friend you had grown so close to? Was it loss? Was it losing a job and going from being constantly busy to not knowing where your next income would come from? Was it divorce? What happened to you that forced you to adjust to a new reality? I have a few stories of my own where life suddenly changed, and I had to adjust. Ehhh. This man went from living as a healthy man to living as a lame man. Others go from being happily married to divorced, from being financially secure to struggling to make ends meet.
The years begin to count, one year, five years, ten years, until thirty-eight years have passed. You cry until you can’t anymore. Your hope is crushed so your heart becomes sick. Thirty-eight years is enough time for someone to have graduated from university, built a career, gotten married, and perhaps even raised three or four children but this man had none of that. He missed out on what many would consider the normal unfolding of life. Some of us know exactly what that feels like. You can see yourself in this particular blog.
Misfortune can keep you in one place. A season of being “lame” can leave you unable to walk, unable to progress, unable to move forward, unable to achieve, unable to do what you know you’re capable of, and unable to live the life you once imagined. Can you imagine how he must have felt sitting there day after day? We often talk about mental health, but what do you think his mental health was like? One of the greatest tragedies of prison is confinement, the lack of freedom, the inability to see beyond your very small surroundings, the limited space, the constant feeling of being trapped. It affects the mind. I promise you, it does.
In many ways, this man was living in his own prison. Every day he sat in the same place. What was he thinking? How was he feeling? Did he still believe that one day his life would change, or had hope slowly slipped away? Ok what about you? Do you believe your life can change? Is that something you genuinely expect, or have you adjusted to where you are & built a life around it. More importantly, how is your mind? How are you really coping? I hope you are doing well
So here we are, thirty-eight years of being single. Kai! “My lord please I’m tired about this!” Thirty-eight years of struggling. Thirty-eight years with what feels like no testimony. You watch others receive the very breakthrough you’ve been praying for, and somewhere along the way you’ve concluded that God doesn’t care about you or that He has forgotten you. I was watching a video about God on social media, and as I read the comments, one man’s words broke my heart.
He said,
“I have loved God all my life. I am a good man. I was raised in church, but in one year my mom died, then my sister, then my dad all within two months. I cried so much, thinking, if I were God, I’d have done better. Nevertheless, I still believe.”
I could see that those words came from deep pain. I’ve also heard people say, “God has favourites,” or, “Maybe I’m not on God’s list for 2026.” People of God, be careful not to build your theology on pain. Don’t camp in statements that are not rooted in Scripture, especially when your tragedy may not even have been sent by God as a test. Pain has a way of making us think and say things we would never have considered otherwise.
What words have you spoken out of pain? Or perhaps you’ve never said them aloud, but you’ve thought them in your heart. How do you think Job felt as he looked at his friends? They still had their health, their children, and their wealth, while he was the only one carrying such overwhelming loss. Yho! At the Pool of Bethesda, this man may have watched countless others come and go while he remained there for thirty-eight years. That’s what happens at Bethesda, some breakthrough first, some stay longer.
As l wrap up, I want to remind you of this, God has not forgotten about you. No matter how painful your story is or how long you’ve been waiting, I know this to be true, God is faithful. Today, Family, let’s hold tightly to that truth God is faithful. Your God is faithful. My God is faithful. Our God is faithful. Funny enough, I had planned to write about something completely different today, but I suppose God wanted this to be the message instead. I love you. Let’s continue tomorrow.
If you read my blogs but have never met this Wonderful Jesus that I’m always writing about, you’d love to get to know Him, Or you know The Lord but have found yourself drifting far from Him, I would love to talk with you. Please send me an email on yieldedcwcenter@gmail.com or simply comment, and I will reach out to you
