Take Up Your Bed and Go!

Summertime is quickly passing and we are about to enter into a new Fall season. We all have seasons in life were God wants to give us all things new. It could be a new career, a relocation, a new outlook on life, or a new life in Christ. Whether it is something new spiritually or physically, it all requires us to have faith joined with works in order for God to bless us.

In the book of Mark 2: 1-12, I found an account of Jesus healing a paralyzed man. Unlike this man, some of us are not paralyzed physically but mentally. Due to a lack of faith, we can become be paralyzed in fear, doubt, complacency, or stuck in a feeling of hopelessness. As we wait on God to bless us, our Faith should be aligned WITH ACTION! Just like in this account, these four men were moved by their faith so much that they had to get to Jesus by any means necessary. When Jesus watches over us in our daily lives is He pleased and can see that we are walking in Faith or is his displeased with our Fear?

"Is He pleased and can see that we are walking in Faith or is his displeased with our Fear? "

Jesus said to the paralyzed man “Stand up, pick up your mat, and go home.” [Mark 2:11] The man jumped up, grabbed his mat, and walked out the through the stunned onlookers. They were all amazed and praised God, exclaiming, “We’ve never seen anything like this before!” [Mark 2:12]. The paralyzed man’s life became a LIVING AND WALKING testimony for Christ. Do our actions prove that we serve a LIVING God? Can other people look at us amazed with our walk with Christ?

As you go through this season of life, allow what you know about God to move you into action, so that others may grow in amazement with what Christ can do. James 2:14 reads, “What good is it, dear brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but don’t show it by your actions? Can that kind of faith save anyone?

My prayer for you, is that you allow the Holy Spirit to renew your faith through the word of God. His response to our faith is still the same, “Take up your bed and GO! So, go and then look at how many people who discounted Jesus will look amazed at how far He allowed you to go.

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Here are some positive mantras that I like to speak over my life when I am feeling stuck:

1. GOD is for ME!

2. Everything happening in my life may not be good but it is ALL working for MY GOOD!

3. His plans are to PROSPER ME and to give ME HOPE and a FUTURE!

4. Surely GOODNESS and MERCY shall follow ME all the days of my life!