Many of us have felt stuck spiritually, where you feel like you’re not growing in God, you feel left behind, forgotten, etc. Spiritually stuck is just a battle the devil is trying to win. As long as the devil can keep you stagnant in the same area, going around the same mountain year after year, then he has completed his task. The enemy knows what you are capable of when you continue to trust God and grow into the person He desire you to be. You may say well Jessica, “I spend time with God, fast, go to church, etc. but I still feel stuck and my situation is not changing”. The question you should ask yourself is, “am I really stuck, or do I just need to GET UP”!
Let’s read John 5, it explains another man feeling stuck in the same place year after year and Jesus comes along with an answer.
Jesus Heals a Lame Man: John 5:1-15
5 Afterward Jesus returned to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish holy days. 2 Inside the city, near the Sheep Gate, was the pool of Bethesda,[a] with five covered porches. 3 Crowds of sick people—blind, lame, or paralyzed—lay on the porches.[b] 5 One of the men lying there had been sick for thirty-eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him and knew he had been ill for a long time, he asked him, “Would you like to get well?” 7 “I can’t, sir,” the sick man said, “for I have no one to put me into the pool when the water bubbles up. Someone else always gets there ahead of me.” 8 Jesus told him, “Stand up, pick up your mat, and walk!” 9 Instantly, the man was healed! He rolled up his sleeping mat and began walking! But this miracle happened on the Sabbath, 10 so the Jewish leaders objected. They said to the man who was cured, “You can’t work on the Sabbath! The law doesn’t allow you to carry that sleeping mat!” 11 But he replied, “The man who healed me told me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’” 12 “Who said such a thing as that?” they demanded. 13 The man didn’t know, for Jesus had disappeared into the crowd. 14 But afterward Jesus found him in the Temple and told him, “Now you are well; so stop sinning, or something even worse may happen to you.” 15 Then the man went and told the Jewish leaders that it was Jesus who had healed him.
John 5 talks about a lame man who was sick for 38 years. The Bible does not reference what illness the man had but it did mention that Jesus knew the man had been ill for a long time. I do not think it mattered what type of illness the man was experiencing, just like it does not matter what we are going through or facing in life; everyone is facing something. Jesus provided the man with another option to receive his healing. How many times in the stuck season you tried to do things your way instead of giving it to God and seeking His face? This man was stuck in the same area, same spot for 38 years. That was 38 years of making the same excuses and comparing himself to others. The lame man had to take action and GET UP from that stuck place for him to receive his healing. That stuck place for you can be depression, frustration, feeling forgotten, inadequate, discontent, etc. What are you trying to receive from God?
Jesus Asked the man in John 5:6, “Would you like to get well?”
Would you like to get unstuck? God is asking you right now, if you want him to move in your life. Get unstuck from the same mindset, same struggle, same situation.
John 5:8, “ stand up, pick up your mat, and walk”
John 5:8 means, to get up by faith that the unstuck season is turning around. Start obeying God in whatever He is telling you to do. Know matter if you can’t see the results from your obedience right away, you stay faithful to God. Raise up in your calling, raise up when you feel broken, forgotten, lonely, and allow God to heal you in those areas.
Actions on your part is needed for God to work in your life but that’s not saying God need you in order to move. Faith follows actions because faith without works is dead (James 2:14-26).
IF the lame man did not get up and take actions he would’ve still been in the same place, same area, same bondage, same sickness, etc. Your IFs are dependent upon your actions. IF’s in the Bible speaks directly to our responsibility when it comes to receiving from God. It starts at the very beginning of our relationship with God.
Romans 10:9 (NLT) 9 If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
The promise is salvation; the if or condition—is you first confess and believe.
Deuteronomy 28:13 (NLT)
13 IF you listen to these commands of the Lord your God that I am giving you today, and IF you carefully obey them, the Lord will make you the head and not the tail, and you will always be on top and never at the bottom.
The IF’s are being willing to change your ways, to trust God even when you're praying, obeying God, and you haven’t seen any results yet. You’re still willing to get up and lay hands on the sick, do the work of the Lord, stay consistent, stay faithful, etc. God knows your condition and He is not ignoring your condition but are your willing to GET UP and continue to walk with God?
Isaiah 1:19 (NKJV)
19” If you are willing and obedient,You shall eat the good of the land…”
We can be willing and obedient or we can rebel and not obey God.
If you are feeling spiritually stuck, make a decision today and go wherever God is leading you. Start by asking for guidance and obey his instructions by faith. What is He telling you to do right now? What are the IF’s in your life? GET UP, Take up your mat and walk! Use that very mat you were laying on as a reminder of where God brought you from. You overcome by blood of the lamb and the words of your testimony (Revelation 12:11).
Don’t give up because if it’s in the word, it belongs to you; therefore, get in position to break free and break through. Get moving!
Say this prayer with me,
“Lord, I thank you for your love and reminders that you love me in and out of every season. Lord, I feel spiritually stuck and I need a touch from you. I desire to go deeper in you and to make a change in my life. Forgive me for my sins and help me defeat the strategies of the enemy. Lord, help me take actions by faith even when I do not feel motivated. Give me strength to walk by faith with boldness and power from the holy spirit. I pray I will stay focused on you and not compare my life to others. Lord, I know you have a plan and a purpose for me. Lord, I trust you and as I take up my personal mat and walk; I pray for your guidance. Today I make the decision to get up and walk in my destiny, calling, and your will for my life. Your timing is perfect lord, which is why I trust you with the plans you have for me. As I do my part and take actions with obedience, I trust your promises will come to pass for me. In Jesus name, Amen.”
We love updates!!
Join our Facebook Accountability Group: stay connected with other women empowering and holding each other accountable.
Click the link below for more information about 100 days and counting...what is your 100 days and counting?