17/05/2020 - MOVE THE WATER

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In these lay a great multitude of sick people, blind, lame, paralyzed, waiting for the moving of the water.  John5.3

The news that an angel moved the waters of the tank from time to time was recorded in the Bible, so it cannot be denied. However, we do not have the name of any healed person. The truth is that, whether legendary or not, many gathered there to await such a movement of the waters. Here was an open door for God’s servants to testify that faith in Christ really works. Only Jesus ministered in that place!

Today, many people from many different religions, even within our churches, expect something to end their suffering. It seems that Jesus’ work was only to present Himself as the Envoy of Heaven; in fact, He continues to operate throughout the world. I’ve been doing God’s work for almost half a century and I’ve seen just about every kind of wonder.

Perhaps after this series on the miracle in John 5, which will end after seven more lessons, I will write about this very important subject. I am sure that today we lack the knowledge of how God acts so that people may receive liberation from the evils that attack them. In the series, we will see how easily Jesus worked wonders and taught us how to perform miracles as well. The problem is that today they have turned faith into nothingness.

Real faith cannot be replaced by man’s “good” works, such as religiosity. We have to go back to the point the Master used when teaching people the simple way to act and please God. In His last commandment He explained that people who believed in the Gospel would be saved, and the signs that followed Him would accompany them, such as casting out demons in His Name and laying their hands to heal the sick.

From experience, I know I need to move the waters – preach the Word in the anointing of the Holy Spirit. There is no point in pitying anyone and praying that the Lord will heal or set them free. Jesus had power and set people free, but first He taught the Scriptures. After learning to act to receive the blessing, the sufferers had faith and Christ blessed them, rebuking their evils and healing them. Hallelujah!

Jesus did not go to the well to visit the sick, to cry for them, or to say that none of them paid for being sinners. He went there to convey the message he preached everywhere. Those who saw the paralytic’s healing understood that God loves the human being, then sought Him and were restored as well. We must teach that the Lord has given us all that concerns life and godliness (2 Pet. 1: 3).

Whoever listened to the Gospel and accepted the Son of God as Savior and Lord is part of the Body of Christ, and thus became the righteousness of God in Jesus. Now he has authority over evil and can pray for the afflicted. But if they do not bring them into a personal encounter with the Lord, the darkness that surrounds them will not let them be free.

In Christ, with love,

R. R. Soares