Jesus said to the lame man “Rise, take up your bed, and walk” (John 5:8).

⁸ Jesus said unto him, Rise, take up your bed, and walk.⁹ And immediately the man was made whole, and took up his bed, and walked: and on the same day was the Sabbath.

¹⁰ The Jews therefore said unto him that was cured, It is the Sabbath Day: it is not lawful for you to carry your bed.

¹¹ He answered them, He that made me whole, the same said unto me, Take up your bed, and walk.“  John 5:8-9

The religious do not understand the Child of God cannot rest until we walk.  Yet we cannot walk until we take up our bed.  Taking up our bed is a blessing afforded us through the Cross of Christ.  The Cross of Christ was a place of great suffering for our Lord but for us, it is a place of great blessing. We do not have the power to take up our bed until we deny our self efforts; our abilities, talents, etc., and freely choose to trust in Jesus.  When we rise up and believe in Him Who broke the power of sin, Jesus Christ will make us whole.

“And He said to them all, If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.” Luke 9:23

Unbelief is the problem in the heart of man.  With our mouths we confess the Lord Jesus but our hearts are far from Him.  The hardest part of believing in the Cross of Christ is denying ourselves.  It is US who get in the way of our blessings because of unbelief.

^“13 Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, ¹⁴ I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 3:13-14

My friend, we must repent of our unbelief and decide this day in Whom we are going to follow.  Time is short.  We have Brothers and Sisters who need to rise up, take their bed and walk but are looking unto men to carry them to the healing waters.  The Lord wants to heal them but religion keeps them focused on themselves, therefore they cannot pick their cross and follow Jesus.

Who is going to tell the broken hearted Jesus heals them if the Church won’t?  Who?

“Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.” Isaiah 6:8

-Donna Clark Warren