For 38 years the man had been lame. He was helpless and hopeless until Jesus came. When Jesus asked him whether he wanted to get healed, he confessed that he had nobody to help him. He didn't know that he was talking to the friend of the friendless.
Although the man did not know Jesus, he carried out the Lord's command; "rise, take up thy bed and walk" His obedience gave him a miracle. That is amazing! Your miracle is in your obedience. Believe his enough to carry out His word.
If He has said it He will do it. Believe God and take Him for His word. People may try to discouraged because the word mixed with faith always produce miracles. It is not enough to hear the word, believe and put it to work.
[1]Afterwards Jesus returned to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish religious holidays.
[2]Inside the city, near the Sheep Gate, was Bethesda Pool, with five covered platforms or porches surrounding it.
[3]Crowds of sick folks—lame, blind, or with paralyzed limbs—lay on the platforms (waiting for a certain movement of the water,
[4]for an angel of the Lord came from time to time and disturbed the water, and the first person to step down into it afterwards was healed).
[5]One of the men lying there had been sick for thirty-eight years.
[6]When Jesus saw him and knew how long he had been ill, he asked him, “Would you like to get well?”
[7]“I can’t,” the sick man said, “for I have no one to help me into the pool at the movement of the water. While I am trying to get there, someone else always gets in ahead of me.”
[8]Jesus told him, “Stand up, roll up your sleeping mat and go on home!”
[9]Instantly, the man was healed! He rolled up the mat and began walking!
But it was on the Sabbath when this miracle was done.
