Is the Lord “stirring the water” around you somewhere?
John 5:1-9 (NKJV)
1-4 After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, which is called in Hebrew, Bethesda, having five porches. In these lay a great multitude of sick people, blind, lame, paralyzed, waiting for the moving of the water. For an angel went down at a certain time into the pool and stirred up the water; then whoever stepped in first…, after the stirring of the water, was made well of whatever disease he had.
5-9 Now a certain man was there who had an infirmity thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he already had been in that condition a long time, He said to him, “Do you want to be made well?” The sick man answered Him, “Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; but while I am coming, another steps down before me.” Jesus said to him, “Rise, take up your bed and walk.” And immediately the man was made well, took up his bed, and walked. And that day was the Sabbath.
Here is a situation where when an angel stirred the water, the first person to step in was healed. These verses say there was a multitude of people just waiting for the stirring of the water. Can you imagine what a mad scramble ensued? It was no doubt much more frenzied than when WalMart would open the doors on their Black Friday specials.
As believers in Christ, we do not have to wait for some miraculous stirring of the waters in some pool in order to receive from the Lord. Through prayer and His Word, we can “stir the waters” of our own heart to receive from Him, or, He may begin to stir our heart to action in an area of our life.
Also, we can watch what is happening around us and recognize when He is “stirring” something in an area (meetings, etc.), and we can go and place ourselves in that active environment where He is moving. We especially need to be cognizant of a “stirring” or “tug” in our heart that we should go to where He is stirring.
It is important to understand that when we recognize that He is “stirring the waters”, we essentially have 2 choices: we can “step in” and experience what He is “up to”; or we can wait and hear about it (which means we have missed the opportunity). It is not always “convenient” to get our self to where the water is stirring, or to “stir” our own heart; but it is always “worth it”.
*** Fred Wilson *** You can see more commentary by Fred Wilson on Facebook
