There are things in life that paralyze us. What we think. How we see ourselves. How other people see us. The fear that was instilled when we were young. Our physical disability. The 7 o’clock news. They do if we believe they can. It’s our choice.
In John 5:2-9, Jesus asked a certain man who had been paralyzed for thirty-eight years, “Do you want to be healed?” The man’s reply described his fading hope in the midst of a seemingly impossible situation. Nobody was there to help him get in the water when the angel of God stirred it. And when he musters the strength to crawl towards the pool, somebody always beat him to it. It does indeed look like a hopeless predicament. Oftentimes, our wrong tradition, wrong beliefs, even religion could put us in that same situation. Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” At once the man was healed; he picked up his mat and walked! He came out of paralysis that crippled him since birth in the place of his encounter with the Son of God. He made a choice. He moved forward. He was never the same again.
Personal encounters with the Author of Life makes us more alive. God’s love is so powerful. In the place of our encounter with His heart our emotions are quickened in love. Our innermost being responds best to the surge of the living power that emanates from the very the heart of Him who loves us dearly.
The moment our spirit, soul and body come in complete alignment with the purposes of heaven something happens: we are launched further into our destiny. In an instance, we find our whole being empowered, our vision clarified and our hearts awakened with unquenchable passion. Whatever kept us in a state of paralysis had to give way to the immeasurable power of God.
God’s passion and choice for us is to take us out of paralysis and spark a movement. He wants to take us from immobility to motion, from motion to momentum, from momentum to movement and from movement into becoming an unstoppable force. The power from on high spurs us on. We have no option but to move forward.