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Date: May 06, 2005

This word is submitted by Shirley Craft (sjc717@sbcglobal.net)

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           Arise! Pick up your bed and walk


Arise! Pick up your bed and walk.

As Jesus spoke to the invalid by the Pool of Bethesda (meaning House of
Mercy), "Do you want to get well?"  He is still saying that to His people
today.

But the invalid replied, "Sir, I have no one to help Me into the pool when
the water is stirred.  While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down
ahead of Me" (John 5:7).

His was the worst case at that time.  He was not only a physical invalid
but also an invalid spiritually.  After many years he was bitter, and
spiritually blind and did not recognize Jesus, the One who could restore
him back to health. He allowed his circumstances to control his hopeless 
focus.

The Lord is saying, "Many of My people have been laying beside the waters
and pools of life, waiting for someone to stir the waters so they can get 
into the pool and receive whatever their need may be.  Many have sat alone;
friendless, hopeless, a paralyzed cripple, just like this invalid in John 5."

Unknowingly, many are still sitting beside the pools.  However, the water
no longer stirs and has instead become stagnant and covered with algae.  
This represents ministries that have dried up and died.  Loss of vision; 
loss of direction; loss of fervor and determination.  And worse, they have 
lost their hope of ever stepping into the waters, living waters, and moving 
into their destinies.
 
Many of My people have been looking at their circumstances so long they 
have become invalids.  Many have waited for the water to stir year after 
year and have become so disappointed with the passing of time. They see no 
way out and have missed many opportunities to move into their destinies.

The delays have brought them into a place of hopeless despair.  At times
My people have felt alone and abandoned, wandering aimlessly in the desert
with no purpose, no vision and no provision.  Some things have had to die 
in your lives.  Do not be distracted by your present situation.

 I Am speaking truth to many of My people right now reading this word.  I
say ARISE!! Pick up your bed and walk. It is high time in My kingdom for
My people to quit looking at their present situation as unclimbable 
mountains.

My word has not changed. I said in Mark 11:23, "I tell you the truth, if
anyone says to this mountain, 'Go, throw yourself into the sea,' and does
not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will
be done for him."

Quit believing the lies of the devil telling you it is hopeless, and that
your vision or ministry is dead.  Quit looking around you at others and 
what they are or aren't doing.  It is time to step out of that hopeless, 
stagnant pool of despair.  It is time to refocus.  It is time!  It is time!  
It is time!  You need to come to Me, depending totally upon Me, for only I 
am able to deliver you.  Only I Am able to change your circumstances.  I 
have never stopped providing for you.  I have never taken My eyes off of 
you.  Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but when the desire comes, it is 
a tree of life (Proverbs 13:12).  Therefore I tell you, "Whatever you ask 
for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours" 
(Mark 11:24).