A man who had been sick for thirty-eight years lay beside the Pool of Bethesda. We read of him in John, chapter 5, verses 2 through 15. He had no friend to put him in the water, and lay helpless while others stepped down before him.
Can you not imagine his despair as he saw others come from the water cured, while he must continue to lie there?
Then Jesus, One who was able to meet his need, came there. He said, "Wilt thou be made whole?"
The poor, helpless man answered, "Sir, I have no man...to put me into the pool."
Jesus replied, "Rise, take up thy bed, and walk." And immediately the man was made whole, and took up his bed, and walked.
The Lord Jesus is no longer on earth going about healing as He did then, but He is always waiting to take care of a need that is greater than curing a sick or crippled body.
We, sinners, cannot go to heaven unless our sins are forgiven. We are just as helpless as the poor sick man.
Have you felt your load of sins and your need of a Savior? Jesus is able; He is willing and ready to save you. He is the Savior for those who cannot save themselves.
Special gospel meetings had been going on for some time, and there had been many conversions. The effects had been felt throughout the city, but not everyone was sympathetic. Some young men ridiculed the whole thing, and they particularly laughed at the requests for prayer that were so much a part of the meetings.
One of them suggested that they should send in a "request for prayer" as a joke, and they promptly picked a young lawyer to send it. He wrote the note asking prayer, and he also went to the meeting to see the reception of his foolish joke.
As usual, each request was read out while the people knelt in silent prayer. The lawyer saw that his request was not read. The evangelist, however, soon called the attention of the audience to a request which seemed to him to be a hoax, but he asked the assembly to pray for the soul of the sender.
In perfect stillness the great crowd bowed in silent prayer, and the thoughtless young man in their midst realized for the first time how serious was the act he had committed. A whole multitude of strangers was praying for his conversion!
He stayed to listen to the whole meeting-stayed after the meeting to learn more of the way of salvation-and went home that night a "new creature in Christ Jesus." The next day he resigned his profession to devote himself to the service of God. He who once studied the laws and precedents of this poor, sinful world became an ardent teacher of another law: "the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus." Rom. 8:22For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. (Romans 8:2).