Here are Friday’s morning prayers and Bible meditations. They are designed to be read in 5 to 10 minutes. On Fridays we take a break from the theme of the rest of the week to read and meditate through John’s gospel.
Opening Prayer: Heavenly King, Comforter, the Spirit of Truth,
present in all places and filling all things,
the treasury of blessings and Giver of life:
come and abide in me.
Lord’s Prayer: Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
Your kingdom come,
Your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one.
For yours is the kingdom, the power and the glory, forever and ever.
Amen
Text: “Sir,” the invalid replied, “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.”
Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked.
The day on which this took place was a Sabbath, and so the Jewish leaders said to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath; the law forbids you to carry your mat.”
But he replied, “The man who made me well said to me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’”
So they asked him, “Who is this fellow who told you to pick it up and walk?”
The man who was healed had no idea who it was, for Jesus had slipped away into the crowd that was there.
Later Jesus found him at the temple and said to him, “See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.” The man went away and told the Jewish leaders that it was Jesus who had made him well. (John 5:7-15)
Explanation: When we left this story last week, Jesus had challenged the man who was lame about whether he actually wanted to be made well. Here we see his response. He claims that he does and so Jesus simply commands him to get up. In that moment he was healed and picked up his mat and left.
It is striking that it is as the man gets up in obedience to Jesus that he experiences Jesus’ healing. He is then able to pick up his mat and walk off. We can be waiting for God to do something dramatic before we will obey him. Yet often it was as they obeyed Jesus that people received the blessing he promised. One application of this that is common in churches is the phenomenon of waiting for baptism. We want God to work in us before we will get baptised. Yet in reality it is as we are obedient in getting baptised that God works in us (cp Acts 2:38). Many other areas of life are similar: as we do what we sense God is telling us we experience his blessing.
Jesus concludes his interaction with the man he had healed by urging him to change the way he has lived. Jesus’ remarks are not intended to suggest that the man’s medical condition was a punishment for any particular sin (he specifically rejects that idea later, in John 9). But equally Jesus doesn’t want the man to think that his physical healing was all Jesus had come to bring; Jesus was far more interested in the state of his soul and his relationship with God and with others. It is important not to ‘bank’ the blessing of material answers to prayer and miss the far more important challenge of following Jesus and restoring our relationship with God.
Questions: Take a moment and give thanks for all that Jesus has done for you over the last day. Then ask: 1. Where is God challenging you to be obedient to him? What might you be waiting for before you step out? 2. What blessing would you like to ask Jesus for? What holds you back? 3. Why do you think it is tempting to take the benefits of answered prayer but miss the challenge of Jesus’ teaching?
Prayer: Father thank you for Jesus. Thank you that what we are unable to do for ourselves, he comes to do for us. Thank you that he has all your power to lead us and bless us. Grant me the courage to follow him in all his says. Amen.
Prayer for the Day: Lord, grant me to greet the coming day in peace.
Help me in all things to rely upon Your holy will.
In every hour of the day reveal Your will to me.
Bless my dealings with all who surround me.
Teach me to treat all that come to me throughout the day with peace of soul and with firm conviction that Your will governs all.
In all my deeds and words guide my thoughts and feelings.
In unforeseen events let me not forget that all things are under Your care.
Teach me to act firmly and wisely, without embittering and embarrassing others.
Give me strength to bear the fatigue of the coming day with all that it shall bring.
Direct my will, teach me to pray, pray Yourself in me. Amen.
Image Credit: Fadi Mikhail