Bartimaeus...sat by the road begging. 47 And when he heard
that it was Jesus...he began to cry out and say, “Jesus, Son of David,
have mercy on me!” 48 Then many warned him to be quiet; but he cried out
all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” 49 So Jesus stood still and commanded him to be called. Then they called the blind man, saying to him,
“Be of good cheer. Rise, He is calling you.” 50 And...he rose and came to Jesus.
51 So Jesus answered and said to him, “What do you want Me to do for you?”
The blind man said to Him, “Rabboni, that I may receive my sight.”
52 Then Jesus said to him, “Go your way; your faith has made
you well.” And immediately he received his sight and
followed Jesus on the road.
– Mark 10:46-52
Here you have a blind beggar known throughout his community. So much so, that he’s known as blind Bartimaeus. When he hears Jesus approaching, he begins to cry out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” But notice what those around him said when he did. They ‘…warned him to be quiet…’ In other words, they tried to intimidate him. Yes, that’s right! Those closest; those who knew he was disabled, and knew he was a panhandler, tried to talk him out of his miracle. But this is what I want you to see: If he continued to allow them to silence, bully, talk down to and treat him like he was less than nothing because he was a disabled panhandler, he would have remained blind and missed his miracle, and the same is true for you.
You see, there are people in your life who are trying to evoke fear, intimidate, bully, and/or talk you out of what God is about to do for you. I know you’d like to believe that they’d never be successful and prayerfully they won’t, but the thing is that it’s not strangers, but it may be those closest to you. Those who know your struggle, those who know that’s its going to take nothing short of a miracle, are the same ones who won’t support and/or buy from you. They’re the very ones who’ll ‘warn you’ to not do what you know is right or get you to be quiet about what needs to be said. Whatever the case, you need to do what Bartimaeus did and cry out all the more because if you don’t, the Lord will pass you by. I know you probably don’t believe that, but its true.
If Bartimaeus would have just sat there and continued to believe that he was going to be blind and have to beg for the rest of his life, the Lord would have let him. If he would have just sat there and continued to let those closest to him downplay, intimidate and not support him, Jesus would have passed right on by and let them. Now I know you don’t like that because you probably subscribe to the old ‘Do Not Pass Me By’ hymnal, but the Lord will do just that. But why?
Because the Lord’s not going to force His will on you, even if He knows His will is best. Oh, I know you think that when God gets ready for you to do something, He’ll just MAKE you do it, but that’s not the truth. If He did, don’t you think the first thing He would do, would be to MAKE everybody get saved? Wouldn’t you think He’d force everyone to receive Jesus as their Lord and Savior? Yet He doesn’t which means God’s not going to make you do anything, even if it’s for your own good. Case and point. Take the woman with the issue of blood in Luke 8:45-48 which reads...
‘…as [Jesus] went, the multitudes thronged Him. 43 Now a woman,
having a flow of blood for twelve years…came from behind and touched
the border of His garment. And immediately her flow of blood stopped. And Jesus said, “Who touched Me?” When all denied it, Peter...said, “Master, the multitudes throng and press You, and You say, ‘Who touched Me?’ ” 46 But Jesus said, “Somebody touched Me, for I perceived power going out from Me.” 47 Now when the woman saw that she was not hidden…[told]…Him…the reason she had touched Him and how she was healed immediately. 48 And He said to her, “Daughter, be of good cheer; your faith has made you well. Go in peace.”
Notice Jesus told the woman the reason she was healed was because her ‘…faith [had] made [her] well.’ If she’d have resigned herself to having feminine issues all her life, Jesus would have passed her, and the multitudes that were present, by as well.
The reason Bartimaeus received his sight is because like the woman, Jesus responded to his faith. Jesus did what Bartimaeus – and his faith - asked him to do. Had he chosen to continue to allow folk to bully him, he would have still been a disabled panhandler, and nothing would have changed and the same is true for you.
If you continue to let other folk talk you out of what the Lord is trying to get you in to, then you’ll be in the same place, this time next year. No child of God, you’ve got to say something! Stop letting people downplay and dismiss what God wants you to have. Yes, its going to take a miracle for you to get it, but so what? The same God that gave blind Bartimaeus sight, is the same God that will give you a plan to get out of what you’re in now. The same God that healed the woman with a touch is still accessible and can be touched…but only with your faith. So get your faith up! How?
Faith comes by hearing and hearing the anointed word of God which means you’re going to have to get off social media and turn on some Word. You are going to have to get out of these COVID-free streets and get into the scriptures. I know you think the miraculous has to be spectacular, but your miracle isn’t going to be sexy. Its going to require two things: THE WORD and TIME. But to make this really simple for you, its going to require TIME IN THE WORD. But like Jesus’ mother told those present when He performed His first miracle, whatever you get out of your time in the word…just do it!
Copyright 2021 © Real Issues Publishing®. All rights reserved.
Comments