ECWA Today's Daily Devotions as Daily Food for the Day

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2022

TEXT: John 5:1-18

1. Soon another Feast came around and Jesus was back in Jerusalem.

2. Near the Sheep Gate in Jerusalem there was a pool, in Hebrew called Bethesda, with five alcoves.

3. Hundreds of sick people – blind, crippled, paralyzed – were in these alcoves.

4. One man had been an invalid there for thirty-eight years.

5. When Jesus saw him stretched out by the pool and knew how long he had been there, he said, “Do you want to get well?”

6. The sick man said, “Sir, when the water is stirred, I don’t have anybody to put me in the pool. By the time I get there, somebody else is already in.”

7. Jesus said, “Get up, take your bedroll, start walking.”

8. The man was healed on the spot. He picked up his bedroll and walked off.

9. The Jews stopped the healed man and said, “It’s the Sabbath. You can’t carry your bedroll around. It’s against the rules.”

10. But he told them, “The man who made me well told me to. He said, ‘Take your bedroll and start walking.’”

11. They asked, “Who gave you the order to take it up and start walking?”

12. But the healed man didn’t know, for Jesus had slipped away into the crowd.

13. A little later Jesus found him in the Temple and said, “You look wonderful! You’re well! Don’t return to a sinning life or something worse might happen.”

14. The man went back and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well.

15. That is why the Jews were out to get Jesus – because he did this kind of thing on the Sabbath.

16. But Jesus defended himself. “My Father is working straight through, even on the Sabbath. So am I.”

17. That really set them off. The Jews were now not only out to expose him; they were out to kill him. Not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was calling God his own Father, putting himself on a level with God.

18. So Jesus explained himself at length. “I’m telling you this straight. The Son can’t independently do a thing, only what he sees the Father doing. What the Father does, the Son does.”

(The Message Holy Bible)

TOPIC: JESUS, THE LIFE GIVER

Man’s desire to live a good and quality life hasn’t been possible since the fall of man in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3:1-7ff). However, the very purpose of Christ’s coming was to give life abundantly (John 10:10ff).

Obstacles to living life abundantly are manifested through the activities of Satan such as illness, sickness, demonic oppression, lack of life’s essentials, etc. Men are being constantly deceived to put material needs first before Christ and His Kingdom (Matthew 6:25-33).

This is contrary to Christ’s admonition in verse 33: “Seek ye first the Kingdom of God…” Men seek other things as against Christ but as soon as Jesus steps into any oppressive situation Satan has placed before them, things must change (John 5:1-9).

Jesus keeps proving to the world that He is a life giving Savior who performed many miracles to give real life to the sons of men.

QUESTION: Do you acknowledge Jesus as the true life giver that you need?

PRAYER: Lord Jesus, I acknowledge You as the giver of abundant life, please let me experience Your gift of life as I step out today, Amen.