Picture with me three familiar and beloved Bible stories. 

First, in John 5:1-9, we read about a man who had been sick and unable to walk for 38 years, lying helplessly by the Pool of Bethesda in hopes that he might one day be healed. Jesus came by and asked, “Do you wish to get well?” The man explained his hopeless situation, and Jesus responded with, “Rise, take up your bed, and walk.” 

The man was immediately healed! 

In Matthew 9:1-8, we read of a paralytic who was brought to Jesus by his friends. First, Jesus declared to him, “Your sins are forgiven,” but when the surrounding crowd questioned His authority to say such a thing, Jesus proved His authority by declaring, “Rise, take up your bed and go home.”

The man was immediately healed! 

Thirdly, in Acts 3:1-8 we read of a beggar by the Temple gate, a man who had been lame from birth.  Peter speaks in the name of Jesus, “Rise up and walk."

...and immediately the man was healed. We’ve all sung about this in Sunday school--that man went “walking, and leaping, and praising God!” 

Let’s talk about three important observations that are common to all three of those stories.

1. First of all, in each case, the men were HOPELESS.

For the man by the pool, 38 years is a LONG time to be ill and unable to use his muscles. Muscles atrophy without use. Not only do they weaken, but they can literally decrease in size and waste away. After 38 years, he likely had nothing to work with. The paralytic man, and the man lame from birth, had this same situation. They could not help themselves. There was nothing “promising” about any of them!

2. But the second thing to note is this: The word of Jesus is filled with AUTHORITY and POWER. His very Word has within it the power of healing and strength.  

When Jesus told the man at the pool to, “Rise up and walk”, the Bible says “IMMEDIATELY the man became well.” When He said to the paralytic, “Rise and walk”, the simple statement is, “He rose, and went home.” And we all know the song about the man at the temple gate, only this time it wasn’t Jesus Himself who spoke, but Peter spoke in His name. “Rise up and walk”, and the word is, “immediately his feet and his ankles were strengthened…and he went walking and leaping, and praising God.”

This makes sense to us when we remember that Jesus is God.  After all, God is the God who says “Let there be light”, and there IS light.  

Jesus can stand in a boat and say “Peace, be still”, and the wind ceases and the waves are still.  

Jesus can stand outside the grave of a man who has been dead four days and say, “Lazarus, come forth”, and the dead man comes out.

There is POWER in the VOICE of the Lord Jesus.  He is the Word of God, and He is the power of God.  So the point is, when Jesus speaks life and strength and power into a hopeless situation, that situation changes.  His very word IS POWER. 

3. But here’s a very important third point:  When Jesus spoke that word of power and healing, those men still had to OBEY.  

“Rise up and walk”, is a command. It’s a JOYFUL command, something those men had surely longed to be able to do, but it’s still a command. They had to engage those newly-formed or newly-strengthened muscles and actually USE them. They had to make that CHOICE. They had to cooperate with what the Lord told them to do! They couldn’t have ever done it themselves, but BECAUSE of His Word of power, they had the strength to choose to obey!

Now here's the ultimate point for you and me: God's callings are His enablings.

This is something deeply personal that each of us has to get hold of. The Lord Jesus is a very personal Shepherd. He says He “calls His own sheep by name and leads them out.” He says the hairs of your head are all numbered. He says He has searched you and known you and sees all the days of your life. He has a plan for you. In the heart of God, there is a place for you in the history of mankind that only you can fill.

We can think of that on many levels, from the bigger picture of what you will do with your life, (what job or ministry you will have, who you will marry, what your life story is going to be), all the way down to what has the Lord called you to do today? Who has He called you to talk to, write to? Or what assignment do you have?  What little chore to help bring order to the world? 

When the command is “rise up and walk," walking implies one step after another, right? One step at a time! But whether we’re thinking of this on a large scale, or on the smaller scale of your daily walk, the Lord Jesus is with you and has a deeply personal plan.

Within that plan, you will often be very conscious of the fact that YOU YOURSELF are inadequate to accomplish it. 

What I want you to see through these stories today is that that doesn’t matter. When the Lord calls you to do something, within His very call to you will be all the sufficiency you need to obey and to follow.  Don’t balk at your own weakness. We just remembered a man 38 years lame, a paralyzed man, and a man lame from his mother’s womb. The common denominator is that though they were weak and hopeless, when Jesus spoke a word to them to get up and walk, they did.

Power belongs to God. 

When God called Moses to go to Egypt, Moses complained about not being a good speaker.  What did God say?  “Who made man’s mouth?”  “Now then go, and I, even I will be with your mouth and will teach you what you are to say.” When the Lord Jesus leads you forward, whether that’s  into your day or into a fresh calling in life, your own inadequacy, insufficiency, weakness and limitation has nothing to do with it.

None of those men healed themselves! 

None of those men could “Rise up and walk”, until Jesus said, “Rise up and walk”,and with His command was the enabling to “Rise up and walk”, and then guess what?  They had to choose to “Rise up and walk.”  There’s nothing mystical about that, it was very practical; they had to engage the muscles and get up! And then they had to take the next step…and the next….and the next--one step at a time.  

God's callings are His enablings.

I remember having a moment of panic when I brought home my first baby. The vastness of the responsibility hit me, and I found myself standing in the middle of the room, holding that child, and praying, “Lord, how in the world am I going to do this?” It was as if the Lord said, “All you have to do is get up and walk with ME one day at a time.” That quiet thought brought simple relief. 

The Lord would be enough for me, one step at a time.  

And never forget the man who went “Walking and leaping and praising God.” What’s the ultimate goal?  It’s all about the glory of God. When the Lord says to you “Rise up and walk”, it’s because He is making your life a story for His glory. It’s not really about you….it’s about Him. He’s giving you an opportunity to experience His loving power, and to let him use your life to display that to the world.