Take Up Your Bed and Walk - Wednesday

In our passage this week, Jesus displayed authority over a physical disability and over religious observance. As Pastor Scott shared with us this authority came from His deity, or His being God. It seems to me that the Church (not just theGathering, but all churches, and all Christ followers) suffer from both physical disability and empty religious observance (doing religious things out of rote or tradition with no heart). If Christ has authority over these things, why do his people still suffer physically, or closer to home, why do we suffer? Take a look at the following additional passages of scripture and see if we can fill in this picture a little bit more:

What methods or patterns does scripture lay out for healing?

• Psalm 30:2
• Proverbs 3:7-8
• James 5:14-16

What reasons does scripture lay out for people suffering from sickness or disability?

• Psalm 38:3
• John 9:2-3
• 2 Corinthians 12:4-9

If Jesus is able to heal, then why might you or someone you know be suffering from sickness or disability? What is it that God might be trying to accomplish in you or in them? What patterns should we follow? Is this a guarantee for healing? Why or why not? What should our heart attitude be toward these?


God, since the Old Testament, has never been a fan of empty religious observance. The grace of God, expressed from the beginning of the bible to the end, is more interested in the heart of a person, than their own attempts to be "religious." Look at the following passages and see what God's view is regarding religious practice:

• Is 29:3
• Matt 15:3-9
• Rom 3:20-25
• Col 2:20-23

What types of religious expression exist in the church today have been lost to tradition and lack the true expression of worship? Who is empty religious tradition and expression more concerned with, the worshiper or the worshipped? On the other hand, true heart felt worship has who as its center? How can we as the people of God practice religious things, like singing, or communion, or baptism, or prayer, without having them become empty religious practices? How have you allowed things that God intended as good, to become empty and heartless?

Spend some time in prayer. Seek God with a whole heart. Confess sin as the Holy Spirit reveals it to you. Ask boldly for healing, but be willing to submit and endure to the one who has authority if God has other plans or timing. Search your own heart for areas of church or life that have become empty religious practices without any heart reflection.

It seems to me, that if the Church, if theGathering Fort Mill were to pursue God this way, with prayer, an acknowledgment of the authority of the one we serve, a willingness to submit, a bold and confident prayer life, and a heart of true worship, we could experience a transformed life in a way that we may never have before.