by Joseph Perry

Do you need a change in your life?

Jesus comes to bring change in the life of everyone who needs it. For in the life of every one of us we can see areas that need changing. We may see it, and then oftentimes we just overlook it, but we do need a change in our lives. The truth of the matter is, the Lord is always confronting us to change, for the better. You don’t have to stay in the state that you are. You don’t have to keep the same attitude that you have, no, you can change to improve as a Christian and just as a person.

In John 5, Jesus — who is our Lord and Savior — is confronting a man who had been crippled for 38 long years. Jesus asks the man, “Do you want to be healed?” The man replies, “I have no one to put me in the water, for every time I start to go in, somebody gets in before me.” Jesus immediately tells him to “rise, and take up your bed and walk.”

The man really needed a change in his life. You don’t have to wait for the moving and stirring of the water, no, just stir up your spirit with the power of God’s Word and watch your change come.

If you want a change:

1. You have to really want it. Everybody who says they want a change doesn’t always want it. The man may have hesitated because if he receives this change, more would be required of him. When change comes, you have to do more, you can’t stay where you are in your mindset, you must rise. Rise from where you are in your mind.
2. You have to really expect it. Sometimes we can be in a situation so long that we stop believing we can come out of it. You have to anticipate God coming through for you regardless of how long it takes. The man had begun to tolerate and endure his condition and no longer expected a change in his life. You need to start expecting change to come. Don’t let the devil tell you, things won’t ever change.
3. You have to really appreciate it. You see now once the Lord changes your life, you can’t forget what He’s done. Oftentimes we forget to show our gratefulness and our thankfulness. It seems like we take Him for granted at times. But our God deserves to be praised. You don’t have to wait until your change comes, He knows you really need a change.

But thank Him in advance, for when your praises go up that’s when your blessings come down. Go on and praise the Lord, and that’s a thought to remember.

JOSEPH A. PERRY is pastor of St. Luke AME Zion Church in Franklin. Contact him at either 252-339-0008 or josephp134@gmail.com. You can hear his radio broadcast at 6:45 p.m. each. Sunday on WKGM940.