I really wanted to encounter God during the renewal service last weekend. Yet as the service progressed I realized I was having a hard time entering in. My pride and fear was holding me back. I really wanted people to pray for me but I was afraid to ask, lest I seem too vunerable or needy. They invited those who felt dry and dull to raise their hands for prayer but I refused to lift up my arm. I didn't want to admit I felt a little dull and I surely didn't want anyone else to think I was dry. As I sat watching my friends around me get touched, I was angry and offended. Later I realized I missed out because I wasn't being honest with God, myself or others.

God is inviting us to be real with our neediness. We don't have to hid behind fig leaves of religion and performance. We can be honest about our lack, our barreness, our fears. God loves us and knows us. There is no shame. When we open our hearts and get real before Him, He will meet us in that place. God is inviting us to jump in the river, to experience his love in new and refreshing ways. We can't let our pain and fears hold us back any longer. Jesus said to the lame man near the pool of Betheseda, ' Do you want to get well'? The man answered.."I have no one to help me in the pool when the water is stirred". This man had been sick for 38 years and was He was giving Jesus his reasons as to why He couldn't be well. Yet the Lord never asked him to explain his difficult circumstances. Jesus asked " Do you want to get well?" It didn't matter how long He had been sick. It didn't matter how long He'd been laying there lame. He was there for 38 years but today was a new day. The King of Glory was standing in front of him. The day of his vistation, the day of his deliverance had come. All he had to do was say "Yes!". Jesus told him to pick up his mat and walk and in a instant he was healed. It doesn't matter how messed up you are, how much pain you've been through, how disqualifed you feel you are .The King of Glory is here and He is asking ' Do you want to get well?" All you have to do is say YES!

God has opened a fountain in our house and its not for the perfect, sinless, saint. It's for the weak, the barren and the needy. It's for all of us dry, parched and weary ones to come and drink deep of his love. Betheseda means " House of Mercy". We don't have to lie lame anymore when the man who is Mercy is here to set us free. The Father's house is wide open and there's lots of room! All who are hungry, come and feast at his banqueting table. All who are thristy, come and drink deep of his love. The God of all compassion is waiting for you.