Mark 10.47-49

Mark 10:47-49 “And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”And many rebuked him, telling him to be silent. But he cried out all the more.  And Jesus stopped and said, “Call him”. And they called the blind man, saying to him, “Take heart. Get up; he is calling you.”

Take heart, get up, He is calling you.

I am an ex-wallower. That may be a funny world, but it is not a funny place to live in. I see myself in the blind beggar in this story. I see someone who had helplessly sat in their sickness, beaten down by the world and blind to the True & Living God. I see somebody who was desperate to change, but didn’t know where to go. Perhaps the begger had heard lot about Jesus up to this point, but one thing is for sure, until this moment of healing took place, the begger didn’t know the power of Jesus personally. I too had heard many many things of Jesus. I knew so much of Him, but His power in my life was lacking. So I wallowed. Instead of crying out “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me”. I told myself that He already had mercy on me, and I just needed to make myself better. Get over yourself, you’re being a baby anyway, is the message I would preach. But I was desperate to change. No matter how much I longed to change, I was stuck in my chains. Anytime an obstacle or trial came my way, I was completely drained by fear and would find myself in a hopeless heap on the ground. I was a child of God, but instead of running in freedom proclaiming the kingdom of God, I wallowed. Praise be to God that He delivered me from this helpless state. It took absolute brokenness. But by the power of His Spirit He looked at me and said “Take heart. Get up. I am calling”.

Maybe you are nodding your head. Maybe you have been there and seen the power of God to take desolate wallowers and fill them with His Spirit of faith. Maybe you are there. Looking on the outside, wanting freedom, but telling yourself to just make yourself better. If you could just get this right, you would be healed. I am here to tell you, you can’t get it right. You can’t produce, faith, freedom and joy. You can’t make your life abundant. You can’t be the Holy Spirit, but you can receive Him. I believe that the man in this story would look into your eyes with his miracle eyes and tell you the same thing. I imagine, with tears in his eyes, He would proclaim the power of Christ over desolation. He would beg you, to just cry out for God’s mercy. Not holding anything back, but empty, and ready to be filled. And when many look at you is disgust and rebuke you to be silent, cry out all the more for the grace and mercy of God to be poured out on you.

Take heart. Get up. He is calling you. Stand up, taste true liberty, He is waiting. It is finished, it is paid in whole, repent and believe. Freedom Christ is alive today, don’t settle for anything else. His Spirit is waiting, surrender. Stop wallowing in the storm, because of His victory we are empowered by faith. He heals. He restores. He redeems. It’s what He does, it’s who He is. Take heart. get up. He is calling you.

Application: God continues to call us to take heart, get up and come to Him. Because of the grace and mercy that overflows on my life I never need to wallow in fear. The Holy Spirit really encouraged me to share the testimony of how He has delivered me from fear and into His grace. As a practical application, I want to offer to pray and share more of how God delivered me with any of you who are going through fear or wallowing in despair.