What Do You Have? Monthly Summons Fast: Day 2

John 5 (NLT)

⁷ “I can’t, sir,” the sick man said, “for I have no one to put me into the pool when the water bubbles up. Someone else always gets there ahead of me.”

⁸ Jesus told him, “Stand up, pick up your mat, and walk!”

I greet every single one of you. Welcome to Day 2.

Today's devotional was born straight out of our prayer call last night. First, we asked, "What Are You Waiting For?"Next, we asked, "What Do You Want?" Today, we ask a third question: "What Do You Have?"

Years ago, Makalah and I recorded a podcast together that still ministers to me today. The title was "Identify the Good."It focused on the importance of remembering and magnifying the good things God has already placed in our lives, even in the midst of everything that seems to be going wrong.

For whatever reason, we often allow the enemy to convince us to proclaim our problems more than we prophesy the promises of God. We spend more time complaining and doubting than remembering the faithfulness of God. We major in the minors and focus far too much on the struggles we experience. Scripture commands us to "count it all joy" when we face various trials (James 1:2–3). We keep praying for God to change our circumstances, while He is trying to change our mindset.

I mentioned throughout this week that when we talk about healing and deliverance, we often become consumed with what we do not have. That is exactly what the man at the pool did. He immediately pointed out that he did not have anyone to help him into the water. The irony is that there was already a Man standing right in front of him.

That speaks volumes to me.

Instead of asking, "Can you help me?" he simply repeated, "I have no one." Yet he was standing before the Only One, the Greatest One, the Healing One, and the Anointed One. He missed the power of the One because he was so focused on having no one.

What if I told you that God has already given you far more than you realize, but you are failing to discern it and honor it because your attention is fixed on what you do not have?

There was a season in my life when I wanted a young Apostle to mentor me. As I prepared to ask him, I discovered that he had asked my own spiritual father to mentor him. Immediately I thought, If my spiritual father is enough to teach him, why isn't he enough to teach me?

One of the greatest dangers to identifying what you have is familiarity.

Nazareth had Jesus living in their own hometown, yet He became a prophet without honor among His own people. They did not see the Messiah—they saw the little boy they watched grow up. They saw the carpenter's son. They became so familiar with the vessel that they missed the glory it carried.

The same thing happens to us.

We minimize what we have been blessed with because we are too carnal to spiritually discern what is in our midst.

One prayer I pray often is, "Lord, open my eyes to who You have placed around me."

When I moved to Maryland and began building new relationships, I prayed, "Lord, help me steward these relationships instead of fumbling them."

One of the biggest reasons we cannot identify who is among us is because we do not properly discern what is within us.

This man was searching for someone to guide his hand, while all along he had the power to pick up his own mat. People who believe they have no one often believe they have nothing. If they recognized what God had already placed within them, they would spend less time searching for someone else to become what God has already empowered them to be.

He did not need to be carried when God had empowered him to carry something.

Even more beautifully, God redefined what was in his hands. The very mat that had once represented his disability became the testimony of his ability. What once symbolized bondage became evidence of breakthrough.

Will you allow God to repurpose your deficiency?

I know who you lost—but who do you still have?

I know what you lack—but what do you already possess?

You have more in your possession than you think. Heaven is not looking at your deficiency; it is looking at your stewardship. If you cannot properly identify, discern, and honor what God has already entrusted to you, do not expect Him to entrust you with more.

1. What blessings, relationships, gifts, or opportunities has God already placed in my life that I have overlooked because I have been focused on what I lack?

2. Where has familiarity caused me to dishonor what God has entrusted to me—whether a person, a spiritual leader, a gift within me, or a season He has me in?

3. If Jesus asked me today, "What do you have?" what would my honest answer reveal about my mindset: gratitude and stewardship, or deficiency and disappointment?

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