5 Now a certain man was there who had an infirmity thirty-eight years.
6 When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he already had been in that condition a long time, He said to him, “Do you want to be made well?”

John 5:5-6

This man had been sick for thirty- eight years. That is a very long time to be living with an infirmity. We read that when Jesus saw this man He knew that He had been sick for that long. That was a word of knowledge, a gift of the Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:4-11). This is good news for you and me: Jesus knows exactly what challenges we may face in our bodies.

A word of knowledge on its own is of no use to the receiver without a corresponding word of wisdom stating the right thing to do about the situation. Well, Jesus went ahead to ask the man, “Do you want to be made well?” Now, there is something about that question that is very unlike us today. The question presupposes that Jesus believed that there was still hope for the man to be healed after thirty-eight years and divine healing was still an option. If I perceive that a man has been sick for that long, I’ll be tempted to conclude that there is no hope for this man. Many Christians have come to accept one particular illness as a part of them, but the very nature of divine healing makes you understand that the length of time you have been with a particular sickness is not a barrier to divine healing.

In the natural, Jesus did not live up to thirty-eight years on the earth. It means that Jesus was not yet born of the Virgin Mary when this man’s sickness started and yet He was not intimidated by the problem. We have an example in Jesus to follow. If you want to minister to a sick person and somebody tells you, “The sickness in that person started before you were born. What makes you think you can help him or her?” Tell them that you have the mandate from God in Mark 16:18 to lay hands on the sick and they shall recover. Be bold and minister to anyone who comes your way for help and command the foul disease or sickness to leave their body, regardless of how long it has been there, and they will be healed.

Confession:
I have faith that I am healed. The length of time of a particular sickness is not a barrier to my healing.