12 MARKS OF PEOPLE
DESPERATE FOR A CHANGE!
Nothing Just
Happens. Yes, that is a familiar line, but I wish many people are really living
it by practical life application.
Many people
will never have a testimony until they are desperate enough to provoke it. God
is waiting for a lot of people to make the first move, but many people are
waiting for God to move first. God has no need. He is all sufficient! If God
actually has any need, He is in need of people to bless and destinies to lift.
It is you
that has a need. Stop waiting for God to move and for angels to stir the waters
of the pool of Bethesda.
Oga Sir/Madam
move now! You make the first move. You move and provoke your change by positive
and prophetic desperation!
In the words
of C. JoyBell C,
“We can't be afraid of change. You may
feel very secure in the pond that you are in, but if you never venture out of
it, you will never know that there is such a thing as an ocean, a sea. Holding
onto something that is good for you now, may be the very reason why you don't
have something better.”
Your desire, therefore, for change must more be greater than your desire
to stay the same.
One inspiringly sweet story that comes to mind when it comes to
obtaining a radical change and testimony is the story of Mr. Bartimaeus. I am
sure you have heard of the guy. Yes the same blind son of Timaeus.
Mark 10:46-52 (KJV)
tells his story this way:
46 And they
came to Jericho: and as he went out of Jericho with his disciples and a great
number of people, blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, sat by the highway side
begging.
47 And when he
heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out, and say, Jesus, thou
son of David, have mercy on me.
48 And many
charged him that he should hold his peace: but he cried the more a great deal,
Thou son of David, have mercy on me.
49 And Jesus
stood still, and commanded him to be called. And they call the blind man,
saying unto him, Be of good comfort, rise; he calleth thee.
50 And he,
casting away his garment, rose, and came to Jesus.
51 And Jesus
answered and said unto him, What wilt thou that I should do unto thee? The
blind man said unto him, Lord, that I might receive my sight.
52 And Jesus
said unto him, Go thy way; thy faith hath made thee whole. And immediately he
received his sight, and followed Jesus in the way.
The life of
Blind Bartimaeus and how he obtained his radical change and testimony is an
ever inspiring story. WOW!!! That guy was ready for a miracle!
To be born
blind is not fun. Yet he did not allow his blindness stop him from getting his
desired solution! He was crazy enough to cry for a change.
“…the people who are crazy enough to think they
can change the world, are the ones who do.” ~ Steve Jobs.
Quickly,
Here are the
10 Marks of People Desperate for a Change. They are inspirational lessons we can
glean from the life of Blind Bartimaeus.
RADICAL
PEOPLE DESPERATE FOR POSITIVE CHANGE DO THE FOLLOWING:
#1. They stop doing normal things and stop doing things the normal way.
Truly, as
they say, desperate situations require desperate action; abnormal circumstances
require abnormal solutions; strange questions require strange answers. Get rid
of your normal sense carefulness and caution and fear. Rise above normal
action, normal effort, normal prayers and fasting, normal giving and offerings,
normal thoughts, normal attitude and normal shouts. Normal will never win the
game! BEING TOO CAREFUL WILL NEVER MAKE IT HAPPEN! Blind Bartimaeus couldn’t
care less. The more they hushed him, the more he rushed at his solution, and in
the end, they not only got out of his way, but they became his escort riders,
heralding him to the Master and his miracle!
#2. They Crave For The Information
Necessary For Their Transformation.
Some people
may know the way out of your mess, but they won’t tell you unless you make
them. When Jesus visited other regions people ran about bringing their sick and
handicapped and laying them strategically in Christ’s path so he could heal or
otherwise help them. Not so Blind Bartimaeus’ family, friends and townspeople,
they didn’t even tell him the Great Physician was coming to town. It was the
unusual tumult that alert him, that made him start grabbing people’s dresses as
they tried to run past, demanding answers. We will never know how many times
they slapped him to the curb to extricate themselves and hurry on. Eventually,
he made somebody tell him. Make somebody tell you. If you have to buy news of
opportunities, do so.
#3. They Disregard The Shabby
Treatment From Others Who Would Rather Have Them Remain Without Change!
As long as
you choose to climb to the top, there would always be those who will not have
it so. And, it doesn’t matter how many times you get knocked to the ground by
those who would rather have you remain in unpleasant circumstances, in your
search for solutions, keep getting up and demanding answers. Blind Bartimaeus
finally did manage to hang onto somebody long enough to be grudgingly told what
was up. That information did not have the desired effect of calming him down. On
the contrary, it made him more of a ‘nuisance’, but it paid off. When he
finally received his sight, it was worth all the previous aggression and deceit
and years of shabby treatment from everyone. Propriety, fear or shame will keep
you wrapped up in dignified bondage till you die.
#4. They are ready and prepared before
opportunity.
Live prepared
and ever ready to cease opportunities for change and greatness. Have a plan to
catch and hold unto your miracle any day it does fly-by. Be prepared for your stage
before you climb on it.
Blind
Bartimaeus knew about Jesus and had a plan for the day He would turn up and
people tried to exclude him again as they had done all his life. It wasn’t
happenstance that the crowd around Christ had to go by him into town. He found
the high road into town and positioned himself. Metaphorically speaking, he
found a niche in that market long ago, filled it, and bided his time. You too,
don’t just sit there, feeling left behind, excluded and bitter.
Get an
education, learn a trade, attend events, go to conferences, join a church, join
an association, volunteer for charities, get another degree…. Just do something
to be ready, while you wait…, increase your value, grow your cup volume,
enlarge your capacity. You want to be armed with a plan for when your dream opportunity
comes along.
#5. They Focus On and Use What
They Have, Not What They Don’t Have!
The loss of
one thing is not the loss of everything. Don’t be so blindly focused on your
blindness that you lose sight of what’s happening around you. What’s gone
should not make you miss what has come.
Blind Bartimaeus
did not have his sight, but he had his hearing, and the rest of his senses, and
his reasoning, and his hunger for a change of circumstances, and his persistence.
In fact, when you think about it, he had an absolutely rich success mind-set. If
you cannot do this, you can do that, but make sure you do something with what
you have!
#6. They Cry Out To God While
Others Are Crying Out To Men For Help and Change.
Jeremiah 33:3 says, Call unto
me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things, which thou
knowest not. (KJV)
Psalm 34:17-19 '"The righteous cry, and the Lord heareth, and delivereth them out of all their troubles. The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the Lord delivereth him out of them all." KJV.
Jeremiah 17:5-8
Thus
saith the Lord; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh
flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord. For
he shall be like the heath in the desert, and shall not see when good cometh;
but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land and not
inhabited. Blessed
is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lordis. For he
shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by
the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and
shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding
fruit. (KJV)
You may not
have everything, but you do have something to use to reach out and cry to God
for help and change…YOU VOICE!
Blind
Bartimeus did not have his sight, but he had his voice, and by putting it to
good use in prayer, he got back his sight – and a better life.
Don’t die in
silence. God gave mankind at least five senses so we can have at least five
chances and multiple choices in calling on Him. Whatever you do have must be
seen as a gift from God literally designed to amplify your voice or influence
in your generation. Like Blind Bartimaeus, by putting that your ‘voice’ to
creative use in prayer, you can make yourself a Voice beyond your generation. Cry
out to God!
#7. They Leverage On Other People’s
Testimonies (OPT).
When God is
blessing your neighbour, it means God is in the neighbourhood. I heard that
from one of my favourites preachers in 2018 Run Conference at Umuahia.
The point is
that the testimonies of what God has done or is doing in the life of others is
a prophetic pointer to what he can do for you. Therefore, use other peoples
testimonies and a leverage to build your faith strong enough to receive.
It’s one
thing to have a rich success mind-set, and entirely another to be resourceful
with other peoples testimonies as building blocks to your own faith.
Blind
Bartimaeus developed and used his existing faith resource built from others
testimonies he has heard. He couldn’t see, but he could feel. The Presence of
Christ made a difference in the size and behaviour of the crowd that day, and
Blind Bartimaeus felt it. He couldn’t see but he could remember the stories
that filled his region of incredible miracles by the Man of Galilee. He could
not see, but he could, and did, build an unshakeable faith in what one
encounter with the Messiah MUST do for him.
Revelation 19:10 And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said unto me, See thou do it not: I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. (KJV)
#8. They are ‘shameless’ with God
and not afraid to be laughed at.
Now, get
‘shameless’ with God! Let people laugh and mock your faith!
You will always
laugh last, in time and eternity. Therefore, become uninhibited and open in your
need of Him. After all, we are all already naked and laid bare before Him, and
there is nothing to be ashamed of in asking the King of all the earth.
Become
desperate and driven in your need to reach Christ. Spend and be spent for that
one opulent encounter. By using all of his remaining faculties, Blind
Bartimaeus deduced that he was face-to-face with a once-in-a-lifetime
opportunity – and being unsure of the right time and the right protocol, having
no way to know when Jesus was within earshot, having no one friendly or loving
enough to help him seek the Master for his solution, he launched an indiscriminate
and determined bid for his miracle. He went flat out for it, and he got it.
Make room for nothing to hinder, no one to obstruct and no sin to separate you.
#9. They Don’t Wait For Perfect
Conditions To Take Perfect Action.
In life, the
only shots you hit are the one you actually took. If you miss the first shot,
there are still other bullets in the rifle.
When you do
have a shot, take it. Blind Bartimeus didn’t wait for all the elements to line
up in auspicious harmony. The moment he lined up the target he squeezed the
trigger. It’s like hunting game. You don’t wait for the antelope to come over
and take the muzzle in his mouth. Those trying to shut Bartimaeus up helped him
out when his persistence paid off. His obstructions became his escort riders the moment Christ sent for him.
He will send for you soon. Keep at it. Don’t let people talk you out of action!
James 2:14-26
What does
it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not
have works? Can faith save him? If a brother or sister is naked and
destitute of daily food, and one of you says to them, “Depart in
peace, be warmed and filled,” but you do not give them the things which are
needed for the body, what does it profit? Thus also faith by itself, if it does not
have works, is dead. But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have
works.” Show me your faith without your works, and
I will show you my faith by my works. You believe that there is one God. You do
well. Even the demons believe—and tremble! But do you want to know, O foolish man, that
faith without works is dead? Was not Abraham our father justified by
works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar? Do you see that faith was working together
with his works, and by works faith was made perfect? And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “Abraham believed God, and it was
accounted to him for righteousness.” And he was called the friend of God. You see then that a man is justified by
works, and not by faith only. (NKJV)
25 Likewise, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by
works when she received the messengers and sent them out another way?
26 For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith
without works is dead also.
#10.
They Let go of the past that must be passed.
When Jesus called Blind Bartimaeus he
immediately threw away his cloak, jumped to his feet and ran to Jesus.
Bartimaeus realized that where Jesus is taking him, his cloak could not go as
his cloak represents his past.
Blind Bartimaeus realized that his cloak brought him comfort, helped to
keep him warn and helped to cloth him while he was on the road side begging,
but for him to move forward he must forget about the past. Many times we want to come to God but do not want to let go of the
things that held us in bondage. For us to move forward we must learn to
throw down our old cloak, get up and move forward. We can’t grow and remains in the same spot we were in. As a wise
man said, “The truth is, unless you let go, unless you
forgive yourself, unless you forgive the situation, unless you realize that the
situation is over, you cannot move forward.”
Tie No Weight To Your Ankles. Some things may be part of your history, but they are not
a part of your destination. Letting go
of the past is a demonstration of faith that you don’t want to return to it.
#11.
They Demonstrate A Great Spirit of Humility.
Bartimaeus knew that he did not deserve mercy so he had no thought of
entitlement. Whenever we come to #God we should humble
ourselves calling out to him “Lord, have mercy on me.” The bible has so much to
say about humility.
James 4:10 - Humble yourselves in the sight
of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.
Jeremiah 9:23 - Thus saith the LORD, Let not
the wise [man] glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty [man] glory in his
might, let not the rich [man] glory in his riches:
1 Peter 5:6 - Humble yourselves therefore
under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time.
Proverbs 11:2 - [When] pride cometh, then
cometh shame: but with the lowly [is] wisdom.
Romans 11:18 - Boast not against the
branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee.
James 4:6 - But he giveth more grace.
Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.
Luke 14:11 - For whosoever exalteth himself
shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.
Proverbs 22:4 - By humility [and] the fear of
the LORD [are] riches, and honour, and life.
#12. They Continue To Follow
Christ Even After A Testimony.
“And Jesus said to him, Go your way; your
faith has healed you. And at once he received his sight and accompanied Jesus
on the road.” Mark 10:52.
Bartimaeus
never went back, but continued to follow Jesus! To stay victorious, stay with Christ. If you
found it in Christ, you can only sustain it in Christ. Once you disconnect your
charger from the Power Source, your battery begins to run down.
Bartimaeus, blind no more, did not need to be told Who held his
safety net. He stayed with Christ. Not even ‘Go your way…’ from Christ Himself
swayed him.
Going your way after a major encounter with Christ is a Samaritan
way of life. You will keep going back to Jacob’s well to draw water as long as
what you seek from Christ is a fix not a relationship. Your thirst will
naturally repeat. Staying with Christ till He makes Rivers of Water flow out of
your belly is the real deal. Bartimaeus fell in line behind the Master and
became a disciple. He did not lose sight of Jesus ever again, and he never lost
his sight in life ever again. Miracle-seeking can get you your miracle, but it
may not keep it perpetually. You get that as an added bonus for following
through and becoming rooted in the Master.
Isaiah 42:6 (KJV) I the Lord have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles;
Many times when God delivers a person, they soon goes back to live a
sinful life. Jesus did not heal or deliver you for you to not serve him. God
does not only want to heal us, but he wants to save us.
Blind Bartimaeus was not the only blind man on the road out of Jericho,
but he was the only one on record that received his sight there. Why? He was
not only desperate by faith, but he was also persistent, wise and humble. He is
an example to us today as we all can learn something from his life for those
who are desperate for a radical and positive change.
Your desire, therefore, for change must more be greater than your desire to stay the same. Yes sir, I so desire for change that I am fasting and praying every day now, I want to stop going about this change the normal way. Thank you sir, for this message is very inspiring. May God increase your strength. More grace sir.
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