✨ STRENGTH HIMSELF STEPS IN ✨
Scripture Focus:
“I will rescue the lame; I will gather the outcast; and I will restore them…” — Zephaniah 3:19
1. The God Who Sees the Ones Who Can’t Move Forward — Jehovah El Roi
Before God heals, restores, or lifts us, He first sees us.
Zephaniah 3:18–20 is spoken by Jehovah El Roi — the God who sees me:
He sees where we feel stuck
He sees what we cannot fix
He sees burdens we cannot carry
He sees weakness we cannot hide
And He sees the ones who have no strength left.
This is why He promises:
“I will gather those who sorrow…”
“I will rescue the lame…”
“I will gather the outcast…”
“I will restore…”
God does not move because we are strong.
He moves because He is strong.
Jehovah El Roi always sees before He saves.
2. The Pool of Bethesda — A Living Picture of Zephaniah’s Promise
In John 5, Jesus encounters a man who had been lying beside the pool for 38 years.
Thirty-eight years of waiting.
Thirty-eight years of disappointment.
Thirty-eight years of watching others move ahead.
This man is the living embodiment of Zephaniah 3:19:
lame, overlooked, outcast, and unable to move himself.
And Jesus fulfills the prophecy:
He walks directly to the one who cannot walk at all.
He does NOT wait for him to seek Him.
He does NOT wait for him to ask for strength.
He does NOT wait for him to become strong.
Because Strength Himself steps in when strength is gone.
3. What Jesus Asks — BEFORE What the Man Says — Reveals Everything
When Jesus comes to the man, the FIRST thing He does is ask a question:
“Do you want to be made well?” — John 5:6
This question is not informational — it is transformational.
Jesus already knows the man is weak.
He already knows he cannot move.
He already knows he has no helper.
He already knows his strength is gone.
Jesus is challenging:
👉 Have you settled into this condition?
👉 Has dysfunction become familiar?
👉 Has disappointment shaped your identity?
👉 Do you still desire what God promised in Zephaniah 3:19?
👉 Will you receive Strength standing in front of you?
Only AFTER this question does the man speak.
He answers:
“Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool…” — John 5:7
His words reveal his entire belief system:
He believes healing requires human strength
He believes healing is in the water
He believes restoration depends on timing and opportunity
But here is the explosive revelation the Holy Spirit showed you —
and it MUST be included:
⭐ THE POOL HAD HEALED OTHERS — BUT THE LIVING WATER STOOD BEFORE HIM
Yes, the waters of Bethesda had healed many people over the years.
Scripture confirms it.
The pool had a history of miracles.
But the man’s hope was in something lesser than what stood before him.
Because standing in front of this man was something infinitely greater than stirred waters:
the LIVING WATER Himself.
The pool had healed some.
Jesus heals all.
The pool moved occasionally.
Jesus moves continually.
The pool required effort, timing, strength, and someone to help him.
Jesus required only willingness.
Of course, the man didn’t know who Jesus was.
He didn’t know the Word made flesh was standing before him.
He didn’t know the Healer was speaking to him.
But Jesus revealed Himself to him —
not through explanation,
but through power.
He looked for healing in a pool…
but the Living Water stepped toward the man waiting for the water to be stirred.
He hoped for an angel to stir the waters…
while the Lord of Glory Himself came to stir his destiny.
Others waited for a moment in the water…
but the One who CREATED the water stood before him.
He hoped for a messenger…
but the Maker of heaven and earth approached him.
Jesus didn’t bring a miracle.
Jesus IS the miracle.
**4. Jesus Never Says “Be Strong.”
He Simply Says “Rise.”**
This is the revelation that ties all 3 devotionals together:
Jesus NEVER says:
❌ “Be strong first.”
❌ “Gather your strength.”
❌ “Try harder.”
❌ “See what you can do.”
Because the man has no strength.
**Strength was not required.
Strength was supplied.**
Jesus speaks:
“Rise, take up your bed, and walk.” — John 5:8
This isn’t human effort.
This is divine empowerment.
The WORD contains the strength to perform what it commands.
5. Romans 4:17 — God Calls It Before It Exists
Romans 4:17 reveals God’s nature:
“…God who gives life to the dead and CALLS those things which do not exist as though they did.”
Jesus wasn’t speaking to the man’s condition —
He was speaking to his restoration.
He wasn’t describing the present —
He was declaring the future.
He was:
calling strength into weakness
calling movement into paralysis
calling life into stagnation
calling ability into impossibility
This is Romans 4:17 made visible.
6. Ezekiel 37:4–6 — God Speaks Life Into What Cannot Move
God commanded Ezekiel to prophesy to very dry bones — dead, lifeless, and immobile.
God did NOT say:
❌ “Bones, try to move.”
❌ “Become strong.”
❌ “Help yourselves.”
Instead, He said:
“O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord!”
Then:
“I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live.”
Ezekiel 37 and John 5 are the SAME miracle:
Dry bones → Live
Lame man → Rise
No strength → Strength created by the Word
God speaks to what cannot move, KNOWING His Word will create movement.
7. Isaiah 55:11 + Luke 11 — Why His Word Cannot Fail
Isaiah 55:11:
“My word… shall NOT return to Me void.”
God does NOT speak to test the outcome.
He speaks because the outcome is guaranteed.
He speaks once — and creation responds.
And Jesus taught us to pray with shameless audacity (Luke 11:5–10),
not because God is unwilling,
but because we cling to what He already spoke.
We don’t pray to convince God.
We pray because:
His Word has already shifted reality —
and our faith refuses to let go until we see it.
When God speaks → it becomes.
When YOU speak His Word → it manifests.
Because Strength Himself now speaks THROUGH you.
8. Jesus Speaks — and Strength Appears
The man did not rise because he became strong.
He rose because Jesus spoke.
This fulfills Zephaniah 3:19:
the lame is rescued
the outcast is gathered
the broken is restored
shame is removed
Not by striving…
Not by effort…
Not by willpower…
Not by strength…
But by the Word of the Lord.
Reflection Questions
Where do I feel unable to move forward?
Have I placed hope in something other than Jesus?
What Word is God speaking over my situation?
Am I willing to receive strength I cannot produce?
What “pool” have I trusted instead of the Living Water?
Closing Prayer
Father, thank You that You are Jehovah El Roi — the God who sees me. Before a word is on my tongue, You know it completely. You see my rising and my resting, my hidden tears, my unspoken prayers, and the quiet places where You have been shaping me all along.
You are not distant. You are not unaware. You are the God who sits high and looks low - who looks upon me with purpose, the One who saw Hagar in the wilderness and sees me now - fully known, fully loved, and fully kept.
You have promised that Your plans for me are good, that You finish what You begin, that You make a way where there seems to be no way, and that You do a new thing, even now. You promised that what You are birthing cannot be stopped, because it is authored by You.
So today, Father God, Jehovah El Roi, I ask: Give me eyes that perceive what You are doing. Remove every veil of fear, familiarity, doubt, or weariness, in Jesus Name. Sharpen my spiritual sight so I recognize Your presence and movement, even when it comes quietly, unexpectedly, or differently than before in Jesus Name. Let me not miss You because I am looking backward instead of discerning forward, in Jesus Name.
I confess that I am weak - and I thank You for it. For You have declared that YOUR STRENGTH IS MADE PERFECT IN MY WEAKNESS. Where I feel insufficient, You are sufficient. Where I feel emptied, You are full. Where I feel unable, You are more than able.
Be strong in me, Lord. Not through striving, not through self-reliance, but through surrender. Let my weakness become the doorway through which Your power is revealed, in Jesus Name.
I trust You, Lord God, my Jehovah El Roi, because You see what I cannot, You know what I do not, and You are already present in the future You are leading me into.
I yield my vision, my timing, and my understanding to You, in Jesus Name. Do the new thing Lord. Open my eyes to behold it, in Jesus Name. And let my life testify that the God who sees, also provides, leads, and fulfills every promise He has spoken, for His glory, in the Matchless Name of Jesus, Amen.
