We’ve all read the stories.
Jesus stands before a paralyzed man—someone who hasn’t moved in years—and speaks three simple words: “Rise, take up your bed and walk.”
We look at that and see a physical miracle. A body being fixed.
But if we stop there, we miss the point entirely.
Rise up!: Your Healing
We’ve all read the stories.
Jesus stands before a paralyzed man—someone who hasn’t moved in years—and speaks three simple words: “Rise, take up your bed and walk.”
We look at that and see a physical miracle. A body being fixed.
But if we stop there, we miss the point entirely.
You see, the Apostle Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 5 that we no longer know Christ “according to the flesh.”
2 Corinthians 5:16
Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh,
yet now we know Him thus no longer.
We say we don’t look at Christ according to the flesh anymore, but the truth is… most of us still do.
We read His words as physical instructions instead of spiritual revelation.
So, if we don’t look at Jesus through physical eyes anymore, why do we still look at His words that way?
“Rise up and walk” isn’t just medical advice for a man 2,000 years ago.
It is a spiritual command for you, right now.
The Problem: Standing Still
What does it mean to be “paralyzed” in the spirit?
It means you are standing still.
Most of us are stuck. We are paralyzed by the past—replaying what happened, what was said, or the mistakes of the “old man.”
Or, we are paralyzed by the future—waiting for a physical heaven, waiting for a rapture, waiting for God to do something that He has already done.
We get stuck in the literal stories of the Bible, reading them as history lessons instead of seeing them as mirrors of our own inner journey.
Standing still means you are not growing.
You are waiting by the pool, hoping someone else will carry you into the water, but you never hear those healing words of Jesus: ‘Rise up, and walk.’
Standing still is remaining in Adam — and anything that stays in Adam cannot live.
The Shift: Getting Up
But then you hear the voice of the Spirit.
Not with your physical ears, but with the ears of your heart.
That voice says: Rise up!
To “rise” means to wake up to the Truth.
It means shifting your perspective from the visible to the invisible.
It means you stop identifying with Adam—the old creation, the one who struggles and sweats to earn God’s love —and you start identifying with Christ.
To rise is to realize that the Kingdom of God is not a place you go to when you die; it is within you, right now.
When you stand up, you leave the old mindset behind.
You leave the literal, dead letter of the law, and you stand in the Spirit.
The Action: Walking
But standing is just the start.
You have to move!
Jesus didn’t just say “Stand up.” He said, “Walk.”
Walking is movement. Walking is growth.
In the Bible, “walking” is the picture of your spiritual journey from being a child to becoming a mature son.
It’s the journey from Egypt to the Promised Land.
Walking means you are gaining new insights.
Every step is a new revelation of who God is, and—more importantly—who you are in Him.
You see, you are not trying to become something you are not.
You are walking into who you already are.
As 1 John 4:17 tells us:
1 John 4:17
As he is, so are we in this world!
Not “so will we be.”
So are we. Now.
But you can only experience that reality if you walk in it. If you grow in it
The Destination: Fullness
Why must you walk? Why must you grow?
Because there is a destination.
Not a place on a map, but a state of being.
Ephesians 4:13 calls it “the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ”.
Ephesians 4:13
…to a mature man,
to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.
That is your destiny. To grow up into the full maturity of Sonship.
To stop being tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine, by fear, or by earthly expectations.
Walking means shedding the lies that covered your true identity.
It means discovering that you are the New Jerusalem. You are the temple where God rests.
Rise up and walk!
So, don’t stay on your mat.
Don’t stay stuck in the literal, in the past, or in the “someday.”
The power to move is already inside you.
The Spirit is hovering over the waters of your heart — just like in Genesis — ready to bring forth the New Creation.
Your true identity is waiting to be revealed.
The fullness of Christ is your inheritance.
So, listen to the Spirit today.
Stand up… and walk!
