21 Days of Consecration 2026 - Day 9 - 2/26/26 - "Take Up Your Bed"

Author: Superintendent Demetrius K. Samu-el, Sr.

"Take Up Your Bed"
Scripture: St. John 5:8–9

“Jesus saith unto him, Rise, take up thy bed, and walk. And immediately the man was made whole, and took up his bed, and walked: and on the same day was the sabbath.”

Devotion:
When Jesus healed the man at Bethesda, He did something unusual. He did not tell him to leave the mat behind. He told him to pick it up.

That mat had carried him for thirty-eight years. It represented pain, delay, disappointment, and dependency. It was the evidence of where he had been stuck. Yet once he was healed, the same object became evidence of what God had done.

“Take up thy bed.”

Jesus was not just healing his body—He was transforming his story.

Sometimes we want deliverance without remembrance. We want freedom without reflection. But part of spiritual maturity is understanding that your testimony is not something to hide—it is something to carry.

The mat is your testimony.

It reminds you of how far God has brought you.
It silences shame because grace has rewritten your narrative.
It strengthens others who are still lying in their own places of struggle.

Revelation tells us that we overcome “by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of our testimony.” Your testimony becomes fruit. It becomes seed. It becomes hope for someone else.

In this Lenten season, do not discard the evidence of your deliverance. Carry it humbly. Share it wisely. Let your story glorify God.

The man walked publicly with what once held him privately. That is transformation.

Through Christ who strengthens you (Philippians 4:13), you not only rise—you walk in visible freedom.

And when people see you walking with the mat, they will know:
If God did it for them, He can do it for me.

Prayer:
Dear Lord,

Thank You for every place You have healed me.
Give me courage to carry my testimony without shame.
Let my story glorify You and strengthen someone else.
Through Christ who strengthens me,
I will walk in freedom and declare Your faithfulness.

In Jesus’ Name,
Amen.