Zimpapers Logo

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. 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. (Mark 10:51-52)

The story above is about Bartimaeus, who was blind and used to sit by the highway side begging. He cried out to Jesus so that He could open his eyes and Jesus, after healing him told him to go his way but he decided to follow Jesus. After he received his miracle, the first test he got was never from his relatives but from Jesus.

He was given an opportunity by Jesus to leave Him. After he had been blessed with sight, he was supposed to find his own way as a test for him. So many people are given that opportunity by God to leave Him after He blesses them. The moment Bartimaeus received his miracle, Jesus tested him to find out whether it was just the miracle he desperately wanted or he was in need of the Messiah Himself.

After he was given an opportunity to go his way he realised that he did not have any way. When God has blessed you, you should never leave His presence. Bartimaeus was given an opportunity to go his own way and begin to experiment with life but he chose to follow Jesus in His way.

Jesus’ way is always the most perfect way you can follow. After God has opened your eyes, you need to be very careful and realise that you did not have a way. In life you do not have a way unless Jesus gives you a way because He is the way, the truth and the life. The greatest test that God can give you in life is when a way is giving you an opportunity to find another way.

It is important for you to know that the miracle of Bartimaeus was performed when Jesus was coming out of Jericho, not when He was coming in. This was when He had finished doing everything in Jericho and no other business was left for Him to perform. He was leaving the city believing that everybody who was in need of a miracle received a miracle.

Jesus was ready to depart and yet there was still somebody in that city who had an issue. As great multitudes of people followed Him, the son of Timaeus called unto him. People who gave us this story did not give us his actual name because Bartimaeus was not his name for it simply meant he was the son of Timaeus. The man we now call Bartimaeus we were only given the name of his father. Bar-Timaeus simply means son of Timaeus. That is what normally happens everywhere you go whereby people convert your situation into your name.

People have a tendency of giving you a name of what you are going through. In life if people are still talking about your father during your presence, wait until God visits you. God will enable you to take over the name of your generation. Bartmaeus was blind and he was sitting at a very strategic place, a highway asking for alms.

He was there to just ask for money and nothing else. The man was blind and poor. He was not blind because he was poor; he was poor because he was blind. His poverty was emanating from his inability to see. If he was poor because he was blind, how come we have other people who are not blind and yet they are poor? If you come across a man who is not blind but poor, ask him what he is seeing. It is not just your ability to see that breaks away poverty from you; it is what you see and what you do with what you are seeing.

What can bring Africa out of the situation it is in right now is not just the ability to discover what we have but the ability to put into good use what we have already discovered. Seeing is one thing but your perception is what matters. If you are not able to explain what you are seeing it means you are still in the same category with the blind. That is the reason why Africa is poor.
Our poverty as Africa is coming from our health condition; we are sick financially because we are visually sick. If we can get to correct our vision then we can correct our finances. Bartimaeus was poor because he was blind; the rest of the people who are not blind and still poor, if you ask them what they are seeing you will realise that they are as good as blind.

Do you know that when you are driving in the night it is easier to see a rabbit in the road than to see an elephant? The elephant becomes too big to be noticed. This is exactly what happens in your life especially when God is showing you and promising you a bigger future. Most people are now in a state of confusion; they are only able to see small things about their lives. They are not able to see bigger things because the bigger it gets your eyes become small.

You have to work on your vision and focus if you want to see clearly. What is coming ahead of you in your life is bigger than a rabbit you are seeing; it is an elephant blessing. You cannot remain like that in your life; your situation has to change.

Bartimaeus would sit there at the highway waiting for what other people will bring to him and his problem was emanating from his blindness.

“And Joshua adjured them at that time, saying, Cursed be the man before the LORD, that riseth up and buildeth this city Jericho: he shall lay the foundation thereof in his firstborn, and in his youngest son shall he set up the gates of it.” (Joshua 6:26). This scripture shows us that there was a curse pronounced over the city of Jericho. “In his days did Hiel the Bethelite build Jericho: he laid the foundation thereof in Abiram his firstborn, and set up the gates thereof in his youngest son Segub, according to the word of the LORD, which he spake by Joshua the son of Nun.” (1 Kings 16:34).

A man by the name Hiel took it upon himself to reconstruct the city of Jericho. He did not realise that there was a curse pronounced by the man of God over Jericho. As he constructed the city, his first born died at the laying on of the foundation and then at the end of the construction he lost the last born.

These were not the only sons he lost; in-between the project the rest of his sons died. This means that the curse pronounced by Joshua over Jericho was still there even after four hundred years waiting for one man to rise up and get into a building project.
The curse was there waiting, ready to fight anyone who took it upon himself to build Jericho. Have you noticed how demons begin to fight you the moment you begin to build? Right now, if you begin to work on a structure somewhere, notice how many demons will begin to come after you.

Feedback: https://www.facebook.com/prophetEMakandiwa
https://twitter.com/prmakandiwa
https://www.instagram.com/emmanuelmakandiwa/
Helpline: +263 4 339 341
[email protected] mailto:[email protected]