Hand over the Wheel

In this episode of God's Podcast, Anna discusses the idea that we cannot fix other people's problems, but they have to want to fix them themselves through God. She shares the story of Jesus healing a man who had been invalid for 38 years, emphasizing that we are not God and cannot take on others' problems. Anna encourages listeners to pray for others, but to remember that it is not their burden to carry. She reminds listeners to surrender control to God and trust in His timing and plan. Anna concludes by encouraging listeners to share the podcast with others, as God is the answer and can bring freedom to those in need. Hey there, it's Anna with God's Podcast. In today's episode, we're going to talk about how we want to fix other people and other people's problems. Let's pray, friend. In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Father, I come to you through your Son, Jesus Christ, and I lift up this person on the other side listening. I ask that you open their ears, their hearts, and their minds, Lord. I ask that you give them wisdom and understanding of your word and use me as your vessel, that these words that I speak are not of my own, but of yours, that you have blessed me with to share with others. Father, I just want to say thank you and glorify you and praise you because without you, none of this would be possible. And I pray all of this in Jesus' name. Amen. We are going to start in John chapter 5 verses 1 through 9. I chose this chapter and verses because it is a reminder to me that we cannot fix someone else's problems, but they have to want to fix them themselves through the Lord Jesus Christ. That we cannot fix someone else's problems, but only God can. So we're going to start here in John chapter 5 verses 1 through 9. Sometime later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish festivals. Now there is in Jerusalem near the sheep gate a pool with the aromatic is called Bethsaida, and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. Here a great number of disabled people used to lie, the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. One who was there had been an invalid for 38 years. When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, do you not want to get well? Sir, the invalid replied, I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me. Jesus then said to him, get up, pick up your mat and walk. At once he was cured. He picked up his mat and walked. Listen, this story caught my eye because it is a reminder that we need to move and no one else can move us but God. No one else can fix our problems but us. So I want to say to you friends, yes, I know that in relationships it can take a toll on you because you really want to help somebody, but God says it is not our place to fix them or their situation. We are not God. We are not to take others' problems upon ourselves, but they are to put them and place them at God's feet and surrender them over to him and they have to want it. We can't just think that because we want it for them, they'll be fixed. We can continue to keep praying for them. We can continue to keep trying to lift them up to the Lord and remind them that they are the ones that need to move. Just like in the story of the invalid man who was laying there for 38 years. He had to believe it. He had to have faith and he had to do it himself. We are not God and we have to remind ourselves of that. The only person we can change is ourselves. The other person that you want to help or want to fix their problems, their addictions, their trauma, the things that they do not know how to deal with, so they turn to the thing they feel will take it away. It's between them and God. They need to turn away from the hold Satan has on them and do a total 180 towards God. God does not tell you to take the worry, the stress, the accountability that should be on them and fix their problems. He says, I am God and I will take on those issues, not you. So let them turn to God and continue to keep praying for them. And if you can understand what I'm saying and resignate with me because I have always been the type of person who thought they could fix and help others. Ever since I was a young child, I wanted to take all the pain, the problems and make their lives better. But over and over it failed and I would lose myself. It is a constant cycle that you are fighting. The devil took me on a roller coaster ride that continued again and again, not letting me off, making me think I was not worthy of being good or helping fixing them and their problems. Like there was something wrong with me. But those are lies. Lies that yelled at me time and time again and I don't have control over anyone but myself and neither do you. So I want to remind you, friend, it is not your burden to carry. It is not your accountability for someone else's issues, somebody else's addictions. Only they can turn to God and have God help them and fix them. But they have to want it. They have to want to believe it. They have to believe that God is going to do it. Over the years, God showed me over and over many times throughout my life. It is not mine to control but to hand it over to God. I have prayed for over 20 years that God would show up in my husband's life and he would have a relationship with God. And he heard my cries. It took years and the progress and the progress has been slow. But I have seen God work in him. I have prayed for the chains of addiction to be broken, that the generational curses to be broken, to release him and free him of those curses. God has showed me that it is in his timing, not mine, that I need to surrender that control to let go and let God do his thing. And he does. And reminds me that I do not have control. None of us do. Only God has that control. And I have to remember, God hears my prayers, even though it is not in my timing, even though it is not answered in the way that I want my prayers to be answered. He answers them in his way, in his will, in his purpose. But the other person also has to want it. The other person also has to believe it. The other person also has to have faith in God that he will free him. Sometimes when we ask for this freedom, it does not come in the form that we think it is going to come. So when you ask God for patience, he does not just give you patience. He makes you go through something that allows you to see how to be patient. So when you are praying for something and you do not see it coming to fruition, it is not because God is not answering you. It is because maybe you need to put on a new pair of glasses that you can see what God is actually doing and how he is actually working in the background, where you cannot see everything going on, because he has a plan, he has a purpose, and it is never to harm us. Just like Jeremiah 29 11 says, it is always to prosper us. So when you are praying for the other person, because you cannot control anybody but yourself, like I said before, and I will keep saying it, and I have to keep telling myself this as well, I do not have control of anyone but myself and the way that I will react, the way that I will act, the way that I will speak, the way that I will respond, that is all we can do. We cannot control anyone else. So this is a reminder to myself as well, because we all have those days where we just want to fix the other person. And it also is a reminder to me that I think about when I am praying, God is not a genie. He does not just grant wishes. You cannot rub on a bottle and think that poof, it is going to happen. You get your wish, just like the movies, just like the cartoons that you have seen. That is not what God is. That is not how God works. Yes, God can make miracles happen. Yes, God is a miraculous God and can do anything. But he is not a genie. So stop praying to him like you may be one and start praying to him in a form that you can see his work and that your eyes may be open to what he is doing so that you can see it right in front of you. So I am going to say it again friend, stop trying to control others and stop trying to fix your own life because it is not for you to fix, but it is for God to fix. If you continue to try to control everything around you, it will consume you and your life. It will take over your life and spiral onto and into everything else in your life. It will consume you. It will control you. You will lose control of yourself and your own life if you continue down this road of thinking you can fix others or you can fix your life because we cannot do this life alone. We can only do it with God, only with God. So draw upon him for strength, for courage, for understanding, for wisdom because he will grant it to you. He will give it to you. Seek him and his word for his word will give you every answer you are ever searching for. God will speak to you through his word. God will give you clarification through his word. God will help you through his word. God will allow you to step back and stop trying to control everything and let God be the one in control. Let God take the wheel. Let God take you down the road that you are searching for. You have to open your heart to him. You have to let go and let God because we cannot fix it. We cannot do it alone. So my friend, I hope you enjoyed today's episode. I hope you continue seeking his word and I hope that you continue to stop trying to control everything so that you can be set free so that you can allow God to do his word in you, to do his miracles in you, to allow him the blessings you so deserve. Once you let go and let God, you will see him in everything. Once you open your heart and let him in, you will see him in everything. In all things your eyes will be lifted. That veil will be torn off of your eyes allowing you to see things through God's will, God's will, God's ways, God's promise. So until next time friend, keep bibling, keep spreading God's word and stop trying to control everything. I ask, just like I do in every episode, please share this with someone else because we all need God each and every day. We live in a world that we cannot do this life without him. He is the answer, he is the way, he is the king of kings and with him you can get through anything. So by sharing his word, sharing his wisdom, sharing this podcast with someone in need, you could be changing somebody's life. You can be setting them free friend. I want to say thank you. Thank you for coming each and every week and supporting this podcast and supporting me and listening to God's word because, like I said, we all need God and I am so appreciative. I hope you enjoy the rest of your week and that God is with you throughout it all and you can feel his presence, that he may guide you, that he may give you the strength that you need, that he may bless you throughout the rest of your week. Until next episode friend, let's have a closing prayer. In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Father I come to you through your Son Jesus Christ and I lift up this person. I ask that you continue to bless them throughout their week, that you guide them, that you give them wisdom and understanding and discernment Father. Father I just want to say thank you. Thank you for allowing us to come together in union of you and your word and that we take it with us throughout the rest of the week Father. I ask that you continue to keep blessing us, guiding us, giving us strength and understanding. Father I just want to say thank you. I want to glorify you because without you none of this would be possible. With you all things are possible and for that I am thankful. I give you all glory and praise and I pray this in Jesus name. Amen.