6|20|09

Acts 3:1-10

" ¹One day Peter and John were going up to the temple at the time of prayer—at three in the afternoon. ²Now a man crippled from birth was being carried to the temple gate called Beautiful, where he was put every day to beg from those going into the temple courts. ³When he saw Peter and John about to enter, he asked them for money. ⁴Peter looked straight at him, as did John. Then Peter said, "Look at us!" ⁵So the man gave them his attention, expecting to get something from them.

⁶Then Peter said, "Silver or gold I do not have, but what I have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk." ⁷Taking him by the right hand, he helped him up, and instantly the man's feet and ankles became strong. ⁸He jumped to his feet and began to walk. Then he went with them into the temple courts, walking and jumping, and praising God. ⁹When all the people saw him walking and praising God, ¹⁰they recognized him as the same man who used to sit begging at the temple gate called Beautiful, and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him."

So before reading this I asked God to give me understanding, to be able to notice new things from the word of God. Now, I've read this story many times, studied this book for Bible Quizzes and Sunday School Lessons, but as God promised, I saw new things.

The first thing I noticed came from verse 3

"³When he saw Peter and John about to enter, he asked them for money. ⁴Peter looked straight at him, as did John. Then Peter said, "Look at us!" ⁵So the man gave them his attention, expecting to get something from them."

So this crippled beggar continues to pray at the temple gate day in and day out, constantly crying out to deaf ears. Finally he sees Peter and John and calls out to them as well but after routinely being rejected by others he assumes that Peter and John will also ignore him. But no, Peter looks directly at him and commands for his attention.

Sometimes we continuously call out for help, whether its from our friends, family, worldly comforts. But when God is standing right there, do we think he's like the world? Do we rid him off and continuously ask for help even when he's standing right in front of us? Does he have to wake us up? Call for OUR attention? But just as importantly, are we responding right away? Are we giving him our attention when he calls for it?

Rather than simply crying out for help to beings who cannot fulfill our needs, we have to put our attention on God who is always ready and willing to help us- if only we'd continuously give him our attention.

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Also after reading this I was wondering to myself... There must have been thousands of miracles that were performed, why was this one special enough to be written down? But as I kept reading the chapters that followed it became clear that this wasn't just some miracle but an event that changed the course of the church.

Simply because the two apostles decided to go pray at 3 in the afternoon

-a man was healed after 40 years

-Peter spoke to a crowd about the Gospel and about 5 thousand men came to Christ

-They were thrown into prison

-Sent before the Sanhedrin and was filled with the Holy Spirit

-Came back to the other believers and they too were filled with the Spirit and bold words were spoken for the Lord.

You see, one step for God can lead to the whole world turning on its axis. There are no small things for God, every simple prayer- every simple song- anything that God puts on our hearts can change the course of events. It is up to us to be ready at a moments notice, to be willing to come before God with the mindset that He can do big things. So long as we do not limit God- he will move in a mighty way.

Be ready for that movement.

Be ready when he calls you.

God Bless :)