Passage of the Day - October 19, 2010

Acts 3:2-10

²And a man who had been lame from his mother's womb was being carried along, whom they used to set down every day at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, in order to beg alms of those who were entering the temple.

 ³When he saw Peter and John about to go into the temple, he began asking to receive alms.

 ⁴But Peter, along with John, fixed his gaze on him and said, "Look at us!"

 ⁵And he began to give them his attention, expecting to receive something from them.

 ⁶But Peter said, "I do not possess silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you: In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene--walk!"

 ⁷And seizing him by the right hand, he raised him up; and immediately his feet and his ankles were strengthened.

 ⁸With a leap he stood upright and began to walk; and he entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God.

 ⁹And all the people saw him walking and praising God;

 ¹⁰and they were taking note of him as being the one who used to sit at the Beautiful Gate of the temple to beg alms, and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.

Why doesn’t this happen more?  Why can’t we witness God healing the sick through us?  Well, until we are willing to yield to what the Holy Spirit did through Peter in the rest of chapter 3 only to be rewarded by what happens to Peter and John in the beginning of chapter 4, we will likely not witness God healing the sick through us.  Before we make supernatural healing normative, we need to make humility, boldness, and sacrifice normative.