Bible Reading: Nehemiah 7-8; Acts 3
“And Peter, fastening his eyes upon him with John, said, Look on us.” – Acts 3:4 (KJV)
The healing power in the Name of Jesus was manifested by the disciples of Jesus first time at the gate called beautiful of the temple in Jerusalem. The striking thing about this miracle is when the lame man asked alms of Peter, who stopped, and said to him, Look on us. This is very important, because following the ministry and activities of Jesus, whenever He wanted to heal anyone, He never just walked up to someone and merely touched him and healed him, without first directing the person’s attention to Himself. He always attracted the attention of the individuals He wanted to heal, directed them to focus their gaze upon him. The reason is that this arouses a sense of expectation to quicken the faith of the person. This man expected to receive something from Peter and John. He did not know what he was going to get, but his faith was quickened by Peter’s words. This is very necessary in order to receive anything from God, you must expect something from him. Because God is a rewarder of anything we diligently expect from Him. “for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.” – Hebrews 11:6 (KJV).
One of the reasons why there are people who attend church but whose lives are hardly any different than when they first came to church, is that they have never given their attention to God. They have never expected to receive anything when they came. Unfortunately, there are those, young and old alike, who turn off their minds when they get into a church service and allow their imaginations take them to other places. There are young people who have been raised in church, but who are not different, or exhibit no evidence that God is at work. This is largely because they might have never heard those words, Look on me, and paid attention to messages with keen interest and expectation. This is why Jesus always said to the crowds to which he preached, He that has ears to hear, let him hear (Matthew 11:15) Let him listen. This is always necessary for the working of faith.
The minute Peter had the man’s attention, he did two things which are most interesting: First, he admitted his inadequacies in the material realm: Silver or gold I do not have, he said. That’s what the lame man was looking for. He then demonstrated his amazing adequacy in the spiritual realm: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk. In that moment, as the man was looking at Peter and John, and heard these words, at the mention of the name of Jesus, strength came flowing into his ankles, and Peter, sensing it, took him by the right hand and lifted him up. The man rose and began to leap and shout for joy, jumping around, trying out this new found strength in his legs which he had never known, because he was lame from birth. (Acts 3:6-8.)
This is the amazing healing power of God at work and can manifest through everyone that believes.
Prayer: Father, thank you for the healing Power in the Name of Jesus.
Pastor Alfred Samuel