Acts 3:1-8 - One day Peter and John were going up to the temple at the time of prayer—at three in the afternoon. Now 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. When he saw Peter and John about to enter, he asked them for money. Peter looked straight at him, as did John. Then Peter said, "Look at us!" So the man gave them his attention, expecting to get something from them. Then 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." Taking him by the right hand, he helped him up, and instantly the man's feet and ankles became strong. He jumped to his feet and began to walk. Then he went with them into the temple courts, walking and jumping, and praising God.
Nice story, isn't it? Still, for some reason, I've always felt uncomfortable reading this story, and I tend to find myself skimming over it or skipping it all together. So today when I came across it again, I was tempted to just bypass it under the pretense that 'I already know that...don't need to read it again.' But I didn't. I backed up and read it for probably the twentieth time in as many months.
As I read this passage today, I couldn't help but wonder at Peter and John. Lord, how is it that they can be so bold as to just tell this guy to get up and walk? And in that moment I realized why it is that this passage of Scripture seems to bother me so much.... because I'm pretty sure I would not have been so bold. I might have prayed for the guy if he asked, but to just command him to get up and walk! What if I go through all of that, and at the end of it all he still just lays there, unable to walk? How embarrassing would that be?! I realized I would be afraid of being embarrassed if nothing happened.
Immediately as I thought through this, I was reminded that 'God has not given me a spirit of fear.' Fear does not come from Him at all, and if it doesn't come from Him, I don't want it!
So my next question was, then how does that work? How do I get to the place, like Peter and John, where I feel confident and bold enough to command a person to be healed in the name of Jesus, and trust completely that it will just simply happen? I mean, they didn't pray and petition God to heal that man in that moment. They just told him to get up. They did just what Jesus did when He was walking the earth performing miracles. He simply commanded healing, and there was healing.
Well, maybe some of John and Peter's confidence came from walking with Jesus and witnessing His countless miracles. That might account for some of it... maybe... I mean, familiarity and personal experience does a lot to boost your confidence. But I think there's a lot more to it than that. In fact, as I read on into chapter 4, I began to see that this kind of confidence is made available to us without barriers. We simply have to be in the position to receive it.
The series of events following this miraculous healing at the Beautiful Gate finds John and Peter on trial before the religious leaders of the day because they had done this miraculous act. The leaders ultimately determine that they can't convict the two men of anything because the people are so excited about what they've just done. Instead, the leaders sternly warn John and Peter to never again teach or talk about or perform miracles in Jesus' name. Peter and John's response is "Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God's sight to obey you rather than God. For we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard."(Acts 4:19-20)
Then the two men return to the other apostles and tell them all what had just happened. And the apostles all prayed and worshiped together. They praised God for all that He is; they praised Him for times past when man set Himself against the message and the truth of God and failed. And then they prayed this: "Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. Stretch out your hand to heal and perform miraculous signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus." (Acts 4:29-30)
After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly. (Acts 4:31)
The key to their boldness - their unwavering faith - at the Beautiful Gate that day, I believe, was that they had prayed something similar before. Their time in prayer was spent together, petitioning God to give them boldness, to allow them to speak with confidence and full freedom without fear. Their prayers were that God would, through them, stretch out His hand to cure the sick and to perform miracles through Jesus' authority and by His name. And they were continually being renewed in and filled with the presence of the Holy Spirit.
They were following the example that Jesus had set for them during the time He was with them. He did the same. He would spend time in prayer, go about doing good and healing those who were afflicted, then go back and spend more time in prayer.
It makes me think about what I'm praying for - how I'm praying. I know beyond a doubt that prayer is God's design for each of us, and it is what He works through to alter the course of the world. It's His plan for working in us and for working through us to reach the world. Prayer is vital.
"If the church would only awaken to her responsibility of intercession, we could well evangelize the world in a short time." - T.S. Hegre
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