And he jumped

Read Acts 3:1-8.

May everything that has become stagnant—anything that inhibits your progress—give way. May your ankles receive strength to leap over borders.

The book of Acts opens with the promise of the Holy Ghost in Acts 1. In Chapter 2, it talks about the descent of the Holy Ghost. Then there was the miracle at the gate called beautiful in Chapter 3. It was in Chapter 4 that the place where the believers met to pray shook. In Chapter 5, we have the story of Ananias and Sapphira and the breaking out of prison. In Chapter 6 was the confusion over food and the spelling out of the priority of the apostles—the ministry of the word and prayer. May we have the immediacy of the Spirit. The apostles knew what to do. Chapter 7 was Stephen in court where his face shone like an angel. May the shekinah of God rest over us in the name of Jesus. Then in Chapter 8, we have the practicals of the Holy Ghost where in Samaria a deacon turned the whole city upside down.

Chapter 3 is cardinal to our work this week because it captures a miracle authored by a great man, Luke. The book of Acts highlights evangelism, soulwinning, the church, prayer, and the Holy Ghost. In Acts 1:1, Luke talked about the reason he was writing. He wanted to talk about the things Jesus did and taught until the day he said goodbye to the apostles. May we bask in the supernatural acts of Jehovah.

I am interested in the power of unity. May the Lord make us one again where there will be no dissensions among us. Matthew 18:19 talks about agreeing in prayer to achieve results. In Amos 3:3, we are told that two cannot walk together unless they agree. Peter and John were quite different but they worked well together. Peter was outgoing, outspoken, and gregarious while John was contemplative, reflective, and tender. No wonder Jesus left his mother in John’s care. Interestingly, Peter’s name is always mentioned before John’s but John never complained. It means when someone’s name is mentioned first, we can still work together happily.

On the mount of transfiguration, Peter James, and John were there but at this reading (Acts 3), it was two men. It shows the power of two. Jesus sent his disciples in twos. We also see the power of two at work in the episodes of David and Jonathan and Aaron and Hur.

Other twos in the Bible: laziness goes with poverty; prides goes before a fall; unity goes with understanding; love goes with forgiveness; sacrifice goes with prosperity; and faith goes with miracles.

So, Peter and John at the hour of prayer were going to pray. At the gate called beautiful, the God who does more that we can think was present. The crippled man at the gate was nameless. Many major shakeups and shiftings come from people who have no names and I hear in my spirit that soon and very soon a heavy anointing will hit someone. May the Lord cause those without names to arise. The man had never walked, maybe from a congenital birth defect or from some trauma at birth. The man was lame but was positioned strategically. He had normal expectations but God expected to give a supernatural result.

My hero for the week is the son of the woman of Zarephath. How can your mother tell you that he is going to make a cake for the prophet when it was meant to be your last meal? And for Isaac, how can your father tell you that he is going to give a sacrifice when there is no lamb but you can see the knife and wood and fire? That must have taken an incredible amount of faith in the part of Isaac. May God cause us to be faith-filled after we have been faithful. Receive your portion in the name of Jesus.

Fathers of faith will never utter a negative thing. For Peter to look at a cripple and say, “Look at us…” They were going to the temple at the hour of prayer must come back. We must pray all day long. As Peter and John moved to the temple. The power of the Holy Ghost accompanied them. Every believer must know where he belongs and where he does not belong. What you need is more than silver and gold. May God banish poverty from among us. Jesus was anointed to preach the good news to be poor.

When Peter said he and his colleagues had worked all night, he knew what he was talking about. Jesus called forth an extraordinary occurrence. I know the man was going to stand up and walk but in Peter’s estimation he was delaying so he grabbed him and immediately, his ankles received strength and he, for the first time, jumped. He had never walked so he had to bypass all the steps you would normally have to go through. He needed a jump to overtake some people.

You will either be pitied or envied. It is better to be envied. When Lazarus was raised from the dead and he was reclining at the table with Jesus, he was envied. The people plotted to kill him because of it.