Volume 1 April 2000 Issue 3
1 Now Peter and John went up together into the temple at the hour of prayer, being the ninth hour. 2 And a certain man lame from his mother's womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, to ask alms of them that entered into the temple; 3 Who seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple asked an alms. 4 And Peter, fastening his eyes upon him with John, said, Look on us. 5 And he gave heed unto them, expecting to receive something of them. 6 Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk. 7 And he took him by the right hand, and lifted him up: and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength. 8 And he leaping up stood, and walked, and entered with them into the temple, walking, and leaping, and praising God. 9 And all the people saw him walking and praising God: 10 And they knew that it was he which sat for alms at the Beautiful gate of the temple: and they were filled with wonder and amazement at that which had happened unto him. 11 And as the lame man which was healed held Peter and John, all the people ran together unto them in the porch that is called Solomon's, greatly wondering.
One of the main problems that we as Christians have to deal with is that of our own limitations. We view nearly everything in our life based on our environment, circumstances, education or some physical difficulty. These could be called road blocks and in some cases, they may even be strong holds that the enemy, Satan has successfully put in our way. Whatever the situation, if as a Christian you feel you have reached a plateau or a wall in your walk with the Lord continue to read and allow the Holy Spirit to minister the Word to you.
Many times the limitations or I could say most of the time the limitations we have are placed there by our own mind. We say that we cannot proceed or achieve something because of…. And we name what ever it is. However, God has not limited us. Just the opposite. He has given everything we need to accomplish and achieve our destiny.
You may be wondering about now what has the above scripture, which is about physical healing, to do with my destiny and going beyond my limitations. Well, that is what we are about to see.
For many years as a minister, I also viewed this scripture to be solely about healing. But, to my amazement as I was meditating on these verses one evening, the Holy Spirit opened to me a much broader view. As with many scriptures, the historical application can be applied to many areas due to the principals that the scripture teaches. It is in that direction we shall venture.
A Normal Day
There was nothing out of the ordinary on this particular day. Nothing that would have caused any of the people to know or think that something miraculous was about to happen. I must stop here and make a statement, as believers; we should live in a state of EXPECTANCY. Always expecting God to do something miraculous. Now back to the story.
Peter and John as was their normal routine going to the temple to pray. This was something they did every day about this time. Peter and John had learned that it was important to have a time of prayer regularly. Jesus had successfully taught them that it was something that one did as a believer. Therefore, they always made this time, and probably other times also to pray.
It says in verse two that there was a certain lame man that was placed daily at the gate of the temple. Notice it says DAILY. Remember now that Peter and John also went DAILY to the temple to pray. Three people who were daily at the temple, one to beg, the others to pray.
It is very possible that Peter and John while going in to pray had seen or even encountered the lame man begging at the gate. I believe that the lame man begging had often seen Peter and John coming in to pray. The difference is that this man's destiny was about to change. Possibly, he had even prayed at some point about having a different life. I am sure he had thought about what it would be like to walk and not have to beg.
He,As many of us, have resigned to a feeling that this is what life is and I will never go beyond this. We possibly have even had it preached to us that this is our cross to bare and/or our lot in life. That is a lie. God has from the beginning wanted you to be successful and prosperous in all that you do. God does not put limitations in your life that will keep you from reaching your destiny and serving Him. We are the ones who have accepted these limitations and resigned in our thinking that this is it - "Whatever will be will be" thinking.
Notice it says of the lame man, "seeing Peter and John… asked an alms." It is interesting to note that the word seeing here means to finally perceive or discover. This leads me to understand that this man had seen them before but something different was occurring. He became fixed on them and perceived that they were going to give something to him. I believe that God moved in him to fix his eyes on Peter and John. God was about to point this man toward his destiny. God was about to change this man's life forever. Nothing was going to be the same from this moment on.
That is the way it is when God gets ready to move you into your destiny. He will cause you to fix on something or someone. He will get your attention suddenly. When you possibly have resigned to the fact that this is your life, God will begin to rearrange it for you. He will place you in a situation that will alter your thinking process.
When the lame man looked on Peter and John the first thought was probably "ok, these guys are going to really give me alms. I cannot take my eyes off them so it must be really big." Have we not been in some similar situation? We look for one thing only to get something else. Can I tell you something? Most of the time what we think is our destiny is not our destiny at all. Where we think our destiny is; may not be our destiny at all. We become so busy looking for what we think is our destiny that we cannot see what God really wants. It is like the old saying, "cannot see the forest for the trees." I will tell you this, that God does have a destiny for you and it is even beyond what you might think. It certainly was for this lame man.
Two Interesting Points
First it says that the man was lame. The word used here that has been interpreted as lame comes from a couple of words that in the Greek actually mean "beging under" and "deprived". This certainly describes the man at the gate. There he sat day after day begging alms with feelings of being under appreciated and deprived of so much in life. Many believers see themselves as not appreciated and deprived of much. Limited in what they can do. Limited in life from ever being able to find their dreams and aspirations. Maybe looking for their dream but because of a feeling of being inferior we let our dreams and hopes escape and die. This man had dreams of walking, not begging and living a productive life. This word lame here can also me "not productive." Not feeling that we have added to this world and that when we leave we will be soon forgotten. Possibly even feeling that if we were gone, things might be better for some. They would not have to pass us by as they go their way. This is not what God wants for us. He does not want us deprived and non productive.
Secondly, we see the word Beautiful given as the name of the gate. Every day this man sat at this gate called beautiful begging alms. Never going beyond the gate. Always setting just outside it. I find something interesting in the meaning of the word used here for beautiful. It means blooming or beautiful and always used when referring to the human body. Here is a word that is normally used to describe or characterize the human body being given to an inanimate object. I believe that the Holy Spirit inspired Luke to use just this word to tell us that we must pass beyond our state of being non productive, of being lame. God wants us to be blooming and beautiful. In other words our destiny is to be productive. We need to get up by reaching out to what God has sent to us to change our destiny. We need to begin seeing ourselves differently. We need to begin seeing ourselves as God sees us.
This also speaks about our humanity. Many believers, myself included from time to time getting past our humanity. We need to realize that God, Eloheim, the very triune Godhead made us in His image. When we were born again, God placed within us His Spirit. The very Holy Spirit that raised Christ from the dead, now abides in us. The very same dunamis power, that dynamic power that exist only by, through and with God, is in us. We need to begin seeing ourselves not in our limited humanity. We must go beyond that and say what God says. Until that man at the gate beautiful said to himself when their hands were reached out to him, "I will arise", he just sat there in his humanity never passing beyond his limited existence.
God tells each one of us that we can do all things through His son Jesus Christ. It is Christ that strengthens us. When we, in our on limited humanity are weak, He is strong. We are anointed with the same power.
When the lame man reached out, he was not reaching to someone in mere limited humanity. He was reaching out to the power of God that was going to change him and point him toward his destiny. His destiny was not to set at some gate, lame and deprived. His destiny was to arise and go forth in the name of Christ whole and without limits.
The enemy of God, Satan, does not want us to know any of this, and will try to keep us blinded to this truth. We can see many instances in the Word where men and women went beyond their own selves and walked in the strength of the Lord. It is true that within ourselves we can not do much. However, we do not walk after the manner of the flesh, but after the manner of the Spirit of the eternal and omnipotent God. In Him, we are not limited. We can walk through whatever gate that has been placed in our path if we will but look to the power of God that is within us.
Gate, in the Word also at times represents a place of plans and schemes. Remember where it is said Jesus will build His Church and the gates of hell will not prevail? The Gate of the city was a place where business men of the day would set and transact business. They made plans and they made decisions at that gate. Well, through this, the Lord is telling us that none of the plans or schemes of hell will be successful against us, the Church. Satan cannot keep you from your destiny, he does not have that kind of power, unless you let him. He is a defeated foe. You have power over the enemy of your destiny. Jesus Christ gave you all power over the enemy when He ascended on high.
Reach out. Listen to the Holy Spirit when He speaks truth in your heart. Get up from where you are and go beyond the limits that you have placed against yourself and move toward the destiny that God has for you. Seek His face and He will show Himself to you.