Do you ever feel like you’re stuck? Perhaps it’s a career rut you just can’t seem to get out of or maybe it’s a past situation that is out of your control and you find it has held you back from moving forward. Maybe it’s an addiction, maybe it’s a disappointment in life that has now taken away all hope that you figure there is nothing else to do but just accept your reality and settle in the place where you’re at. I was recently reading and meditating in Acts chapter three. It’s about a lame man who was crippled from birth and for many years this man was carried to the temple steps where he would ask for money. Then one day, something extraordinary happened to him. God sent Peter and John along his path and when he asked for alms, they healed him instead. The Bible says that immediately he was able to rise and walk. I was thinking about how amazing this really was. You see, this man was dealt a bad hand. He was given a disability by birth. He did nothing to deserve that. But what’s interesting is that this man was carried everyday to the temple to beg. He had allowed himself and those he surrounded himself with to believe that this was his lot in life and therefore this was all he could ever do, beg. The scripture says he was carried. These people were enablers. Have you ever had people in your life that know your situation yet they tell you what you want to hear? They don’t ever give you a different perspective, they don’t push you to better yourself, no they just carry you around and by doing this they encourage you to stay stuck in your rut. The crippled man had gotten to the point where he accepted his situation as being his reality. His being born a crippled had become now what defined him. So to beg was his only option. However, God wanted to show him there was a better way to live. Instead of enablers, God sent Peter and John and they didn’t see a crippled man, no they saw his potential. He asked for money, they questioned why ask for that, when God wanted to bless him with something better. Sometimes our prayers are so limited, we ask for small things, when God wants us to remember who we’re talking to. There is nothing that is too great for our great God to handle. He wants to do much more than we can ever ask or imagine. Think about it, this crippled man for all those years, just asked for money, he never thought to ask for a healing? Maybe it never crossed his mind. He believed in his past circumstances and that was his reality. Peter and John saw past the physical limitations and saw this man’s true reality. I love how they tell him that by the name of Jesus of Nazareth he would be healed. Why did they say that? Remember, in the New Testament where Nathaniel asks,”Nazareth, what good can come from Nazareth “? It’s not that Nazareth had a bad rep but it was such a small blimp on the map. A rural town that had a population of maybe 600 people. No one would ever expect greatness to come from a small town such as that one. Yet, here was Jesus fulfilling the prophecy that the Messiah would come from there. Jesus could have let his humble origins to impact his destiny but he didn’t. Yes, Nazareth was his past but it wasn’t going to define Him. No, He knew who He really was. He was Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God. Peter and John by making this statement were in essence saying to this man, your past circumstances are not your identity anymore, it’s now what you are in Christ Jesus. For the first time this man finally saw the light and scripture says he was healed immediately. Not in two to five years or in some twelve week step program, no he was healed immediately. Sometimes when we are stuck in the same place for years it’s not that God has forgotten us, He’s waiting for the right moment, that when He delivers us, He is going to show off His glory and it’s impact on our lives and others will be tremendous. God loves to show off and it will always be for our benefit and for His glory. This man after his healing rose and was leaping with great joy , praising God telling others about what Jesus had done. When God delivers you, you will have a testimony and this man now had a powerful one. In chapter four it goes on to tell us that five thousand people came to put their trust in Christ because of this one man’s testimony. Just think what God can do with you. Where do you find yourself today? Are you stuck in a rut? Perhaps it’s been years and you’re wondering how much longer? Have you begun to accept your circumstances as your reality? Does your past define your identity? It doesn’t have to be. Avoid those friends that just want to carry you through life, look for the Peter and John’s in your life that will see your God given potential and push you to believe that God has something bigger and better. You may not see it yet but stay encouraged, your miracle is coming. Pick up your mat, rise and walk, your Jesus of Nazareth has spoken!
Acts 3:6-10
6 Then Peter said, “Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you: 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 So he, leaping up, stood and walked and entered the temple with them—walking, leaping, and praising God. 9 And all the people saw him walking and praising God. 10 Then they knew that it was he who sat begging alms at the Beautiful Gate of the temple; and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.
John 1:46
Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?” Nathanael asked. “Come and see,” said Philip.