Believe It or Not

 DEVOTION

THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES

BELIEVE IT OR NOT

Acts 3:11-16

11 While the beggar held on to Peter and John, all the people were astonished and came running to them in the place called Solomon's Colonnade. 12 When Peter saw this, he said to them: "Men of Israel, why does this surprise you? Why do you stare at us as if by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk? 13 The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his servant Jesus. You handed him over to be killed, and you disowned him before Pilate, though he had decided to let him go. 14 You disowned the Holy and Righteous One and asked that a murderer be released to you. 15 You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead. We are witnesses of this. 16 By faith in the name of Jesus, this man whom you see and know was made strong. It is Jesus' name and the faith that comes through him that has given this complete healing to him, as you can all see.

NIV

This should give us the clue to how we should live. Peter knew he and John had no power within themselves. In fact, not only do we not have any power, but we have no righteousness of our own. Everything is about Jesus. Peter makes that clear in his explanation of why this crippled man is now walking. It is the name of Jesus and the faith that comes through him that gives complete healing to the man who was once lame, but is no longer. That is the question we must ask ourselves when we face an infirmity. Do we have faith in the name of Jesus for a complete healing? We wonder if sometimes we would rather just talk about our infirmity, even comparing ours with others, to see who has the worst one, or more pain and suffering. We may complain at times, so others will feel bad for us. The point is, have we accepted our crippled state, not looking, with the measure of faith God has given us, to Jesus, or using the power in the name of Jesus to have a complete healing? Do we really believe? If not, why not? We know our spirits have been healed. Once we lived in the darkness, and at some time in our lives, the Spirit came to lead us into the Light of Jesus, and we were changed from being dead to having life. That is the grandest healing of all, yet within our bodies we may experience many problems, sickness, diseases, infirmities, and pain. Maybe that is just part of the aging process, or maybe it is the lack of believing in the power of the name of Jesus. Peter asked the men of Israel why a healing in the name of Jesus should surprise them.  If we saw or experienced a complete divine healing in the name of Jesus, would we be surprised? It still comes down to one point: it is Jesus' name and the faith that comes through him that gives complete healing. We either believe it or not.