I recently read Acts chapter three, and was moved to consider the role we play in the furtherance of God’s Kingdom in the world. I was humbled and convicted when I was reminded that it is not by our goodness or our power that we advance God’s Kingdom.
In Acts chapter three Peter and John heal a lame beggar sitting outside the Temple. The beggar, easily recognizable to those around because daily he sat outside and asked for alms, began clinging to Peter and John. Once the crowd realized that Peter and John had healed him, they began to gather in wonder. It is Peter’s response that moved my heart:
“Men of Israel, why do you wonder at this, or why do you stare at us, as though by our own power or piety we have made him walk? The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified his servant Jesus, whom you delivered over and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he had decided to release him. But you denied the Holy and Righteous One, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, and you killed the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead. To this we are witnesses. And his name—by faith in his name—has made this man strong whom you see and know, and the faith that is through Jesus has given the man this perfect health in the presence of you all.” - Acts 3:12-16
It is not by our own power or piety that we do anything in God’s Kingdom. It is only in his name – by faith in his name – that we do anything. Praise Jesus that he grants us the privilege of the empowering work of the Holy Spirit. And that threw the name of Jesus; we can have any ministry at all.
In Acts chapter three Peter and John heal a lame beggar sitting outside the Temple. The beggar, easily recognizable to those around because daily he sat outside and asked for alms, began clinging to Peter and John. Once the crowd realized that Peter and John had healed him, they began to gather in wonder. It is Peter’s response that moved my heart:
“Men of Israel, why do you wonder at this, or why do you stare at us, as though by our own power or piety we have made him walk? The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified his servant Jesus, whom you delivered over and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he had decided to release him. But you denied the Holy and Righteous One, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, and you killed the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead. To this we are witnesses. And his name—by faith in his name—has made this man strong whom you see and know, and the faith that is through Jesus has given the man this perfect health in the presence of you all.” - Acts 3:12-16
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