10/11/2022 0 Comments October 11, 2022
This Week's Teaching | Prayer Requests
Do You Feel "Lame" In Your Christian Walk?
Recently two of our churches were studying in Acts 4, where Peter and John healed a man who had been born lame.
As I considered it, I was given faith for how it might apply to people who seem to have been “born again lame.” I know that’s not a real thing, but we’ve all known people who have come to faith in Christ, but have never learned to walk victoriously in him. (And no doubt we’ve all experienced our own version of feeling lame at living out our faith.) The Gospels and Acts are filled with stories of God healing people. God heals. He can and he does. Sometimes he heals the physical body now, and for a time. But there is an ultimate healing that awaits each of us through our death and resurrection! Scripture tells us that our transformed bodies will be glorious, unlike anything any of us has ever seen! This is our real joy and eternal hope, even if for a time our bodies wear out. Now, it’s also true that God heals us spiritually. Anyone who calls out to him in faith will be given his Holy Spirit, and thereby renewed. It’s like being resurrected or reborn, as we lay down our lives, dying to self, and then becoming alive to him. Sometimes a person calls out to Jesus and it’s like they spiritually jump to their feet and dance around shouting Hallelujah! Other times it’s more like someone else recognizes their need along with a seed of faith, or a glimmer of hope. And then, in faith, they reach out and take the person by the hand to help them into the faith—to help them stand up victoriously in Christ. Both are well worn stories amplified in the praises of God’s people. My sense is that some of us probably feel like we were born again lame. Others of us are probably carrying the heartfelt burden of people we care about who have difficulty walking with Christ faithfully. Whichever position you find yourself in, please watch this week’s teaching with this in mind: God may be calling you to receive your spiritual healing by taking someone’s hand. And he may be calling you to heal someone else spiritually by taking their hand. I’ll teach next week about how we learn to walk, but it starts with standing to our feet. I believe God still heals, and he wants to heal all who are still spiritually lame. Please watch prayerfully. “They devoted themselves to prayer.”
Amen.
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AuthorRoger Shenk is the pastor of X242, a network of microchurches. Archives
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