“and saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: And in their hands they shall bear thee up, Lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.”
— ‭‭Matthew‬ ‭4‬:‭6‬‬

The devil can tempt using the scriptures, but does so out of context and to test and turn us away from God. Faith in God trusts, and does not need to test God to prove himself, for we are men, who are we to test or try God.

“Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; and saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.”
‭‭Matthew‬ ‭4‬:‭8‬-‭9‬ ‭KJV‬‬

Jesus knew His identity in God, that all of creation was His, the devil offers Jesus what is already rightfully his, but this is a way to obtain that apart from God’s path. Jesus’ path was to lead Him to the cross, a path of humility, suffering, pain and death, and He knew this, Satan, who know Jesus was the coming messiah, though did not know what exactly he was coming to accomplish or how, offered him the throne over all the kingdoms of the earth, to be a king the easy way. Jesus knew His ultimate task was to rescue us from sin and the consequences and bondage thereof, Satan may have only known Jesus was to be king of all the earth, not the sacrificial lamb.

Does God have plans for your life, do you have goals that the end result line up with God’s plan, but the path is not the one you would choose? The devil may tempt us with the goals we want, in a way that is separate from God and His plan, submit to God in all things and let Him guide your path. Sometimes the easy path in life, is the wrong path and is separate from the plan God has for you.

Give your plans and the desires of your heart to God, and ask for God to raise up godly friends to share council with in your life.

While reading the scriptures today, in John chapter 7, I was drawn to verse 27 which says this:

Howbeit we know this man whence he is : but when Christ cometh, no man knoweth whence he is.

The backstory of this verse is that Jesus was speaking in the temple at Galilee during the feast of tabernacles, and while he was preaching some of the Jews who had come from Jerusalem were wondering among themselves about Jesus, and who He was.

The people, particularly those who served as the priests, were so wrapped up in the words of prophecy and of the law, that they often missed the meaning, the same sometimes happens today.

We can become so engaged in the scriptures, as we should for the scriptures are given to us to guide and to encourage and to teach us, but we can become engrossed in the words, and trying to stick to them that we sometimes miss the Spirit.

Jesus said in John 5:39 to the Jews to search the scriptures, because in them they think they have eternal life, now there is a lot to unpack about this chapter, but I want to focus on this one point.

Jesus tells them that they will not come to him and have life, they can search and search the scriptures all they want, but they are missing the very one who the scriptures are pointing them towards.

How often do we study our bibles (which again is a very good thing) but we become so caught up in trying to understand hidden mysteries, that we miss the important thing right in front of us?

There are two commandments that stand above the rest, to love God and to love each other, these are the things we should focus on first and foremost, because when our eyes and our heart are on God, and we are truly seeking Him, and His will, and we are listening to His voice, He will guide us faithfully and truthfully.

Nicodemus was a Pharisee at that time, but he came to speak to Jesus in secret, because he knew something was different about Jesus, he knew that there was more than what those around him were seeing and experiencing, and he was willing to go and ask and learn.

The scriptures, like the sabbath, are there to help us, not to rule over us. Without the Spirit giving life to the scriptures, and the guiding voice of the Holy Spirit directing us, we can get ourselves tied up on the wrong thing in the scriptures, and miss the whole point of what God really wanted to show us.

There is so much written within the scriptures, they are the most complete single all encompassing text, but when we don’t rely on the spirit to show us truth, we can miss Jesus right in front of us, because we are wanting or expecting one thing and are unable or unwilling to accept that it might be something different.

Prayerful reading of the scriptures is one of the greatest ways to open yourself to God’s word, because when we are praying, we are connecting and communing with the one true God, and the one who wrote those scriptures.

Be blessed, and may you ever keep seeking a deeper love and connection with Jesus, the Father and the Holy Spirit.

How blessed we are that we do not have to travel far to a temple for a priest to pray for us, but we have an advocate at the right hand of the Father, interceding on our behalf, that we have the freedom to come before the throne of our Heavenly Father and to seek that personal relationship with our Creator the God most High.

Hebrews 4:10-12,14-16
For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his.
Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.
For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession.
For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.
Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.

We serve a mighty and wonderful God, who seeks a personal relationship with us, a God whose very heart is toward His people, desiring that none should perish but that we all would come to Him and find our way home.

We have all gone astray, missing the point of our existence and pursued hungrily and voraciously things not meant for us, things worthy of punishment and condemnation, but our God in His great mercy thought it not enough to justly punish us, but rather paved a way for us to find not only forgiveness, but restoration and reconciliation.

In times far off man was separated from God by our sins, but now we can approach God’s throne, through the bridge of the cross, not that the cross itself is anything, but what Jesus did and accomplished on the cross, bearing the weight of our iniquities on himself, bearing the burden of punishment, that we might have a hope.

Now, each of us can come to God as we are, and find love and a rest, for salvation belongs to those who believe.

God has never wanted His people to perish, we find the truth of this throughout the scriptures,

John 3:16-18; Ezekiel 18:32; 2 Peter 3:9 and many more.

Today we do not have to travel to make a sacrifice and ask a high priest to atone for our sins that we may be cleansed, for we have a better high priest, an eternal priest who sits at the right hand of the Father, who has washed us once and forever through the atoning power of His blood.

Now, we may with all boldness to the throne of the Father, and bring our petitions, requests, praise and worship, with joy and love in our hearts.

Be blessed brothers and sisters, and come this day boldly to your Father with whatever may be on your heart, knowing He hears you and desires to bless you, amen.

Nothing in this life is eternal. Nothing shall last forever. For good or bad, everything shall pass away.

Find comfort and peace in that, for if you are afflicted or if something is bad and ails you, it will not last forever, so endure with patience. There will be a day when you are free from that negative affliction.

And if there be something good you desire, but it eludes you and leaves you feeling forsaken or distraught you cannot claim it, be at peace for it too shall one day fade away.

Only one thing is eternal; and that is God. Seek Him and His joy, for everything else shall fade away. All the things of this world, whether for good or bad, are temporal and will one day cease, so while we may seek after good things, do not be broken in spirit when they do not find their way to you, for they are a temporary thing.

A question I woke up to this morning from a dear friend and brother in the Lord.

This question was a big one, and before I replied I spent some time meditating on it, while there is much we could say about pride, here was a starting point to answer that question.

Good question, big question too.

First, pride in the heart is a poison, pride was the sin of satan, he wanted to be above God, he thought he was stronger than God so he rebelled.

Pride was a part of the temptation of Adam and Eve, for Satan said that if they are the fruit they would be like God

The road of pride always leads us away from God, as it is the direct opposite of the nature of God, God who is above all things, greater than all creation, is humble by His nature, the only one who could have any right to be prideful in a sense, denies pride to walk in humility

When we become prideful, we put ourselves above others, we stop looking at how to improve ourselves, and we tear others down and beat them down

Pride also slowly corrupts, and becomes a door for the enemy to use to bring us off the path we should go

*Read through proverbs when you have time*

Isaiah 2:12
For the day of the LORD of hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty, and upon every one that is lifted up; and he shall be brought low:

Isaiah 13:11
And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible.

James 4:6
But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.

2 Timothy 3:2
For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,

1 Peter 5:5
Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble.

Romans 1:28-32
And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;
Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers,
Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents,
Without understanding, covenantbreakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful:
Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.

Proverbs 8:13
The fear of the LORD is to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I hate.

Proverbs 11:2
When pride cometh, then cometh shame: but with the lowly is wisdom.

1 John 2:16
For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.

Mark 7:21-22
For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders,
Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness:

So, why is pride bad? It is because pride stems from a wicked heart, it is a sin of the world, and does not come from the heart of the Father, but comes from sin.

Why is it a sin? Because it drives us away from who God wants us to be, the. Bike talks about how the proud in heart will be broken down

Pride causes us to use and hurt other people for our own sake, when we are full of pride, we stop being used by God, or allowing ourselves to be humble enough to do what He may ask of us

Now we come to the final word for this series, last post we talked about fear, and another word came up a lot during that time, reverence, so what is reverence exactly?

Referring back to the same dictionary we have been using, the word reverence is defined as such

1: a feeling of profound awe and respect and often of love; veneration.

2: an act of showing respect especially in obeisance.

To revere, is vastly different from fear

Fear, is a often negative emotion, but reverence is a respect and move for someone so powerful that it causes an impact on behavior.

To revere the Holy God of all creation is not to be afraid of a powerful malicious malignant being, but to recognize and respect the severe discrepancy and enormity of a simple truth

The God who created all that is, who is Holy, where we are sinful, who is all powerful, where we are weak, deserves to be respected and worshipped as such.

The Bible tells us, without God we can do no good thing, reverence for God is born not out of a place of fear, but if genuine understanding of who God is, and His Holy nature and how that correlates to us as His create beings.

Reverence comes from acknowledging just how much greater our God is than we are, and seeing that truth. It is not fear, it is awe, respect, and should drive us into obedience, obeisance, love, and veneration.

To see God for who He is, should lead us to worship, and to worship properly, in spirit and in truth, a place of perfect love where there is no fear, for perfect love (God is love) casts out fear.

The English word Fear or a form of fear is used in the KJV Bible over 500 times, with 18 different words in the Hebrew language being translated as fear. Clearly this is an important topic, so what does the Bible mean when it talks about fear?

First, what does the English language define fear as?

Let’s go back to the New American heritage dictionary that we have been using, fear is ascribed the following definitions:

1: a feeling of alarm or disquiet caused by the expectation of danger, pain, disaster, or the like. Terror; dread; apprehension.

2: an instance or manifestation of such a feeling.

3: a state or condition of alarm or dread.

4: extreme reverence or awe.

5: A ground for dread or apprehension.

Or also: to be in awe of; revere.

What about the 18 Hebrew words?

In every instance where God is speaking with His people and mentions fear in regards to their view of Him, the proper word would be reverence or awe, not a sense of terror or dread.

Fear, in regards to God, is not about being scared, terrified, afraid or worried, stressed or in dread of Him or His actions, but that rather we should stand in awe of Him.

Is there a place for fear? Absolutely; those who do not have a relationship with God may feel fear, but fear is not for the believer. Fear was not for the children of Israel, even those who struggled with doubt and sin, fear was for those who stood at war with God’s people, and even then it was a fear, a dread of the Israelites.

Fear of eternal damnation can lead us to seek a way out, fear of punishment, but even this fear is not fear or dread of God, but a fear of the consequences of one’s own actions and lifestyle choices.

Fear, can lead us to seek a way to avoid what we are afraid of, we should never fear God, but fear a life lived outside of or away from God, if we are to have fear let it rather be of a fear of the consequences of sin, a fear or being an enemy of God and what that will look like, but again fear has no place for the believer.

Perfect love casts out fear

There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.

1 John 4:18

What is mercy? Mercy can be described as compassionate treatment especially of those under one’s power, kind and compassionate treatment of an offender, enemy, prisoner or any other under your authority, clemency, a disposition to be kind and forgiving, something for which to be thankful or a fortunate occurrence, or a blessing.

Is there a biblical difference in mercy? Let’s see.

Unger’s Bible dictionary defines mercy as

“Mercy is a form of love determined by the state or condition of its objects. Their state is one of suffering and need, while they may be unworthy or ill-deserving . Mercy is at once the disposition of love respecting such, and the kindly ministry of love for their relief.” (A quote from Miley, syst. Theoly., I, 209, 210). The expression, “I will have mercy not sacrifice,” indicates that God is pleased with the exercise of mercy rather than the offering of sacrifices “, though sin has made the latter necessary. Mercy is a Christian grace, and is very strongly urged toward all men.

We will then look at mercy from God to man, and mercy from man to man

God, has every right to judge man for our misdeeds, we are all under the authority of God, as He is the sovereign, the sole creator, and the only pure, righteous and perfect judge.

All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, therefore we are all worthy of judgement, but it is the nature of God to be merciful, and so He in His goodness and mercy, extends mercy to each and every one of us, it is only by His mercy that any of us are able to escape from the fiery judgement which we are all worthy.

We have all broken God’s law, and therefore we are all under the authority to be judged by the lone lawgiver, but He offers us mercy, and His desire is that we would all accept His mercy.

2 Peter 3:9
The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

God’s mercy is without limit, is offered freely and openly to all, and is the only thing that can save us from our path to destruction. God is not required to offer mercy, in fact that’s the beauty of mercy, mercy is not earned, but is given solely by the one who has the authority and power to judge the one under their authority.

What about mercy of men? How can we showcase mercy? are we obligated to show mercy? Is mercy love, or love in action? Can one love and not show mercy? Some of these questions will be answered in another post as we compare love and mercy, but for now we will tackle obligatory mercy and how we can showcase mercy.

This life gets hard, and it gets messy, and hurt people tend to hurt people. We are all in some measure broken and hurting, and that pain, that hurt and that brokenness can lead us to hurt others, whether we mean to or not.

People, even with the best of intentions can still hurt other people, and when we are hurt it can be easy for us to want to exact vengeance, to see the other person pay for their hurt they have caused, and sometimes it can be within our means to requite them if their wrongdoing.

These moments, when we are fully justified for wanting someone to pay for their wrong, both in the eyes of man and God, we can choose to have someone pay. Nobody would judge us for exercising our right to seek just recompense, it is reasonable, right and just.

In those moments however, we can offer mercy. Where judgement should be, we can choose to offer mercy, it is not required, often it is misunderstood and can be mocked and hated of the world, but mercy, when extended, can be life changing, behavior impacting, and Christ like.

Do we have to choose the path of mercy? No, there are times when the wrongs done to us truly are worthy of judgement and we have the right to seek out justice and judgement, now many instances we may desire justice for slights that are not worthy of justice, where it is out of our flesh and our selfish desire that we seek for others to hurt for what we presume to be slights, but there are also slights and wrongs worthy of harsh judgement.

Those moments, when someone truly wrongs us to the point of having genuine aught against them, and have a right to seek recompense, we have a choice of seeking out that retribution that their behavior merits, or we can choose to show mercy. In those instances where there is a path, and a choice, we get to choose right judgement without fault, or we can choose mercy, only God can be the judge over us in those moments. We will see, there are times where Christians can execute harsh judgement and we see God not imparting judgement on them for it.

Now, lest I leave any confused, and it sounds like an opportunity to hold onto grudges, there are a great, and I dare say most, offenses, slights and transgressions we suffer at the hands of others, both within the body of Christ, and without, do not deserve judgement; they are slight misgivings that hurt our pride more than cause real harm, these do not fall under items that justify judgement.

Only the feelers injuries permit harsh judgement, but slights that wound our feelings or pride do not give us such justification, or else everyone will run around holding grudges over the smallest of thing, of which should have no place amongst the body of believers, but in all things we should esteem others better than ourselves (Philippians 2:3
Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.)

Rather, mercy should always be the path chosen, and we should keep infighting and forgiveness amongst the household of faith, for the eyes of the world are always on us, watching how we behave ourselves, and by our love they will know we are Christ’s disciples.

Be blessed brothers and sisters, to all the dear saints who read this, may the grace and mercy of Christ be with you and in you. May you be strengthened to endure this life of trouble we wrestle with until the day of our glorious ascension when we take our place in the heavens where this is no variance or dissimulation.

Let God’s grace fill you to your brim that your cup may overflow, stand strong in the unity of the faith with all those who are called by Christ’s name. Amen.

Over the next few posts we are going to be looking at several major themes, but even before that we are going to do a study on the word for each theme. The reason for this is so we have a clear understanding of the word we are trying to look at. Unfortunately in our modern world, many words are starting to lose their definition, a clear sense of meaning and precise nature of a word.

So, before we look into our subjects, such as love vs mercy; love vs fear; and love to reverence, we need to clearly define and understand those words. Love, like so many other words, has been losing its definition,

The 1975 The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language New college edition, ISBN 0-395-20360-0, has a great definition of the word love.

1: an intense affectionate concern for another person.

In our modern society we use love to represent acceptance of everything, pure affirmation and confirmation, to many of the modern Americans love no lingers means concern for another, it means you have to accept and approve of them, and more importantly you have to approve of whatever they believe or think, or else you do not love them.

This is not true, love is deeper than just acceptance and affirmation, love is a deep yearning and care for the well being of another person, and if we truly love someone and they are in self destructive behavior or desires, our job is not to approve of that behavior but to love them through it, to be there for them, to walk with them, to show compassion and care; but never to accept or promote that which is wrong.

The Bible gives us another definition of love as well:

“Love suffereth long, and is kind; love envieth not; love vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not its own, is not provoked, taketh not account of evil; rejoiceth not in unrighteousness, but rejoiceth with the truth; beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. Love never faileth…”
‭‭1 Corinthians‬ ‭13‬:‭4‬-‭8‬ ‭ASV‬‬

“This is my commandment, that ye love one another, even as I have loved you. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.”
‭‭John‬ ‭15‬:‭12‬-‭13‬ ‭ASV‬‬

Even amidst the powerful message of biblical love, one thing remains evident, true love is about caring more about the well being of the one you love than you care about your own well being.

If you see someone walking a path that leads to destruction, love does not encourage that behavior, but challenges it, shows mercy, compassion, care and grace to that individual through that journey, to bring them out of it, not that they might abide in it and follow the path whose ways lead to hell, death and the grave.

If I see someone running towards a cliff, and they have a blindfold on, is it love to let them continue running in that direction? Even if they love the direction they are heading? God forbid, lest I tell them not that there journey leads to destruction and warn them not, their blood becoming required at my hand who knew but did nothing to warn them, moreover if I let them go that way it shows a lack of love, as not warning them shows I do not care for their well-being.

Love then, is not blindly affirming what someone desires in the moment, but is more concerned about their well being, not the short term emotional happiness, which changes day by day.

As a parent I love my children, and there are times my child desires strongly things that is not good for them, things that can hurt them, and when I deny them it they cry and become upset, because they think I am being mean or harsh; but it is because I care I protect them from things that can hurt them, even to the point of them being upset with me, this is a clear picture of what love truly is.

Love cares more for the well-being of another, to the point of being willing to die for them at its highest level. Love is intense, burning, affectionate, cares deeply, sees the best in what could be, but love does not allow one to injure themselves in self gratification and pleasure, because it cares too much too allow that.

I was recently watching a TurningPoint USA debate featuring the late Charlie Kirk, and he was talking with twins born of IFV about his stance on it, during the video I had this reflection.

I have often in my personal life looked at 1 Samuel 15:23 which states that rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft. The short explanation behind this is as follows

Witchcraft is not about rituals and magic, witchcraft seeks the power of God, apart, seperate and without God. Witchcraft is the desire to have God’s power for yourself, which brings us to rebellion as we become at enmity with God.

You see, humanity often desires to have the power of God, but we want things our way, we want our will and our desire, even when we see the examples of witchcraft throughout the scripture it is those who want godly supernatural power without having to rely on the one true God.

It’s not unlike those who worship other gods, we want things our way and the way we want them, regardless of God’s plan for our lives. But what does this have to do with IVF? In the video, the point is made that IVF seeks to usurp the natural order of sex leads to children, by having children without sex, the 180 of abortion, but both are in opposition to the natural order.

Now, before i continue I will say, I understand that infertility, sterilization, and struggling to conceive are extremely mentally hard on those who suffer from them, and I do not want to seem calloused and uncaring, that is not the case.

Infertility, even in today’s society can be extremely difficult for people to cope with, and this post is not to shame, hurt or attack anyone who struggles to conceive, it is simply to look more into the topic of IFV, and truly this same line of thinking can expand to other topics as well.

When we take matters into our own hands, and remove God, we become dangerously close to walking in rebellion, and when we remove God but seek to gain the results we desire without God, but need godlike power to receive that which we desire, we tread the line of witchcraft and rebellion, and which by there definition are acting in rebellion to God but still desiring that power for ourselves.

Has IVF lead to beautiful things by giving families that couldn’t conceive children? Yes, is that beautiful and life? Yes. Are we walking a thin line of what is right and what is witchcraft? I believe so.

I believe in a God who is still working miracles today like He has throughout human history, I believe that those who struggle to conceive can find hope in a God who heals, restores, blesses, opens closed wombs, and works mighty miracles, even more important, when we are in those deep struggles, and we open our hearts to Him, He can draw us nearer to Him in that time, but when we take it upon ourselves to seek that power and not need God, we walk a dangerous line of denying Him.

Why do we see less miracles in the west than over seas? I believe the answer lies in the following, we have a weakened sense of faith when it comes to miracles, we don’t believe in them as strong as those over seas, and we have denied the need for miracles by taking power into our own hands.

Why do we need a God to heal the lame, give sight to the blind, open wombs, hearing to the deaf, cleanse lepers and so on, when we have the power to do it ourselves without God?

Is suffering the Will of God for our lives? No, I do not believe that God desires our suffering in this life, but desires to give us good, and I know many struggle to find healing despite many hours of prayer, and that this topic is highly sensitive and controversial, but I also believe healing comes in at God’s timing and will and not our own.

I will close with two biblical miracles and what I believe a part of those are, and that they show why sometimes a miracle can be delayed from our perspective. Keep in mind, everything we see in this life we see with much of our attention being focused on ourselves, not on God’s larger plan most of which we will never see or understand this side of heaven, hence why faith and trust in God are far above our own plans and understanding.

And he took the mantle of Elijah that fell from him, and smote the waters, and said, Where is the LORD God of Elijah? and when he also had smitten the waters, they parted hither and thither: and Elisha went over. And when the sons of the prophets which were to view at Jericho saw him, they said, The spirit of Elijah doth rest on Elisha. And they came to meet him, and bowed themselves to the ground before him. 2 kings 2:14-15.

Now when God performed this miracle for Elisha, it served two functions, it marked to the observer that as God was with Elijah so would he be with Elisha, and it also served to enforce the faith of Elisha and to show him that God was with him as well.

Now Peter and John went up together into the temple at the hour of prayer, being the ninth hour. 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; Who seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple asked an alms. And Peter, fastening his eyes upon him with John, said, Look on us. And he gave heed unto them, expecting to receive something of them. 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. And he took him by the right hand, and lifted him up: and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength. And he leaping up stood, and walked, and entered with them into the temple, walking, and leaping, and praising God. And all the people saw him walking and praising God: 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. 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. Acts 3: 1-11

Now it is extremely unlikely that Jesus never walked by the crippled man, I can almost guarantee He did, so why did He never heal the man? Well, much like the miracle of Elisha, when Peter and John called for healing the miracle marked several things, it increased the faith of Peter and John I am sure, it also confirmed the words spoken of by Jesus, and marked the passing of the miracle working power of the Holy Spirit to the believers.

It honored and glorified God, and while it would have honored or glorified God either way, had Jesus healed the man, or Peter, though truly it isn’t Peter that healed the man but God using Peter, God’s timing allowed it to confirm the words of Jesus, and the passing of the ministry to the apostles.

How often do we expect miracles in our timing? Had Jesus healed the man he would have been walking and working weeks ahead of what happened, but then the miracle of Peter and John would never have been. The miracle wasn’t just for the lame man, it was for those who saw, and it was for Peter and John as well, so it is today, miracles that happen for the benefit of one are rarely for the benefit of one, but of many, and if you’re not receiving your miracle, don’t lose faith but trust in God’s timing and will.

Think of the testimonies we can be taking away when we decide to take matters into our own hands and instead of giving God room to work a miracle, we seek after the power to make our own, and therefore remove the testimony of God in that circumstance. Think of the testimony we take away when we choose to make our own way instead of choosing to love God and walk in faith regardless of circumstance.

When we choose the way of godlike power without God, we make our God look weak to the world, but when we suffer for His sake, we gather for ourselves treasures we cannot fathom. When we make a way for God to work miracles, He still can even in this day; but it comes down to His will and His time, and never our own.