" There was a man in Lystra who couldn’t walk. He sat there, crippled since the day of his birth. He heard Paul talking, and Paul, looking him in the eye, saw that he was ripe for God’s work, ready to believe. So he said, loud enough for everyone to hear, “Up on your feet!” The man was up in a flash—jumped up and walked around as if he’d been walking all his life."(13:8-10)
As you are reading this, I pray you don't miss the biggest part of the miracle. It isn't only he walked, but how.
"up in a flash"
"jumped up"
"walked around"
There are persons, who have lost their ability to walk, that have shared with me what an intense procedure they had to endure to gain that ability back. Their brain had to reprogram the muscles and nerves to do as instructed. They had to go through hours and hours of therapy, trying to bring "memory" back to those muscles, strength building for the muscles to hold them up, pain as the nerve endings came "alive" again. The persons who shared this with me, had once walked.
The man from Lystra, he had never taken a step.
There are so many miracles ABBA shows us throughout our days, our lives, and oft times we just cruise along completely missing them. The times we do see "one" miracle, is actually numerous ones flowing out through His Love for us. For me, the biggest miracle is the creation and birth of man and animals. To think they start out as a sperm and an egg. The sperm swimming to and penetrating itself into the egg and then the fertilized egg attaches itself to the womb wall. From those tiny separate vessels, growing into one miracle. A woman's body, able to nurture, stretch, hold, carry, a separate life within her. Her body preparing to bring forth a blessing - through the birth canal, several times smaller, which then shrinks back. Life sustaining milk being signaled to begin production. And then the infant or baby animal, growing and learning. What they know how to do, without being shown. Their brains - just by intake - knowing language, body functions, control, emotions.
Such a miracle worker is He.
This also brings to mind how He made me "new" through His Son, my Savior.
He instructs me to, "Get up and walk", going forth and making new Disciples.
How often am I "up in a flash" or hesitate using the lamest excuses. How often am I drawn back into the cripple I once was, laying there feeling sorry for myself and not "walking" with Him on this journey.
How often do I take for granted the miracle of His death and resurrection, for my sins, and not respond instantly nor react to the urgency of finding the lost?
The "key" to be a part of this and all other miracles, "Paul, looking him in the eye, saw that he was ripe for God’s work, ready to believe".
Ready to "become what he believed".
A person is able to go through all the therapy procedures, but without the right mindset and will-power, will not walk again. A person is able to learn all the instructions of making Disciples, but without falling "in" love with our ABBA, "leaping up" and walking with Him, they will fail.
It is my heart prayer I will be "up in a flash", doing as He desires of me. To be part of His miracle network, saving those who are crippled and helping them to walk.
To walk "in" Him.
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