A Crippled Man Can Walk

While they were at Lystra, Paul and Barnabas came upon a man with crippled feet. He had been that way from birth, so he had never walked. He was sitting and listening as Paul preached. Looking straight at him, Paul realized he had faith to be healed.  So Paul called to him in a loud voice, “Stand up!” And the man jumped to his feet and started walking.

Acts 14:8-10 NLT

  I have struggled with illness most of my life. It all began when I was 12. I contracted viral meningitis from the tuba player who was with me in the school band. At the time I played the clarinet. He died along with 4 others, one was only 2 years old. I was the only young person to survive. Little did I know at the time that the meningitis had damaged my pituitary, thyroid, and adrenal glands. As I look back I realize that my personality changed immediately. I started to suffer from depression, and as time went on I would medicate myself with drugs, alcohol, and cigarettes to try and escape this the symptoms that were slowly destroying me. I suffered for 28 years until one day while driving I blacked out and was subsequently diagnosed and prescribed proper medication.

This man from Lystra was crippled from birth. He couldn’t take it anymore.  He had never walked a step in his life. Back then disabled people usually sat, out of the way in a public place, begging for alms and food as people passed by. This man heard Paul speaking and believed what he spoke. God in His infinite wisdom never seams to heal someone merely for the sake of healing. There is always a life lesson to be learned. He always has a special purpose for the healing, some deeper spiritual meaning that makes itself apparent over time.

This man from Lystra, and I have a lot inn common. The Bible doesn’t tell us what happened to this man during the rest of his life, but I am certain that he stood for Christ. He is a good example of a sinner.  For Christians the word “walk” in the Bible stands for a way of life, or “The Way.” They walk in the light of the Word of God. Unbelievers walk in darkness.

The light shines in the darkness,
and the darkness can never extinguish it. God sent a man, John the Baptist, to tell about the light so that everyone might believe because of his testimony. John himself was not the light; he was simply a witness to tell about the light.  John 1:5-7 NLT

  I know for a fact God had His hand in healing me.  For those many years I was a stubborn hardheaded, self indulging fool who placed my will over everyone else’s. This turn around I made was not a coincidence. While I was blacked out, tooling down the road in my automobile, a woman who I assumed at the time was a jogger, tapped me on the shoulder and asked, “Are you okay.” When I didn’t respond she said, “ I will go get you some help.” Fifteen seconds later I crashed into 2 parked cars.  Police and  firemen came to the scene and some time later I was able to move and speak again, I asked one of the police officers what happened to the lady who was speaking to me when I was rolling down the road and he exclaimed, “ What lady, you were doing at least 25 miles per hour when you hit the parked cars.”

I had been going to doctors for years trying to find out what was wrong with me. I would be hospitalized at least once a year. They ran countless tests on me, to no avail. When I was admitted this time a young doctor walked up to me and told me, “ I think I know what your problem is. You see, your eyebrows don’t extend as far as they should, and you have excess wrinkles under your eyes. Let me run a couple of tests, and I will be back with you in the morning.” After all that I had been through, after the many days I had been hospitalized,  there was no way I was going to believe the word of this young doctor. He came back the next morning and said, “My diagnosis was right. I am going to put you on some medication that will solve your problems. You shouldn’t black out anymore.” Lo and behold, he was right. I noticed a difference the very first day. You see  I had been 40 pounds underweight and had the energy level of a snail. All of a sudden all that changed.

My problems, however were not yet over. Through the years of depression I had separated myself from God and found myself in a state of emptiness that was unbearable. On November 8th, 1997, I got down on my hands and knees and cried out to the Lord for help. Little did I know I was changed instantly.  Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you,  who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.  1 Peter 1:6-9 ESV

There are many reasons why we rejoice in the light of our salvation. The crippled man from Lystra walked by faith,  he overcame by faith and he lived by faith . Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life. John 5:24 Through our faith in Jesus Christ we are not condemned anymore. There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. Romans 8:1 Our sins are forgiven.  I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for His name’s sake. 1 John 2:12 We have peace with God. For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell,  and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross.

 For God in all his fullness
was pleased to live in Christ,  and through him God reconciled
everything to himself.
He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth
by means of Christ’s blood on the cross. This includes you who were once far away from God. You were his enemies, separated from him by your evil thoughts and actions. Colossians 1:20-22 NLT

We receive these promises through faith and through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ through Bible study and prayer.  To have victory in this new life we have to be constantly in an attitude of prayer. We carry on a conversation with God on a continual basis. I can assure you there is nothing too trivial about your life that would not be of interest to God and there is nothing too big in your life that He can’t handle. We must take in the Word of God for our own use. We must take on its appearance. His Word must be a part of our very being. When we eat food it becomes a part of us. When we read the Bible, it becomes all of us. When we simulate the Word of God it is received into our hearts and it saves our soul. People don’t change themselves. People don’t change people. It is the Bible that changes people, the living Word of God.

  It is not enough for a Christian to be satisfied with salvation. We were created for a purpose, so we should ever be alert to the needs of others. We should be on the lookout for the poor, and listening for the call of the needy. Looking after the temporary needs of another human being is a good way to reach their heart. While we attend to their needs it gives us an opportunity to share the Gospel Of Jesus Christ. Giving others what God has given to us is one of the greatest joys on this earth.

I know what you are thinking. You are saying to yourself that you can’t do that. You are not trained to minister to the needs of other people. You are not equipped to share the Word of God with someone else. I, too, believed the same as you and I found out otherwise. I am a roofer. I haven’t any formal education whatsoever, but here you are reading an article I wrote. Some of the greatest pastors this world has ever known have  never been to seminary. Dwight L. Moody lead thousands to Christ. He started the Moody Bible Institute, and he was one of the founding fathers of the YMCA. He was a shoe salesman. Billy Graham, along with thousands of other ministers over the last 100 years, went to his seminary. I believe the most difficult thing is to convince someone that reading your Bible on a daily basis will change you. It will change you the first day, and it will change you the 5,000th day. The Bible is the inerrant Word of God, and when you read it on a daily basis the Holy Spirit reworks you heart, soul and mind.

He saved us, not because of the righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He washed away our sins, giving us a new birth and new life through the Holy Spirit.  He generously poured out the Spirit upon us through Jesus Christ our Savior. Because of his grace he declared us righteous and gave us confidence that we will inherit eternal life.”. Titus 3:5-7 NLT

All of us, left alone to our own will and our own way, will go the way of the world every time.  Common  sense will not lead you to Jesus Christ. Your intellectual ability will not lead you to Jesus Christ. Many of us here in the United States live under the most favorable conditions there are on earth  to develop a relationship with Jesus Christ. We live in the freest society that has ever existed. Access to the Bible is as easy as a stroke of a keyboard.  We are the most enlightened group of people who have ever lived on this earth, but given over to our own will we shall fail hopelessly.  Our actions are evidence enough that we need a Divine Power to direct our affairs. By allowing us to walk in our own way God will prove once and for all that in the end our way leads to total destruction and unless Jesus Christ returns to this earth there will be no flesh left.

 It is impossible for us to comprehend the wonder, the goodness, the majesty of God. He takes great joy in blessing us, if we will allow Him to do so. He doesn’t have to treat us with such kindness. He could easily turn all our blessings into judgment leaving us to our own desolation.  How many of us go through an entire day without one thought of God ‘s love for us.  In Proverbs 1:22-31 we read this warning:

  “How long, you simpletons, will you insist on being simpleminded? How long will you mockers relish your mocking? How long will you fools hate knowledge? Come and listen to my counsel. I’ll share my heart with you and make you wise. “I called you so often, but you wouldn’t come.I reached out to you, but you paid no attention. You ignored my advice and rejected the correction I offered. So I will laugh when you are in trouble!
  I will mock you when disaster overtakes you— when calamity overtakes you like a storm, when disaster engulfs you like a cyclone, and anguish and distress overwhelm you. “When they cry for help, I will not answer. Though they anxiously search for me, they will not find me. For they hated knowledge and chose not to fear the LORD. They rejected my advice and paid no attention when I corrected them.  Therefore, they must eat the bitter fruit of living their own way, choking on their own schemes. NLT

And there you sit a certain person who is impotent in your feet. You have been crippled from birth. Sin has had control of you all your life, and now God steadfastly beholds you, perceiving that you have faith enough to be healed. God, with a loud voice says, “ Stand upright on your feet and walk! Walk toward what you know in your heart is right. Walk to the light of your soul where your Heavenly Father resides. ” All you have to do is take that first step. God is reaching out for you. His arms and hands are outstretched just waiting for you to make the slightest movement in His direction. Just one step is all it takes for a lifetime of change, and eternal life with your Heavenly Father.