In Acts 14:7-10 we read about a story of a man who was a cripple all his life. The Bible tells us the terrible condition of this man in verse 8, it says, he sat, impotent in his feet, being a cripple from his mother’s womb and he had never walked. We see that this man has suffered this predicament all his life. A condition of no hope in the natural, but at the same time a condition that was set up for a supernatural intervention. Showing us that there is no condition, problem or issue to hard for God, when we give him Faith to work with.
Faith was the key to this man’s miracle. The word says that the Apostle Paul came to this man’s town named Lystra and was preaching the Gospel there, obviously to a group of people and it just so happened that this man was in the crowd. As Paul was preaching, it says in verse 9 that “He beheld the man and saw that he had Faith to be healed”. Paul knew that where there was Faith, there was an opportunity for a miracle. So he said to the man “Stand upright on your feet” and because the man had faith, he leaped and walked and what had been an impossible situation became possible, because Faith got involved with the miracle working power of God.
It is the same way today. Faith must get involved for us to receive our breakthrough, our miracle and our victory. We see three important elements to faith in the story of this man.
- First we see in verse 9 that “He heard Paul speak”. Now we know that Romans 10:17, says “Now faith comes by hearing and hearing the word of God”. As this man connected his hearing to what Paul was saying, Faith was coming in on the inside of this man and was causing him to believe for a miracle. This is key in getting Faith, it is hearing the word. More word, more Faith.
- Second, we see that this man sowed a visible agreement to what Paul was preaching. The word says in verse 9 “As Paul looked at the man he saw that he had Faith to be healed”. What did Paul see? He saw and most likely also heard something. There was an agreement in this man to the Faith message that was being preached. The quickest way to not get Faith, is to invalidate the word by rejecting it and disagreeing with it. Someone once said to a Pastor “I do not agree with all that divine healing teaching” to which the Pastor said “Don’t worry about it you will not get it anyway”. Because what you choose to reject, discredit and not believe, you automatically negate the potential of that teaching in your life. Agreement is the open door for Faith to come in.
- Thirdly, we see in verse 10 that Paul gave this man an instruction to get up on his feet, and the man without arguing or hesitating jumped up on his feet and began walking. We see that for Faith to be effective there must be a corresponding act of obedience to the word. Faith without works is dead. Many believers miss it right here at this point. They hear the right word, they agree with it, but they stop there. They do not take the next step of putting into practice what they have been taught. Thus they stay with the impossible situation, staying impossible. We are one act of obedience away from a miracle. Take God at His word and if he say’s it go ahead and show your Faith by doing it and He will back up His word over your life fulfilling His promise. Ephesians 3:20 says “Unto Him who is able to do exceeding, abundant and above all that we ask or think according to the power working in us”.
May God bless you, and may you continue hearing the word, coming into agreement with it and obeying it in Jesus name. Amen.
Ps Esteban San Martin.
Power Church.