GIVING WHAT WE HAVE

Scripture: Acts 3 v 1-11 (NLT)

The healing of the crippled beggar at the beautiful gate of the temple never ceases to challenge me every time I read it. The New Living Translation (NLT) puts Peter’s response to the request for money in a way that caught my breath; “I don’t have any money for you. But I will give you what l have. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, get up and walk” (v.6).

The phrase “I will give you what I have” quickened me. Peter knew what he had. Inside there was a confidence and assurance. He just knew that he knew. It made me look back over my years in the Ministry to a time when the spirit of God had revived me. Every time I prayed for someone whatever the need, I knew God would minister to them and He did. At almost every home group I attended there came a point when I knew that the spirit would break in upon us and He did. I believed for a demonstration of the manifest presence of God in our Sunday services and again it would happen. Those were exciting days. I knew God was moving and wanted us to move with him.

Peter not only knew what he had but was ready to give it to that lame man. Do we truly know what we have as spirit filled believers and are we giving it away to those in need. What I experienced at that time of personal revival, was it exceptional or meant to be the norm? For Peter and the early church it appeared to be the normal Christian life.

Phillip, one of those appointed as a deacon in Acts 6 finds himself in Samaria after the church is scattered through persecution. He is not one of the apostles, just one of the believers who had to flee Jerusalem. In Acts 8 the NLT makes it clear that Phillip is an example of what happened through the life of Christians as they spread out from Jerusalem. In Acts 8 v 6 it says; “Crowds listened intently to what he had to say because of the miracles he did”. Phillip was giving away what he had. Verse 7 tells us “Many evil spirits were cast out screaming as they left their victims. And many who had been paralysed or lame were healed”.

If this was an example of what was happening, then it is clear that wherever believers found themselves they were seeing ‘signs and wonders’. They had an expectancy that God was working with them and they knew what they had.

PRAYER: Lord Jesus revive us again to know what has been deposited into our lives and give us faith to give it away.

Pastor Mick