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About The Episode:
Have you ever stood on the edge, your feet teetering over the abyss of the unknown, and wondered what it would take to walk on water? Our latest podcast sweeps you into the heart of such transformative moments, drawing upon Peter’s water-walking experience to offer insights into the essence of true faith. We peel back the layers of this biblical event to understand just how critical our focus on Jesus is, especially when the storms of life rage around us. We explore the implications of shifting our sight away from Him and the dangers of complacency when faced with longstanding challenges.
The episode further wades into the deeply moving account of Peter, John, and a lame man at the temple gates. Reflect with us on the life-altering potential that lies within the embrace of a nurturing community and the steadfast commitment to spiritual disciplines. The discussion brings to light the power of our surroundings and the people we choose to journey alongside, inspiring you to examine your own circles and the type of spiritual sustenance they offer. Discover the profound impact these relationships can have on your path towards spiritual growth, much like the transformative encounter at the Beautiful Gate.
We also turn to the remarkable narrative of obedient faith catalyzing the healing of a man unable to walk. We traverse the importance of acting in faith, despite uncertainties or lack of experience, and the miraculous outcomes that await on the other side of obedience. Witness the strength that surfaces in our moments of weakness and how divine timing orchestrates events beyond our wildest imaginations. This dialogue is an invitation to trust deeply in God’s masterful plan, to step out in faith with the anticipation of wonders, and leap into a life of praise and purpose.
Where to dive in:
(0:00:00) – Fixing Your Gaze on Jesus
Maintaining focus on Jesus through difficulties, dangers of accepting issues as unchangeable, and being spiritually prepared.
(0:12:17) – Power of Faith and Community
Maintaining spiritual practices and choosing supportive relationships can lead to blessings, as seen in Peter and John’s encounter with the lame man.
(0:20:51) – The Power of Prayer and Focus
Prayer is powerful and should be our first action, shifting focus from problems to seeking divine intervention.
(0:25:45) – Expectation and Unanswered Prayers
Expectation in faith, prayer, divine intervention, desires vs. God’s plans, body ministry, Paul’s revelations, strength in weakness.
(0:39:00) – Miracles Happen Through Obedient Faith
Faith and obedience can lead to miraculous changes, as seen in Peter’s healing of a man unable to walk.
About your host:
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I’m so excited about this book! I didn’t want to write something that simply told about the financial miracles God has done for me. But I wanted to practically help others know how to have the same kind of results. So this book is a playbook. Just like in sports. It will have the story of the need we faced from small to the astronomically huge and how God provided every time. Then we will give you what I call “the play call.” After you understand the Biblical method that was used you are then given a teaching on how to use that knowledge. I can promise it will give you the tools to change your situation and to realize that “You Don’t Need Money. You Just Need God.”
Full Transcript
This transcript is auto-generated and not perfect. We hope it blesses you.
0:00:00 – Jaime Luce
No matter how difficult the circumstance is, do not allow your gaze to come off of Jesus. We know and I’m not going to use this passage today but when Peter was walking on the water, when he was looking at Jesus, when he kept his eyes on Jesus, he did the impossible. The miraculous was present. He was able to do what he could not naturally in himself do and, yes, there was faith involved. But the moment that he took his eyes off of Jesus, then your eyes don’t merely come off of where they should be, they refix on something else. Refix on something else. Welcome to the Jamie Luce Podcast. Thank you for tuning in today.
I wanted to give us some helpful hints, some biblical strategy. Today I was reading in the book of Acts and I came across the story of the lame beggar who was healed, and you’re probably familiar with this particular passage. But there were several things that jumped out at me today and it really has to do with as we are in a waiting time or dealing with issues that are longstanding, we can tend to have an attitude that it’s always been this way, it will always be this way and I just have to, you know, kind of decide to live with this and in that posture, in that position, we can get stuck and then have no expectation that God is actually going to do something for us. God is actually going to do something for us and there’s in that positioning, in that mindset, we tend to focus on all the wrong things. And it made me think about how and you’ll see where this ties in in just a minute. But you have probably heard that there are certain things you can do as a person. Let’s say you’re walking down a downtown street in New York and you don’t want to be targeted as someone who can be mugged, stolen from, attacked, kidnapped, whatever, and there are things that they will tell you that make you more or less of a target.
I read through some different websites and different things that showed the different postures physically, the way that people walk, the way that they swing their arms, walk the way that they swing their arms. In fact, there was a study done where they actually went into a prison and talked to different inmates a large group of inmates and put before them a video of different people walking down the street and what was fascinating was every time they picked the same person. That’s kind of shocking, that’s kind of eye-opening to say that there were characteristics about that person that made them an easy target, and some of those are the way you walk, the way that you swing arms and legs, you know. Are you doing that in a confident stride that shows strength? Are you doing that in a um too careful? Uh, you’re not comfortable, you’re not shifting your weight properly. Are you someone who’s very stiff and awkward? Are you somebody who takes long? You’re in a hurry and you’re not paying attention and you’re taking really long strides because that means that you’re easy to knock off balance. Um, there were just those kinds of things. Then there’s the one that stands out to me the most and I’ve heard this the most.
I’m sure you’ve heard this the most, but they’ll say people who aren’t paying attention to their surroundings make them an easy target. They’ll tell you, if you’re walking from a mall to your parking space to get to your car, that you should always be looking around. Make sure that you are very aware of where people are, where they’re located, where exits are. Is there a place for you to get to? If you needed to, back in the day before, we had key fobs, you had actual keys. And if you had actual keys. I was taught when I was young that you take a key and place a key in between each one of your fingers while you walk. Literally, you have a weapon in your hand if you need it. And I did that regularly, especially if it was dark outside, to make sure that I was prepared. And I would always be checking my surroundings side to make sure that I was prepared, and I would always be checking my surroundings. Where you focus your gaze, where you set your attention, matters and in that setting of your attention will determine whether you’re an easy target, whether you are someone who is ready to be in the right place at the right time with the right outcomes.
And I wanted to kind of give you what I found in this passage, just to encourage you today that we would take the posture of expectation, that we would set our gaze, fix our gaze on Jesus, regardless of what we’re dealing with today, no matter how difficult the circumstance is, do not allow your gaze to come off of Jesus. We know and I’m not going to use this passage today but when Peter was walking on the water, when he was looking at Jesus, when he kept his eyes on Jesus, he did the impossible. The miraculous was present. He was able to do what he could not naturally in himself do and, yes, there was faith involved. But the moment that he took his eyes off of Jesus, then your eyes don’t merely come off of where they should be, they refix on something else. The only time that our eyes and we’re still focusing on something, the only time that we’re not fixed on something physical, is when we’re daydreaming, so to speak, and we have those pictures of whatever we’re daydreaming running through our head and we are fixed on that in our imagination. But when Peter took his eyes off of Jesus, he put them on the storm, on the waves crashing against him, the water physically hitting him. His eyes came off of what steadied him, what strengthened him, what gave him faith. He took his eyes off of Jesus and he put them on the trouble.
So where you set your gaze is imperative. In fact this is so important because I don’t know where you live, but where I live there are many highways, all around the areas full of highways, and you can be driving along on the highway and all of a sudden traffic for what seems like no reason at all begins to slow, to a very, very slow pace. And when you finally come up on something, there was no accident in your lane, there was nothing happening in on your side of the freeway, but people are doing what we call rubbernecking, which means that they have all slowed down and taken their gaze off of going forward and have now turned to see what has happened on the opposite side of the highway and what has caused an accident and a pileup and traffic for miles on the other side. And you’ll have people do that with simply a car that was pulled over by a police officer and people automatically turn, they slow down, they take their eyes off the road and they look to the side or whatever is catching their attention off the road and they look to their, to the side or whatever is catching their attention. Do you know how many accidents happen because somebody turned their gut, their gaze, away from where they were supposed to be keeping it and now they’ve come into a problem. Now there’s an accident.
Or people who now this is so common now that accidents happen because people no longer look at the road, they look down at their phone and they try to do this up and down thing. We make gadgets to keep in our car up towards our eyesight and plane of vision so that we’re able to try to do both without totally taking our eyes off the road. Now, generally speaking, that would be safer than looking completely down, but you are shifting what you’re looking at, you are shifting where you have set your focus, and that matters. That matters not only to avoid new trouble, that matters in your response time how quick you are to respond when you need to respond, or, if you’re not quick enough, that that lends itself to another problem. And so this is important Knowing what you are fixing your eyes on during whatever it is that you might be facing.
And it may not be trouble, it may be that you are focused on the vision that God has given you. It could be about ministry, it could be about leadership and what you’re doing, moving forward, and where you cast your gaze and what your expectation is of what you’re looking at will determine the things that happen in front of you to a large extent. And so this is important, because you could be saying, lord, I’ve heard you, I want to go with you. I saying, lord, I’ve heard you, I want to go with you, I want to do what you’ve called me to do. But if your eyes are not on that goal, you will get off course. There’s a reason why horses in a racetrack wear blinders so that they are not distracted and get off course or slow down. We know this matters in order to finish fast, to finish quickly.
If you’re on a time clock and you need to focus, you need to get something done. It takes extreme focus and removal of all the other hindrances that could come in and cause distraction, and so this is really what I want to talk to you about today, and we’re going to be looking at two passages of scripture today. The first is in the book of Acts, and we’re going to start in chapter three, and I want to read this to you because I feel like, if you could, I’m going to read it slowly. I want you to hear the progression of the things that happen. I want you to picture this, I want you to focus with me, I want you to set your gaze on this passage and I want you to insert whatever it is that you have need of today into this text. If you have a need, I want you to see yourself in this text today and we’ll see the progression of what took place and how we can take those same progressions, or or at identify with what we’re seeing and make the adjustments that we need to make.
Okay, because I know that, no matter who you are and what it is that you’re called to, or what it is that you are believing, god for Jesus is always the answer. What God can do is always where we should fix our gaze, always, always. Unless he tells you to do something, then your gaze has to go to the thing that he’s caused you to do. But that’s because time was spent with him, focused on him and taking his instruction. Ok, so let’s read this together Now.
Peter and John were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer. I think this is really important. Listen into each of these things. These are all components. Okay, now Peter and John were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour, and a man, lame from birth, was being carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple that is called the beautiful gate, to ask alms of those entering the temple.
Okay, I’ll stop there for just a second. First, I want you to see the setup. Okay, peter and John’s their regular practice, as was Jesus’s regular practice. They have continued in the way. They have continued with what they were taught. The book of Acts is now. Jesus has ascended, he has commissioned his disciples, they have had their, the day of Pentecost has come, they have been filled with the power of the Holy Spirit, the gift of the father, and now they are out doing the work of the ministry. Okay, and their practice, their daily practice, was to continue in the practices that they saw and watched and mimicked with Jesus while he was on this earth. And so where are they going? They’re going to the temple, as per their custom, to pray. You see that all throughout the new Testament, with Paul, he would constantly go into the temple and it would say, as was his custom, that they continued in the way they continued to pray. They continued to walk, seeking the father and his will for their lives. And at the time that they’re going to pray, at the very time that people who are serious about God, who have made um being in the right place at the right time, their agenda, who have made a routine, and their routine is to continue in the right behavior and the right things they are called to regularly, okay, regularly. These are people who Peter and John are going together. They have surrounded themselves with right people. They have stayed connected to godly people. This was something they did regularly.
Now, at that same time, this man who has been lame since birth. He’s never walked, he’s never known what it feels like to have strength in his legs to stand on his own two feet. He does not know even what that sense is. He has never had it and immediately my mind was just racing. I was thinking about so many times when we are praying for something we’ve never experienced it, we don’t even know what to expect. We don’t know really what we’re asking for. I mean, the joke is even that people will say later, because we ask all kinds of crazy things of the Lord, but we’ll say thank God for unanswered prayers because, thank goodness, I didn’t get what I asked for, because we don’t know what we’re asking for.
This man is dealing with a situation he had no control over none. Dealing with a situation he had no control over none and all he could do was live with what he has. This is all he has and he did several right things in the midst of being in this problem and I want you to look at whatever your issue is. Let’s see if we can line up with some of these. Your issue is let’s see if we can line up with some of these.
In this man’s state of inability to do even what others could do, it made it where it was difficult to provide for himself. So he would need to beg alms and in those days and in that culture you actually were permitted to do so, because it’s verified that you actually have an issue and they even would wear a particular kind of wrap or clothing that said that they were legitimate, so that people would give to them. But this was their only means of taking care of themselves, to provide, provide for themselves. But where did he go? Well, first of all, who is he? Even with, this man has surrounded himself with people who care about him, who every day carried him to this gate. I mean, that’s a big task to carry a person, to carry a man. That’s not an easy task. He had people who every day cared about him, which meant that this man knew how to have proper relationships and had picked good people. He picked good people. These people cared about him and would help him in the thing that he needed help in, and so he surrounded himself with the right people.
Just as Peter and John made sure that they were always surrounded by the right people, this man, in the state he was in, made sure he was doing the same thing. Are we doing that? Are we surrounding ourselves with people who are faith people? Now, how do I know that these people are faith people? Because where did they take him, where did he go and when did he go there? He would go there. He would go to the house of God and sit outside the gate of the temple. He would go at the hour of prayer, knowing that these people are coming to spend time with God. Are you surrounding yourself with people who make sure and help you get to the house of God, or are you spending time with people who do their best to pull you away from spending time at the house of God? Do you have people who literally, spiritually, carry you there? Do you have people around you who pray for you and carry you to the temple, who carry you to the father, who carry you to receive something from the Lord and to receive from the body of Christ?
Body ministry is important. It’s vital. It’s so important. We have to have one another. Again, I’m not going to bring all of these scriptures into play today, but if we look at Paul’s description of the body, how we are the body of Christ, the body, how we are the body of Christ, and that each part supplies a need and every part works together for the sake of the whole. And so we need to be thinking about our relationships and how we affect one another. Do we have people who are people of faith, who really believe and know where answers come from, know where their help comes from, that go to God’s house and help get me there. That’s so important.
They took them to the house of God Okay, the house of God, letting him know your answer comes from being in God’s presence. We need to be in the presence of God. We need to be amongst those who carry the Holy Spirit, so that we are amongst those who are also making the presence of God not only a priority but something that we do together. They went at the hour of prayer. At the hour of prayer, folks, we have got to be people of prayer. We have got to be those who, even if your prayers to you seem awkward, seem to be lacking or missing, don’t allow what you think a prayer should sound like to stop you from praying.
I have a wonderful friend who posted she’s a minister, posted in the last couple weeks a great quote of her own, but your greatest need right now? There’s nothing, in fact. Let me look it up for you because I think that this will be um, I think this will be helpful to you and and you may want to write this down because this is really um, let me see if I can find it. Here we go. The only thing you need to overcome now, okay, no matter what it is that you’re dealing with, the only thing that you need to overcome right now is prayerlessness. Prayerlessness, if we can overcome not being someone who prays.
Prayer is power. You are taking whatever it is that you’re dealing with and laying it at the foot of the one who can. You’re taking your burden. What does the scripture tell us? That we are to lay our burdens down. Lay our burdens down that he cares for us, he carries our burdens. He will pick them up and carry them, whether it’s worry or fear or actual issues, health, relationships, finances, business, it could be. It could be anything. You could be dealing with a court case. You could be dealing with um, children and and and having um. You could have loved ones who have issues with substance abuse. It does not matter what the issue is. Whatever issue you have, the first mode of operation is to pray. It’s to pray. It should never be our last resort. It should be our first action that we take. Okay, I want us to continue reading and I want you to see where it is so important that we understand how to fix our gaze, be with the right people, be in the right place at the right time. Yes, but let’s continue reading. I’m going to pick it up in verse four. And Peter. And Peter directed his gaze at him, as did John, and said look at us.
So, up into this moment, this man was in this position. He was in the right place at the right time, he was with the right people, but he wasn’t focused on them. What was he focused on? Well, if his head is down and he’s not looking at them and he’s begging, then he’s focusing on wanting money, probably looking at the cup or whatever it is that he’s holding and using to receive alms from people. He’s looking at his problem. He’s focused on his issue. And what does Peter and John both do? They focused on him. They focused not on what he was asking. They didn’t focus on what he was looking at and focusing on. They looked at the man and, in their gaze, in their focus of what they’re looking at, hearing what he’s asking for. He’s asking for alms.
Seeing Peter and John about this is verse 3, seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple. He asked to receive alms and Peter directed his gaze at him, as did John, and said look at us. Now look at verse five. And he fixed his attention. I love that. He had an improper way of seeing it. He was looking and focusing on the wrong thing. It was broken the way he was doing. It was broken, okay, and he fixed his eyes. He fixed his eyes, his attention on them, expecting okay. So he’s got the right components, folks. He’s now focused on the ones who are standing before him. He’s no longer focusing on the problem. He’s focusing on the ones that he thinks can help him with his problem.
He has expectation. He truly has expectation. But what is he expecting? This is good, expecting to receive something from them, him out. They wouldn’t have told him to fix his gaze. They wouldn’t have told him you’re not looking at the right thing. Look at us. If he wasn’t expecting then for them to give him something. His expectation was right. Do you expect, when you go to the house of God, when you pray, are you expecting God to meet you there? Are you expecting him to give to you what you need? Are you expecting to receive something from him? We need to be in a place of expectation. This man had it right. He was expecting and he should have been.
But let’s look at the interesting thing that happens here. But Peter said I have no silver and gold, but what I do have, I give to you In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk. And he took him by the right hand and raised him up and immediately his feet and ankles were made strong and leaping up. He stood and began to walk and entered the temple with them walking and leaping and praising God. And all the people saw him walking and praising God. And all the people saw him walking and praising God and recognized him as the one who sat at the beautiful gate of the temple asking for alms, and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.
Okay, there are several things here and I want to get to them quickly. The first is this when we are waiting in expectation, many times, many times, we get so fixed on thinking we know what we need. We think we know what we need and yet God says that’s not what you need. And I know what you need and I will give to you what you need, not what you want. Now there are times I mean, the scripture does plainly tell us to make our requests known and we will have what we asked for. And I’m not in a contradiction here. I’m saying that because in the book of James we know that he says many times you ask for things and you don’t receive them. And he says why don’t you receive them? Because you ask a miss, you’re not asking for the right reasons, and your father is so good to you and loves you so much. He will never give you something that’s harmful to you, something that will not help you be all that he has called you to be. He will not help you stay laying at the gate, paralyzed. He will not give to you something that enables you to remain in self-pity or to remain immovable and unable to do all that he’s called you to do. He will never help you remain in a place where you don’t advance. He wouldn’t be a loving God, he wouldn’t be a good God and he has to do what is right. So he is just and right and he will do what is right. So, yes, we make our request.
This man brought his request, but God’s answer was different than his request and thank God, thank God, it was thank God for unanswered prayers. This man was asking for the wrong thing and I’m glad he didn’t get it. He may have had enough money to eat, but he would still be lame, he would still not be able to walk, his situation would have only been prolonged, it would not have been changed, it would not have been made better. And if you want your circumstance to actually change and become better, then you want what God has, not necessarily what you’re asking for. It might be different, it could be the same, but it might be different. Regardless of whether it’s the same or whether it’s different, we must have an expectation to receive something from God, to receive an answer to our prayer. We must be in that posture of fixing our gaze and in expectation. So let’s look at this again. Peter said I have no silver and gold, but what I do have, I give to you More body ministry here.
If you’re on the other end of this and you’re not the person who’s in the place of need, you have a ministry to be meeting the needs, whether you’re praying with those people, whether you’re carrying them to the house of God, whether you’re sharing in their need by providing funds for something that they need help with. Whatever it is agreeing with them in prayer, telling somebody the truth, causing them to fix their gaze in a right place, bringing correction when correction needs to be brought. Whatever the position is that God has placed you in, you have a responsibility to be used by God, to be the body of Christ and to do the thing that he’s called you to do. So. This works on both sides of the fence. It doesn’t matter what side you fall on. That he’s called you to do so. This works on both sides of the fence. It doesn’t matter what side you fall on. Each of us has something that we need to be doing, and be doing it in a way that brings glory to God. It brings glory to God. Yes, it helps each. We help one another, but our goal is to bring glory to God, to live a life that brings all the honor and the attention and our gaze and fix on Jesus. That is our goal. Okay, in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk. Okay, so, before I get ahead of myself, I want to give you this is not just in this passage them giving something different than what the man asked for, and and I want you to see how God is in that.
Let’s look real quickly and then we’ll go right back to that text. So hold your spot. Your your spot there, and let’s go to second Corinthians and I’m going to go to chapter 12. There’s only 13 chapters there. So it’s right there at the end, chapter chapter 12, and we’re going to look at verses 7 through 10.
Now this is Paul, and Paul is explaining that he had had these heavenly visions, whether in the body, out of the body, I don’t know. Talking about that, I could boast, because what I’m saying is true, but I’m choosing not to boast. The thing I boast in is my weakness, not in the gifts that God has given me, or my ability to hear what he had said, or the things that I’ve got to experience in God. None of those things. But this is what he says. Let’s look at verse seven. So, to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations.
So this is a godly man doing what God has called him to do, bringing the gospel at the cost of his physical body being beaten. How many times he was beaten, being in a shipwreck, being lied about. This poor man, his life has been threatened over and over again. And, yes, he knows where he came from, that he was once on the other side of that, being the one bringing pain to God’s people and allowing and participating in their murders and imprisonment. And now he has completely changed, completely, giving his life in every way, shape and form, surrendered to the gospel of Jesus Christ and whatever that costs him to do. And he says I have experienced all these wonderful things, I’ve had revelations that are so great things that I cannot even speak about, they can’t be uttered by human mouths. And he says that a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan, to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited.
Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me, but he said to me my grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions and calamities, for when I am weak, then I am strong. Do you hear? Do you hear what Paul is saying? Depending on what side of this you’re on and depending on what you are praying and believing God for what you might need deliverance, from what you might need grace for, he’s saying. I asked, I prayed for deliverance, but God said no. He told me that instead he’d give me grace, that his grace would be sufficient for the need that I had. He was allowing something in my life that would produce a right spirit in me, even though it was uncomfortable and I didn’t want to deal with it.
Sometimes we have to recognize Lord. What are you saying to me? Are you saying yes? Are you saying no? Are you saying I have another way? I love what his response is.
Let me read this to you again, verse nine and 10. But he said to me my grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. So God’s going to use this weakness to show forth power, the power that we have in God, the power of his grace to do what we would not be able to do or endure or accomplish. Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Upon me he’s saying Lord, I understand your grace and that peace that that brings me the rest that I have, knowing this is what you have for me. That gives me strength, because I know you are working for my good, you are working all things together for my good. That brings me peace. I can rest in that For the sake of Christ. Then I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions and calamities, for when I am weak, then I am strong. And I want us to go back back to Acts, chapter three.
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Here comes God’s answer. It wasn’t what he asked for, but it was God’s will and intention for him and it was good. This would make some requirements of faith for him to do this, but Peter said I have no silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Rise up and walk. And he took him by the right hand and raised him up by the right hand and raised him up, and immediately his feet and ankles were made strong, the very place he had to. By faith, take hold of Peter’s hand and try to stand up, something he has never done ever. I don’t know if you’ve ever fallen and someone goes to lift you up, even the balance it takes and when you’re trying to stand back up from in a laying down position. That’s not easy to do from the ground. And this is something he has no experience with. He does not know how to do it. He doesn’t know how to balance. He doesn’t know how to properly align his legs. He’s never been able to use his legs.
This man is in a place of utter weakness, complete loss, no ability to do what God’s now calling him to do, because he’s being called upon to stand up and do something he’s never done before, lacking complete knowledge and strength to do it. Has God called you to do something? And you think, lord, I’ve never done that, I can’t do that. I don’t have any experience. I’ve never. I don’t know how to do this. I’m not strong in this. I’ve not worked this. I haven’t had this much faith worked in me. I don’t know how to do this. I don’t know how to do this. I’m not prepared, I’m ill-equipped.
But if God is calling you to it, folks, you can do it. His grace will be sufficient for you. It is in your weakness. He will show forth his power and strength. He will bring about the impossible. He will do. He will make possible what is impossible, it said immediately he had faith. He reached for Peter’s hand and by faith, in that very moment, immediately, that man had strength where he’d never had it before. Do you need strength to overcome something? Are you battling something in yourself? You have done everything you know to do in your human strength and you’ve not been able to do it. That’s because, apart from him, we can do nothing. You need to do it by the power that Jesus Christ has purchased for you. Your fixed gaze needs to be upon Jesus. It needs to be upon taking whatever instructions he gives you and you doing that. If you will simply do what he tells you to do, that is how you gain that immediate strength.
When there was no wine at the wedding of Cana, what did Mary, the mother of Jesus, say to him? Or say to the servants? Whatever he tells you to do, do it. Whatever he says, you do that, and when you do, you will receive the strength that you need. When the blind man came to Jesus and wanted to be healed and Jesus spits on the dirt and makes a mud cake and puts it on his eyes and tells him now go wash in that I forget which water he told him to wash in, but go to that specific water and wash in that water. That was where the healing and the strength came from. In the Old Testament, when Naaman was full of leprosy, the word of the Lord was you go wash seven times in that river. And he says aren’t there better rivers, cleaner rivers? Why do I have to go to this river? And what did the servant say to him? If he had asked you to do a hard thing, would you not have done it?
Sometimes we look at what God is telling us to do and we think, oh, that can’t be it. That’s just we don’t give it credit for being that it’s God, that there’s supernatural power in that thing and that it’s obedience that brings strength. I, if I need strength to come into me, I have got to be living a life of obedience. I cannot live a life stuck focused on me, doing what I think, because I think it’s have got to be living a life of obedience. I cannot live a life stuck focused on me, doing what I think, because I think it’s always going to be this way and it’s never going to change. I’ve tried that before. That didn’t work. I once led a ministry that was a very wonderful ministry to women in a church and I was told, when I wanted to do certain things with those women, that we’ve done that before, we’ve done that before. It doesn’t work. And I knew the Lord was telling me do that. Do you know? It was so successful, it blew everybody’s minds. It was so immensely successful that we continued to do it over and over and over again because it was so powerful.
It doesn’t matter. Don’t disregard the instruction that God’s given you. Don’t ignore it. Fix your eyes, be in expectation and do whatever it is that you are being asked to do Now. Let’s finish this up.
And he took him by the right hand and he raised him up and immediately his feet and ankles were made strong and leaping up such strength that he didn’t just stand, he leapt. That’s a whole nother thing. I have grandbabies and right now I’ve got one that she has learned how. She didn’t know how to hop. She wanted to learn how to hop, just to learn how to leap. You have to learn how to crawl, you have to learn how to walk and you’re balancing. It’s a whole nother thing to learn to run and to leap and balance and land and be able to.
This man went from zero to a hundred, just like that. He was leaping up and stood and began to walk and entered the temple with them walking and leaping and praising God. Okay, here’s his immediate response is to go with these men into the presence of God for prayer. Presence of God for prayer. He goes with them into the temple to pray and all along the way he’s worshiping, he’s giving God thanks and praise, and everybody around is watching and listening to what’s going on. This man received his miracle and made sure that everybody knew God did this for me. He was vocal, he was expressive, he made sure that the miracle he experienced was that God got the glory and as many people could hear it as possible. Let’s continue reading. And all the people saw him walking and praising God and recognized him as the one who sat at the beautiful gate of the temple asking for alms, and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.
Do you want to help others To have faith is where I’m going with that. I know that we want to receive whatever it is that we’re asking the Lord for. That’s obvious. We do want to receive, but sometimes we get so bogged down into our usual position. I’ve assumed the position. I go to church regularly, but I’m not fixing my gaze on Jesus. I’m not there expecting. I’m in my routine, I go to the right place, I’m doing some of the right things, but my heart is not focused on Jesus. I am not expecting him to really do this for me. I have settled into this is the way it is and I’m going to keep doing what I do because that’s the right thing to do. But I have no more expectation.
Folks, we’ve got to change that. We have got to expect. We’ve got to be people of prayer. You need to be in the right place with the right people at the right time. You need to make this your focus. It’s just like a deadline. Everything matters. Quickly do this, get the right stuff, get everything put together. There’s a deadline. We’ve got to get it done. The amount of focus that happens when people are under that kind of pressure it changes what they allow to be distractions. I don’t have time for that, I’ll do that later. They don’t even allow the distraction in. We have got to refocus. We’ve got to assume a proper position in expectation and be people who are truly people of faith that we obey the commands of the Lord.
If you call yourself a Christian and say that you love Jesus Christ, then Jesus himself said you only love me if you do what I tell you to do. You only love me if you follow my commands. It’s a real quick determiner. If Jesus tells you to do something, do you do it. We have got to be people of obedient faith.
Partial obedience is disobedience. It’s not partial at all. It’s disobedience. We know that because it was evidenced to us in scripture and made plain with the story of King Saul, when the prophet came to completely correct him. When Samuel came and Saul tried to say but I did this like you asked, he said no, this is what God said and you did not obey. So partial obedience is disobedience. Let’s become people of true faith.
And how do you know if you’re walking in faith? You’re simply doing what he tells you to do. It’s that easy. If you are expecting God to work on your behalf, then you’re going to do what he asks you to do and he will answer Now. He may answer exactly the way you asked. He may give you better than you asked. He may tell you. I want you right now, during this season, to rely on me. My grace is sufficient, you can do this and you’re going to see my power in this. You’re going to actually experience and see my power and bring me glory through this, because my grace is sufficient. You can get through this. You can receive your miracle. You can do the impossible. Where are you fixing your gaze? Are you in expectation? Are you in obedience and taking the steps of faith that you need to take? If you are, you can be confident. Take. If you are, you can be confident. You can be confident that your answer is on the way.
Let me pray for you, heavenly Father. I thank you for every person who is listening or watching this today. You know exactly what they have need of Father. I pray that they will take even this time, right now, to be praying, to be people of prayer, to make sure that they are surrounding themselves with those who will bring them to you and not pull them away. That they understand they fit into the body, that the body ministry is necessary, lord. That they would no matter where they find themselves, that they would be quick to look into your eyes, to gaze upon your beauty, to focus on you and then to be expecting to receive something from you, father, whatever the expectation is, if you’re expecting us to receive, or, like Peter and John, you’re expecting us to do, to reach out our hand and pull someone up, god, whatever it is, that we would be those who truly love you and follow you, who do what you’ve asked us to do, who hear your instructions and follow your commands, that we are people of faith. Lord, I pray for each one today that they are able to stand up in strength today. Let their inner man stand up in strength today. Let their physical feet, yes, if they need it, but their spiritual feet right now, their legs and their ankles and their feet, receive immediate strength to stand up, to begin leaping and giving you praise and glory for all that you have done and are going to do. And we will be careful, lord, to be praising you publicly and let the world know it is Jesus Christ who has done this for me and he can do it for you, and we give you all the praise and all the glory, and it is in Jesus name we pray, amen.
Thank you for joining me today. I would love to hear from you. You can send me an email at mail at jamielucecom. That’s J-A-I-M-E-L-U-C-E. You can visit my website You’re able to get a hold of any podcasts that we have, also blogs that I’ve written. I would love to be able to touch base with you and minister to you in that way. If you would do me the favor and do that, you could also help us by taking the time right now. Hit that little like button if you’re watching this on YouTube or on Facebook and social media like share. But if you want to know when the next episode is coming out, you can hit that subscribe button and ring the bell and make sure that you’re getting notified whenever there is a new episode out. I want to thank you again for being with me today. Be encouraged, stay in faith, fix your eyes on Jesus and expect We’ll see you next time. Bye-bye.
Transcribed by https://podium.page
