Written by Uyoyou Christiana Charles-Iyoha
In Acts Chapter 3 verses 1 to 9, and 16, note verse 7, the Bible records that the feet
and ankle bones of the lame man received strength and the man who had never
walked from birth leaped up, stood and walked and entered the temple with Peter
and John, walking, leaping and praising God.

Beloved, God is awesome. This man was daily laid at
the gate of the temple called Beautiful to ask for alms. So close to the temple
yet he had never been inside of the temple. Daily, he saw people go into the
temple to transact real business with God, worship God, ask God for
forgiveness, cleansing, healing, deliverance, provision, promotion, wealth,
favor, children, peace in their personal, family, community and national lives;
academic excellence and prowess, military prowess and success, you name it; yet
he had never seen the inside of the temple. He had never come close to
transacting business with God yet God was so near, was with him, sitting by and
with him all the time, waiting for him to transact quality business, real
business with God but Mr. Lame from birth knew and understood only one
business; unfortunately the business which did not move him from point A to B;
but kept him stuck in a spot where he daily lived on and at the mercy of those
whose hearts responded to his daily pleas for alms.
He lived for and on the mercy and compassion of
people – without alms; he could probably never survive simply because there was
no strength in his feet and ankle bones. His entire life was subject to the
mercy and compassion of humans and knowing that humans are sometimes subject to
fickle mindedness and vindictiveness, the man’s daily bread was not always
guaranteed. So his mental processes were always fixated on alms; let someone
bless me with, please forgive my choice of words – peanuts to go through today.
That is just all that I need today. After all, I will be back here tomorrow and
someone will give me what I need tomorrow.
Pathetic and tragic is the fact that his mental
processes could not rise beyond asking for alms on a daily basis to survive
each day. But all that came to an abrupt end when God through Jesus Christ
working through the Holy Spirit in the Apostle Peter intervened in the
situation.