Prayer Requests and Gratitudes

Wednesday, April 3, 2013

Joyfully Praising God

 
~~~ Acts of the Apostles 3:1-10 ~~~ Psalm 105 ~~~ Luke 24:13-35 ~~~
 
The Beautiful Gate and the Beautiful Journey
 
The sick and crippled are healed and dance with joy at the Beautiful Gate.
It is the place to be if you want to receive compassion and some small coins.
 
After Jesus' Resurrection the apostles are given many gifts through the Holy Spirit...
one such gift is that of healing. Today we have the story of Peter
 healing the man at the gate.
After his healing the man rises to his feet...
 
"...in the name of Jesus Christ the Nazorean, rise and walk.”
Then Peter took him by the right hand and raised him up,
and immediately his feet and ankles grew strong.
He leaped up, stood, and walked around,
and went into the temple with them,
walking and jumping and praising God.
 
He immediately joyfully enters into the temple to praise God.
How often, when we have prayers answered,
 do we remember to first give praise to God?
This man had not been able to go into the temple for sometime.
He could have just as easily gone out into the streets rejoicing and dancing.
 
 
Rejoice, O hearts that seek the Lord.
 
The couple walking sadly along the road to Emmaus
were blessed
with a spiritual healing.
They were heart sick over the loss of Jesus.
They had placed all of their future hopes and dreams in him,
and now he was gone.
 
As Jesus walked with them they did not recognize him.
Later they were able to recall how their hearts were burning.
Their hearts were burning because our hearts can sense the presence of God
when our intellectual self cannot.
 
There is a part of our heart that longs to be reunited with God.
It is a longing we often confuse for something else.
 
“Were not our hearts burning within us
while he spoke to us on the way and opened the Scriptures to us?”
 
When Jesus broke the bread with them, they were given
clarity of vision. It was then that they had their profound AHA!
 
Like the healed man at the Beautiful Gate
 they are eager to share their experience.
The Lord has truly been raised...
Alleluia!
 
On the road or at the gate, the presence of the Lord is sufficient reason
 to jump with joy and give him praise.
May our hearts burn each time we hear his words.
He is alive...He is present!

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