One day Peter and John went to the Temple at three o’clock, the time set each day for the afternoon prayer service. There, at the Temple gate called Beautiful Gate,

was a man who had been crippled all his life.

Every day he was carried to this gate to beg for money from the people going into the Temple. The man saw Peter and John going into the Temple and asked them for money. Peter and John looked straight at him and said, “Look at us!” The man looked at them, thinking they were going to give him some money. But Peter said, “I don’t have any silver or gold, but I do have something else I can give you. By the power of Jesus Christ from Nazareth, stand up and walk!” Then Peter took the man’s right hand and lifted him up. Immediately the man’s feet and ankles became strong. He jumped up, stood on his feet, and began to walk. He went into the Temple with them, walking and jumping and praising God.

Acts 3:1-8 (NCV)

Many of us are a lot like that man at the Beautiful Gate. We keep asking God for what we think we need. We keep praying and pleading for what we believe will make our lives complete: a relationship, more money, a better house, a more impressive job. We want God to change our circumstances, to resolve our problems, so that we can be happy. So we pray and we wait. But we just keep doing our own thing rather than getting up from wherever we are sitting and joining Him. God calls us to stand up and walk. We don’t need to know where He is leading us. We just need to know who will always walk with us once we get to our feet. When we stand up and walk with Jesus, He will show us the way. He will take us where He needs us to go for both His purposes and our own. He will restore all that is broken when we lean on Him, rather than on our inabilities, our weaknesses, or our chronic dissatisfaction.

Rather than always asking Jesus to change your circumstances, He just wants you to take your eyes off of yourself and those circumstances and look straight at Him! He won’t necessarily give you exactly what you want, but He will always give you exactly what you need! When you look to your Savior, you will grow in wisdom and trust as you grow in relationship with Him. He will show you the path to true spiritual strength and complete restoration, but you can’t just sit there. You must allow Him to lift you up, not wait for your circumstances to improve. So stand up and join Him! Then don’t just quietly walk alongside Him for the rest of your life—jump around enthusiastically and powerfully praise His holy name!!

You are loved!