Wednesday 12 April 2023

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Today is Easter Wednesday, the 12th of April.

CalledOut Music sings, ‘Joy’. As we prepare to pray with a joyful healing passage today, can you make these words your own?

My light and salvation is You

I've got a firm foundation in You, Lord

You hold me daily, daily

The hope for my soul

I'm ever so safe here with You, Lord

I've got grace everywhere I be

With blessings falling on me

There's nothing too hard for the God that I serve

Tell me, why should I be afraid?

No matter what comes my way

I'll overcome with a smile on my face

I've got that joy like a river flowing down to my soul, oh, yeah

Oh-oh-oh

I feel like dancing, yeah, I feel it in my bones, oh, yeah

Oh-oh-oh, yeah

Mm

I sing, I sing oh

It feels like a dream

'Cause with You on my team, I'm winning (Mm)

Nothing's gonna hold me back, no

Nothing's gonna stop my praise

Nothing's gonna keep me silent

I'll say it from the rooftops

I've got grace everywhere I be

Blessings falling on me

There's nothing too hard for the God that I serve

Tell me, why should I be afraid?

No matter what comes my way

I'll overcome with a smile on my face

I've got that joy like a river flowing down to my soul, oh, yeah

Oh-oh-oh

I feel like dancing, yeah, I feel it in my bones, oh, yeah

Oh-oh-oh, yeah

So give me joy in my heart, keep me praising

Give me joy in my heart, I pray

Give me joy in my heart, keep me praising

Keep me praising 'til the break of day

Oh, I've got that joy like a river flowing down to my soul, oh, yeah

Oh-oh

I choose that joy like a river flowing down to my soul, oh, yeah

Oh-oh-oh

Today’s reading is from the Acts of the Apostles.

Acts 3:1-10

One day Peter and John were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer, at three o’clock in the afternoon. And a man lame from birth was being carried in. People would lay him daily at the gate of the temple called the Beautiful Gate so that he could ask for alms from those entering the temple. When he saw Peter and John about to go into the temple, he asked them for alms. Peter looked intently at him, as did John, and said, ‘Look at us.’ And he fixed his attention on them, expecting to receive something from them. But Peter said, ‘I have no silver or gold, but what I have I give you; in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, stand up and walk.’ And he took him by the right hand and raised him up; and immediately his feet and ankles were made strong. Jumping up, he stood and began to walk, and he entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God. All the people saw him walking and praising God, and they recognized him as the one who used to sit and ask for alms at the Beautiful Gate of the temple; and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.

We hear today of a man who was lame from birth, being taken to the temple steps by the Beautiful Gate, to lay there at the hour of prayer, asking for alms as people approached the temple.

You might regard these few minutes as your hour of prayer, so, as you think about this man, and his helplessness, ask yourself, who do you want to bring to God today at this hour? Take a moment to picture this person now.

As people arrived at the temple steps for their prayer, maybe they would have noticed this man as just the beggar who was always there on these steps asking for alms.

Imagine Peter and John arriving there, stopping and looking intently at the man. What do they see?

'Look at us,' Peter says to the man, ‘I have no silver or gold, but what I have I give you; in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, stand up and walk.’

As Peter takes the man by the right hand, imagine now that you also take the person you have brought to God in prayer today, by the hand.

As you listen to the reading again, notice what happens as the lame man encounters God’s healing presence.

‘Walking and leaping and praising God.’ The man is now able to enter the Temple with the people.

End your time of prayer now, in conversation with the Lord about this healing, along with the person you have brought to the Lord in your prayer today.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.

As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.