You don’t have to look far to find someone in need of healing.  If we consider all the types of aches, pains, sickness, and brokenness that exists, it shouldn’t take long to realize that each of us need to experience healing on a regular basis.  The good news is that God can heal the innermost parts of a person in ways we would never expect and never even realize we needed!

In keeping with my acrostic method, I titled the Acts 3 sermon, “The Act of HEAL”, but that was just grammatically awkward even for a title. 🙂  So I modified it for this article to “The Act of HEALing”.

Acts chapter three has two main parts — the story of a man who is healed and the explanation that the act was only astonishing because the people refused to acknowledge the power of God revealed through his son, Jesus.  As we consider this chapter, I want us to look at four components that made the act of healing possible or overflowed into life as a result of this man’s healing.

• Heart:  Foundational to us receiving genuine healing, or us sharing such healing with others, is the act of an open heart.  In explaining why people would not understand and accept his teaching, Jesus quoted from Isaiah in saying, “For this people’s heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.”  (Matthew 13:15)  Our heart must be open to the working of God and His Spirit in our life.  We must also open our heart to see people as God sees them.  When we close our heart we fail to see people who are in need of God’s healing.  Peter and John approached the temple with hearts open to God and in doing so noticed a man in need.  The act of an open heart aligns our eyes with Jesus and we begin to see people in need of healing as He sees them.
• Expectation:  The act of expectation can mire us in the mud of brokenness, settle us in the dust of average, or propel us beyond the ceiling of possible!  When Jesus encountered a man in need of healing in John 5 he asks the man, “Do you want to get well?”.  What do you expect from an encounter with Jesus?  What should people expect when they encounter Jesus through you?  Do you fail to even see the possibility of healing because you don’t expect it?  Do you fail to offer the real gift of healing to others because they expect something less?  The man Peter and John encountered was expecting money, food, or some small act of kindness.  While they did not have the ability to give any of those things, they saw beyond the expectation and offered the healing power of Jesus.  The act of expectation must reach new levels as we expect God can bring true healing to all in need.
• Amazing:  Have you ever had an encounter with someone who made you say, “Wow!  That was amazing!”?  These amazing moments usually come when your expectations are exceeded.  When I began working at the camp we had an oft-repeated slogan, “and then some”.  The idea was that we would do our best to meet expectations . . . and then some.  Our goal was the “Wow!” factor.  We wanted our campers and guests to have an amazing experience.  How about your encounter with Jesus?  Do you live like it is amazing?  How about your interactions with people each day?  Are they amazed at how much you talk and act like Jesus?  People took notice of a formerly crippled man they had probably passed by day after day without a second thought because his life had an amazing encounter with the power of Jesus.  The act of amazing in our life ought to make the healing power of Jesus attractive to all who see us.
• Leaping:  There is something about unexpected excitement that tends to make people jump for joy.  From sporting event victories to solving game show puzzles, people from all walks of life do a lot of leaping.  The man in the text was leaping and praising God because it was the best expression of the act of healing he had received from God.  What does the act of leaping look like in your life?  If you have experienced the healing power of God you ought to be leaping for joy in ways that are noticeable to your neighbors, co-workers, friends, and family.  Perhaps we don’t leap so much because we have forgotten how much we’ve been healed.  The act of leaping expresses our joy of receiving the healing of God in our life.

So, how is the act of HEALing being expressed both in and through your life?  Are you living out the act of Heart, Expectation, Amazing, and Leaping as you encounter Jesus and the people He brings across your path?  I pray that the act of HEALing brings great joy to you and to many others through you.