Rise Up and Walk!


A few years ago in Virginia Beach, Virginia, I attended a conference where Gordon Robertson (one of the hosts of “The 700 Club”) ministered on the importance of intercession and then instructed us to pray for each other.  At one point, a man in a wheelchair named Clay was handed the microphone and gave a few words of knowledge.  Clay called out the names of various diseases and people came forward to receive their healing.  Throughout the service, several people prayed for Clay to be healed from cerebral palsy.  The thought kept going through my mind, “Why won’t he just get up and walk?”

The Lord then instructed me to approach Clay.  After hesitating for a while, I finally went up front and told Clay I had a word for him.  Then I opened my Bible and read from Acts chapter 3 about the lame man at the temple gate…

3 who, seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, asked for alms.
4 And fixing his eyes on him, with John, Peter said, “Look at us.”
5 So he gave them his attention, expecting to receive something from them.
6 Then Peter said, “Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.”
7 And he took him by the right hand and lifted him up, and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength.

Three people helped Clay get out of his wheelchair and take a few steps.  Although Clay didn’t walk under his own power, he commented that this was the loosest his muscles ever felt.  When Clay returned to his wheelchair, I shared with him how as a young man Kenneth E. Hagin was healed from a crippling disease.  Kenneth made a decision to believe God’s word, climb out of bed by hanging onto the bedpost, and then walk around in his room before he felt confident enough to go downstairs boldly proclaiming to his relatives that he was healed.

James 2:20 and verse 26 both say, “…faith without works is dead.”  Some healings won’t manifest until sick people take corresponding action to indicate they received the answer.  So if you find yourself in a wheelchair but believe God has healed you, don’t just sit there.  Rise up and walk!

“You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works.” 
- James 2:22

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