How to recognize when God is talking to you, part 2

Acts 3:1-6 (NIV) “¹ One day Peter and John were going up to the temple at the time of prayer—at three in the afternoon. ² Now a man crippled from birth was being carried to the temple gate called Beautiful, where he was put every day to beg from those going into the temple courts. ³ When he saw Peter and John about to enter, he asked them for money. ⁴ Peter looked straight at him, as did John. Then Peter said, “Look at us!” ⁵ So the man gave them his attention, expecting to get something from them.  ⁶ Then Peter said, “Silver or gold I do not have, but what I have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.”

This is a little story with a lot of power!  Even the Jewish leaders who were opposed to Christ did not deny this was a miracle (see Acts 4:16).  Yet because of the incredible nature of this miracle we often don’t ask the right questions about what God was doing.  What caused Peter to respond to this beggar and not another one?  Why did Peter tell the man to walk instead of asking God to heal him?   This account doesn’t give us the answers, but we know from how Jesus interacted with the Father and how he taught his disciples to do the same that God was talking to Peter and John.  Both Peter and John’s attention were drawn to the beggar, first of all.  They had learned to recognize the leading of the Spirit.  Secondly, Peter knew that God had something else to give this man other than money because they didn’t have any!  Then, Peter simply gave the beggar what he himself had been given from the Lord.  From this we learn that when God gets our attention concerning a person, however that happens, that he has something for them.  Next, we must discern what that is and respond to the leading of the Spirit.  We will continue to look at how to discern these things in the coming weeks.