With reference to the subject of breaking with old mind patterns (note: belief systems) and the moment of God's presence, we would like to refer to the biblical passage from Acts 3:1-10, which deals with the lame man sitting and begging at the so-called beautiful gate of the temple. He was paralyzed from birth and was carried daily to this place by people (see Acts 3:2).

 

2 Now a man who was lame 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.

 

The paralyzed man was negatively influenced over a long period of time by the concept or conviction of his fellow men surrounding him, in that he resigned himself to his paralyzed state and thereby begged at the beautiful gate of the temple. He connected himself with the wrong idea of other people who kept him thinking there was no other way out of his paralyzed state than only to get a little money by begging in order to survive.

 

But God had an appointed time of healing for the lame on a daily basis, which the paralyzed man couldn't recognize because of his relationships with people who didn't believe in the supernatural work of God and His timings (note: appointments with God, divine visitations).

 

When God has determined a particular time, it is very important that this point of time is correctly discerned and recognized by that person.

 

God had repeatedly created moments for the lame man in the past to encounter him. This becomes clear by the Greek word for “beautiful – hōrạịos”, which means “on time, punctual, beautiful, wonderful, well formed”. It is derived from the Greek root word “hōra”, which among other things means “a certain time” or “a point in time”. (note: part excerpt from the Elberfleder Study Bible to the Greek word “hōrạịos – beautiful” and the word “hōra – moment” with the word key number: 5418* and 5417)

 

Since the paralyzed man was a man who had been paralyzed since his birth, we can imagine that he was carried to the place of God's moment by people from his environment for many years without having experienced a supernatural visitation.

 

Because of his paralyzed condition the lame decided to beg from believers who went into the center of the Heavenly Father because he knew that the movement of the kingdom of God was associated with prosperity (note: blessings, wealth).

 

The center of the Heavenly Father in this context is related to the temple because Jesus, when he lived on earth in His youth, referred to it clearly (see Luke 2:46-49).

 

46 After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions.

47 Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers.

48 When his parents saw him, they were astonished. His mother said to him, “Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you.”

49 “Why were you searching for me?” he asked. “Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?”

 

Therefore, it is no coincidence that the event with the lame at the beautiful gate is connected to the going up of the two apostles Peter and John, who were about to go into the center of the Heavenly Father to intensify fellowship with Him and the saints (see Acts 3:1).

 

1 One day Peter and John were going up to the temple at the time of prayer – at three (note: ninth hour) in the afternoon.

 

 

Looking at the event in a prophetic context, it is clear that two types of believers are described, the first being people who are captured in a state of immaturity by a false mindset and are unable to enter the center of God with all its rights and privileges. This paralyzed state is caused by a religious spirit that seeks to stop the spiritual development (note: maturity) and movement of the Holy Spirit in the lives of believers.

 

The second type are believers who move in a higher realm of spiritual authority because they are aware of the responsibility in the sonship of God and thus gain deep knowledge and intimacy with the Heavenly Father.

 

 

=> The religious spirit is a demonic power that wants to stop the process of change in the body of Christ with all its might.

 

 

 

“Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues deceive themselves, and their religion is worthless.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Through Jesus Christ, the Pharisees or Scribes were given the choice either to oppose the divine nature of the Son of God or to align themselves with Jesus. It was up to them either to observe the rules of worship at the place where changes in behavior took place in worship, or to begin worshiping in spirit and truth. <= (note: analogously part excerpt from the book “God's Now Time for Your Life,” pages 113-116 by Chuck D. Pierce, ISBN: 0-8307-3834-7)

 

 

The religious spirit causes believers to have a mindset of poverty which prevents them from entering into the direct presence of the Heavenly Father. As a result, those believers seek their help in the riches (note: meant here material and immaterial) of the sons of God, instead of personally entering the sonship of God and receiving it in the presence of God themselves (see Acts 3:2-3).

 

2 Now a man who was lame 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.

 

Such poverty thinking is devouring of God's resources and should be addressed in love and revelatory truth so that the respective believers may enter their individual sonship of Christ in order to be enabled to become a part of God's economy (note: blessings, prosperity, wealth).

 

 

It is the power of the apostolic and prophetic perspective that leads to the dissolution of the paralyzing state and causes believers to move from a cycle of poverty to the moment of God's prosperity in spirit, soul and body (see Acts 3:4-6).

 

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 do have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.”

 

Before the lame could receive his healing to become a literal sign and wonder for the people around him, it was necessary for him to look into the apostolic and prophetic light of God to be filled with His light and touched by the power of God to obey the apostolic instruction (see Acts 3:4.6-7 i.c.w. Luke 11:34a-b).

 

4 Peter looked straight at him, as did John. Then Peter said, “Look at us!” …

6 Then Peter said, “Silver or gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.” 7 Taking him by the right hand, he helped him up, and instantly the man’s feet and ankles became strong.

 

34a-b Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eyes are healthy, your whole body also is full of light. …

 

 

Here the enlightened eyes of the apostles together with the eyes of the lame that were unenlightened established horizontally the victory of the cross of Jesus in the invisible world in order to create a new man.

The reason lies in the fact that the lame man had to look right and left with his eyes in order to look into the four eyes of the apostles. The number of the involved eyes was six, indicating the new life of the lame man that was about to come because God created man on the sixth day (see Genesis 1:27.31).

 

27 So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. …

31 God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning – the sixth day.

 

The four eyes of the apostles formed the door for the lame man to enter into the higher realm of God, similar to what John saw in the book of Revelation when he saw the door in heaven opened (see Revelation 4:1).

 

1 After this I looked, and there before me was a door standing open in heaven. And the voice I had first heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.”

 

The number “4” is related to the Hebrew letter “Daleth”, which is connected to an “open tent door” or a “wing of a door” and at the same time is a reference to Jesus Christ, who is the door to enter the presence and provision of God (see John 10:9).

 

9 I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture.

 

 

At the times when God wants to bring about a change in the body of Christ on earth, it is unavoidable that spiritual leaders within the body of Christ will be called by God to step out and move to a higher level of fellowship and improvement in order to bring forth more fruitfulness for His people (see Acts 3:1).

 

1 One day Peter and John were going up to the temple at the time of prayer – at three in the afternoon (note: ninth hour).

 

As a result, spiritual leaders do not fail to face challenges in their lives in order to create the will and moment of God in people's lives, to enable them to enter into apostolic and prophetic worship (note: represented by Peter and John) in the center of God and in authentic fellowship of saints (see Acts 3:8-10).

 

8 He jumped to his feet and began to walk. Then he went with them into the temple courts, walking and jumping, and praising God.

9 When all the people saw him walking and praising God, 10 they recognized him as the same man who used to sit begging at the temple gate called Beautiful, and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.

 

 

Since the previously paralyzed man went under the authority of the apostolic-prophetic alliance (note: Peter and John), he was given access to the realm of greater wisdom because he joined the apostles and followed them into the colonnade of Solomon causing people to be amazed by it (see Acts 3:11 i.c.w. 1 Kings 4:29-30).

 

11 While the man held on to Peter and John, all the people were astonished and came running to them in the place called Solomon’s Colonnade.

 

29 God gave Solomon wisdom and very great insight, and a breadth of understanding as measureless as the sand on the seashore.

30 Solomon’s wisdom was greater than the wisdom of all the people of the East, and greater than all the wisdom of Egypt.

 

 

Solomon's Colonnade was the columned hall on the east side of the temple. Its geographical location prophesied to man, the new day of the Lord, through the assistance of the Spirit of Wisdom who is the Holy Spirit (note: In the east the sun rises and announces the day.).

 

This hall was also the place where Jesus as Messiah confronted the religious leaders by speaking about His obeying sheep following His voice but also about the unity with His Heavenly Father (see John 10:23-30).

 

… 23 and Jesus was in the temple courts walking in Solomon’s Colonnade.

24 The Jews who were there gathered around him, saying, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly.”

25 Jesus answered, “I did tell you, but you do not believe. The works I do in my Father’s name testify about me,

26 but you do not believe because you are not my sheep.

27 My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.

28 I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand.

29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all3; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand.

30 I and the Father are one.”

 

 

The enrichment of the believers, who were previously in a paralyzed state for a long time and now begin to live in the freedom and order of the Spirit, has the consequence that it comes to astonishment within the body of Christ, because they are in the right apostolic alignment at this time and have a part in the revelatory presence of God.

 

These are believers who become familiar with the facets of the face of God that are:

 

It is similar to the lambs and goats of Jacob at the time of Laban, which looked at the peeled wooden sticks and thus became a powerful flock. The lambs reflected the structure of the sticks they saw (see Genesis 30:37-43).

 

37 Jacob, however, took fresh-cut branches from poplar, almond and plane trees and made white stripes on them by peeling the bark and exposing the white inner wood of the branches.

38 Then he placed the peeled branches in all the watering troughs, so that they would be directly in front of the flocks when they came to drink. When the flocks were in heat and came to drink, 39 they mated in front of the branches. And they bore young that were streaked or speckled or spotted.

40 Jacob set apart the young of the flock by themselves, but made the rest face the streaked and dark-colored animals that belonged to Laban. Thus he made separate flocks for himself and did not put them with Laban’s animals.

41 Whenever the stronger females were in heat, Jacob would place the branches in the troughs in front of the animals so they would mate near the branches, 42 but if the animals were weak, he would not place them there. So the weak animals went to Laban and the strong ones to Jacob.

43 In this way the man grew exceedingly prosperous and came to own large flocks, and female and male servants, and camels and donkeys.

 

From this we come to the conclusion that there is the necessity for the time ahead that it is not enough to have a knowledge of Jesus Christ without a passionate devotion under His guidance. This guidance includes, in addition to submission and subordination to His Word, the willingness to acknowledge higher anointings and to place oneself in the destiny that has been set for one.

We can recognize our destiny only in the readiness to direct the eyes of our heart upwards to the Heavenly Father, in order to be able to be formed like the image of His glory. As we do this, in the process of inner change we must recognize what is to be let go of and actually break this attitude (note: blockades from the past, belief systems holding us back) in order to move in the freedom of the Spirit.
 

Amen and Amen.

 

In His Wisdom,

 

Daniel Glimm