I would rather stand at the threshold of the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness.
– Psalm 84:10
You are not a beggar.
At the hour of prayer, the disabled man lay at the gate of the temple in Jerusalem, carried there so he could beg for money from the people entering and leaving the place of worship.
As the disciples John and Peter approached the gate called Beautiful, the man began to plead for money.
Peter replied, “I do not possess silver and gold, but what I do have, I give to you: In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene—walk!”
Peter took the beggar’s hand and pulled him to his feet. The man was instantaneously and completely healed, freed to enter the temple and worship with the others.
He didn’t just walk through the gate, though. He walked and leapt and praised God for joy, offering the unrestrained worship of a man snatched from the pit of hopelessness.
The Psalmist declared it better to live in the dirt, heat of the sun, cold wind, and drenching rain, than in a palace where evil rules. Such promise dwells at God’s doorway, worth suffering deprivation to watch the glory even from afar.
The outskirts, though, is not where God wants us. Jesus told the church at Philadelphia:
He who is holy, who is true, who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, and who shuts and no one opens, says this: ‘I know your deeds. Behold, I have put before you an open door which no one can shut, because you have a little power, and have kept My word, and have not denied my name.’
– Revelation 3:8
You are not a beggar. God has not brought you to the Holy City to lie outside His door and survive off the blessings of others. You are worth far more than silver and gold.
God wants to heal you, to bring you to the place where you can fully enter into His presence—face to face.
Not just walking. Leaping for joy. Praising His name. Filled with hope for the future.
You may have waited many years for God to heal you. You have leaned hard against the gate, suffering hardship but driven by a deeper yearning to be close to Him. You could not stay away. You thought no one even noticed you were there. But God knew, and He knows the loyalty with which you have kept His Word.
It’s a new day.
The door is open. He is near; He searches for those who are completely His. Ask Him today how to step through the entrance into full worship and service to Him. He longs to set you on your feet and through the gate called Beautiful to discover all that is waiting for you. That may or may not include physical healing.
In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene—walk!
