“In Lystra there sat a man who was lame. He had been that way from birth and had never walked. He listened to Paul as he was speaking. Paul looked directly at him, saw that he had faith to be healed and called out, ‘Stand up on your feet!’ At that, the man jumped up and began to walk” (Acts 14:8-10).

There is a special moment in any miracle when faith sparks us to do something we couldn’t do before that moment. Paul was speaking and a crippled man who had never walked was listening. Paul saw something that he recognized. He had seen it before; it was faith.

Paul knew the power of faith. It makes the crippled walk. It breaks the power of sin over a person’s life. It brings forgiveness to the worst sinner. Faith in Jesus is the most powerful force in the world. Paul’s own experience of faith had changed his life completely. He had been a fierce persecutor of the Church, but faith in Jesus had transformed him into the Church’s greatest missionary.

When Paul saw the man’s faith and asked him to stand up the miracle happened. The man didn’t have to enroll in physical rehabilitation classes to learn how to walk. Having never walked in his life he was immediately able to walk. Faith not only gets us started on a new journey it empowers us to live out a new life. Jesus is still responding to faith and is still enabling individuals to get on their feet again.