In Acts 3 we read of the healing of a lame man. He was over 40 years old (Acts 4:22), lame from birth, and was brought to the Beautiful Gate of the temple every day to beg. He must have sat there every day for the previous 20 years at least. Jesus would have seen him frequently. And Jesus would have given him money each time - not healing. Why didn't Jesus heal him? Because He had no leading from His Father to do so. Some people imagine that Jesus went around healing everybody. He didn't. He went to the pool of Bethesda where multitudes of sick people lay and He healed only one lame man. He never healed this man at the Temple gate even though He saw him frequently. If Jesus had healed him, the revival that broke out in Acts 3 and 4 through this man's healing, would not have taken place.

We can hinder God's work if we act according to our own reason without seeking the will of God in prayer. This is why Jesus told Martha that the most important thing was not to do some service for Him but to listen to Him first (like Mary did) and then to do what He tells us to do. The Father's time for that man to be healed was after the day of Pentecost through Peter. That teaches us a lesson. Even if we have a spiritual gift, we must exercise it only as God leads us to - and not as we think best. Otherwise, we will hinder God's purposes. But who understands this nowadays?

Most believers are not in touch with the Holy Spirit. They live by rules such as,"Everybody can be healed supernaturally", or "Nobody can be healed supernaturally"- depending on whether you are Pentecostal or anti-Pentecostal.

Jesus however did not live by rules but by the leading of the Holy Spirit. Those who live by rules are legalists, and can never fulfil the will of God. Jesus was in touch with the Holy Spirit - and the Holy Spirit never gave Him the liberty in His spirit to heal this man. So, every time Jesus passed him by, he gave him only money. Thus Jesus fulfilled the will of God. Later on when Peter came by and the man asked Peter for money, Peter said, "I don't have money to give you, but in the Name of Jesus stand up." The result was that 5000 people were saved. 5000 people were born again, because Jesus obeyed the Holy Spirit for 3½ years, and did not heal this man.

This is a big warning to me - how I can hinder God's work if I "lean on my own understanding" (Proverbs 3:5), if I act without a leading from the Holy Spirit. It may be a good work that I am doing (what could be better than healing a lame man??), but it could hinder God's plans. God's ways are not our ways. The clever man, the man who lives by rules, will be a hindrance to God's purposes. Many Christians who live by upright principles and rules are the biggest hindrance to God's work. The man who is most useful to God is the one who listens to the Holy Spirit.