Walking and Jumping and Praising God!

The Healing of a Man Who Could Not Walk

What an amazing Bible story!  A disabled man well known for begging.   Two apostles who responded to the beggar by giving him much more that money.  A man who could now walk because of the healing power of Jesus Christ.

Children can really relate to expressing excitement in the same way that this man did.  He praised God while walking and jumping in front of everyone.  Of course we had to practice this for a while in our class this past Sunday.

We also used our feet to express praise.  First, we wrote “Praise God” on the centre of a piece of paper.  Then we used our toes to paint.

It was messy.  It was joyful. And it allowed the children to relate to the feelings the man had and to express praise with even the most humble of instruments…toes.

Oh, for this exuberance in accepting God’s power in my life!

But Peter said, “I don’t have any silver or gold, but I do have something else I can give you: By the power of Jesus Christ from Nazareth—stand up and walk!”

Then Peter took the man’s right hand and lifted him up. Immediately the man’s feet and ankles became strong. He jumped up, stood on his feet, and began to walk. He went into the Temple with them, walking and jumping, and praising God.

All the people recognized him. They knew he was the crippled man who always sat by the Beautiful Gate begging for money. Now they saw this same man walking and praising God. The people were amazed. They could not understand how this could happen.

Acts 3:6-10, International Children’s Bible