Gate Beautiful Acts 3:1,2 Now Peter and John went up together into the temple at the hour of prayer, being the ninth hour. And a certain man lame from his mother's womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, KJV Recognizing The Lame At The Gate... The lame man who was brought to the Beautiful Gate was incapacitated, and because he was in that condition, he needed special care. While other men walked in and out of the temple area, this man was carried to the temple. There was nothing wrong with this man in many areas of his body-- he could see, hear, touch, and speak. He could move his arms and upper torso. In fact, there was only one thing wrong with this man -- his ankles had no strength. If there is something wrong in only one area of life, however, and that area of weakness is severe enough, a man’s entire life can be affected. The “operation” of a man’s life--the function, the activity--can be so impacted that it will feel to that man as if everything has gone wrong. That was the case with this man. Only one thing was wrong with him, but that one thing created a whole-life problem. When a man is handicapped, he needs to be carried. He cannot support his own life, pull his own weight, or operate in his own strength. This has nothing to do with wheather or not the man is a good man in his heart and motives. It has to do with his having a bad problem. The lame man’s problem had made him dependent upon other people. His problem interfered to a certain extent with their lives-- he had to be carried by other men to a place where he could beg, and then carried home at the end of the day. He could not get to where he wanted to be on his own. This man no doubt felt discouraged and low in self-value. When a man has to be carried about, unable to move about on his own, he feels demeaned. When a man has to beg for a living and is not allowed to participate fully in the activities of other men, he feels diminished. Not only was this man lame in his ankles, he had a lameness in his emotions and his spirit.. One area of weakness had created another in his life. Not only were his ankles lame; he was lame. Virtually all men are in that position today. We each have a weakness in our lives that keeps us from functioning as a whole person. But what do most of us do? We deny our own lameness. And we pass by others who are lame because we don’t have either the courage or the compassion that it takes to stop and help them. It’s time we quit kidding ourselves. We each have a need for God’s healing power. Others have needs, and they need for us to help them experience God at work in their lives. Yes, we are all lame at the gate at some point in our lives, in some area of our lives. The good news is that God sends people to the gate where we sit to help us receive what God has for us to receive. Watch for that person in your life. Look for that person to come. And be very aware that you may be the person God is sending to bring deliverance to a lame man. Be on the alert for a person who may be sitting at a gate through which you will pass today. A devotional from the book... So You Call Yourself A Man? by: T.D. Jakes