Walking and Leaping and Praising God

This weekend a section of scripture was opened to me in a way that had never occurred to me before.
Having recently received an order from Pastor Mark Biltz of El Shaddai Ministries, Bonny Lake, WA, www.elshaddaiministries.us I discovered in the package a tri-fold pamphlet entitled The Amidah or “The Standing Prayer”. I am not going to quote all 18 sections of the prayer but I’d like to share with you Pastor Mark Biltz’s commentary on it.
“Composed around 450BC by the 120 Men of the Great Assembly including Ezra and Nehemiah at the time of the rebuilding of the Temple, it was to be said while standing, three times a day at the hours of prayer 9am 12 noon and 3pm.” The prayer is not found specifically in scripture, as I read it out loud to myself and to the Lord scripture came to mind with each section. Included are the following topics or designations:
God of History, God of Nature, Sanctification of God, Prayer for Understanding, For Repentance, For Forgiveness, For Deliverance from Affliction, For Healing, For Deliverance from Want, For Gathering of Exiles, For the Righteous Reign of God, For the Righteous and Proselytes, For the Rebuilding of Jerusalem, For the Messianic King, For the Answering of Prayer, For the Restoration of the Temple Service, Thanksgiving for God’s Unfailing Mercies and For Peace. For the full text, google Amidah text.
I give you all that to get to what the Lord opened to my heart. Once more quoting Pastor Biltz, “In the book of Acts we find Peter and John entering the Temple at the hour of “”The”” prayer referring to the saying of the Amidah. It is literally called the hour of “The Prayer” in the literal translations. Here we have a man, who according to the Scriptures was: (Acts 4:22 “For the man was above forty years old, on whom this miracle of healing was showed.) Do you realize that meant Yeshua probably walked passed him a minimum of 100 times in the temple and never healed him! This happened after Yeshua died at around 33 years of age and this man who was only 7 years older that Yeshus had been lame from his birth.(Acts 3:1&2 Now Peter and John went up to together in to the temple at the hour of the 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, to ask alms of them that entered into the temple;” Every Jew would love to be “standing” during the “standing prayer” So here we have the Holy Spirit at the specific time of the Amidah strengthening the man’s ankles! (6 Then Peter said , Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk . 7 And he took him by the right hand, and lifted him up : and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength . 8 And he leaping up stood , and walked , and entered with them into the temple, walking , and leaping , and praising God. 9 And all the people saw him walking and praising God:”) God was waiting for all to be gathered in the Temple so at the very moment of the Amidah, perhaps at the praying of the 8th section For Healing, standing perhaps for the first time in his life for the “standing prayer.” For 40 years he had heard or said this prayer, always wondering if it was true! Do you know this was the prayer they were saying right before the Spirit fell at Pentecost! It was the 3rd hour, the time of the morning prayers! Remember this was written hundreds of years before Messiah, remembering Yeshua had also just risen from the dead!!”
Back in the 70’s we used to sing the chorus “Silver and Gold have I None”, the impact of those words and the events surrounding the saying of them has a whole new meaning. God’s timing is always perfect even when we don’t think it is.