Not Manufacturers but Distributors

^{Acts 3:9} When all the people saw him walking and praising God

Whenever there is a move of God it will attract attention, and here is where the believer is tested.

Proverbs 27:21
The crucible for silver and the furnace for gold, but people are tested by their praise.

When we are in the middle of where God is working people will associate us with His power. Our flesh will be tempted to accept some credit for what God has done through us. Let's face it there probably are certain things that we have done that got us to the right place at the right time with the right action or word that made some sort of difference. However we must never lose sight of the fact that it is God who is the author and finisher of our faith and our ministry to others. We are nothing apart from Him. We are merely distributors of the riches of His bounty. Not Manufacturers.
APPLICATION
To walk humbly with God loving mercy and keeping a look out for ways to distribute His Grace to others.

Emotions are Not Reliable

⁸ He jumped to his feet and began to walk. Then he went with them into the temple courts, walking and jumping, and praising God.

Whenever we are touched by God there will always be an emotional response. Our emotions are responders to what is going on in our minds. As this man is physically healed he begins to register that he can walk and will have for the first time a prospect of a normal life he emotionally freaks out with exuberance.  Our emotions directly reflect our thoughts, for example if there is a man who is poor and he needs money to pay the rent, and he has a wife and children who need food and he has been out of work for months and he comes to me and asks for a loan, emotionally he will be sullen and serious. Say I write him a check for $2000. what will his emotional state be as he leaves my office? He will be elated maybe even giddy... because he has in his hand a real solution to a real problem and now his children will have a decent Christmas...etc. Until he gets to the bank and tries to cash that check, when the bank teller explains that the check was not good and could not be cashed, what do you think his emotional state would be? Previously he was elated because he THOUGHT he had $2000. but in reality it was just a piece of worthless paper. So he did not actually have a solution to his problem but his emotions which were real elation and even giddiness responded to something that was false. It is important to understand that our emotions are easily tricked and not reliable to make decisions upon. In the case of this man in the Temple well indeed he was elated and rightfully so because he was touched by God and God does not do things half way.
APPLICATION
I need to remember that my emotions can be manipulated and that they are not reliable to make decisions with. I need to be able to discern the difference between the leading of the Lord and my emotions, those are very different and must be distinguished from one another. 

Loose Grip

^{Acts 3:6} Then Peter said, “Silver or gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.”

So many times we think we know what we want and pursue one goal or another when God has something else in mind. We need to learn to have a loose grip on our idea of what is the direction for our lives. We cannot demand that we know God's will for our lives, instead we must consider a path, take a step and look up seeking confirmation and peace to take another, then to look up again and again always willing to be guided toward a new or different direction. Sometimes in order for God to get us to a particular place He may want us to meander through a variety of roads and byways to get there because the lessons along the way were essential to us accomplishing what we need to do at the destination. Consider the Israelites in the wilderness for 40 years, they could have navigated a straight path and arrived in 2 weeks, but God had a different plan altogether. And besides it is not the destination that is important but the journey where we learn and come in contact with others that shape our lives in Him.
APPLICATION
I need to keep a loose grip on my ideas and be open and willing to be redirected by the Holy Spirit.