Faith and power

“Then Peter said, ‘Silver or gold I do not have, but what I have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.’” Acts 3:6
Here’s a verse that shows that Peter didn’t subscribe to the theory of positive confession: that if you speak positively about something, it will happen. Speak positively about being wealthy, and money will magically appear in your bank account. Speak positively about being healthy, and your sickness will diappear. This is an unfortunate doctrine that has infiltrated some churches, and it’s one that we don’t see in the Bible.
A related doctrine is that which says, if you have enough faith you will be healed/prosperous/receive whatever you want. The flip side of course, is, if you don’t have what you want, it’s because you don’t have enough faith. This can put a real burden and guilt trip on people; people who long to be healed and do have faith, but for whom God’s will is something different for them. Here’s a man who wasn’t looking to Peter to receive healing – he was only wanting to receive a few coins, just as he asked every person who passed by him (Acts 3:5).
Here’s the thing: it wasn’t the man’s faith that healed him – it was Peter’s. The man had no faith of his own. But in a similar way, it wasn’t Peter’s power that healed him, but God’s. Peter freely acknowledges this: “When Peter saw this [the people running towards him], he said to them: ‘Men of Israel, why does this surprise you? Why do you stare at us as if by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk?’” (Acts 3:12). He uses the healing to preach to them the good news about Jesus Christ: crucified, but risen from the dead by the same power that worked in this man’s life (Acts 3:16).
We must always remember where the power for healing comes from – God – and that that healing is given according to His will, not our faith as such.