Act 3: 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.

I chose to expound on this scripture, this man had spent his life sitting in front of the temple begging for money for food, he did not or could not see anything past his temporal needs because he would have starved otherwise. Peter told him he didn’t have money but that he had something much greater that he could heal him. This man now had unlimited opportunities in front of him if he was willing to work for them.

We in this day and age are so caught up on the material things of this world and have an attitude of entitlement. We are not grateful for the opportunities we have if we will go out and work hard, we may not ever have silver and gold but with the principle of work we can have many other gifts. Peter had the gift to heal him physically but much more important he had the gift to heal his heart, this man knew where the gift came from. It says it went into the temple with them.

Act 3:12 ¶And when Peter saw it, he answered unto the people, Ye men of Israel, why marvel ye at this? or why look ye so earnestly on us, as though by our own power or holiness we had made this man to walk?

I love Peter’s humility about how his power to heal came from God and that he did not take the glory and boast of himself. Peter acted for Jesus Christ and was an instrument in His hands. We likewise need to do our part in helping others. We need to recognize our many blessings and where they come from and then we need to turn around and help others.

Acts 7: 60 And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep.

This scripture is of Stephen who was martyred for preaching the gospel to the wicked who rejected it and stoned him to death.

This really touches my heart because even when he was dying he asked the Lord to forgive them, just as Christ did on the cross. We must truly learn from this and not hold grudges even when people are actually trying to hurt us. The testimony of these great prophets can help us in our lives to love and forgive all men. This brings me strength that I can endure trials that come in my life.

I thoroughly enjoyed Eldar Bednar’s talk, Ye must be born again, His analogy about turn a cucumber into a pickle really made you think about the time it takes to become who Heavenly Father needs us to become. We need to focus on the day-to-day acts that will strengthen our families and truly build testimony.

Christ is our best example and we must do all in our power to be like Him through daily efforts and then recognize where the blessings come from and help other people, especially our own families.