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Everyone, at some time, becomes acquainted with delays, put offs, postponements and deferrals in their life. It seems the more we want something, the more frequently we experience a roadblock in our path. In the spiritual realm, Satan is a master of delays. It has been said that, if he cannot deny us God’s blessings, he will try to delay them as long as possible. Unfortunately, history confirms that his insidious tactics have frustrated many Saints who were waiting for an answer from God.

For one man in the New Testament the delay lasted over forty years. He was born a cripple and was never able to care for himself. He came from a Jewish family that fully understood the Old Testament Covenant of Healing that God had with His people. The sacred Scriptures, as well as folklore, informed him of many such helpless cases that were healed by God. He knew one of God’s Covenant names was “Jehovah Rapha”. God had revealed to his Jewish forefathers that “He was the God who heals!”

Throughout childhood, adolescence and well into manhood, this man waited for this promise of healing to be manifested. Weeks, months and years passed as the delays seemed like denials. The time seemed as though it would never come when he could realize his dream of being able to walk and take care of himself like others in his family and community. Time was never on his side. All hope of healing may have faded from his heart. He knew first hand that “hope deferred maketh the heart sick” (Proverbs. 13:12).

The Bible says that every day someone transported him to the gate of the Temple to beg for alms as people passed by on their way to pray. Acts 3 records this event in Church history as this unidentified man is lying by one of the gates and Peter and John walked by. The writer, Luke, says that this particular gate or door was called, “The Beautiful Gate”.

How incongruous that this man, who possibly felt that nothing was “beautiful” about his life, had been placed here by his friends. They had to dress him, feed him, clothe him and carry him everywhere he went. He could not function like other men. He had no skills or vocation; he was a beggar by trade. There was nothing beautiful about his lot in life. Of all the places they could have taken him, they chose to put him just outside the “Beautiful Gate”.

There were reportedly nine gates or doors to the Temple. This one is everywhere else in Scripture known by its more common name, “The Eastern Gate”. Luke is the only writer who does not call it by this name but coins a name for it just for this biblical account. Could it be that the Holy Spirit actually inspired Luke to designate this gate or door by a different name? Let’s go to the Greek and see what golden nuggets lay beneath the surface.

Acts 3:2 states, “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” (Gr. horaisos, SC 5611, from ora, 5610), to ask alms of them that entered into the temple.”

The Holy Spirit’s use of “beautiful” is certainly not by accident. It is an insightful word peering into the plans and the purposes of God as He demonstrates His total commitment to the Word of His Covenant. In Psalm 89:34 God said, “My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips.”


The Greek root word (ora) for “beautiful” in this passage carries the meaning and application of “timeliness, ripe time, right time, best time, best season of the year, loveliest time, the time affixed or appointed, good time or prime time.” The Holy Spirit reveals to Luke that this man is placed here at just the right time; the perfect time! You might say that this lame man was placed just outside the gate called, “IT’S THE RIGHT TIME FOR YOU TO GET YOUR MIRACLE FROM GOD”. He did not need to fret over all those other times because this was his time. The time was ripe for the mercy of God to be shown to him. This was his “due season” to be healed.

It was neither happenstance nor coincidence that placed him there that day. Luke’s choice of words implies that this man was placed there because God knew it was “healing season” for this man. It was the best time! It was the right time, the perfect time! The time was ripe! This moment had been appointed and affixed by God for him to be there just as two Spirit-filled preachers were headed to Church. “Healing season” was at its peak and this man was about to see what a “PRIME-TIME, ON-TIME” God could do for his lame legs.

This was the best season for him to go “walking and leaping and praising God” into the Temple with Peter and John. God keeps track of the “Prime Times” in the life of His children. There is a perfect season for your faith to bear fruit! There are 10 references in the Bible to “due season” and Paul states in Galatians 6:9 that we will reap, IF we don’t give up!

Frustrations and futility can torment the child of God. Many ask the questions “if not here, where? If not now, when?” Waiting can wax old and turn to wondering if God will ever perform His promises. Our Society lives in a time/space dimension that functions on Greenwich Mean Time and the Gregorian calendar. We often battle consternation when God does not comport to our schedules. In God’s Kingdom, “timing” is more important than “time”. God’s economy differentiates between “seasons” and “moments”. We live in the moment: God views the moment as part of the season.

God’s timing was evident in the birth of Christ. Galatians 4:4 says it happened, “In the fulness of the time”. The Holy Spirit came to the Upper Room on the day appointed by God, during a season appointed by God. Paul’s Damascus Road conversion was not initiated by him but God; the time was ripe for Saul of Tarsus to be saved. Esther was brought to the forefront of the Kingdom during a critical season in the life of the Jewish people, “for such a time as this”. Esther was a “prime-time” player in the game-plan of God.

The Holy Spirit distinguished between “times” (moments) and “seasons” (lifetime). In Thessalonians 5:1, Paul uses this comparison as he writes, “But of the TIMES (gr. kronos, SC 5550 “space of time, moments”) and the SEASONS (kairos, SC 2540 “lifetime, era, period of time”), brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. For yourselves know…” The contrast is between the “quantity” of kronos/ time and the “quality” of kairos/season.

Timing is God’s prerogative. There are 4 aspects regarding faith that are crucial to understand in helping us avoid a meltdown while we wait for the promise to be fulfilled. We can know “WHO” (God) and “WHAT” (our desires and requests) but, at the time, we may not know “HOW” or “WHEN.” Those two factors remain exclusively in God’s hands. The Psalmist said, “My times are in Thy hand” (Psalm 31:15).

Remember the comforting words of the Apostle Paul when he admonished the Galatian Church “Do not grow weary in well doing, for you shall reap if you faint not.” There is a PRIME TIME for the child of God. How beautiful the door is that opens the treasury of God’s grace and mercy for us. Paul uses the same Greek word for “beautiful” in Romans 10:15 to describe the feet of those bringing the “Good News” of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Their message is always “right on time.”

Prime Time is all the time with God. Prime Time is NOW! Do not worry that it may not be your TURN, believe God that it is your TIME.

We have barely scratched the surface on this subject. There’s far more you can explore…happy digging!

Dr. Donald Frazier

****A Personal Word To Our Readers from Dr. Frazier****

There are great insights to be derived from the study of the Greek New Testament. Each month I will endeavor to share a nugget of truth from the Book of Truth, God’s Eternal Word.

These will be concise and should not intrude into your time or opportunity to explore the richness of the vein from which they were extracted. That is for you and the Holy Spirit to excavate together. These nuggets are just to let you know where to begin the digging, if you so desire. They are NOT designed to be an exhaustive commentary providing all the answers on the subject. The Spirit will guide you in how deep to dig. The Greek will be presented in a way that is easy to understand (transliterated) and easy to verify (“SC” refers to Strong’s Concordance). With a little help you can check the assayers report for yourself. So, pull out this shiny, new nugget and see where it leads you. Please feel free to share your questions, observations or insights with me and our readers.

http://www.donfrazier.com

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