11 While he was clinging to Peter and John, all the people ran together to them at the so- called portico of Solomon, full of amazement. 12 But when Peter saw this, he replied to the people, “Men of Israel, why are you amazed at this, or why do you gaze at us, as if by our own power or piety we had made him walk? 13 The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified His servant Jesus, the one whom you delivered and disowned in the presence of Pilate, when he had decided to release Him. 14 But you disowned the Holy and Righteous One and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, 15 but put to death the Prince of life, the one whom God raised from the dead, a fact to which we are witnesses. 16 And on the basis of faith in His name, it is the name of Jesus which has strengthened this man whom you see and know; and the faith which comes through Him has given him this perfect health in the presence of you all.
17 “And now, brethren, I know that you acted in ignorance, just as your rulers did also. 18 But the things which God announced beforehand by the mouth of all the prophets, that His Christ would suffer, He has thus fulfilled. 19 Therefore repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord; 20 and that He may send Jesus, the Christ appointed for you, 21 whom heaven must receive until the period of restoration of all things about which God spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets from ancient time. 22 Moses said, ‘ The Lord God will raise up for you A prophet like me from your brethren; to Him you shall give heed to everything He says to you. 23 And it will be that every soul that does not heed that prophet shall be utterly destroyed from among the people. ’ 24 And likewise, all the prophets who have spoken, from Samuel and his successors onward, also announced these days. 25 It is you who are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant which God made with your fathers, saying to Abraham, ‘ And in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed. ’ 26 For you first, God raised up His Servant and sent Him to bless you by turning every one of you from your wicked ways
(Acts 3:11-26 NASB)
Peter makes it very clear that it wasn’t of himself, or of anyone else, that the man was healed. It was faith in the Lord Jesus Christ that Jesus healed the man.
Peter also reminded them that they had had Him killed, but that all things had happened as had been prophesied by many prophets over years. The people at that time had tried to destroy Jesus on charges of blasphemy, despite His great and wondrous works, but their plans could never override God’s plans. His plans could not be stopped. His plans had been written many times over many years long before the events that fulfilled those plans ever happened.
Think about that… Every situation that you encounter, or more to the point, everything that makes up your life as a child of God was written, prepared for, and sealed, long before you were born. You are part of an unbeatable nation, the nation that is the Kingdom of God. It is not of this Earth, it is of Heaven. Nothing on this Earth can ever defeat God’s plans, and therefore nothing on this Earth can ever defeat us.
God’s plans make us ready for all things, at all times, and by us serving Him with all the confidence of that a child of the King of kings should have, then all those around us, especially our own families, will be blessed, and that blessing will spread outwards, and into the future.