THE GROWTH SYNDROME (the poem)

If am asked a question ,one thing am most concerned about ,my overt answer ,would be growth !

The growth syndrome which clutches to mans life like a cancer ,takes man from childhood to adulthood ,a state of unwariness to a state of knowing ,then finally death takes its toll to push man into oblivion .

Growth is the vehicle to which man meets his quietus .
Growth has revealed the flaws in baby in arms .
Growth has shown man how different they are when they saw similarities as infants .
Growth is the magnifying glass of man:it reveales hidden secrets and frailties.
He is our fortune teller : he continues to foretell the future of man until their demise .
he is the most efficient tutor :he teaches man by experience .
He is a greatest converter : he continuous to change the look of men .
He is the richest :rich with wisdom !
He is the best disciplinarian :man has grown to prominence through him .

Growth is related to time ,when God created time ,he created growth .

Why didn't God create us as matured people to live on earth free from the syndrome of growth . Things would have been a lot better.
No !,never ,things would rather be worse ,we will lack prominence ,knowledge ,experience ,etc . We will be children dressed as adults .

There is a lot to growth than we know .It's one essence that makes us human ..

YOU ARE A PRAYER WARRIOR

The phrase "Prayer warrior " is thought of as a Christian who prays effectively for others or "makes intercession on behalf of others ".
People think a prayer warrior is one who has special calling to make intercession for people or the church .
In many churches ,these people are those who help to pray for the church ,the pastor, the audience and sick people in the church .
Contrary to the generally accepted definition of who a prayer warrior is ,the biblical inference is that "every Christian is a prayer warrior".
Being prayer warriors mean we are engaged in a spiritual battle with the devil . The fight with Satan is a spiritual one hence no physical and tangible weapons can be effectively employed against him and his minions .
In Eph 6:13-17,we are admonished to wear the full armor of God and pray in the spirit on all occasions.It is clear that if we follow these instructions faithfully ,we shall be able to stand against the devil .


WHY YOU MUST PRAY !
There are several biblical proves that shows why we all must pray. Every Christian has been called and part of the calling is to pray (warfare ) against the devil .
Jesus was a prayer warior.Many men God used in the bible were men of prayer.Prayer is a neccessity for every believer.

1.We are like Priests.

I remember memorizing 1 peter 2:9 and reciting it several times "But you are a chosen people ,a royal priesthood ,a holy nation "..
Normally i would emphatically say am chosen by God and peculiar in his sight and leave the rest .
If we believe we are chosen by God and are special to him ,then why can't we believe we are priests ?
Priest are prayer warriors ! They make intercession for people in authority ,nations ,sick people ,etc .Jesus himself is considered as the high priest .
Prayer is a means of communication between humanity and deity .Meditation is when God speaks to us .Prayer is in fact the only means we can speak to our maker .

2.The devil is the god of this world .

Jesus warned his disciples in john 15:13 that they should not be surprised if the world hates them ,because they are not it's own .
The world hates us because we belong to God . The devil is described in 2 cor 4:4 as the god of this age or world . When Adam sinned ,man became joint heirs with the devil . He became the god of this world .
How can you live comfortably in a world that your enemy the devil is god over .So far as we live here on this earth ,our battle with the devil never ends . Our spiritual battle is with unseen beings .No wonder we are asked to put on the full armor of God( Eph 6:13).
With all the armors paul mentioned ,the only offensive weapon is the sword of the spirit which is the word of God. The only way the word can be put to effect is when we pray according to it . If we fail to pray according to the word,we would be like the man having a gun loaded with bullets but failed to use it.
The only means by which  the sword of the spirit can be put to use is by prayer .

3.The trilogy of salvation .
 
Salvation is in three folds : Spiritual salvation ,mental /soulish salvation and final redemption /physical salvation . We are saved .
If you are born again ,then you have been saved .when we got born again our spirit was saved and not our minds or body (2 cor 5:17),that is why we still had the same attitude ,mindset ,and did the same old things even after we got born again .Because our minds was not change ,it remained canal .
In addition to the spiritual redemption ,we are also being saved by the continuous renewal of the mind (Rom 12:2). Praying according to the word of God renews the mind .Renewing the mind first starts with recognizing or having awareness of our wrong doing .Until the mind is renewed ,it would not submit to the laws of God .
The final redemption which is the salvation of the body is what all Christians await to be joined with God in freedom from death and decay (Rom 8:23).
I think because of the way we view prayer, it makes it very difficult for us to pray. If we see prayer as a time to talk to God. It becomes easy and exciting . Its like talking to your best friend. When you speak to him like the way you would have spoken to anybody else about your issues it becomes very exciting. Every christian is been called and part of our calling is to pray.
We are called to pray. Paul ,in Ephesians 6:12 enumerated the basic requirement and weapons of a christian for this warfare . He points to the fact that we are in a war, not with flesh and blood but with principalities ,rulers of darkness etc.Hence there is a need for every believer to be on guard.
He prescribed the appropriate  regalia and weapons we are to use in this warfare.Then in verses 18 he concluded by saying "pray in the spirit with all kinds of prayers...".That actually makes us "prayer warriors"!!Think about it. Every christian is a prayer warior !!

KENNETH BRAY
-kennetics

WHEN THE BROOK DRIES UP !

The question is "What do you do when your brook dries up " ?

let's first define what the brook is.

BROOK, [ to rain, to pour, to flow.] A small natural stream of water, or a current flowing from a spring or fountain less than a river.

In a spiritual sense ,the brook can be a provision from God ,blessing ,comfort etc !

I believe one way or the other ,all of us have been in a place where the brook had dried up .we have all experienced it. In our life ,marriages ,relationships ,Ministry ,Work etc, we sometimes experience dryness and an emptiness that often takes us out of our comfort zones .

In our marriages ,we maybe enjoying a good time with our spouse ,everything may seem to be going on well perhaps for some years after getting married,then suddenly as if God had abandoned us and given the devil the superintendence over the marriage ,an unquenchable fire of disputes sprouts, eviscerating the joy in the marriage and forces it into a divorce .

There  are some instances where our relationship with God becomes particularly interesting;we become passionate and zealous in service we are always in time for church services,we always want the opportunity to profess our faith and share the gospel with others , then it gets to a point where you just don't feel God's presence around you anymore .

For some of you , maybe ,God blesses you with a job ,then after some time you get a dreaded notice that you have been fired .

We have all experienced the dryness before ,not to talk of the pain and shame that comes with it. The question though is "what do we have to do when the brook dries up? "

Let us read 1 kings 17: 2
And the word of the LORD came unto him, saying,
3 Get thee hence, and turn thee eastward, and hide thyself by the brook Cherith, that is before Jordan.
4 And it shall be, that thou shalt drink of the brook; and I have commanded the ravens to feed thee there.
5 So he went and did according unto the word of the LORD: for he went and dwelt by the brook Cherith, that is before Jordan.
6 And the ravens brought him bread and flesh in the morning, and bread and flesh in the evening; and he drank of the brook.
7 And it came to pass after a while, that the brook dried up, because there had been no rain in the land.
8 And the word of the LORD came unto him, saying, 9 Arise, get thee to Zarephath, which belongeth to Zidon, and dwell there: behold, I have commanded a widow woman there to sustain thee.

Until the brook dried up ,it was where Elijah had his provision .The brook was a provision from God . God prepared that place for him, so it couldn't have just dried up, for no reason .
There is always a purpose and a reason behind the dryness of the brook .Things just don't happen like that! I believe the drying of the brook is a signal for a change from provision to sustainance .In Elijah's case ,when the brook dried up, it was God telling him ,in a way, to give up the brook.It was a time for him to change his position and relocate .

For many of us, when we experience such dryness the the overt thing we do is to give up,some even go to the extent to question God . God always has us in mind ,He has good thoughts for us and always prepares a place for us to receive his provisions . The import then is we must make it a habit to enquire of Him anytime we face such dryness .We must take advantage of it to buy into the mind of God so we can know the next step to take . We must go before him with gladness telling him the situation at hand because he holds the solutions to all our dilemmas and he patiently waits for us to call upon him.

From the time Elijah declared the word to king Ahab, to the time he was sustained in the Widows house ,he always received a fresh word from God . God had to reveal to him his plans and his next "assignment ". The interesting thing here is ,God never told Elijah where he was taking him until he had obeyed the initial command .

God never reveals his complete plan to us until after we have obeyed his initial word . Provision always comes after we have obeyed his word,it follows a sequence . Prayer gives inspiration,inspiration is the solution which is acted upon ,action gives provision . Let me explain further ; When the brook dries up ,it is a call to prayer , prayer clears the mind to receive the word -inspiration from God ,the word or inspiration can be in the form of an idea or solution( in its theoretical form ) which must be acted upon ,after you have acted upon the word ,then provision comes .You must understand that provision only comes after you have acted and obeyed the word . Thus was the case of Elijah .

Our problem is ,We always want to see the provision before we do something .It is even evident in our prayers, but God does not work like that .He has different ways through which he uses to bless us . God can chose to bless us through people . Sometimes these people may not realise it themselves but God uses them anyway to bless us .

God is saying the same thing to us today . "I have commanded i widow in that place ",note that God was speaking in the past tense which meant he had already done that even before he approached Elijah . That's exactly how he acts now,God has not changed .He already knows the things we need and he has made preparations for that,we would be making a great mistake if we fail to call on him.
We err ,because we do not inquire of the Lord .

THE AGONY OF AN UNFATHERED MAN.

I wrote this article earlier this year during the father's Day celebrations to sensitize the fathers who have neglected their responsibilities .

I believe though that some of our fathers deserve commendation since they have proved beyond all doubts to be good spiritual leaders in their families . I however think there is the need to sound a wake up call to the slumbering fathers for them to have cognizance of the harm they may be doing to their children by neglecting them.

This is a must read for all fathers -including potential ones .

This is the AGONY of an unfathered man!

Our development as men is shaped by the things we encounter as children, our masculinity is defined by our fathers and our relationships .Dysfunctions in our adulthood were also shaped or influenced by the presence or absence of the men who fathered us.
T.D Jakes .

Masculinity is rooted in childhood;there is a child in every man . The things we experience in our childhood is what makes up our thoughts .

Most of the perception men have today came from the experiences they had had in their childhood .
The reason why some men act the way they do is because they were deprived of a proper relationship with a father early on in their lives . Men are what they are today because of the presence or absence of a father .

The absence of a father in our lives generates a permanent questions in our  minds as children ; "Why don't i have a father? ". " where is daddy? "

The absence of a father have metamophorsed men into beasts ; displaying callous and insensitive behaviours characterized with anger and acrimony from the wounds they had in their childhood.
Men are now seen as atrocious  creatures who are ready to devour people when they are angry, to show how strong they are.

We now perceive that ,the only way a man can express himself and be heard is to show anger.The anger we have kept in our hearts for our fathers . This anger, is what we enter our marriages with .Thinking we are being men .Abusing innocent women ,then we turn to call them our wives .
This same anger is what we bring to the societies .Getting involved in every societal menace so that we can atleast satisfy the anger. We hide behind our "macho", bragging about having six packs and huge biceps to denote how strong we are when in actual fact were weakened by the bitterness of our fathers absence .

why are we men always angry ?
This is a question that needs to be answered and must not be given a back burner .
I believe it is because nobody listened to us  when we were boys .Our inability to communicate our  " emotions " as children has caused us  to resort to anger .

  Am tired of seeing angry men .I look through the society ,the homes ,work place and i see angry men .Angry men ,armed to the teeth ,with  ammunitions ready to war ,because nobody listens .

Angry men are even everywhere in the church and ministry . I am tired if seeing angry men .Am tired of seeing men  get angry  at the wrong people .
The devil works behind the scenes .He is the one men ought to be angry at .

Real men are those who know who their actual  enemy is and fight him on their knees . We need real men in our lives.we need men who are mentors.

I speak for those who did not have the presence of a father in their lives. Real men are those who are able to successfuly pass on the baton to the next generation.
Real men are those who bring up a child but not those who help make one.
Most of us did not have the previledge to exprience the presence of men to father us. We were abodoned by them. This act though somehow fogotten has left an unhealable wound in the hearts of many boys.

Why do we think the only way a man can express his feeling is through anger? Why do we say a man who cries is weak?
Men are not able to truly express their feelings and this is affecting many even in their marriages. Because we did not have a proper relationship with our fathers ,many men find it extremly difficult to relate with God, our heavenly father.They do not see the need to depend on God.

Do we not see that God gave us earthly fathers for a reason? If i cannot relate with my father properly, how then can i speak to God who is my heavenly father ,how can i tell him my problems. We have been left to fend for ourselves at a younger age and this has made many men we have today self -dependant .They do not see the need to depend on a God for their needs . What are the men teaching their children(boys). Are we not raising beasts rather than men? I pray that our fathers will remember their responsibilties and do them!

THE SPIRITUAL BLESSINGS GOD HAS GIVEN US .

I stood infront of crowd and began to prob the scriptures keenly .I finally got to Ephe 1:3 and as i began to explain,(stating what i thought spiritual blessings were ) ,i realised some distortions.

Just like many ,perhaps based on our background regarded everything called "Blessing " to mean wealth .I was overtly a baby in the woods when it came to understanding what these blessings truly were .

Just before i continue ,i would like to indicate that "Blessings does not only mean monetary wealth" . Yes ; i know you did not like the sound of that ,but it's the blatant truth .
I only came by this "revelation " after reading this scripture again some two years after . The spiritual blessings we have in Christ Jesus does not refer to money or wealth alone .

What i mean is ,if a pack of pizza is the blessing and there are 8slices in it ,only 1 slice may form the monetary aspect ,which forms 1/8 of the slices of pizza .

I have come to the  realisation that God has truly blessed us in Christ .He did not just call us to bless us with money but he called us for something much more greater than that . Jesus came to accomplish the purpose of God for our lives,His death gave us more than just monetary wealth .

THE DEATH OF JESUS CAME WITH A 'PACKAGE' .

Ask yourself ,"why would Jesus Christ who is God come and die for men like us?"It was all in the plan and Will of God,He had predestined us to be in Christ .He was the lamp of God who was slain for donkeys like us. The book of Exodus speaks of redeeming a donkey with a lamb and if it is not redeemed then its neck was broken .

Exodus 13 :13 And every firstling of an ass thou shalt redeem with a lamb; and if thou wilt not redeem it, then thou shalt break his neck: and all the firstborn of man among thy children shalt thou redeem.

All human beings deserve to die ,our necks must be broken!!We all deserve to go to hell because of our sins, none of us is good enough to go to heaven. We are like donkeys ,very stubborn,donkeys are law breakers ;they barely take instructions .

If you want a donkey to turn left ,you must hit the right side and if you want it to turn right you must hit the left side .
If you stand in front of a donkey and call it towards you it wouldn't move unless you slap its back .They just don't follow instructions .
That's exactly how human beings are,very stubborn and our necks deserve to be broken .This is why Jesus Christ had to come and die for us so our sins would be forgiven .His death has redeemed donkeys like us!
The bible said the wages of sin is death ,so he became the lamb ,to redeem us from death .
Now we have salvation in him,not only that ,but also grace ,forgiveness ,eternal life , just to name a few .

It would have been an aberration for Jesus to die just for us to obtain material wealth,His death was far more than that .
The sad news is that, many are still hoping and praying for these blessings when in actual fact we are already enjoying them .

SALVATION .

The first spiritual blessing i would like to talk about is salvation .

I believe salvation is one of the spiritual blessings Paul was talking about .
In Christ we have redemption of sins .To redeem means to buy back or pay off a dept.
We are bought by the blood of Jesus and we are now counted among the saved . When Jesus said "it is finished ",He meant the war between man and God is over .Indeed he has finished his work .

In the book of Genesis,God created man and gave him authority,He handed over his ruling to him .Man now in its most restrictive sense became the General overseer of the earth.

God did not only give man the power to rule but also gave him the opportunity to name all the animals He had created . It was such a great power that was given to man ,no wonder we are created in his image . However after the fall of man ,he lost his power to the devil and became joint heirs with him.
When God saw this he cursed man and the devil and then banished man from Eden .
Before He did this God killed an animal to cover the nakedness of man .
Here it was God demonstrating how he was going to deliver man from sin .
Today our sins are covered from the blood of the lamb that was slain .Through the death of Jesus we receive salvation .

GRACE AND FORGIVENESS .

Grace and forgiveness are also part of Spiritual blessings we have in Christ .
Grace is the love and mercy given to us by God because he wants us to have it ;not because of anything we have done. It is a gift from God to man which is free and undeserved .
It is an exceptional kindness of God towards man in making their forgiveness and salvation possible .(Eph 2:8 ).

Through Grace our sins are forgiven, we receive acquittal for our sin .(For more on grace read my article "GRACE EXPLAINED ".

The word forgiveness means to cease to blame someone or something ;To grant pardon for a mistake ,to free someone from the obligation of debt and penalty.

Since wrongdoing terminates a relationship ,forgiveness needed to restore the relationship .

Just like grace ,forgiveness is undeserved .This means nobody merits forgiveness because none of us has the right to forgiveness .
It is sorely because of God's grace.

ETERNAL LIFE.

Everlasting life was also another reason for the death of Jesus (John 3:16 ) .
Sin was a barrier that stood between God and man ,and it had to be removed .That's exactly what Jesus did and we now have a relationship with God .

In John 17:13,Jesus  defined Eternal Life as "knowing God".Eternal life does not only refer to the realm in which we live after death.
Eternal life is a present tense possession;Eternal life is knowing God .
It is generally said that eternity is a state of being in which Christians live upon physical death.
In actual fact nobody ceases to exist when he/she dies ,whether a believer or not,after death men live forever in heaven or hell. These were the reasons for the death of Jesus .God has blessed us with all these spiritual blessings .Many are still looking forward to see the blessings when in actual fact we already have it!!!

"VOICES"

I was sitting in church one Sunday morning enjoying a song ministration from the choir. I was stunned at the way the singer handled her notes as she hit the "high" and the "low" keys and still maintained her groove.I was compelled to stand on my feet.It was as though a voice commanded me to stand. I just had to adhere. After the ministration ,and after i had retired my admiration,i asked myself 'when would i be able to sing like this ?' ,immediately  I heard a voice  which said "that's her voice,yours is different".
I just understood what the spirit was trying to communicate to me at that moment.
You see God created everybody with a "voice"we all have "voices" .A voice as i choose to put it, is a medium through which one is heard. Any medium by which you are heard or identified by becomes your voice.For the purpose of this article ,the word "voices "shall also be likened to the word talents.
Whoever said pastors are the only ones called by God?Every christian has been called and i can testify to that.You might not hear a voice like that of Samuel's ,yours might not be spectacular like that of Paul's,but the mere fact that you are born again suggests that you are called .This school of thought exists because many of us have been made to think that the only "talent" or gifts accepted in the church is preaching or to be a pastor or a singer .Many have been compelled to throw away their unique gifts and talents because they were not embraced by the church.No matter what your talent is ,God can anoint it and give it a voice. The singer i was admiring had a voice and it spoke to me.
Even a common dance used in the house of God can become a voice.Why do we consider the  creative arts and performing arts as ungodly?Where does it come from then?Is it not God who created all things?He has given every individual a talent and has made provision the grace to do it. Some people are good at talking but others also express themselves much better in other  "activities" .Our actions or other activities we do can also be a "voice "which could be used to propagate the gospel .No wonder they say "actions speak louder than words" .Lets allow our talent to speak,whatever God has placed in your heart today just do it and God will speak through it.For God to bless us ,he would need a point of contact .He uses what we have or rather what he has freely given us to become a blessing to us .Our talents are God's point of contact to bless us and others . If you want a miracle from God today ,bear in mind that he would have to use what you already have to give you that miracle .This however does not mean he can not perform the miracles without it.God can still perform those miracles anyway ,but he needs a point of  contact .

Exodus 4:1-3 1 And Moses answered and said, But, behold, they will not believe me, nor hearken unto my voice: for they will say, The LORD hath not appeared unto thee. 2 And the LORD said unto him, What is that in thine hand? And he said, A rod. 3 And he said, Cast it on the ground. And he cast it on the ground, and it became a serpent; and Moses fled from before it.

In the book exodus.The rod of Moses was Gods point of contact .He Asked Moses "what is that in your hand? ". The revelation here is, Moses had a powerful weapon in his hand but never realised it.Who ever thought the almighty God could have a use for a rod ,It was a normal stick yet in the hand of Moses it became a Miracle and a weapon which he used to divide the red sea . Be assured that God will use what you have,what you are familiar with ,what you are skillful at.
God will use your "voice ". God is still asking us the same question now.What is in your hand ?When you present anything you own to God,it ceases to be an ordinary thing ,it becomes Gods point of contact .It becomes a carrier of blessing!!


THE WIDOW'S OIL .

2kings 4:1-2

1 Now there cried a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets unto Elisha, saying, Thy servant my husband is dead; and thou knowest that thy servant did fear the LORD: and the creditor is come to take unto him my two sons to be bondmen. 2 And Elisha said unto her, What shall I do for thee? tell me, what hast thou in the house? And she said, Thine handmaid hath not any thing in the house, save a pot of oil.
- 
The story of the window and Elisha keeps challenging me.It reveals how God uses what we have to bless us.This widow came crying to Elisha concerning her debtors .Elisha's reply was somewhat confusing to me with the first question being rhetorical .Elisha first asked 'how can i help you?'.This was not for the woman to answer ,it was rhetoric .Elisha never demanded an answer from the widow .When the woman asked Elisha for help,am sure she expected the man of God to say a prayer or better still redeem her by paying her debtors .There was no way Elisha was going to help the woman without a point of contact ,he needed something the woman was familiar with ,so immediately after the first question another followed " what do you have in your house ".Amazingly ,in the present dispensation, Christians are more of receivers than givers.We always want to receive,yet biblical principles teaches us to give so we can receive!!! The woman had to bring what she had in her house for the man of God to help her .Through that she was blessed with multiples of oil jars which she sold to pay her debtors . What do you have in your hand ? What talent do you have? What is your voice ?We all have "voices ''.The rod of Moses became an instrument of miracle when the Spirit came upon it.The widows oil become a blessing to her and her family .

 Fellow believers what then are we waiting for? present unto him your "voice" now! .

KENNETH BRAY
-kennetics

LAMENESS IN THE CHURCH .

Many of us are in the right place yet with the wrong reasons and expectations .We are like Jacob failing to recognize the power around where we are. Jacob himself confessed "truly the lord was here and i did not know it ",Sometimes our knowledge of God is limited ,We are mostly unconscious of his presence So just like Jacob we say,"God was here and i did not know it".
Your expectations in life dominates your actions, which may also come out of the knowledge or revelation you have .Your expectations come out of your knowledge and revelation of what ever you may be looking forward to receiving .
For example you may be expecting healing from God,probably because you may have heard that He is still in the healing business . So because by his stripes we were healed you begin to trust God and expect healing .
Hearing is acquiring knowledge.  So based on what we have heard, we expect and look forward to it.
Expectations thrives on revelation,because you are looking forward to a probable occurrence , If you look forward to something to happen it is because you are assured of its occurrence due to knowledge or revelation .
Your expectations ultimately defines your actions .If you are really expecting to get something from God it would be visible on your actions .It would be evident on the things you would do to acquire it .

Act 3:2-5 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, to ask alms of them that entered into the temple; 3 Who seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple asked an alms. 4 And Peter, fastening his eyes upon him with John, said, Look on us. 5 And he gave heed unto them, expecting to receive something of them.

One day Peter and John were on their way to the temple,as they were about to enter , they met a cripple sitting in front of the gate begging for alms. He was placed at the gate called "beautiful " every morning to beg.He goes to the temple with the wrong expectations ,to beg for alms rather than receive a miracle .He failed to recognize the power and essence of where he was ,he chose to be a beggar rather than get his healing .
Clearly his revelation of God was limited so much that he did not see the use of the temple .To him the temple was nothing more than just a place he could beg for alms.
Many of us are just like the lame man at the gate of beautiful .We are at the right place with the wrong reasons and expectations .
To an extent ,I believe every man is born with a level of lameness ,We all have dysfunctions in life .We are all different . Our God is a God of multiplicity . If you doubt it then why do you think he created all of us differently? .Just like the way all five fingers are distinct and unique so are the personalities of human .We are all defined by something ,whether cultural background ,belief systems or whatever it is .Even twins have a level of disparity .One would expect that at least two people born on the same day ,by the same parents,from the same womb,raised up by the same parents ,went to the same school ,sat in the same class ,had the same tutor etc ,etc, would behave the same way ,but no,it does not happen like that , no matter how much they resemble each other ,they are still different. Human beings have embodiments of both strengths and weaknesses ,this means we can never behave the same way ,because somebody's strength may be your weakness and his weakness your strength . The way we behave defines us,it makes us up.
This is how human beings are created so you must understand this ,You must have knowledge of this so your expectations would be fixed well.We all have weaknesses that is why we go to church .
The church is our hospital .If the church is a hospital then that makes God our physician and his word our medication .It is said that 'no man is perfect '.To an extent,there is a bit of truth in that .Apart from Jesus our perfector ,we are all not perfect .That is why we are in church .The church is a place where we get healed of our dysfunctions and lameness.However you can be in church all your life and still not get healed of your lameness if your expectations aren't fixed on God.That was the case of the lame man,he was expecting to receive alms from the two Apostles .
When he saw Peter and John he asked them for money,Peter sensing a error  said to the man "look at us ",He had to help the man change his expectations and his focus from money to God.That was the only way he could get his healing.

so the man gave his attention ,expecting to get something from them. 

It was only after  the man had given  his attention to Peter ,did he get his healing.
What do you look for when you go to church ?
We would be making the same mistake the lame man made if we go to church just to hear the choir sing or preacher preach and not expect to receive anything from God.
Do we look forward to what people will give us rather than what God has for us?
Most of us look at the wrong things in church instead of fixating all our attention on God. Remember ,with the right knowledge in life our expectations would be channeled to God to receive from Him.