Were these people who were healed or raised from the dead anybody special? Not necessarily. We don't know anything about Aeneas except that he had been bedridden for eight years. Tabitha though was well-loved for doing good and helping the poor. Perhaps she was a seamstress since the story mentions the clothing she had made (Acts 9:36-39). But the people healed by the disciples, and by Jesus, were ordinary people. They were not the leading citizens of the day, the politicians or the preachers. They didn't do anything to "earn" being healed or raised from the dead. It was just that someone loved them enough to bring them to Peter's attention. In Aeneas's case they asked for healing. In Tabitha's case they didn't even do that. They were already mourning her death and Peter had to send them out of the room so that he could pray, seek the Lord's guidance and act on it. We know from the Gospel accounts, Peter was not a perfect person. Presumably Aeneas and Tabitha were not perfect either. Healing does not seem to depend upon our perfection, but on God's. For reflection: Have I not asked for healing for myself because I didn't think I deserved it? Have I not prayed with someone else for their healing because I didn't think I was good enough? Let us pray. Father, I thank you that Jesus prayed for me before I ever heard of him. I thank you that Jesus died for me when I could never deserve such a sacrifice. I thank you that in your great goodness and your perfection you remember me every day whether I remember you or not. I thank you that others have prayed for me too. Now I offer myself to pray for others as you lead me to do so.
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"Please come at once!" the messengers urged Peter. The beloved Tabitha had died (Acts 9:36-43). Why send for Peter when someone has died? What did they expect him to do? Did they want him to be there to mourn with the community, or lead a memorial service? Or did they hope he would raise her from the dead? Peter expelled the crying mourners from the room. He knelt, prayed, and then commanded Tabitha to get up. As with Aeneas (Acts 9:32-36) we see Peter use the command, "Get up." We don't know what Peter prayed while kneeling. Perhaps he was seeking the Lord's direction on whether to raise the woman back to life or let her go. And hearing that direction, he simply commands her. The faith to command, as we mentioned last week, comes from knowing the Lord's will. The purpose of healing Aeneas and raising Tabitha was two-fold: it was for the benefit of the person and it was for the benefit of the many people who heard about it and believed. Many more people came to believe in Jesus because of Aeneas and Tabitha. For reflection: People are still being healed and raised from the dead today. They may live next door to us or they may live half-way round the world and we find their stories on YouTube. The question, though, is still the same as it was in the time of Jesus - will we believe? Let us pray. Lord Jesus, I pray with the father in Mark 9:24 - "I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!" Healings continue to be reported in the Acts of the Apostles as we return to Peter's life and ministry in chapter 9:32. Peter healed a man named Aeneas who was paralyzed. How? Simply by saying to him, "Jesus Christ heals you. Get up and take care of your mat." There is no long drawn out prayer. There is no, "Oh Lord, if it be your will." Instead there is a statement of faith, "Jesus Christ heals you" followed by a command, "Get up and take care of your mat." Who knows how many people Peter witnessed Jesus healing? No doubt quite a few, so he learned from the master. Jesus healed simply by command. Jesus knew it was the Father's will to heal people; so Peter knew it was the Father's will to heal people. Both acted out of complete faith, with no doubt of what the Father wanted done. For reflection: How often am I able to act confidently, out of complete faith? Do I know that it is the Father's will to heal? Let us pray. Father, sometimes I lack the faith to do the things I know you want done. Sometimes I am afraid of being ridiculed. Or I am just afraid of doing things "wrong". I am the one in need of healing today, Father. Heal me physically, spiritually, emotionally. Heal my unbelief. Having escaped from Damascus with his life, Saul heads to Jerusalem where he is not welcomed. The disciples in Jerusalem are still afraid of the notorious man and doubt his conversion. Poor Saul is not accepted until Barnabas comes from Damascus to vouch for him. So then Saul begins to preach in Jerusalem, and before long the Jews there are trying to kill him just as the Jews in Damascus were. So the other disciples send him home to Tarsus (Acts 9:23-30). The disciples in these early days had the wisdom to know when it was time to flee and when it was time to stand. Although Stephen had stood his ground and been stoned, it was not time for the other disciples to do so. For reflection: Do I have the discernment to know when it is time to speak and when to keep silent? When to stay and when to go? When to stand my ground and when to leave the field and live to witness another day? Let us pray. Lord Jesus, I place my life and my times in your hands. Lead me where I should go and keep me from where I should not be. Grant me the wisdom and discernment to hear your voice and to follow it. Saul went quickly from a persecutor to being persecuted. After learning from the disciples in Damascus about Jesus and his message of healing, forgiveness and the kingdom of God, he himself began to preach. The local Jews plotted to kill him but Saul made the first of many miraculous escapes in his life. His disciples get him out of the city by letting him over the town wall in a basket (Acts 9:19-25). For reflection: When has God helped me to escape from a bad situation? When has God used me to help someone escape from a bad situation? Let us pray. Father, thank you for the times you have protected me and saved me. You are my protector I was working on Capitol Hill when 9-11 happened. I could see the smoke rising from the Pentagon. Rumors were rampant that morning about what was going on, and, of course, we had no concept of people doing something like that deliberately. What does this have to do with our recent theme of praying for and forgiving our enemies? Even enemies such as these need to be forgiven. We are commanded by Jesus to forgive all and to leave the vengeance to God. Whether it is men who fly planes into buildings or fire bullets into schools, or who hold three women captive for years. Whether it is presidents and generals who lead us into war, or drug traffickers and human traffickers, pedophiles or identity thieves, we must decide to forgive them. Having forgiven them, we must love them and pray for them. As I said earlier this week, it is one of the hardest things for a Christian to do. For reflection: "Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited. Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written: 'It is mine to avenge; I will repay,' says the Lord. . . . Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good" (Romans 12:14-21, also see Leviticus 19:17-18, Deuteronomy 32:35, Proverbs 20:22). Let us pray. Once again, Lord Jesus, I come to you for help. There are so many people who have not hurt me directly but I have judged them anyway because they have hurt people I know, or they have hurt my country, or they have become notorious for the things they have done. I want to forgive them. I do forgive them. I forgive them as you have forgiven me - fully, completely and without reserve. They are not mine to judge. You alone know their hearts and minds and why they did what they did. I place all of these people (name their names if possible) in your hands, Lord. They belong to you, not me. The prayer of Ananias for his enemy Saul was very effective. Within a few days Saul had completely changed his mind and the focus of his life. He went from a persecutor of the followers of Jesus to proving that Jesus is the Christ (Acts 9:19-22). That was one powerful prayer that Ananias prayed. It not only changed Saul, but also changed the history of Christianity through Saul's conversion. Our prayers for our enemies can be just as life-changing. It reminds me of the passage in the letter of James which reminds us to pray in all situations (James 5:13-20), assuring us that the prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective. For reflection: There may be enemies in several areas of my life - family, work, church, nation. For whom is God asking me to pray today? Let us pray. Dear Jesus, please bring to mind all for whom I need to pray. . . . I forgive them for what they have done. I set them free of my judgment. I ask you to bless and heal them in whatever way they need and to draw them closer to you. Brave Ananias went to pray with Saul at the Lord's direction (Acts 9:10-19) and Saul was healed of his blindness, both physical and spiritual blindness. Saul was actually the enemy of Ananias when Ananias went to pray with him. Jesus asked Ananias to go pray for the healing of his enemy. So Ananias was living out Jesus' teaching from Matthew 5:43-45. "You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven." Loving and praying for our enemies is one of the hardest things to do that Jesus taught. I have heard quite a few Christians pray against their enemies, rather than praying for them. But Jesus didn't say pray against them; he said pray for them. Perhaps Paul was remembering what Ananias had done for him when he wrote to the Romans: "Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. . . . If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head" (Romans 12:14-20). For reflection: Who are my enemies? How have I been treating them? Let us pray. Father, I ask your blessing on (my enemy). Help me to speak kind and loving words and to follow your lead in what I should do for them. If I can help lead them closer to you, please show me how to do that. And please forgive me for the way I have treated them in the past. Consider the specificity with which God spoke to Philip, Saul and Ananias in Acts 8:26-9:19. First Philip had an angel tell him to go to a certain road. Then the Holy Spirit told him to go over to a particular chariot. Paul, not even a believer in Jesus, heard Jesus speak to him: "Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do" (Acts 9:6). And then Ananias heard the Lord tell him to go find Paul in "the house of Judas on Straight Street" (Acts 9:11). Ananias had the temerity to have a little back-and-forth conversation because he didn't want to do it! What boldness he had to argue with God. For reflection: How clearly do I hear God speak to me? Do I only "sense" that he is saying this or "feel" that he is saying that? Let us pray. Jesus, just as you spoke clearly to Philip, Saul and Ananias, I ask you to speak clearly to me. If I'm going to do your specific will in my life, I need to hear your specific directions. Open my ears to hear you every day. Stephen and Philip are only minor characters in the Acts of the Apostles. By far the major figure in Acts is Paul. (He was called Saul in Hebrew and Paul in the Greek language.) Saul was going about his business, rounding up Christians to be sent back to Jerusalem for trial, when God has an appointment with him. Saul didn't have an appointment with God, but God had an appointment with him. God was not at all polite about getting his attention either. God knocks him to the ground and speaks to him. When Paul gets up he is blind. His fellow deputies escort him on to Damascus and find him a room. While there, God gives Saul a vision of a man named Ananias visiting him, laying hands on him, and restoring his vision. Meanwhile, God is speaking to Ananias about Saul. Understandably, Ananias, a follower of Jesus, knowing who Saul is, doesn't want to go see him. But God insists, "Go! This man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles and their kings and before the people of Israel. I will show him how much he must suffer for my name" (Acts 9:15-16). So Ananias keeps his divine appointment with Saul and Saul is healed. For reflection: What does Jesus have to do to get my attention? Do I have a regular appointment time to listen to Jesus? Am I keeping it? Or am I on vacation from God? Let us pray. Jesus, I apologize for not keeping my appointment time with you, for not listening and for not seeing what you want me to see. Open my eyes. Open my ears. |
AliceI started this website and blog on May 1, 2012. I am a Catholic who has been in ministry for many years. I first developed what I would call a close relationship with Jesus in the early 1970s. Ever since then I have been praying with people for healing and other needs. It is because I have seen so many of these prayers answered that I am so bold as to offer to pray for you individually through this website and phone line. Archives
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