ACTS: The Power of Prayer

 The first half of Acts chapter 9 tells us the story of Saul’s conversion to Jesus and his calling to take the message of Jesus to the nations outside of Israel. Peter, however, was the first of the apostles that we know of to make his way outside of Jerusalem to begin the move of the church beyond the racial, religious, and regional borders of Judaism.  

 

Acts 9:31 And the church was at peace, growing, and experiencing the fear of the LORD with the encouragement of the Holy Spirit.

32 Peter came to Lydda to spend some time with the saints who were living there. 33 He was taken to a paralyzed man named Aeneas who had spent eighty years in his bed. 34 Peter said to him, "Jesus the Messiah has healed you, Aeneas. Get up and make up your bed." And he got up and was well. 35 The people of Lydda and the nearby town of Sharon all recognized the miracle done to Aeneas and they became followers of Jesus. 

With Saul no longer hunting down the people who believed in Jesus, the church settled into a time of peace. Those who believed were gaining understanding about what their faith meant to their lives and they were sharing this contagious belief with their neighbors. The “church” was growing in numbers on a daily basis. 

 

As a pastor for over 50 years, I have had a lot of time to think about “church growth.” There have been periods where I bought books to study the subject and many of those authors had studied the differences between churches that were “growing” and those that were not. While I was attending seminary, in the early 1970’s, the School of World Missions was just beginning to have an impact on Christianity and soon spawned what we now call the “Church Growth Movement.” Hundreds of books have been written about the things a church can do that will help it to grow in numbers. But the real solid evidence on church growth still comes down to the work of the Holy Spirit as was true in the book of Acts. 

 

 The message of Aeneas’ dramatic healing spread throughout the region and people decided to follow Jesus whom the believers said was the reason for the eighty-year-old man’s freedom from paralysis. 

 

Acts 9:36 In another nearby town lived Tabitha (her Greek name was Dorcas). She continually cared for others with her kindness and love. 37 About the time Peter was in Lydda, Tabitha became very sick and died. The disciples washed her body and laid her in an upper room according to their customs. 38 Joppa was near Lydda and the disciples had heard about the miracles done there so they sent two men to go and encourage Peter to come to Joppa. 39 Peter followed them, and they took him directly up to the room where they had laid Tabitha. Her friends showed Peter all of the wonderful things Tabitha use to make and told him all of the many stories of her life. 40 Peter politely sent them all out of the room and began to pray. Then turning to the body, he said, "Tabitha, get up." She opened her eyes and saw Peter and quickly sat up in the bed. 41 He extended his hand to help her up. Then calling the saints and widows, he welcomed them back into the room where they saw Tabitha alive. 42 This story spread around the town of Joppa and many believed in the Lord Jesus. 43 There was a tanner in the town named Simon and he invited Peter to stay with him for a while.

 

These two stories about dramatic healings, one removing the paralysis from an eighty-year-old man and the other helping a dead woman come back to life, caused a great stir in those communities. People who knew about the situations could not help but talk about what had happened. There was an excitement in the air around the people who believed in the miracles and it attracted other people to want to be a part of these happenings. 

 

Who would not want to be around a group of people who had miracles happening on a regular basis? Miracles bring hope and hope is something that everyone wants to have in their lives. Hope that things will be better, and the pitfalls of life will not get the best of us. 

 

I used to describe a coincidence as a time when God chooses to do a miracle and remain anonymous. I now see miracles as God doing something for us to talk about. But let’s first talk about what a miracle is. Looking the word up on the internet I found this definition, “a surprising and welcome event that is not explicable by natural or scientific laws and is therefore considered to be the work of a divine agency.” Someone who does not believe in God, does not allow for a divine agency to do something so they will call any miracle, a coincidence. Those of us who believe in God, see the miracle as the hand of God at work in human lives. 

 

We, as believers, come to God regularly to ask for His intervention into the circumstances of our lives. Often, we notice that He has answered our prayers. We see the miracle as the hand of God at work in our presence. The more we talk about these miracles, the more people around us see our faith. They can either adopt our perspective on the miracle or they can reject it, but they cannot deny that we believe God entered into life and brought about a significantly wonderful change.

 

Think about the shepherds in the field receiving the visit from the angels on the night Jesus was born in Bethlehem. They could have just stayed in the field, but instead they went into the town and looked for the baby in the stable. They were curious and they ended up finding the baby and their life was filled with joy and wonder from that time on. It required for them, a willingness to go into town in the middle of the night, and a willingness to tell the strange words that the angel had told them. I am sure they were afraid to tell others they had seen an angel. Mary, I am convinced, reassured them that she too had seen, and angel and she would have encouraged them to continue to boldly talk about what God was doing. 

 

Miracles reinforce faith in us who already believe. But to someone who does not yet believe or is on the verge of beginning to believe, it can cause their heart to see life from a different perspective. They will not see that different perspective without someone speaking to them about faith. Someone has to tell the story. The apostle Paul, writing to the church in Rome said, “How can someone turn to Jesus if they don't believe in Him? How can they possibly believe if they have not heard about Him? And how can they hear about Jesus unless someone talks to them about their own faith? How will those who believe say something if they have not been sent by God? Isaiah said, ‘Lovely are the feet of people who bring to us good news.’ Not everyone believes for even Isaiah said, ‘LORD, I don't see people believing this message.’ Faith comes into a person's life through hearing from believers about the work God has done in their life.” (Romans 10:14-17 EBV)

 

The miracle does not have to be freeing up human paralysis or bringing someone back from the dead. It can be the simplest answer to prayer. If I believe it to be the hand of God, I need to say that “out loud” for others to hear. The more those who believe talk about where we see God at work, the more others will recognize the hand of God in their lives. Whether they believe or not is the work of the Holy Spirit, not our work, we are called to be witnesses.

 

Oh, and speaking of healing, I want to remind you of a story told by one of my pastor friends years ago. “We used to see healings and miracles every week at our church. At the end of the worship service, we would invite people forward for prayer if they needed it. They would come, some would pray for them, and we would witness God at work.” I asked him why they stopped seeing the miracles. He paused and then said, “I think we stopped asking people to come forward.” 

 

James says, “13 Does anyone of us have an affliction? Then we should pray. Does anyone feel joyful? Then we should sing praise. 14 Does anyone feel sick? Then we should bring the elders together to pray over us and anoint us with oil in the name of Jesus. 15 A prayer offered in faith will bring healing and strength to the one who is sick. We will also be forgiven of our sins. 16 We should confess our sins to someone else and pray with others for healing. So much can be accomplished by the prayer of the righteous people of God. 17 Remember the story of Elijah. He was a man just like us. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and there was no rain for three years and six months. 18 And then he prayed again, and the rain came down and the earth began to blossom and produce. (James 5:13-18 EBV)

 

We who believe in the power of the Holy Spirit should not be shy about what we believe. The hymn says, “There is a balm in Gilead that heals the sin sick soul. There is a balm in Gilead that makes the wounded whole.” We believe that power comes from Jesus and we believe He hears us when we pray.

 

Praying for others and ourselves brings God alongside us in our struggles. Talking to others about our faith and what we see God doing helps to strengthen our faith and also builds faith and hope it those around us. Being bold enough to ask others what they would like us to pray for in their lives, helps them to identify what they want Jesus to do for them; what is really in the way of them believing that He loves and cares for them. 

 

Jesus asked Bartimaeus, “What do you want me to do for you?” James puts the beginning of healing on us as well, “call for the elders.” Jesus tells us it is in our hands, “Question, and we will learn, search out and we will gain, pound on doors until they open. Because when we question, we will receive, and when we search for things, we will find them, and doors get opened when we knock. (Matthew 7:7-8 EBV)

 

Simply put, speak about what you see Jesus doing in your life. Tell others where you find the evidence of Him being present and caring for you. Ask others to pray for you and your needs and find ways to pray for them. For it is in the believing that we grow out of our unbelief and put our faith to work for the good of God’s kingdom and the blessings of others. 

 

In the name of Jesus, I bless you with faith to hope and trust that Jesus is still doing miracles today, in and through the lives of His children. I bless you with miracles new and fresh each day that you can talk about. And I bless you with answers to pray that will change your life and the lives of those you pray for.

Pastor Edd