Daily Bread 2011 - Acts 9

Daily Bread 2011 – Acts 9
36 In Joppa there was a disciple named Tabitha (in Greek her name is Dorcas); she was always doing good and helping the poor. 37 About that time she became sick and died, and her body was washed and placed in an upstairs room. 38 Lydda was near Joppa; so when the disciples heard that Peter was in Lydda, they sent two men to him and urged him, “Please come at once!”39 Peter went with them, and when he arrived he was taken upstairs to the room. All the widows stood around him, crying and showing him the robes and other clothing that Dorcas had made while she was still with them. 40 Peter sent them all out of the room; then he got down on his knees and prayed. Turning toward the dead woman, he said, “Tabitha, get up.” She opened her eyes, and seeing Peter she sat up. 41 He took her by the hand and helped her to her feet. Then he called for the believers, especially the widows, and presented her to them alive. 42 This became known all over Joppa, and many people believed in the Lord. 43 Peter stayed in Joppa for some time with a tanner named Simon.

What Does This Mean?
As Jesus prepared his disciples for how they would operate in His power and authority after his leaving he said, “You will do even greater things than I have done.” I am sure the disciples must have wondered what he meant by that. After all, he had healed the lame and the blind; and even raised someone from the dead.
In Acts 9, Peter begins to see the fulfillment of that prophecy as he prays for Tabitha, a disciple who had died. Sure enough, she opened her eyes and seeing Peter she sat up. Of course this news spread quickly, even without the internet, and it resulted in many people coming to faith in Jesus.

What Does This Mean For Us?
Sometimes it is easy for us to hear these stories and almost in sense treat them as great stories but not really something that has relevance for us today. What would it be like to have the kind of faith to pray for a dead person to rise? Is it possible today? I have heard accounts of those who have been raised from the dead in other countries in Jesus’ name. Whether they are true or not only God knows, but I am inclined to believe that in God’s power anything is possible.

Whether or not I should pray for everyone who is dying or has recently died for God to raise them from the dead; should be something discerned by the Spirit’s leading. There is certainly precedent for this in both the Old and New Testament. In the Old Testament there is: the raising the son of the widow of Zarephath, the son of the Shunammite woman, and a dead body being raised back to life when it touched Elisha’s bones In the New Testament there is: Jairus’ daughter, the widow’s son, Lazarus and Jesus himself.
The bottom line was as Peter lived and ministered in the power and authority Jesus conferred on him as a Son of God, he began to do the things Jesus did. Is there any reason to believe Jesus wouldn’t want us as his modern day disciples to operate in this same power and authority?

Jesus we thank you for the power you bestowed upon the first disciples to minister in Your name to preach, heal and cast out the demons. As your disciples today may we minister in the some power and authority you have given us. Amen.