Today let's continue digging into a passage that was briefly mentioned by Pastor Steven during Wednesday night's revival service.
"And God wrought special miracles by the hands of Paul" (Acts 19:11). Yesterday we dealt with the "how": the miracles were effected by a community of faith that took healing virtue with them from the church to the persons outside of church in need of healing.
Today we look at "why": I believe the answer to "why" is, because there was a larger community outside of the community of faith that was in dire need of healing and deliverance.
"...and the diseases departed from them..." It really is amazing when you consider that an average churchgoer, with just a handkerchief, walks up to Pastor Sam- sorry, I meant Paul- after service and touches Paul with a kerchief, then takes the subway to Montefiore Hospital- oh, I meant the churchgoer walks to the other side of Ephesus- and sees his friend laying down sick, and says, "In service today the power of the LORD was present for healing, and I just want to lay this kerchief on you and pray for you..." and before he can pray, the healing virtue of God is released through the kerchief to his sick friend, and all of a sudden the sick friend is no longer sick. Guess what? That still happens today. We don't see it much in this country, but God has not lost His power. And God is no respecter of persons, so there is no reason to believe that the graces afforded the first-century church are no longer available for His twenty-first century children.
"...and the evil spirits went out of them". It's interesting to note the distinction between physical illness, which scripture refers to as a spirit of infirmity, and the reality of psychological illness, which can be attributed to the work of evil spirits. Later on in the Acts 19 passage we see an incident involving the sons of Sceva, men who were not submitted to Jesus but who were known to be successful exorcists. While there is precedence for persons outside of the counsel of God to be able to perform certain wonders, there always comes a point where the power of God is clearly demonstrated to be superior to any other power (see Exodus chapters 7 through 12).
Is there a lesson for us here in the twenty-first century? Yes. Let's come to church expecting to meet God, and expecting to have an encounter with Him. We do not get to choose how God shows up, but we can know that He will show up. Additionally, let's embrace the idea of carrying the power of God with us from the service to the streets. Yes! We can bring healing and deliverance without saying a word: let's touch people and allow the Spirit of God to work through us.
As has become our custom, there will not be a blog posted on Sunday. By God's grace I hope we'll continue this spiritual journey together on Monday. Blessings and peace to each of you!
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