Tabitha and the Miraculous by Pastor Todd Lout

ACTS 9 :36 - 42 Now, there was a follower of Jesus who lived in Joppa. Her Aramaic name, Tabitha, means “gazelle.” She lived her life doing kind things for others and serving the poor. But then she became very ill and died. After the disciples prepared her body for burial, they laid her in an upstairs room. When the believers heard that Peter was nearby in Lydda, they sent two men with an urgent message for him to come without delay. So Peter went with them back to Joppa, and upon arriving they led him to the upper room. There were many widows standing next to Peter, weeping. One after another showed him the tunics and other garments that Tabitha had made to bless others. Peter made them all leave the room. Then he knelt down and prayed. Turning to the dead body, he said, “Tabitha, rise up!” At once she opened her eyes, and seeing Peter, she sat up.  He took her by the hand and helped her to her feet. Then he called for the believers and all the widows to come and see that she was alive! The news spread all over the city of Joppa, and many believed in the Lord.

We've been on a great journey through Acts this year. Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeey! This last Saturday night we dove into the story of Peter raising up this faithful woman, Tabitha, from the dead. Notice the confidence in which Peter simply tells her body to rise up.  Through his relationship with Jesus, Peter confidently tells her to come back to life, as though it was a matter of fact that she would. Is it possible that God is waiting for us, His kids, to have confidence in Him and His word like this? YES! We pray, "Your kingdom come and Your will be done here just like it's done in Heaven.", but it's so often still hard for us to truly believe that we can, "lay hands on the sick and they will recover." As time ticks on in this planet, there are millions of needs for what we call the miraculous.  God is willing.  In fact, it's not "the miraculous" in His world at all.  It's simply Him breathing, being Who He is and living where He does.  We get to have deep relationship with the most powerful entity that exists, because He desires it with us.  As His friends, as His kids, we not only have access to His world, but we carry it in us. He even promises us, in Romans 8:11, that the very same power that raised Jesus, Himself, from the dead is inside of us right now. Let's get confident about this!  God and His reality has never changed and He still lets us do what we call the miraculous. This truth is more common knowledge and action in third world countries today.  We have a harder time seeing it or believing it largely because we are just so comfortable here in the US.  But when there's a constant need to see God break through, the people will just assume He will, and He does! We really need to allow ourselves to be hungry for God and His world more.  Try meditating on things like Psalm 84, "How lovely are Your dwelling places. My soul LONGS for Your that world in me!" Saturday I shared a few personal testimonies about miracles happening in my own family. You can listen to that here:

Tabitha and the Miraculous, Saturday Oct. 26

Peter was a special guy, but so are you! (I mean, unless you're a girl...then you're a special girl) You have God's love, His power, His heart, His kingdom inside of you, right now, just waiting to be released into situations.  What a thing to praise God for! Let's go out and bring the miraculous as history is still being written today!