Tabitha, Arise

(My Original Blog Post: http://ping.fm/meygX)

“Then Peter arose and went with them.  When he was come, they brought him into the upper chamber—and all the widows stood by him weeping and showing the coats and garments which Dorcas made while she was still with them.  But, Peter put them all forth and knelt down and prayed.  And turning to the body said ‘Tabitha, arise.’  And she opened her eyes—and when she saw Peter she sat up.  And he gave her his hand and lifted her up and, when he had called the saints and widows, presented her alive.”

Acts 9:39-41

Jesus told us He’d give us power to do “even greater works than He did because He was going to the Father” (Jn. 14:12-14).  The question is “Do we believe Him?”

Faith and obedience.

Dear Pilgrim, when you read today’s Manna, what thoughts cross your mind?  Beautiful story?  Wonderful example of God’s Power-in-action?  Or, does it incite within you a piercing sense of guilt and grief over why such doesn’t happen today?



After Peter took his eyes off Christ that day as he walked on the water to Him, Jesus “immediately stretched forth His Hand, caught him and said ‘O you of little faith, why did you doubt’?” (Mk. 14:30-31).  And, if the truth be known, our Lord is still asking us that question today:  “O Pilgrim, why do you doubt?”



Some try to rationalize this away by saying the “Age of Miracles” is past, having ceased in the “Apostolic Age.”  But, Beloved, Jesus’ words to His disciples in the upper room that night were not limited just to them; if we truly believe the words in red are changeless words, then we must also believe the same Power that enabled Peter to raise Dorcas from the dead is the same Power that rests within us today because of Jesus’ Presence.



Think of it:

If the One Who resides within us. . .the Holy Spirit, which is really Jesus’ “set-apart Life within us”. . .promised to enable us to do “greater things than He did because He’s gone to the Father to pray for us” (cf. Heb. 7:24-25; Rom. 8:26). . .then the only thing that prevents us from experiencing these “greater things” is our unbelief and doubt (Mt. 13:58;17:14-21).



It was no accident that the forbidden tree in the Garden was the “tree of the knowledge of good and evil” (Gen. 2:9, 16-17).  The only fruit that grows on this tree is pride, for the tree is basically that of “trying to figure it all out.”   And, only those who humbly sit at Jesus’ feet “choose the good part that cannot be taken away from them” (Lk. 10:41-42).



Remember:  This is not positive thinking or positive pronunciation that “names it and claims it;” it is Christ’s “Positive Presence” and a releasing of His Resurrection Power in our lives that comes from “knowing Him” (Phil. 3:10a) and a willingness to “enter into the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable unto His death” (Phil. 3:10b).  It is a “denying of” and “dying to” ourselves (Lk. 9:23; Gal. 2:20).  “O Lord, help (Grk. ‘boetheo’—‘to relieve, come to the aid of, succor, etc.’) thou my unbelief” (Mk. 9:23-24).

By Tom Smith Morning Manna Dated July 8, 2010