Now many signs and wonders were regularly done among the people by the hands of the Apostles. And they were all together in Solomon's Portico. None of the rest dared join them, but the people held them in high esteem. And more than ever believers were added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women, so that they even carried out the sick into the streets and laid them on cots and mats, that as Peter came by at least his shadow might fall on some of them.
The people also gathered from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing the sick and those afflicted with unclean spirits, and they were all healed.
I will preach this until I am blue in the face, or until I can no longer type or talk but God never intended for the book of Acts church to cease. God never wanted the healing, the deliverance, the salvation, the baptisms to cease either.
People of God what is stopping us from going out into our environment and praying? When did it have to stop? To my knowledge it wasn't supposed to. Now, can I be real with you guys? I don't go to every sick person and ask them to pray over them, but why not? What stops me? What stops you from doing this very thing? Now if my boys are sick, my wife, or people in our church if they come up and ask for prayer I will do that, along with my Pastor.... but what about the rest of the world.?
Fear many times stops us from praying for others in public places. Many times the spirit of fear stops us in our tracks. Many times you will get, well what if they don't get healed? you will look like a fool. Here is my thing with that.... I can't heal people. I am not God but I can take His word and apply it to those that I pray for. Here is something.... one time at this church in Illinois I said is there anyone who would like prayer for sickness? Does anyone need any prayer? This woman came up and I knew she had cancer... I said Lord, couldn't I get a back ache or a headache or something. The Lord rebuked me yes I said that because He will do that. The Lord said, do you heal or do I? Anyways, I prayed for that woman... and the anointing was on me so strong I could hardly take it, and I felt that healing virtue leave my body and went into her. Again, I am not a healer, Jesus is the healer. What happened? This woman died a few weeks ago, and you know what? It really messed with me.
I questioned what happened during that service. I was confused... I was torn. I know what I felt. I know the power of God was there, I felt that healing virtue go out of me and into her... to this day I don't know why that woman died. Maybe someday the Lord will reveal it, not sure. But I said that to say this; we can't allow fear to stop us from praying for the sick and laying hands on them.
Another thing is this: God's word is God's Word. The Bible says lay hands on the sick and they will recover. Well I did and a woman died but does that discredit the Word? Of coarse not because there have been times in my life and times that I have witnessed in other people's lives where hands were laid on them and they were healed.
Here is my prayer:
God, get us back to the book of Acts. Get us to a place where we are not relying on man to do everything for us but we are relying on God. Get us to a place where we live our faith on our sleeve, and not hide it until Sunday morning. Get us out of our comfort zones. Get us to a place where we serve others instead of being about ourselves all the time. Get us to a place where we pray more than we complain, back bite, grumble and argue. Get us to a place where we move in power once again instead of speaking with dead words that carry no weight in the Spirit.
Get us to a place where we care more about speaking the Word of God in truth instead of cowering down in fear at what man will think.
God wants transformation and the only way to achieve transformation is by going against the grain. You may not look like the church down the block or the other 1,000 churches for that matter but as long as heaven smiles down upon you who cares what other people think. Our agenda should be to transform lives. Our goal should be to transform our cities. Our goal should be to transform our nation. But the only way is through the power of the Holy Spirit. In the book of Acts transformation happened and it flipped the world as they knew it. We have the same God, same Holy Spirit today that the book of Acts church had.
We are seeking a President to change our nation but it's not the President who changes a nation it's the church. Blame whoever you want to but the world is the way it is because of the church, not the devil. We allowed it. We didn't pray, we didn't fast, we didn't stand up no matter what. We didn't come out of the closet like everybody else. Our God is greater, our God is bigger, our God is more powerful... if we just knew that and believed that.
As I close this out I want to encourage you as always to step out. Step out of your comfort zone and watch what happens. Live your faith. Let people know who you are and whose you are. You are God made, in His image and according to His likeness.
Be blessed!
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