June 26, 2012
Today’s reading from Encounter with God

Business As Usual?

Please see the links to our EXTRA Bible Study notes at the bottom of the page.

Opening Prayer

Heavenly Father, may I stay close to You today and be drawn by Your Spirit into the center of Your will.

Read Acts 9:32-43

[32] As Peter traveled about the country, he went to visit the Lord’s people who lived in Lydda. [33] There he found a man named Aeneas, who was paralyzed and had been bedridden for eight years. [34] “Aeneas,” Peter said to him, “Jesus Christ heals you. Get up and roll up your mat.” Immediately Aeneas got up. [35] All those who lived in Lydda and Sharon saw him and turned to the Lord. [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.

Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 International Bible Society. All rights reserved throughout the world. Used by permission of International Bible Society.

Reflect

The God who reveals himself in the ordinary is still the extraordinary miracle-working God.

What do you do when there are no crises? Getting on with regular ministry would seem to be the answer from Acts. The church has a time of peace. Peter begins traveling around the churches that have been established. But this is much more than carrying out routine pastoral duties. The power of the Holy Spirit is seen in each part of the story. Someone is sick, and Jesus heals him through Peter. Someone has died, and she is raised in answer to prayer. His ministry to believers leads to new evangelism and growing churches. Peter is moved to Joppa ready for the next stage of his ministry, in response to the love of believers for one another.

Here for the first time we are introduced to normal believers: not leaders, nor the wealthy, nor the deceitful, but a paralytic man and good widows. The early church was composed of such people, as Paul would remind the Corinthians (1 Cor. 1:26-29). To the outsider, many of these were regarded as nonentities and certainly not those at the forefront of a spiritual revolution, but God was at work through a man who could not move from his bed and a woman who liked sewing. It was these two people who experienced wonderful miracles. Too often our ideas of “strategic opportunities” and “strategic people” are related to worldly standards rather than the pattern set out in the New Testament. What might have seemed to a strategist a waste of Peter’s time and energy not only results in a large number of people coming to faith, but also the blessing of many ordinary people.

Apply

How can you help your church to show the loving service of believers to one another and the sensitivity that Peter showed? Who are the “non-strategic” people you and your church can minister to?

Closing prayer

Help me, Lord, to view Your people as You do and to serve them as Christ and the apostles did.

Click here to sign up to receive the EXTRAs via email each quarter.

© 2024 Scripture Union U.S.A. All rights reserved. Reproduction of the whole or any part of the contents without written permission is prohibited.

Encounter with God is published in the USA under license from Scripture Union England and Wales, Trinity House, Opal Court, Opal Drive, Fox Milne, Milton Keynes, MK15 0DF.

View all readings

Get ENCOUNTER:

in your email:

in Print:

Become a Member | Visit our store