We are told that ‘God anointed Jesus with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.” (Acts 10:38)

Peter’s statement simply confirms what Jesus declared shortly after He began His ministry following His water baptism in the Jordan and then His 40 days in the wilderness where His heart was tested and approved by God that Jesus was fully committed to obeying the Father. (Luke 4:13-18) We are also told that prior to His ‘testing’ in the wilderness that he was ‘filled with the Holy Spirit’ (1) but after having passed on all accounts, that He “returned in the power of the Spirit”. (14). No small point there.

Now look at what Jesus told His disciples shortly after His resurrection in - “Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.” (John 20:21). As we have often heard for anyone who has been in church for any length of time...the church body was to be the hand of God, through Jesus, extended into a world still drowning in sin and darkness. They were commanded to continue on doing the same work that He did. (Matt. 28:19-20). That included ‘preaching repentance and remission of sins in His name’ (Luke 24:47) and that they would be ‘endued with power from on high’.(49) As in the same power Jesus had.

We also read in Mark 16 that there would be an assortment of ‘signs’ that would follow those who believe and are baptized, including ‘laying hands on the sick and they would recover’. (18). Those disciples then ‘went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word through the accompanying signs.” (20)

You don’t have to read very far into the Book of Acts to see that these very things began to happen. Chapters 1-8 are filled with multiple examples. (5:14-16; 8:5-8). Paul would later write instructing the church at Corinth as he confirmed various ‘spiritual giftings’ that God had given to His church body....two of them being the ‘gift of healings and the working of miracles’. (1 Cor. 12:7-10). And then there is James who admonished those in the church who might be ‘sick’ or ‘suffering’ to ‘call for the elders to be anointed with oil and prayed for’, assuring them that the ‘prayer of faith will save the sick and the Lord will raise them up’. (5:13-16)

Oh...you were told along the way that God ‘doesn’t work like that anymore’? Interesting. And you just believed that....because ....why ...?

If we can be truly honest with ourselves here, this just does not really happen these days, for the most part, in the ‘church circles’ we all have traveled in. There might be a lot of ‘other stuff’ happening, and/or spins to explain why these things are NOT happening, but most of us know what I am sharing here is true. Don’t get me wrong- there may be plenty of prayers offered up for the sick...but do we truly see the same results...in the same fashion in manner that they saw in the early church?

I have a...’theory’ as to why that may be. It has to do with the ‘small, fine print’ that we can tend to overlook in our Bibles. I’ll share that with you tomorrow, Lord willing.