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and Free BonusesChapter Four
Dr. Jay Snell Newsletter Feed
and Free Bonuses
Two tremendous miracles take place in the ministry of Peter in Acts Chapter 9. One is the healing of AEneas and the other is the raising of Dorcas from the dead. Concerning AEneas, we are told absolutely nothing about him except his name, the town in which he lived, the disease he had, and how long he had it.
This man was paralyzed and bed ridden for eight years. Beyond these things, we know absolutely nothing about him. We do not know whether or not he was a good man, a bad man, or an indifferent man. We know absolutely nothing except that Peter found him paralyzed and on his bed for eight years.
Acts 9:32-35
32 And it came to pass, as Peter passed throughout all quarters, he came down also to the saints which dwelt at Lydda.
33 And there he found a certain man named Aeneas, which had kept his bed eight years, and was sick of the palsy.
34 And Peter said unto him, Aeneas, Jesus Christ maketh thee whole: arise, and make thy bed. And he arose immediately.
35 And all that dwelt at Lydda and Saron saw him, and turned to the Lord. (KJV)
Then Peter went into action. This man, AEneas, is a member of the Abrahamic Seed Group. (We glean this from the above context and from his name.) Yet something happened to him that, according to God's promises to Abraham, should not have happened. However, it did not have to stay that way.
In the healing of AEneas, we see a scenario in a New Testament setting, exactly like the children of Israel faced in the second chapter of Deuteronomy. You see, God had promised the Holy Land to the Abrahamic Seed Group. Never-the-less, when they came to the edge of obtaining those promises (the Promised Land), the devil's gang were in the middle of their territory, keeping them from possessing the land that God gave them. Here they were, the descendants of Abraham, right on the edge of the Promised Land, ready to inherit it, just like God promised to Abraham over four centuries earlier.
Seven heathen nations, however, lived on it, claiming it as theirs. But God said, "That is your land. I gave it to you. But in order for you to have it, you must go in there and take it. I am going to win the battle for you, but you must engage the enemy in open war." See my book, How To Obtain Abraham's Blessings, for a complete explanation of the war you must fight.
In the case of AEneas, we find the same identical set of problems. Here is a member of the Abrahamic Seed Group who had the Abrahamic promises, which includes healing and prosperity in addition to salvation. AEneas should have been under the blessing umbrella of Abraham, but unfortunately the devil had occupied his land (health) as he did in Deuteronomy 2. But Peter was not disposed to let the devil have this man's health. Therefore, he did something about it.
What Peter did about it, both in the healing of AEneas and in the raising of Dorcas from the dead, is the same identical thing that you and I must do today to maintain the blessings of Abraham (healing, prosperity and family well being) in our own lives. What Peter did, then, is exactly what they did in Deuteronomy 2 with only one difference; Peter went to war against this disease, but he used a different set of weapons. The scenario is the same, but the weapons have been changed.
Peter did just one thing to get this man healed and that is all he did. Peter said unto him. To put it differently, he spoke, and the man was healed. Spoken words was the weapon that he used. He spoke. Peter said unto him, "AEneas, Jesus Christ maketh thee well, arise and make thy bed." That is all that he did. In Deuteronomy 2, to get those heathen off the Promised Land, they battled them with bows and arrows, clubs and knives and spears and sticks. In the New Testament era, our weapons are changed. The primary weapon that we have at our disposal, today, is the weapon of words, just exactly like Peter had here. If you will stop and think about it, words are the weapons that Jesus also used, when He was here. Furthermore, He said in John 14:12, "..the works that I do shall you do also."
What works, then, did He do? He combated the devil with words. In the mount, in Matthew 4, the devil came at Him several times. Each time, Jesus met him head on with words. He told him what to do and he had to do what He said. In the case of AEneas, we see the same thing. Peter spoke words.
Now, when a person has been diagnosed as having something terribly wrong with them, the first thing the average person does is throw up his hands. Tremendous despair and depression overtakes them. But not Peter. He spoke words. He spoke the healing blessing of Abraham into that man. After all, this is what Jesus Christ came to this planet to fulfill and to cause to stand. Romans 15:8 says that Jesus Christ came to confirm (to cause to stand) the promises made to the fathers.
Rom 15:8
8 Now I say that Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made unto the fathers: (KJV)
The promises that God made to the fathers is the Abrahamic Covenant. Jesus came to cause that same set of promises to stand and He forced the blessing promises of that covenant into the lives of people with words. No wonder, then, that Peter used words. He said, "Aeneas, Jesus Christ makes you well, arise, take up your bed."
The next time that we are confronted with a demon induced sickness, what is going to be our approach? Call in the preacher counselors, the deacon counselors, the psychological counselors, the professional counselors, the marriage counselors, the doctoral counselors and the drug store counselors? What will be your approach? Peter had no counselor. Peter did what the Bible says we are to do. He just did what Jesus did. He spoke words to the problem in the form of a command. I do not understand how or why this works. But I don't have to understand how or why Scripture works. All I have to understand is that it does.
God does not tell me to analyze it, put it in a test tube, put it under a microscope and figure out all the chemical make up of it. I do not have to do that. There is only one thing I have to do, and that is put it to the test. I have tried problem solving just about every way the human can conceive to meet a problem and solve it. I discovered that if I just take the Word of God at face value, get alone with God, let Him quicken a promise to me and then act on what it says, the Word of God spoken to a demon induced sickness, will heal it. I do not understand what makes this work. I do not understand why God chose words as our weapon and not something else, but He did. Consequently, my job is not to question, to probe and to analyze. My job is to utilize and act on what He said by meeting a demon induced sickness head-on with spoken words. Therefore, I will look it right in the face, eyeball to eyeball, and I will tell it, not only what it must do, but where it can go. Guess what happens next?
My spoken word, either gets it healed immediately, like it did in the case of Aeneas, or it sets in motion a chain of events, that over time, gets it healed, by forcing it to line up with exactly what I said to it. This is our weaponry.
God made some fantastic promises to The Abrahamic Seed Group in the Abrahamic covenant. That covenant is still valid. Thank God! He grafted us Gentile Christians into those Abrahamic promises, so that they apply to you and to me with as much force and validity as they applied in the days of Abraham. (See my book, The Unbroken Force of Abraham's Blessings, to completely understand that you were grafted into Abrahamic healing, prosperity and family well being.)
However, the devil does not want you to have even one of your Abrahamic blessings and he will throw up road blocks at every turn to prevent you from having them. Every time you turn around, if you let him get away with it, he well throw up a road block to snare you and keep you from realizing your Abrahamic blessings.
For you to obtain your promised blessings, you must be prepared to fight for them. Some people get a demon induce sickness and will read a promise in the Bible. Then, they might even pray, do good and turn over a new leaf. But they do not get healed. After just a little while, they will throw their hands up and say that it does not work. Well, it will not work unless you work it, and the thing that you work is words. Until you learn to do it like God said do it, you will never have the blessings God wants you to have. You have to do it God's way. Words are your weapons.
All Peter said was, "AEneas, Jesus Christ maketh thee well, make thy bed." Actually, Peter combined two Offensive Weapons here: Jesus' name and words. We shall say more about Jesus' name in Chapter Seven in this book. Then, look at what happened in verse 35, "And all that dwelt in Lydia and Sharon saw him and turned to the Lord." This was the result of just one thing; Peter spoke words that he had been authorized to speak by Jesus Christ.
As a result of Peter's obedience, a man who had been paralyzed eight years is suddenly made whole and everybody in that community could see him. His healing resulted in that whole community turning to the Lord.
See what is lost when you solve a problem in the flesh? The whole community does not see the miracle working power of God and the whole community is turned to the arm of the flesh, not to the Lord. If somebody has an excellent doctor who prescribes an excellent drug because they have an excellent illness, the word gets around and everybody in the community wants to go to that doctor.
But if somebody speaks words over a problem and the problem is solved because we did it God's way, then everybody wants to turn to the Lord. The obedience of Peter (doing it God's way) caused an entire community to come to Christ. The Bible says that all that dwelt in Lydia and Sharon saw him and all turned to the Lord.
How would you like to get all your community to turn to the Lord? If everybody who calls themselves Charismatic, Pentecostal, Full Gospel, Baptist, Presbyterian, Methodist, Catholic or whatever, will learn the way God says we must get things done and do things that way, think of the impact that it would have on a whole community. But as long as we continue to do it our way (we can go only so far with the arm of the flesh), we will never turn a whole community to Jesus Christ. It will never happen. Now, let's look at the case of Dorcas.
Acts 9:36-42
36 Now there was at Joppa a certain disciple named Tabitha, which by interpretation is called Dorcas: this woman was full of good works and almsdeeds which she did.
37 And it came to pass in those days, that she was sick, and died: whom when they had washed, they laid her in an upper chamber.
38 And forasmuch as Lydda was nigh to Joppa, and the disciples had heard that Peter was there, they sent unto him two men, desiring him that he would not delay to come to them.
39 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 shewing the coats and garments which Dorcas made, while she was with them.
40 But Peter put them all forth, and kneeled down, and prayed; and turning him to the body said, Tabitha, arise. And she opened her eyes: and when she saw Peter, she sat up.
41 And he gave her his hand, and lifted her up, and when he had called the saints and widows, presented her alive.
42 And it was known throughout all Joppa; and many believed in the Lord. (KJV)
In this passage, we get a larger picture of Dorcas than we had of AEneas. We were told nothing about his character except that he was a member of the Abrahamic Seed Group. (We are not told even that, we just glean it from the context.) But Dorcas was a woman full of good works and alms deed. In other words, she did a lot of good things for people. She made coats and gave money to people. Good deeds characterized her. Finally, she died and they laid her in an upper chamber.
Joppa, where she lived, was near Lydia. They heard that Peter was there. So they sent for him, desiring that he would not delay to come to them. In other words, Peter was in Lydia and she was in Joppa, but the two towns were close together. Consequently, the friends of Dorcas heard that Peter was in the next town, so they sent for him. I want you to notice the expectation on the part of the disciples in that day.
If you remember nothing else in this book, you should camp on the word expectation. Dorcas is dead but they still sent for Peter. Why? We can not say she was a friend of Peter. We have no indication that he even knew her. Nevertheless, they had an expectation that something would happen when they sent for him. Why did they have this expectation? They expected things to happen because, in the early church, things happened. No wonder they expected things to happen.
Someone always wants to tell me that healing went out with apostolic age. If that is what he believes, that's what he will get. Why? Because he expects nothing to happen. In other words, his expectation is a reflection of the level of his own faith, which is not much. You cannot produce a Scripture anywhere that says healing went out at the end of the Book of Acts or at the end of that first century. God has worked me strenuously to study this subject thoroughly. He has led me to make it my business to examine every argument and every Scripture that has ever caused any problem to the body of Christ (that tries to declare that healing went out at the end of the first century). None of those arguments will stand up. The very Scriptures they use to show that healing went out, show the exact opposite when you examine them in the Greek New Testament. See Chapter Four in my book, What Are Abraham's Blessings Anyway? to see a complete refutation of this absurdity.
In the apostolic period, they expected things to happen when a man of God came around. He did not come to hold their hands and bring handkerchiefs for them to cry in. He did not come to moan and groan with them. When he came, people expected things to happen in the church in those days. But so-and-so wants to believe that it went out because it gradually tapered off until it almost disappeared. But why was there a gradual tapering off and near disappearance of healing?
It was because too many so-and-so's said that it went out. For this reason, unthinking Christians, down through the centuries, determined that since so-and-so said it went out at the end of the first century, it must have gone out. Therefore, they did not expect anything. When they stopped expecting things to happen, they stopped happening. This was not the case in the apostolic era. They had an expectation that when Peter got there, things would change for the better. So they sent for him and said, "Hurry! "
But let a crisis hit him. I am the first person he calls. I can not get over there fast enough. He can not get back in church enough times during the week.
In the case of Dorcas, a crisis hit and they sent for Peter and said, "Tell him to get here in a hurry." When the heat is on, they do not want to wait. If I have something else to do that will require me to take a thirty minute detour, and I am thirty minutes late getting to their home when crisis time is there, they are bent out of shape and mad as a hornet.
But when I am attempting to get them regular in the church, they can sit there and lie in their teeth and it is OK. But if I am thirty minutes late, they want to hang me from the rafters. It ought not be like that, should it?
Peter arose and went with them. And when he was come, they brought him into the upper chamber. All the widows were weeping. They showed him the coats and garments which Dorcas made while she was with them.
Isn't that just like us? When somebody dies that is close to us, we remember the good things and the pleasant memories. We rehearse them over and over with one another.
In the case of Dorcas, as well as with us, the more they rehearsed them, the sadder they became because they missed her just that much more. It is hard to remember a person without remembering what they did both for good and bad. But when you love someone, love is as blind as a bat. Love remembers the good times. That is what they were doing here. They were sad.
Now, we must see how Peter dealt with this situation. He operated differently from the way he did with AEneas. As a matter of fact, he did six things here. (1) Peter put them all forth. To put it differently, he cleared the room. Why did he do that? We are not told. We can only conjecture. Maybe our conjecture is accurate, maybe it is not. At any rate, he cleared the room. He left no one in there but him and her. (2) He kneeled down. (3) He prayed.
Here are three of the six things he did. He cleared the room, kneeled down and prayed. In the case of AEneas, there is nothing that said he prayed. Sometimes we need to pray and other times we need to go into gear. In the case of AEneas, it was time to go into gear. In the case of Dorcas, it was time to pray prior to going into gear. In other words, there are different ways to deal with a situation.
If you feel the necessity to get yourself boned up, get a little fuller of God, get your courage and your boldness up and get a little more filled with the Holy Ghost, then you need to stop and pray. That seems to be what Peter did. Consequently, he cleared the room, kneeled down and prayed.
This is not all he did. He did something else. (4) He turned to the body and he said, "Tabitha, arise." I have to conclude that he looked straight at that dead woman. He turned to her and looked at her. (5) He said, "Tabitha (he called her name), arise." Here we go again with words. Remember, most of the miracles that Jesus did were done with words. Jesus said in John 14:12, "The things that I do shall you do also." Remember, the way Jesus dealt with the devil in the hour of temptation in Matthew 4? He dealt with him using words.
In the book of Acts, they also operated with words. In Acts 3, Peter, using words, performed a miracle of healing on the man at the gate Beautiful. (This was the first healing after the ascension of Jesus Christ.) Peter said, "Silver and gold have I none but such as I have, give I thee. In the Name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, arise, take up thy bed and walk." He used words, and the Bible said that immediately, his legs and ankle bones received strength. As a result, that man got up, jumped up and down and ran all over town. It was done with words.
Peter appears to have been in an impossible situation since Dorcas was dead. She was a member of the Abrahamic Seed Group, who died before her time. They sent for Peter who comes, clears the room, kneels down and prays. I wonder what was content of his prayer. I would love to know the content of his prayer. Obviously, he was praying for her, praying for power and praying for God's leadership. Whatever the content, he prayed. Then he faced the body. Then he said, "Arise." Words. "Tabitha, arise." She opened her eyes and when she saw Peter, she sat up. Now, here was a dead person. Peter said, "Tabitha, arise." Then, she opened her eyes, looked at Peter and sat up. This would empty many churches.
Now, notice the sixth thing that he did. (6) He gave her his hand and lifted her up. Finally, he called the saints and widows and presented her alive. So what all did he do? He cleared the room, he kneeled down, he prayed, he turned to her body, said, "Tabitha, arise," and then he gave her his hand and helped her up. Again, Peter combined two Offensive Weapons here: words and prayer. We present more about prayer in Chapter Six in this book.
We need to learn something from Peter here. To be successful when dealing with demons and sickness, many times we must employ more than one Offensive Weapon against them. Many times, we must employ all five of them.
A main point we must not miss in the raising of Dorcas is this; "it was known throughout all Joppa and many believed in the Lord." Every time one of these things happened, people got saved.
Back in the 70's, I frequently preached in two beautiful cities in the South. Of all the towns in the United States of America, these two boasted that they had as many churches as they had service stations. Back in those days, there was a service station on almost every corner. In preaching in both of those cities, I found that they were so hardened to the gospel, that it did not matter who the preacher was or what the sermon was, not much happened.
Now, after several decades of Pentecostalism in this country, even Pentecostals are becoming miracle hardened. They can see the power of God in action and it does not move them. When we become gospel or miracle hardened, is there any hope left for the Christian community?
In the final analysis, those of us who acknowledge the Holy Ghost, learn how to operate in Him and do it His way with words, are the only ones who have the answer in these last days. But when we become gospel and miracle hardened and we are no longer moved, the whole world loses. In the past, someone would get healed, the word would spread and an entire community would turn to Jesus Christ as their Savior.
But now, if somebody gets healed in the average church, a great percentage of the membership cannot wait to get home, turn on the TV and watch the football game. This is not how things ought to be. This is a blemish on us. We need to clean up our act. I am still new enough in this, that when God heals somebody, I am moved by it. I will talk about it. It will make me bolder to look the devil right in the face and attack him straight out.
The average Christian will yawn, walk away and forget it. Why? Because he has seen so much. We forget that it is not just a phenomenon we see, but the power of God in operation. When you let it become second place, customary and ordinary, you will not take it outside the four walls of the church. Therefore, the community does not know about it. Consequently, your entire community still relies on the arm of the flesh and not on the power of God.
When God answers a prayer for a postage stamp, if that is all you asked Him for, that postage stamp is as big a miracle as sending a million dollars in answer to a prayer for that. It took just as much of a miracle to get that postage stamp there as it would be to get the million dollars. So let's not get so gospel hardened that we can not see God when He is working in the small things.
Too much of the time, we are ready to analyze, rather than work the works of Christ, which is the use of words. The person that is so impressed with the size and flash of something, loses sight of the fact that God just might not be in size and flash. The day will come in which God tries our works by what sort they are, not by their size.
1 Cor 3:13
13 Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is. (KJV)
The person impressed by size and flash will rely on his analytical ability rather than on the power of God. He relies on the flesh but he calls himself dedicated to the core. What he really means is, "I am dedicated to the core, in that, I want a bigger, flashier show."
So many of these people view themselves as spiritual giants who have a special inside track to God, which enables them to penetrate and analyze everything that everybody else is doing. Then, they determine, by their analysis, that such and such is not quite big enough for them and they run to a newer, bigger, flashier, religious circus that just blew into town.
Little do they realize that, of all people, they have less of an inside track to God than the smallest, God fearing Christian on the face of this planet, whether he is in the denomination or in the Charismatic churches. This is not a popular message, but it is a true message.
So, Peter dealt with sickness the same way that Jesus dealt with it and he produced the same results. Peter never tried to figure it out and analyze it, he just dealt with it the way that Jesus did, with words.
In the case of Dorcas, he added some prayer to it. He spoke the word and that woman opened her eyes, looked at Peter and sat up. Then Peter, being a gentleman, reached down his hand to her, lifted her up, took her out of the room and presented her (very much alive) to those people. As a result, a whole community turned to Christ. "It is not by power nor by might, but by my Spirit," sayeth the Lord. As soon as we get back to this, we will place ourselves, once again, in the position to see healings happen for us.
So many people are spiritual hitchhikers. They have neither the depth nor the courage to stand on their own and do what the Word of God says they must do. They must constantly run here, run there, run somewhere else and get somebody else to stand in for them. They are always impressed by a show in the flesh, even when that show is a religious one.
But you cannot go through life as a spiritual hitchhiker. There is not enough spiritual depth to a spiritual hitchhiker to cover the palm of my hand. Don't you think it is time we took a hard look at ourselves and said, "Who am I? Were am I going? How do I expect to get there?"
Peter is our role model. Get in there and do what he did. Do it yourself and your will not need a flash in the pan to make over you. When are we going to grow up? When are we going to be what God wants us to be? When are we going to stop being children and be ye men? When are we going to be like God told Abraham to be, "Be ye perfect and walk before me? When we get to this point, healings will happen for us. They will not happen for us until we do. Somewhere, the child must be weaned from the bottle. When we come to this place, God will be pleased with you and you will attract people to yourself because they will want what you have.
Words
are your Second Offensive Weapon to defeat demons and sickness.
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June 01, 2010
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