“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” (Acts 9:40).
Have you ever felt like you were stuck in some part of the Bible? I’ve been drawn repeatedly to the book of Acts lately and was reading from there this morning. I began to read this story about Peter raising a woman named Tabitha from the dead. The story is found in Acts 9:36-42.
Bringing Life to Something Within
As I was reading about Tabitha, I suddenly felt stirred by the Holy Spirit. I was stirred concerning the Lord’s desire to bring life to that which is dead.
I don’t mean in the obvious way that we see in this story where He brought Tabitha back to life from the dead. I mean the Lord’s ability to bring life to something that is dead within us.
Let me explain. In James 1:13-15 it says,
Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.
These verses are talking about temptation coming from Satan. God does not tempt us. People are often drawn into temptation but much of it comes because they have developed lusts—wrong desires—which they have yielded to over and over again.
The yielding to those desires always creates a greater hunger for more of the same. In other words, we are drawn into temptation by our own lusts. This lust results in sin. After repeated yielding to those areas of sin, the conscience grows numb and people become desensitized or dead to sin in that area of their life.
If their heart was sensitive, the Word of God would tell them that what they are yielding to is sin. During those times, our conscience (which is taught by the Holy Spirit) should produce feelings of conviction. But they have shut the Lord out for so long, they don’t hear His voice anymore and it is like they are dead in their ability to respond to the Lord or to the leading of His Holy Spirit.
If Not Corrected, Separation and Destruction Will Come
One of the problems with this when it does happen is that the sin they yield to over and over is actually destroying their communion or fellowship with God—and is working to kill them.
Drinking for example—it will harm or destroy their liver. Sex outside of marriage could easily lead to sexually transmitted disease which can kill or greatly hurt the human body and be passed to others. Or, over-eating and gluttony can prematurely take one’s life because of the excessive strains on the body.
All these kinds of things also lead to great psychological harm. It isn’t that God doesn’t what to help a person in trouble in these areas. He does. It’s just that they have shut or blocked God out so many times, their conscience has become seared in this area and they can no longer hear from or receive the benefit of His grace or His Spirit.
Recently, I was stirred to pray about this. I felt compelled by God to pray and call life to those areas of death in the people who I pray for.
Peter brought Tabitha to life when He followed the leading of the Spirit. He spoke saying “Tabitha, arise.” I felt led of the Spirit to pray that over every one in my areas of responsibility including all of you today.
None of us want areas where we have stopped listening to God when we know He is trying to get through to us in order to help us. So, to those areas of our lives today I have prayed, and so now I speak: “Life, sensitivity of conscience, the ability to repent and hear God’s voice, come back to those parts of our heart and conscience where we have cut God out, in Jesus name.”
Now put your faith to that and believe!
We probably do hear and obey God in some or many areas of our life. But God wants to bring life to every area of our life so that the devil cannot dull our hearing and work death in any part of our life.
“If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear” (Mark 4:23).
When we open our hearts to Him, and when we pray for the grace and receive it, we will find that grace is God’s ability working in us to do what we couldn’t get done ourselves. Our entire relationship with the Lord will once again blossom into new heights!
All rights reserved. Used by permission.
Timothy Burt is a pastor, author, and writer. He is best known as the author of Fresh Manna, a daily devotional and online Bible study.
Pastor Tim became a part of the leadership team at Living Word Christian Center in 1984 and was an Associate Pastor from 1989 until May 31st, 2017. He and His wife Renee, also a Pastor at Living Word, resigned after being a part of Living Word for 33 years on May 31, 2017. They felt impressed by God to pursue the tremendous growth of their ministry "Fresh Manna," as well as teaching conferences and seminars and increasing their involvement in the mission field through Tim and Renee Burt Ministries. Tim has a Bachelor of Theology degree and is a Christian blogger who has been writing a daily inspirational and teaching devotion three days a week called "Fresh Manna" for the past 22 years. It has been read in over 227 countries (official countries and territories). Tim was named one of the top 55 blogging Pastors. He is one of the top Social Media influencers in Minnesota with a strong presence on Twitter at https://twitter.com/TimBurt with over 187,000 followers. Between Tim's Fresh Manna Devotional and Twitter influence, he virally averages reaching over 4 million people daily with the gospel of Jesus Christ and the love of God.
Prior to working at LWCC, he worked at Northwest Airlines for 13 years. In 1985 he founded and was President of American Infant Care Products which marketed his patented invention, the first fold-down commercial infant changing table now used worldwide in public restrooms.
In their tenure at Living Word, Timothy Burt and his wife Renee created a Small Group Ministry when the church was about 800 people in size. Under the leadership of Sr. Pastors Mac and Lynne Hammond, the church grew to over 10,000 people. Pastor Tim and Renee led a diverse Small Group Ministry of over 200 groups. Tim also led weekly men's groups and a monthly Men's Breakfast of 250 plus men called Manhood for 27 years. Tim's responsibilities also included oversight over the Visitor and Member Relations Department, Leadership and Volunteer Development, and the Pastoral Care Department. Pastor Tim was also the Minnesota State Director of Christians United for Israel from 2006 thru 2017.
Tim and Renee are the parents of four children and have seven grandchildren. Tim loves to write, golf, run, and walk, and is a master gardener. He is a five-time marathon finisher. He is also a three-time award-winning gardener winning the Grand Prize in his city for his beautiful home garden and is a Master Gardener for the University of Minnesota's Master Gardener Extension Program.