SCRIPTURE: Acts 28:1-10
“Paul went in to see him and, after prayer, placed his hands on him and healed him.” (Acts 28:8)
Been there, done that… well most of that anyway.
I’ve gone in to see sick people, prayed and laid my hands on them.
But to the best of my knowledge, there were no miracles of healing.
Not sure what point I am making by this, just honestly facing the passage.
It does make it hard to keep on speaking about the miracles of Jesus.
I believe them, I pray for them, but I have not seen them firsthand.
(Lot’s of people tell me about other miracle stories).
The Deceiver does use this to cause me to question, and doubt.
Is it a failure on my part – not enough faith, unhelpful prayer, unconfessed sin?
Or maybe it’s God’s timing and purpose, God has other plans?
Either way, my sense of Jesus is that His mercy trumps my inability and failure.
Unlike Paul, people don’t mistake me for a god, and that is OK.
It is my inability and failure that qualify me to speak about the mercy of Jesus.
I proclaim Jesus, not myself, “He must become greater; I must become less.” (John 3:30)
What do you sense the Lord saying to you?
PRAYER
Lord, I am Your servant, weak and flawed. Use me to demonstrate Your mercy, use me (like Paul) to help others see that God is God, not me. That Jesus is great, not me.