Acts 9:40-43

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. He took her by the hand and helped her to her feet. Then he called the believers and the widows and presented her to them alive. This became known all over Joppa, and many people believed in the Lord. Peter stayed in Joppa for some time with a tanner named Simon.

Dorcas is dead. This is something that, up to this point, Peter hasn’t faced yet. He had seen how to pray to kill folks…but bring them back to life…well that is another story…

God is never late…and yet he is never early either…He is precisely on time. That is how it is, isn’t it?

Peter sent everyone out of the room. Now, I have to be honest here and I actually wonder why Peter did this. Why did he send everyone out of the room? The Bible doesn’t tell us…but if there is one thing I know about Peter…in all of his boisterous and bold temperament, he still struggles with real life issues with peer pressure, and other things…As I read this I wondered if there wasn’t a sense of overwhelming fear. Peter knew what they were asking…but he also knew that he had no power in and of himself. Healing someone might have seemed the easier task up to this point. This was a realm of ministry that he had yet to discover or know. This was Jesus’ territory…not his. So Peter tells everyone to leave and then kneels down and prays.

The Bible doesn’t record Peter’s prayer…but I bet it was humbling. Can you imagine the magnitude of this? This woman isn’t sick…she’s dead. Dead people don’t live again…they get buried…but not this day. This day Peter finds boldness on his knees. He finds the courage to look up from the floor and say what he was trained to say, “GET UP!” It’s brute and unintelligent. There is no lengthy evangelistic sermon behind it…just raw Holy Ghost power!

Dorcas laid dead and helpless in that room surrounded by a sea of widows that showcased her genuine love for her and her ministry. Dorcas wasn’t an apostle. She wasn’t a deacon. She wasn’t a judge. She was just a common woman that was doing what she could with what she had to share the love of Christ abroad. On this day, the darkness became light and Peter presented her alive before all of her friends.

And the news spread…and the name of Jesus spread.

The stories of Aeneas and Dorcas are similar stories. They are factual and true. They are life changing and life challenging. Time and time again the early church experienced the impossible and really they lived in the supernatural. Still the underlying theme is and will always be…that the name of Jesus be spread and that all would know the Gospel of Jesus Christ!