Acts 10:10-20 “Then he became very hungry and wanted to eat; but while they made ready, he fell into a trance (11) and saw heaven opened and an object like a great sheet bound at the four corners, descending to him and let down to the earth. (12) In it were all kinds of four-footed animals of the earth, wild beasts, creeping things, and birds of the air. (13) And a voice came to him, "Rise, Peter; kill and eat." (14) But Peter said, "Not so, Lord! For I have never eaten anything common or unclean." (15) And a voice spoke to him again the second time, "What God has cleansed you must not call common." (16) This was done three times. And the object was taken up into heaven again. (17) Now while Peter wondered within himself what this vision which he had seen meant, behold, the men who had been sent from Cornelius had made inquiry for Simon's house, and stood before the gate. (18) And they called and asked whether Simon, whose surname was Peter, was lodging there. (19) While Peter thought about the vision, the Spirit said to him, "Behold, three men are seeking you. (20) Arise therefore, go down and go with them, doubting nothing; for I have sent them.”
The second example we will look at is the apostle Peter. As I have already mentioned, quite often spiritual gifts are manifested simultaneously, and in the above quoted passage of scripture we have an example of that happening. In this passage we see the apostle Peter operating in a combination of three gifts of the Spirit, i.e. the discerning of spirits, the word of knowledge and the word of wisdom. The gift of discerning of spirits manifested when Peter fell into a trance and God allowed Peter to see the vision of the sheet let down from heaven. The gift of the word of knowledge manifested when the Holy Spirit revealed to him that three men were looking for him. And the gift of the word of wisdom manifested when the Holy Spirit instructed Peter to go with them, doubting nothing because the Holy Spirit had sent them.
Acts 3:1-8 “Now Peter and John went up together to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour. (2) And a certain man lame from his mother's womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, to ask alms from those who entered the temple; (3) who, seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, asked for alms. (4) And fixing his eyes on him, with John, Peter said, "Look at us." (5) So, he gave them his attention, expecting to receive something from them. (6) Then Peter said, "Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk." (7) And he took him by the right hand and lifted him up, and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength. (8) So, he, leaping up, stood and walked and entered the temple with them--walking, leaping, and praising God.”
In the next passage of scripture quoted above, we see the apostle Peter operating in the spiritual gift called the gift of faith. In this account Peter miraculously healed a lame man in front of everyone in the temple. It is important to note that in the context of this account Peter had walked past this man on many occasions before this incident, for the scripture tells us that he was laid daily at this gate. And so Peter would have walked past this man every time he went to the temple, but at no stage before this incident did Peter make any attempt to pray for his healing, even though clearly this man had very probably asked alms from Peter before and Peter may have even given him alms from time to time. However on this occasion something different happened, for the scripture says that Peter fixed his eyes on the man. So what caused Peter to focus his full attention on the man on this occasion? The reason was the anointing of the Holy Spirit coming upon Peter to operate in the gift of special faith. When that happened a spirit of boldness rose up in Peter and he knew that he had the faith to heal that man. The gift of special faith can be equated to a spirit of boldness because the one through whom this faith is manifested knows no doubt, for it is the faith of the Holy Spirit Himself. And so Peter, in this spirit of boldness, spoke the word of God to that man and acted on that word by pulling this man up off the ground. The moment Peter did that the power of God was released and miraculously healed the man. And so we see that it was not Peter’s faith that healed this man because if it had been he would have healed this man long before this occasion. It also wasn’t the lame man’s faith that caused this miracle to take place because he was expecting to receive alms from Peter, not his healing. This incident is recorded in scripture as a clear example of the manifestation of the gift of special faith through Peter’s ministry.
Michael E.B. Maher
Comments