That’s what Peter said to the man in Lydda. Acts 9:32 “Now it came to pass, as Peter went through all parts of the country, that he also came down to the saints who dwelt in Lydda.33 There he found a certain man named Aeneas, who had been bedridden eight years and was paralyzed.34 And Peter said to him, “Aeneas, Jesus the Christ heals you. Arise and make your bed.”
The word ‘arise’ is from the Greek ‘anistemi’ and my lexicon describes it like this.
Of particular interest was the application of this word to those who leave a place to go elsewhere and those who prepare themselves for a journey. Aeneas had spent eight years in bed, paralysed. That’s a long time, certainly long enough for his identity to be established. When people thought of Aeneas, they thought of a paralytic. They could only ever picture Aeneas lying in bed and what was worse, that must have been how Aeneas saw himself.
Many people are identified by their problem. Mary is always drunk, Fred is a gambler, Harry is a loner, Ellie is a prostitute. That’s how people think of them, that is how they think of themselves. Jesus does not think of people in that way. In his eyes we are people who he died for and our problem is something he has already provided for. Someone said “He looked beyond all my faults and He saw my need!”.
When Peter looked at Aeneas he looked the way Jesus looks and he spoke the way Jesus speaks. “Jesus the Christ makes you whole. Arise!” It does not record that Peter laid hands on him or prayed for him or lifted him up. He simply spoke to him. He gave Aeneas a different picture of himself, someone who was whole, and someone who was whole would not be lying in bed. Aeneas and his bed needed to part company and the responsibility for doing that lay with Aeneas. We need to part company with our problems and with our old identity.
Aeneas was paralysed, how could he get up? All he had was a word from God spoken by Peter but it was enough. God’s word changes things. There is enough power in it to separate us from our problem and give us a new identity if we will believe it and act on it. Aeneas received it and believed it and threw the covers back. If you have ever responded to a word from God like this you know that the obedience of faith comes before the physical strength. Aeneas was not healed and then he got up. He was healed AS he got up. He was healed BECAUSE he got up. As long as Aeneas lies in his bed and sees himself as a hopeless paralytic the word of God has no effect.
Aeneas heard the word, believed it and acted on it as far as he was able. He did whatever he could and found that he could do whatever he wanted! The bible says that “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”
I love the next bit of the story. It says “Then he arose immediately. So all who dwelt at Lydda and Sharon saw him and turned to the Lord.” Changed lives are a powerful testimony, that’s what we love most about Celebrate Recovery, seeing changed lives, including our own! It is a journey, one that begins with a single act of obedience. That step may be weak and faltering, there may be all kinds of fear and doubts but when you make a move in God’s direction He makes a move in yours!
We do not have to be identified with our problem. I am not my addiction. When Jesus died on the cross he did everything necessary for us to be made whole, wholly new, one step at a time.