ABOUT THIS EPISODE
Something sick or dying in your world? Peter's raising of Tabitha in Acts 9 reveals a three-part kingdom pattern for breakthrough: shift your environment, pray through, and proclaim in faith. It's always comeback time in Christ.
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See the full episode transcript below.
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EPISODE TRANSCRIPT: It's Always Comeback Time: Shift, Pray, Proclaim
Christ is reigning. This is Jesus Smart X with Brian Del Turco. Live the difference.
Hello there, friend. I'm recording this outside today, so if you hear a little birdsong in the background — well, that's a good thing. Did you know research now shows that five minutes of birdsong a day is good for you psychologically? Maybe we'll talk about that sometime — about creating soundscapes in our lives that are positive and healthy for our spirit, soul, and body.
Today I want to talk with you about shifting your environment for a breakthrough, then praying through, and then proclaiming in faith to activate the extraordinary. Shifting your environment. Praying through. Proclaiming in faith.
Let me ask you this: is something sick or dying in your world? Well, it's comeback time.
A Kingdom Pattern from Peter — and from Jesus
Peter modeled something for us in the book of Acts, and he learned it from Jesus. There's no reason we can't do the same. Maybe it's a relationship, something in the financial space, a career, a business, a ministry project, or some cause you care about.
Peter modeled three kingdom dynamics for seeing someone — or something — experience new life. We find them in Acts chapter 9.
Tabitha fell sick and died. Luke writes that she was a woman who abounded in deeds of kindness and charity. Something good and beneficial had stopped. And the question was: how would Peter move forward in the face of this?
Acts 9 tells us that when Peter arrived, they brought him into the upper room, and all the widows stood beside him weeping, showing him the tunics and garments Dorcas had made while she was still with them. But Peter sent them all out.
Now, grieving is real — it's understandable. But this woman had been taken before her time, and Peter knew that if they were going to see the extraordinary, he had to shift the environment away from depression, wailing, and sorrow, and condition it for kingdom possibilities.
Peter wasn't this wise on his own. Where did he get the idea? He'd seen Jesus do the very same thing with a little girl in Matthew chapter 9. Jesus arrived after this girl had died. The mourners started to mock him when he said, "She's asleep." He took Peter, James, and John with him into the room and told the crowd to leave. He conditioned the environment. And when they had gone, he entered, took her by the hand, and the girl got up.
We, too, can follow this pattern that Jesus modeled and Peter followed: condition the environment.
Point One: Condition Your Environment
We probably need to stop listening to some things, stop watching some things, stop letting certain people or circumstances shape us. We're meant to live from the inside out. When our internal state is powered up, our internals shape our externals for the positive — instead of our environment crushing in on us and shaping us from the outside in.
The Lord may lead us to graciously transform, or if necessary release, some relationships — and to stay open to new ones. We may need to let go of some negative memories and past experiences. There are many ways we condition both our outer environment and our inner one. (Maybe sometime we can talk about how our internals shape our externals.)
But that's point one: condition — or recondition — your environment. Position yourself and set the stage for the extraordinary.
Point Two: Pray Through to Win the Day
We can learn something from the old-school believers and that old-school phrase, "praying through." There are some things cool and casual won't win.
Acts 9 tells us that after conditioning the environment, Peter knelt down and prayed. This is where we go to access grace and power. Hebrews chapter 4 tells us we can draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace — empowerment to help in our time of need. When we pray like that, we pick up the voice signature of God. We tune our inner man and dial into the heart and mind of God. His mind, his ability, is imparted to us.
Don't you love the promise in Ephesians 3:20? "Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that is at work within us — to him be the glory."
So first we condition our environment, whatever that means in our context and situation. Then we pray through.
Not a Formula — A Kingdom Pattern
Before we get to the third point, let me be clear: this isn't a formula. I'm not saying follow these steps and it will just happen. What this is, is a kingdom pattern — a template clearly seen in how Jesus and Peter operated. It's a best practice, a working knowledge of the kingdom.
Underneath it all, authentic faith is relational. It flows from our vital connection with the living Christ. It's organic, not technical — not a formula. The living voice of Christ to us in the moment creates faith. Paul said in Romans 10 that faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ. Even if we have no faith, that's okay — faith can be created. And if our faith is too small, faith can grow larger by hearing the living voice of Christ.
Point Three: Turn and Proclaim in Faith
So: condition the environment, pray through, and then, third, turn and speak to the situation. This is where you win the day.
Acts 9 tells us that Peter turned to the body and said, "Tabitha, arise." She opened her eyes, and when she saw Peter, she sat up. He gave her his hand and raised her up, and calling the saints and widows back in, he presented her alive.
This is amazing. Jesus defined faith as belief-filled speaking — a stunning principle. In Mark chapter 11, Jesus says, "Have faith in God," and then, "Truly I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, 'Be taken up and cast into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says is going to happen, it will be granted him." It's an eye-opener that Jesus defines the function of faith first as saying.
And yet faith-filled speaking is sourced in the womb of prayer, because in the very next verse Jesus says, "Therefore I say to you, all things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and they will be granted you."
I challenge you to go to Matthew chapter 8, where Jesus identifies the greatest faith he had ever seen. He says, "I have not found such great faith with anyone in Israel." If Jesus says that, we should pay attention. Who is this person?
It was a Gentile Roman centurion who understood authority and commanding words — the chain of authority. He said, "I too am a man in authority, just as you are, Jesus. I recognize that you're under the Father's authority." He understood the power of commanding words: "Just say the word, and my servant will be healed."
So Peter stood up from that place of praying through, turned to face the situation, and spoke. He released his faith — a commanding word of belief — and kingdom possibility followed. It was prayer-sourced, belief-filled proclamation. And it was an environment — internal and external — that he had conditioned for the extraordinary.
It's Always Comeback Time
So, friend: is something sick or dead in your world? We all have that — something great or small, in varying measures. It's comeback time. It's always comeback time when you're a Christ follower, because you have what one teacher calls "redemptive lift" in you. You have the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus. It's constantly accessible. There's redemptive lift. You cannot sink. You cannot be defeated — if you stay faithful, if you stay connected.
It's always comeback time. So why not use this kingdom template that Jesus used, and Peter used? Now you and I can use it today, because that's what Jesus is looking for. He modeled the kingdom, and he's inviting — even commanding — his followers to operate the same way, to live at the same level.
There it is again: condition your environment for the extraordinary. Pray through until you receive. And now rise up, turn to that situation in faith, and proclaim.
I appreciate you, friend.
Christ is reigning. Go live like it. This has been Jesus Smart X with Brian Del Turco. Until next time.
Scripture referenced: Acts 9:36–42 · Matthew 9:23–25 · Hebrews 4:16 · Ephesians 3:20 · Romans 10:17 · Mark 11:22–24 · Matthew 8:5–10
