Acts 19:11-12

We serve a miracle working God. He hears the prayers of those who believe in Him. He can do what we cannot but His ways are above our ways. They are sometimes hard to understand. Why are some prayers answered and some not? God is sovereign and always has the final say. One day we will know the reason. Jesus prayed in the garden for His Father to take away the crucifixion that was awaiting Him...but He also prayed that the Father's will be done, not His.

God uses even the faith of a mustard seed, one of the smallest of the seeds, to accomplish His will in our lives.

Jesus wasn’t in the boat with his disciples because he had gone to the hills to pray. Jesus prayed – that’s remarkable. It’s even more remarkable that Jesus did not stop praying when his disciples were struggling. Why? Well two possible answers. Either he didn’t care, or he believed in prayer. I think you know the correct choice.

So while Jesus is praying and we are in the storm, what are we to do? Simple. We just do what the disciples did. 

He is too wise to forget you, too loving to hurt you. And when you can’t see him, trust him. He is praying a prayer that he himself will answer. Max Lucado

Acts 19:11-12

11 Now God worked unusual miracles by the hands of Paul, 12 so that even handkerchiefs or aprons were brought from his body to the sick, and the diseases left them and the evil spirits went out of them. The New King James Version

Because Ephesus is a key city for travel and business, it allowed Paul’s testimony of Jesus to spread throughout the Roman province of Asia (a region on the west coast of modern-day Turkey). People visiting Ephesus had the opportunity to hear Paul preach the gospel, and those who believed would have then spread the message to the various places they visited and lived.

This evokes the story of a woman being healed by merely touching Jesus, showing that the power of the Holy Spirit continues the work of Jesus in the life of Paul. Faithlife Study Bible

God confirmed Paul’s apostolic authority by performing miracles through him. The writer of the Book of Hebrews helps us understand why miracles were accomplished through the apostles. The miracles verified that the apostles represented God and that the gospel they preached was from heaven. God may have used such unusual means in order to show that His miraculous power was greater than the powers of darkness. The NKJV Study Bible

Mark 16:17 And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues;

Acts 5:12 And through the hands of the apostles many signs and wonders were done among the people. And they were all with one accord in Solomon’s Porch.

Acts 5:15 so that they brought the sick out into the streets and laid them on beds and couches, that at least the shadow of Peter passing by might fall on some of them.

Acts 8:13 Then Simon himself also believed; and when he was baptized he continued with Philip, and was amazed, seeing the miracles and signs which were done.