#DevotionsWithTee - Miracles Still Happen
“The reason why we don’t
experience big miracles, is because we forget that we serve a mighty God”
- Sometimes I read the bible and some stories, and
I think to myself, how comes I don’t see those things now or experience those things
for myself? - Easy answer – my lack of faith
- Why would God show
me the big things, if I refuse to allow Him to help me with the little things.
I constantly try to do it myself and it doesn’t work out.
We forget that the God we read about in the
bible is the same God we serve today. In theory we can say this but when it
comes to ‘practical faith’ i.e. living out
what you believe, the struggle is most definitely real.
Remember - the reason we don’t experience
miracles is because we forget we serve a Mighty God. We forget the power he
holds.
Some of the stories I ponder over:
- In Exodus 14:15-22 we
read about the parting of the Red Sea - In John 2:2-11,
we read about when Jesus turned water into wine.
You might be puzzled and think I thought we were talking
about God not Jesus – well in 1 John 5:7 we are
told that the Father, the Word and the Holy Ghost are three in one – the holy
trinity.
“The Word” is Jesus.
To emphasise this point:
In John 14:10 Jesus even
said that He is in the Father and the Father is in Him and it is the Father in
Him that performs the works (the miracles).
Carrying on more miracles and stories I think about are:
- When Jesus walked on water which can be read
about in Matthew 14:26-27 - Luke 11:39-44 when
Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead 4 days after he died
Many of us have read these stories again and again. We’ve
even exclaimed how powerful God is but turned around and questioned where He is
in our lives and in the world in General.
If we look at nature, we can see God is working. When you
see plants growing and you learn about the processes of their growth. When you
see and analyse all these different creatures and the ins and outs of their
being – even the mechanics of our very own body.
Yet we struggle to see how God can make it all work out for
us. The problems we may consider small in comparison to the previous miracles
mentioned above are:
- Provision of food/money
- Healing from sickness
- Singleness – not having a husband or a wife and
failing to see where and when God will provide this
In all our distress of the above or other we forget the
numerous promises laid out for us. Promises of miracles and things to come –
One person in the bible who did remember and who understood
the power of Jesus. The power of his touch and love and words and all was the
women with the issue of blood. This story actually makes me cry sometimes. It
can be found in Luke 8:43-48
LET’S IMAGINE. WE ARE HOME
BOUND. WE ARE DEEMED FILTHY AND UNCLEAN. MANY WOMEN CAN TELL YOU THAT THE
MENSTRUAL CYCLE TING IS NOT EASY. SO IMAGINE FOR 12 WHOLE YEARS OF CONSTANT
BLOOD. CAN I EVEN MANAGE 5 DAYS I BEG?
SHE PICKED UP HER “UNCLEAN SELF”
BECAUSE SHE HEARD JESUS WAS IN TOWN. SHE PUSHED THROUGH THE HUSTLE AND THE
BUSTLE OF THE PEOPLE AND BECAUSE SHE COULD SEE JESUS WAS SURROUNDED AND WAS ON
HIS WAY SOMEWHERE WITH ALL HER FAITH SHE REACHED OUT AND TOCUHED HIM AND JUST
LIKE THAT – CYCLE DONE!
JESUS TURNED AROUND AND
EVENTUALLY TOLD THE LADY THAT HER FAITH HAD MADE HER WHOLE
HER FAITH
Sometimes I feel like it’s harder for us because Jesus isn’t
just roaming streets anymore. We aren’t witnessing these things hands on. Even
the Israelites, they saw first sight what God could do. Look at when
Elijah/Elisha called unto God and the Fire came from Heaven. That was mad.
It’s not an excuse though. That is why we have the Bible. To
be able to read and understand for ourselves in order to develop our own
relationship with God.
Jesus said in Luke 17:6 if
we have faith as a mustard seed, we could move mountains. He may have meant
that physically, or metaphorically. But in essence if we trust God we can do
big things. Actually he may have actually meant in physically as well you know.
Look at when Joshua
lead the Israelites, I’m so sorry but you really think singing and shouting is
going to bring a wall down? I personally believe it was a test of the
Israelites faith. They had faith. They walked around a wall making noise for
days. They must have been mocked. They must have had things thrown at them, but
they kept going. They demonstrated faith in God’s
promise, so God brought the wall down.
That’s the issue we don’t
demonstrate faith in the promises, in fact we even forget the promises.
In Matthew 7:9-11 – we
are asked “Or what man is there of you, whom if his
son ask bread, will he give him a stone? Or if he ask for fish, will give him a
serpent? If ye then being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children,
how much more shall your father which is in Heaven give good things to them
which ask him?”
Philippians 4:19 – My g
Paul reminds us that “God will meet all of our
needs according to the riches of His glory in Jesus Christ”
My personal favourite – Matthew
6:25-26 – “Therefore I say unto you, take no
thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, nor yet for
your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than the meat, and the
body more than the raiment? Behold the fowls of the air, for they sow not,
neither do they reap, nor gather into barns, yet your Heavenly Father feedeth
them. Are ye not much better than they?”
I remember one pastor told me that it is not wrong to remind
God of these promises in our prayers. He said that in many cases it can even
relieve anxiety because you’re reminding yourself too and demonstrating you
believe in God’s word.
WARNING: Sometimes we are in
situations to develop our faith. Sometimes God even says no. Still have faith
because there’s a reason, or He says wait.
In law in a case called Smith
and Woking Police – the key bit of common law used from this case is
that ‘immediate does not mean the same as
instantaneous’.
That sounds weird doesn’t it. We’re always hearing God
answers prayer immediately. But in the same way our
immediate and God’s immediate is different. His timing and our timing is
different. As I have to keep reminding myself everyday “just gotta trust the
process”.
Revelation 1:8 is
powerful – I am the alpha and the omega, the
beginning and the end, saith the Lord, which I, and which was, and which is to
come, The almighty.
If we serve a God who is
basically time – we can trust His timing and that He will show us what
He can do -
Miracles can still happen; the question is do you actually
believe that?