miracles

World of Wonders

“If we would venture more upon the naked promise of God, we would enter a world of wonders to which we are yet strangers.” – Charles Spurgeon

It’s a great quote by Spurgeon. Then we look at life and at the world around us and we ask where those wonders are. What are we missing?

Maybe it is the barely-avoided accident on the highway.

Maybe it’s a new-born baby.

Maybe it’s the sickness we didn’t catch.

Maybe it is the peace we feel even when the task in front of us seems too big.

Maybe it’s our friend’s insight into a problem we are trying to solve on our own.

The Bible tells us we humans are just dust. Some call us “mud people”. Yes, mud people in whose life is the breath of God making us into someone he loves, adores, cares for, and nurtures. He takes us by the hand, leading us step by step. That, in itself, is a wonder! There is nothing too hard for God. He is the God of wonders, working them every day in our world.

Some of them are small. We have to be paying close attention to see them. Others are big -like when we get an unexpected gift that is just exactly what we needed, or someone we’ve been praying for is healed in a way that can only be be supernatural, or someone we love suddenly sees the truth of who Jesus is. These wonders do happen. Let’s look for them and then stand in awe at what we see. G. K. Chesterton said it best: “We are perishing for lack of wonder, not for lack of wonders”.

“Seek the Lord and his strength; seek his presence continually! Remember the wondrous works that he has done, his miracles, and the judgments he uttered,” – Psalm 105:4-5

Healing

God alone is qualified to answer prayer, and at some point we have to let go and trust God, who can transmute our self-focused requests into an unimaginably larger plan.  – Philip Yancey

Do you have anyone on your prayer list right now for whom you are praying for healing? Most of us do. We read about Jesus healing people everywhere he went, and we believe he can still do that today. And he does – sometimes. Often, though, we wait in vain for the physical healing to happen.

These are the times when, as Spurgeon says, “we must meekly bow to his will by whom life and death are determined.” Wait! Bow to his will when the life of someone we love is at stake? That sounds hard. And, it is.

But what do we learn when we humbly bow to his will? We learn he is loving, kind, and good, even when we don’t understand. We learn that his power is not limited to physical healing. Sometimes he’s working on something of far greater value – something we will most likely not understand this side of heaven. In the process, though, we realize there are some things more important than physical healing and, if we could see the bigger picture, we would not trade the spiritual blessing for anything – not even healing.

I have heard people testify to this very thing. That the sense of God’s presence, the knowledge that he’s walking beside them in the pain, and the confidence that his will is best for them and for those around them is worth the suffering they are undergoing. I want that kind of peace and the comfort it gives. Maybe the only way to get it is by having some of my most earnest prayers go unanswered.

“Though he slay me, I will hope in him.” – Job 13:15a

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Extraordinary Things

“Jesus was God spelling himself out in language humanity could understand.” – S. D. Gordon

I don’t think we are supposed to live ordinary lives. Why? Because we follow Jesus and, because of him, we have a chance of participating in the extraordinary every day. There’s a great example of this told in the gospels.

Jesus was teaching, and people had comes from miles around to hear him. Some caring friends brought in a paralyzed man. They had come in through the roof because the crowds made it impossible to get close to Jesus any other way.

Jesus looked at this man who couldn’t walk and told him his sins were forgiven. Who says things like that? The religious leaders who were watching knew exactly who says things like that – they knew he was claiming to be God.

Then Jesus healed the paralytic, who promptly got up off his mat and walked!

And then we read about the reaction of the crowd: “. . . amazement seized them all, and they glorified God and were filled with awe, saying, ‘We have seen extraordinary things today’.” (Luke 5:26)

The One we follow still teaches – through the Bible, other Christians, and in our hearts through the Holy Spirit. Crowds are still following him from all over the world. Jesus still forgives sins. He still is God who came in the flesh so we could be with him forever. He still works miracles. These are all things that should amaze us every day!

Lord, I want to live close enough to you to see extraordinary things – to participate in them, to know you through them, and to share, with anyone who will listen, who you are. With you, no life will ever be ordinary!

“We have seen extraordinary things today.” – Luke 5:26b

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First, a bath . . .

“God sometimes takes us into troubled waters not to drown us but to cleanse us.” – Andrew Murray

God hears our prayers and sometimes chooses to intervene directly in our lives to answer them. There are times, though, when he thinks it’s important to do something inside us before he responds to our cries for help.

The Bible tells us about a proud Syrian general named Namaan who had leprosy. He came across the border into Israel because he heard the prophet Elisha had power to heal. But when he was told that he had to bathe in the muddy waters of the Jordan River to be made well, he was angry. Him? A military general? Bathe in the Jordan? No! It took some convincing, but finally he humbled himself, dipped in the waters, and came out cured from his disease.

We ask God to intervene in our lives, to make us well, or to meet some other overwhelming need. He hears and answers, but, as we see with this leper, he sometimes has a bigger plan in mind: A plan to draw us closer to him, a plan for our spiritual good and not just for our physical good.

And, for many (most?) of us, what God addresses first, as he did with Namaan, is the problem of pride. It sneaks up on us, and it gets in the way of our ability to know and respond to God. It’s a barrier to relationship with him and with others.

Let’s not let pride, or any sin, keep us from dipping in the waters of his grace and being restored to a place of humility and spiritual wholeness. Then we can confidently bring our prayers to him. It’s worth the bath!

Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. – Psalm 51:10

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Any mountains to be moved?

I will go before you and will level the mountains; I will break down gates of bronze and cut through bars of iron. – Isaiah 45:2

I look at mountains every day outside my windows. I don’t want any of them to move! They’re strong, ancient, and remind me of God’s creative power. Yet, Jesus taught we could move mountains with just a mustard-seed-sized faith.

One morning, he seemed to ask specifically, “Do you have any mountains you want me to move?” He didn’t mean the ones outside my window. He meant mountains relating to my life. Mountains I don’t have the power to move myself. 

For God, power isn’t a problem: “The mountains melt like wax before the Lord, before the Lord of all the earth” (Psalm 97:5). So, I prayed. He listened. And I tried hard just to trust.

When I think of God moving a mountain, I’d like it to be instantaneous – an earthquake maybe. But, often, it seems, he moves the mountains a stone or a rock at a time. That requires my patience, but it’s OK. Usually, I can see him at work and know that someday that mountain will be moved.

One of the mountains I prayed about that morning has been removed. Gone! And without any help from me. I’m so thankful for God’s melting it away like wax. The others? I’m still praying, still trusting – believing God is moving them in his own way and in his own time – maybe just pebble by pebble.

Are there any mountains you need to pray about today?

“The wonderful thing about praying is that you leave a world of not being able to do something, and enter God’s realm where everything is possible. . . Nothing is too great for His almighty power. Nothing is too small for His love.” ~ Corrie Ten Boom

 

 

 

 

 

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Disease

“But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings.” – Malachi 4:2

We have treatments for many illnesses these days: medicines, pain killers, physical therapy, even surgeries when the simple fixes don’t work. Then there are things that aren’t so easy to treat: cancer, psychological disorders, or even epidemic viruses that come suddenly on the scene.

For some in this world it seems nearly everything is untreatable. In less-developed countries, many people don’t even have aspirin, the nearest doctor may be miles away, and getting there is on foot. What to do when disease strikes and there is no treatment, no cure?

The crowds following Jesus in Bible times were in similar circumstances. They sought him out because they were sick or disabled and had no hope but him. When they pleaded for help, he responded with compassion, and they were made whole.

Some of us need that kind of healing in our lives today, don’t we? The kind for which there is no ready cure. Our needs might relate to our bodies, but often to our minds or emotions as well.

Most of us have some kind of dis-ease we face every day. What do we do? If there’s a treatment we can get from a doctor or a counselor, we need to do so. But sometimes what we are dealing with is something only God can heal.

If Jesus were here, we’d go to him just as the crowds did centuries ago.

Remember, he’s still here.

He’s still loving.

He invites us to bring our dis-ease to him. Let’s be as bold as those early followers and ask him to intervene today.

“The spiritual journey is the unlearning of fear and the acceptance of love.” – Marianne Williamson

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He’s calling you.

. . . they called the blind man, saying to him, “Take heart. Get up; he is calling you.”– Mark 10:49

Imagine being blind in a world where there’s no economic safety net. Every day someone leads you to a spot on the road where people pass by. You call out when you hear them coming, just hoping someone will have mercy and give you a coin or two. Imagine that life day after day. No change. Nothing to look at. Unthinkable boredom. No hope. Then you hear of Jesus and his miracles. Maybe, just maybe, he would give you more than a coin and everything would change!

When blind Bartimaeus heard Jesus was on his way to Jericho, he was determined to get his attention. So, he shouted, begging Jesus to stop, to be merciful, to respond to his need. He was so obnoxious that people around him asked him to quiet down. But Jesus heard his cry and spoke to some who were nearby, “Call him.” They went over to Bartimaeus and gave him this amazing message, “Take heart. Get up. He is calling you.” 

Bartimaeus got to his feet and allowed the men to lead him to Jesus where his life was changed in an instant. He could see! No more need for someone to lead him by the hand. No more need to beg in order to survive. No more mind-numbing existence sitting alongside the road. New life began the moment he met Jesus.

Where are you in life today? Jesus hears your cry and he’s calling you. He asks that you take heart, get up, and come to him. Only he can change your life!

“Faith is to believe what we do not see, and the reward of this faith is to see what we believe.” – Augustine of Hippo

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Miracles or Wonders?

“He performs wonders that cannot be fathomed, miracles that cannot be counted.” – Job 9:10

To some people everything’s a miracle: sunrises, finding extra money in their pocket, bumping into an old friend, and birds hatching in the tree outside their window. For others, miracles are phenomena of a time long past, but don’t happen today. Which is right?

The verse from Job, cited above, has helped me sort this out. Many of the things we see around us might be classified as wonders. Colorful flowers, the awe-inspiring Grand Canyon, or a wound that heals – these are wonders, part of God’s natural world. He made the world to work this way and we are the benefactors of his love of beauty, order, and regeneration.

But, sometimes there are miracles, too – yes, even today. They are events that occur contrary to the natural course of things. For example, someone being unexplainably healed or a prodigal returning home with a changed heart. These miracles are God’s intervention in the normal course of a disease, affliction, or direction. I believe these miracles are his way of giving us a glimpse of how it will be when the world is eventually restored to its original perfection.

Miracles are miracles, not because they are part of the natural order, but because they interrupt it. But that interruption is not guaranteed. God loves having us trust him enough to ask, but only he decides when and how he will respond to our prayer.

So, while we pray for the miracle we so desparately desire, we can continue to enjoy the wonders of God that surround us every day. They are his gifts to us, too!

“Believe in miracles, but don’t put your faith in miracles. Put your faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ.” – Adrian Rogers

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Faith’s Interruptions

“But as for me, I watch in hope for the Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear me.” – Micah 7:7

Faith is a funny thing. How many times did Jesus tell people their faith had made them well? Faith in what? Probably faith in who he seemed to be: willing, able, and loving.

I think of the woman who secretly reached out to touch the hem of his robe and was healed immediately of a disease she’d had for twelve long years. When Jesus called her, she came trembling, fearful of his anger and receiving, instead, his loving words, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace.” (Luke 8:48)

Dear God, I want to have the kind of faith she had. Faith that believes . . .

• you are with me.
• you love me.
• you hear me.
• you will use me.
• you have a plan for me.

Living by faith makes every day an adventure. What door will God open? What new understanding will he give? What person will he bring across my path with a need only I can help with? What prayer will he answer?

We like to strategize, knowing the next steps of each day. I think God smiles when we do that, because he knows he might find it necessary to interrupt those carefully crafted plans. We’re OK with that, right? His ways are always better.

Our faith should expect God to intervene, to act, to redirect our steps. If we trust him to be wise, good, powerful, and loving, we will start to live a life filled with opportunity, possibility, and adventure. 

O, Lord, may my faith be the kind that knows who you are and invites you to interrupt my day.

“ Faith sees the invisible, believes the unbelievable, and receives the impossible.”– Corrie Ten Boom

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It’s personal!

“You hem me in behind and before, and you lay your hand upon me. – Psalm 139:5

If I were in Jesus’ sandals in the 1st Century, I might have been a bit more organized. For example, I would’ve had all the demon-possessed move to one side of the beach and all the sick and disabled on the other. Then I would’ve cast out all the demons with just one prayer, turning my attention to the sick with an instant healing for all. Jesus could have left this earth with every disease in Israel healed. But he didn’t.

He had his own way: Choosing to heal, forgive, and free from bondage – person-by-person. Even the bleeding woman who touched Jesus secretly was called out so he could look her in the eye, commend her faith, and tell her to go in peace. He actually permitted an argument from the Syro-Phoenician woman and engaged in conversations about requests for others with Jairus and the Roman Centurion.

Then there was the paralytic let down through the roof, blind Bartimaeus, the lame man at the Pool of Bethesda – these were all relational, eye-to-eye encounters. Jesus was doing more than healing: He was fixing the brokenness that didn’t show on the outside.

You and I have some of those kinds of needs, too – the ones inside that we  hide, don’t really want to deal with, or maybe just don’t realize we have. Jesus knows all of it and hears our prayers. But he responds in ways that give us what we really need – sometimes what we ask for, often something even better. With Jesus it’s always personal.

“I need to show Jesus my brokenness – show Him my wounds – and let Him touch them. Let Him cradle my heart in His hands and say, ‘I do will it. Be made clean.’.”*

 

*from  https://beautybeyondbones.com/2018/02/12/an-ashy-valentines-day/

#miracles #prayer