How To receive a Miracle

For the past several weeks, I've been challenged by why it seems we experience so little of the miraculous in our lives. We serve a supernatural and miracle-working God, but we don't often act like it. I will be publishing an in-depth piece on this topic in a couple of weeks so be on the look out for that. I believe it will challenge you spiritually and usher you into a season of fresh faith.

In the interim, it occurs to me that God shows us several patterns in the Bible that we may follow to receive a miracle. One such teaching occurs in Mark 11:20-26. This is a pretty famous passage that you may have heard quoted before. The principal part is this: So Jesus answered and said to them, "Have faith in God. For assuredly I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, 'Be removed and be cast into the sea' and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says. Therefore I say to you whatever things you ask when you pray believe that you receive them, and you will have them."

At first blush, it seems as if there are no qualifications to Jesus' statement - that the promise of moving mountains with your faith is a blank check. In reality there are a few conditions that must be met in order to receive your miracle. First, you must come to the Lord in faith. Jesus says, "have faith in God." The Bible teaches that without faith, it's impossible to please God so following Him will always require an act of faith on your part if you are to please Him. At the end of the day, He is God and He is asking you to set aside doubt, fear and unbelief and to trust Him at His word. That is faith.

The second thing that is evident from this passage that I don't often see included in teaching on this is the need to come before God with a clean heart. Verse 25 says that when we come to God asking for our miracle, we should make sure that we don't have anything against anyone. To go even a step further, Matthew 5:21-25 says that we shouldn't bother wasting time at God's altar if we know someone who has an issue with us! In other words, sometimes we've got to clear out the junk in our human relationships before we expect God to pour out that miracle. God is sovereign and He can do whatever He wants to, but it's amazing that we pray and see no answers and we blame God, but we haven't spoken to ____________________ - you fill in the blank - in how many months or years.

Finally, Jesus says, "whenever you stand praying..." Prayer is the road that your miracle travels on. The Bible encourages us to pray without ceasing, to pray persistently, to ask the elders of the church to pray for your physical healing, to pray for one another about anything and everything, to pray specifically - Jesus sometimes asked people who He healed, "What do you want?" At several places in Scripture God accuses His people of being prayerless or failing to believe Him for anything. This is a travesty of the faith - it is a failure to live up to who we really are in Christ.

Let me encourage you today friend to believe God for something great. To point your faith directly at that mountain in your life. However, remember you must believe and not doubt; you must have a clean heart and you must pray until something happens. Drop me a note about anything you're praying for. You don't have to reveal any more than you're comfortable with, but I'd like to join you in prayer - there's power in us praying together and let's believe God together for your miracle. Blessings, Wayne

How to Know God's Vision for Your Life - Part IV - You Must Confess the Vision

Hey friends; this post will complete the four-part series on how you can know God’s vision for your life. Once you come to see the vision, become persuaded by it and embrace it, you must then confess it with your life. Our focus Scripture, Hebrews 11: 1-16, states that the heroes of the faith confessed that they were “strangers and pilgrims” on this earth – that they were seeking a city that God had prepared for them.

In other words, these folks came to recognize that they were just passing through this world and that their true homeland – their eternal home was in heaven with God. Therefore, they made the conscious choice to confess or validate God’s vision by living their lives in the light of the life to come (eternity). There are three factors that should drive us to make the same confession.

First, the Scriptures teach that our true homeland (our citizenship) is in heaven. Philippians 3:20. I was not born in this country. However, I am proud to tell you that I am a naturalized US citizen. When I became a citizen, the government issued me a certificate and placed my name in a book containing the names of all those who are also naturalized citizens.

The Bible states that God has a Book – it’s a Book of Life containing the names of all of heaven’s citizens – all those who have received eternal life on God’s terms. At the culmination of time, God will open the Book. Those whose names are written in that Book will spend an eternity in heaven with God in utter perfection. In light of that glorious destiny, how should we conduct ourselves in this life?

That’s point #2. We are to follow the pattern of the folks in Hebrews 11 – we are to recognize that we are just passing through this earth and we are to keep a heavenly perspective. That means that we should move live our lives on mission for God and with God. God gave us all things to enjoy, but we should not make earthly “things” our major focus in life. As best as we can, we are to live for God’s agenda. The question that should keep us up at night is not who got eliminated this week on American Idol (although that’s very important) – but are we living for God – are we living this life in the light of our true eternal identities?

When we choose to live in this manner, our lives will “declare plainly” who we are. Our lives will speak much louder than our words. It will emanate a light that demonstrates the reality of God for all to see. God’s vision for our lives may change over time, but our job is to live it out along the way. That is the key to lasting contentment, fulfillment, significance and joy. There will be no greater joy than departing this life knowing that you lived it intentionally for the glory of God.

Perhaps you can spend some quiet time in the near future asking yourself honestly what are you living for. Is God even on the agenda? Or are you caught up in all of the desires, demands and distractions of this world? If you are, why don’t you stop right now and ask the Lord to refresh your spirit and to remind you of His plans and purposes for you. Keep it really simple and please send me a note about anything the Lord reveals to you.