God's Miracle Worker

"... 'This man certainly performs many miraculous signs.  If we allow him to go on like this, soon everyone will believe in him...'" (John 11:47-48, NLT).  

BY DEFINITION: A MIRACLE IS AN EVENT NOT PRODUCIBLE BY THE NORMAL FORCES AND CAUSES ACTING IN THE TIME AND PLACE THE EVENT OCCURS AND  SUPERNATURAL, BUT UNEXPLAINED BY NATURAL SCIENCE OR NATURE LAWS.

The story of Helen Keller was portrayed in the movie, The Miracle Worker, and this only proves that miracles happen if our eyes are open to them.   Most people that have heard of Christ know that He's famous for turning "water into wine" or even "walking on water."  They also ridicule these "signs" as ludicrous examples of Christian "myth."  Paradoxically, Jesus never intended to be known as a miracle worker, for He came first to be our Savior and He didn't want to get off message.

After raising the daughter of Jairus, Jesus admonished the people not to tell anyone, for He knew that such an event, if publicly known, would merely attract the wrong element or crowd.   He didn't just have talking points about salvation but came with the purpose of dying--He was a man on a mission par excellence!

Jesus could've attracted crowds and masses of disciples had He not warned of the cost of discipleship and that one must die to self and take up your cross in following Him--a cost no other religion requires. Jesus did miracles not for selfish reasons, but out of compassion and to be "signs" of authenticity to His deity as John's gospel portrays.

It should be pointed out that miracles don't make a person believe against their will but bolster and support a faith that is already there.  Faith doesn't come from miracles, but miracles from faith.  It is a fact that, even though Jesus had done many miracles, the Pharisees "would not believe" (cf. John 12:32; Ps. 78:18) in Him, not could not.  No miracle will convince a person who doesn't want to believe, but miracles will strengthen the faith of the willing.  A MAN CONVINCED AGAINST HIS WILL IS OF THE SAME OPINION STILL, SAYS THE PROVERB.  

Jesus told His disciples that they shall do "greater things."  We are told we can "move mountains" and "walk on water" by faith and that it only takes the faith of a mustard seed to accomplish. We must realize that miracles are just unusual events caused by God--all things are caused by God in a sense and if miracles happened all the time, they'd be called "regulars."  Jesus did not oblige the skeptics with miracles on-demand or with some biggie miracle that would make it impossible to deny, but His signs always took faith to accept. The church can get sidetracked by losing focus of God's priorities and turning stones into bread instead of fulfilling the Great Commission, to keep the main thing the main thing.  When Jesus performed miracles, the skeptics weren't convinced--for miracles only give the desire or appetite for more miracles.

In sum, if you want to see a miracle, look in the mirror! and realize that you, too, can be God's miracle worker:  "Expect great things from God; attempt great things for God" (William Carey). "He does great things too marvelous to understand. A miracle is by nature "fixed." Look at the sunrise--It's fixed!   He performs countless miracles" (Job 9:10, NLT). The Bible is a miracle in itself, being God-breathed and accurately portrays many miracles, signs, and wonders of God to bolster faith.     Soli Deo Gloria!

Staying On Track With God

"... If you do not stand firm in your faith, then you will not stand at all" (Is. 7:9, HCSB).

Psalm 31:15 says that our times our in God's hands or our future is in His hands.  This is good to know because our lives have been written out like a novel even before we were born (cf. Psalm 139:16).   God will fulfill His purpose for us with or without our cooperation because we are called according to the purpose of His will and all things will work out for the good in the end (cf. Psalm 138:8; 57:2; Rom. 8:28).   When David had fulfilled God's purpose (plan) God took him (cf. Acts 13:36).   God does have a purpose for everyone and everything, even the wicked for the day of evil (cf. Prov. 16:4).  But as believers God has a special plan of good for us, to prosper us in our endeavors and to use us as His vessels of honor.  (cf. Jeremiah 29:11).

We don't have "to reason why, but to do and die" (as The Charge of the Light Brigade by Alfred, Lord Tennyson penned).  Those who hear the beat of a different drum cannot keep in step.  Only two people tuned to the same instrument are in tune with each other!   When our lives are surrendered to His will and we relinquish ownership of our soul, He guides us according to His will and purpose.  The providence of God assures that He is in control of all events, circumstances, things, animals, plants, and people--even all thrones, powers, and dominions to bring Him glory (cf. Ephesians 1:11; Is. 43:7). 

Now, it is apparent that we don't always walk in the Spirit doing God's will (whenever we sin we must confess it immediately), for we all fall short of God's glorious ideal and despite the fact that perfection is the standard, the direction is the test.  We are to keep in step with the Spirit and to walk with God even as Noah did.  This can only be accomplished by keeping short accounts with God, confession-of-sin-wise.   What happens is that we reckon our schedules to be more important than God's and our priorities already to be aligned with His, when they may be out of step with the Spirit unawares.  Jesus walked as close to God as can be imagined and yet never saw an urgent need as an interruption.  Now, you can say that He knows all and foresaw what God's plan was or the ultimate results would be, but Jesus walked on this earth with the limitations of a man, not knowing anything but what the Father told Him--for knowing the future isn't consistent with human weakness and humiliation.

In the story of Jesus raising the daughter of Jairus in Mark 5, Jesus stopped to heal a woman with a blood-flow issue of twelve years before going on to heal her.  He knew that it is impossible to get off track from God's timetable if one walks in the Spirit and does what is right; namely, heal the woman in her need. We must also trust God's triage and priorities instead of limiting our vision to our perspective.  Jesus did that when He heard of Lazarus and didn't hurry on to get to Bethany to heal him, but lingered.  Jesus wasn't one to be rushed!

It is a serious blunder to do your own thing (cf. Isa. 53:6; Judges 17:6; 21:25), to set your own agenda, to go your own way, to be in a hurry to do God's will (ironic!) and not to trust in the Lord's timing to keep the main thing the main thing and to keep your eyes on Jesus as the focus, not yourself.  If you are engaged in the business of the Lord, God will see to it that it is done right and in time--He will not linger nor delay to do His will.  There is proper etiquette:  Back to God's house, back to God's Word, back to God's will, back to God's work, and back to God's Spirit.   As Habakkuk 2:3, NLT says "... If it seems slow in coming, wait patiently, for it will surely take place.  It will not be delayed [tarry]."

God's eternal perspective of time (the vantage point of eternity) in seeing the big picture from beginning to end gives Him the ability to guide our lives and we should not "lean unto our own understanding" (cf. Prov. 3:5), but we should entrust everything to Providence--God is in control and we cannot alter His plan--He has and needs no Plan B.  As humans, we tend to hate being interrupted because we take issue with something being more important than the issue at hand or what we're engaged in, but this is all part of our pride in not letting God be God or having control over our circumstances--we must assume that God has allowed this interruption to readjust our timing (like missing a light in traffic to make us late, because God thought we were going too fast--how do we know whether God wasn't preventing an accident down the road?).

In sum, there is no such thing as an interruption with Jesus--He's never too busy for us and nothing is too trivial to be a bother or nuisance.   Soli Deo Gloria!