Miracles

Miracles, “A miracle” a “supernatural healing”- these are all things many of you have prayed for me. It’s something I continue to pray for myself.  I know God does miracles. I know He is more than powerful. When Jesus walked this earth miracles followed Him just about everywhere He went.  These miracles brought people to Jesus, and they brought them to their knees before God.

You see, we often think miracles are for our mere enjoyment, for our temporary physical suffering to end. They are not. They are to bring our eternal, soul suffering to an end because no matter who the miracle happens to, we realize God is real. He is interacting with us on this earth by showing His miraculous power so that we will come into a relationship with Him.

When we realize Jesus is the Christ, and He is still doing miracles in the world today, it brings some of us to repentance before Him. In others it rises up joy when they hear of a miracle and they praise God for it! Whether the reaction is repentance, joy, praise, or worship, all these things bring us to a closer relationship with God Almighty.

When Jesus was on earth he raised a man named Lazarus from the dead. The chief priests and Pharisees’ who hated Jesus, hated seeing his miracles because it brought people to believe in and follow Jesus. In John 11: 9 it says

“Now a great many of Jews knew that He (Jesus) was there; and they came, not for Jesus’ sake only, but that they might also see Lazarus, whom He had raised from the dead. But the chief priests plotted to put Lazarus to death also, because on account of him many of the Jews went away and believed in Jesus. “

They wanted to kill the man who was walking evidence of the power Jesus held. Power that could only come from God. Can you imagine if someone you knew had died, and been buried, and three days later Jesus brought them back to life. I think that we would be astonished, and amazed at the power of Jesus. I think we would fall down and worship Him.

Now one of the most important and significant miracles Jesus did on earth was forgive a man’s sins. There was a paralyzed man mentioned in Matthew 9. His friends carried him to Jesus to be healed but the crowd surrounding Jesus and the house he was in was so large they couldn’t get through. So they broke through the roof and lowered their paralyzed friend to Jesus. I can imagine the dramatic scene. The owner of the house was probably shocked and upset they just broke through his roof. The people sitting around Jesus were probably upset these friends and the paralyzed man just cut in line. Others were probably upset that whatever Jesus was doing/teaching was interrupted. But they didn’t care. They were desperate for a miracle.

Only thing is it didn’t turn out exactly the way the friends expected. After using their energy to carry their friend through the streets to the house, they took the risk to destroy property, and probably had rug burn on their hands as they lowered their paralyzed friend through the roof to Jesus. Jesus looks at the man, obviously paralyzed, I imagine Jesus’s eyes were filled with compassion and kindess as He looked into the man’s eyes. Did he lay hands on him and heal him? No. He looks at him, looks past the physical disability, and says “Take heart son, your sins are forgiven.”

You see this is a MUCH more serious miracle then being healed physically, having our sins forgiven by God. I can say that because I still am battling chronic illness and disabilities myself. I’ve been on deaths door. For years I couldn’t walk and I would roll off the bed and drag myself to the bathroom on the floor. But through all of that, I took heart, because I knew Jesus had forgiven my sins. I knew I had accepted the gift He offered me to be His child, and so I knew I was in right standing with God.

After Jesus forgave this man’s sins Matthew 9 goes on,

“At this, some of the teachers of the law said to themselves, “This fellow is blaspheming!”

⁴ Knowing their thoughts, Jesus said, “Why do you entertain evil thoughts in your hearts? ⁵ Which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? ⁶ But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” So he said to the paralyzed man, “Get up, take your mat and go home.” ⁷ Then the man got up and went home. ⁸ When the crowd saw this, they were filled with awe; and they praised God, who had given such authority to man.”

Sometimes we get upset if we hear of miracles happening to other people and not us. We question God “Why not me?” as if He owes us, or is trying to hurt us by not giving us the miracle we want. We don’t realize the miracle we just heard about is for us too. It’s for us to realize God is real, He is powerful, and to bring our spirits into a closer walk with Jesus.

When it came to the paralyzed man’s physical need, or his soul need, Jesus will always choose the soul need.  Jesus saw this as the bigger miracle, the bigger need. When Jesus did heal the paralyzed man it wasn’t necessarily just for this man’s life to be more comfortable, it was for this man, his friends and the whole crowed. The miracle was a gift to all of them and he performed it to prove that he had the authority to forgive sins. This miracle of forgiving sins is yours if you want it :). He has extended to EVERY human being on the planet who will receive this gift. The bigger miracle is ours, if we want it.

I still pray for God to heal my chronic ailments. I’ve seen Him give me layers of supernatural healing, and I’ve seen Him use doctors and medicine for healing. I still believe He will heal me one day with no remaining symptoms.

My hearts desire is that my suffering or my miracle, bring me closer to Christ. Through these 8 years of chronic illness, one of my biggest desires was that God would use it to bring others to Him. I prayed that people would see that God is still good regardless of my suffering. Circumstances don’t determine His goodness. What He did on the cross determined that. He sacfriced Himself on the cross so He could extend an invitation to all humanity to live forever, with Him, one day in Heaven with no suffering, no illness, no death, no heartbreak in any way.

I pray this article encourages you, and myself, to run to God regardless of our circumstances. I pray God opens all of our eyes deeper to seeing how the biggest miracle is getting right with God. I pray my suffering, my healing, my life can be used to help glorify God in any way He wishes.