Miracles of all Miracles

Since I have been writing this blog, I have gone to bed each evening wondering what God is going to have for me to write the next day. I get up excited to find out what is going to be revealed to me in His word. What new thoughts or memories He might bring to my mind. It has been very exciting for me but I know it has only been a week and it is a new adventure that has put some life back into me that I haven’t had for awhile. I want that same excitement to come to the readers of this blog. It would be my desire that each one of you would be excited to see what God has given me to write each day but even more, it would be my desire that you go to bed each evening excited for what He has in store for you the next morning when you wake up, wondering what God will reveal to you as you seek Him with all your hearts. It is not the blog that excites me but being able to take the time to sit and listen to Him always seems to energize me.

Looking again at Nehemiah 9 we are now at verse 10 where we find that God is a God of miracles.
As a child I was always taught about God’s miracles. Sunday school stories and songs were filled with those wonderful stories about how God can do miraculous things. You can start with the story of creation and how God made all things. Move on to Abraham and Sarah and the miracle of a child and the promise of decedents more numerous than the stars. What about Moses and the burning bush or the miracle that God took a man of few words and made him the leader of the Israelites. Even before that, the miracle of God’s protection over him as a babe in the Nile river. There is nothing more exciting than David slaying the giant and the list goes on. In the New Testament we read of the miracle of God in flesh. All of the miracles that Jesus performed from the many miracles of physical healing, raising of the dead, spiritual healings of the demon possessed to the miracle of all miracles when Jesus raised from the dead and conquered sin. I believe all of those miracles in the Bible really did happen but where my faith sometimes sways is realizing that those miracles are meant for me today just as they were in the days of old. As a child I would hear the story in Sunday school about the little girl that Jesus raised from the dead and in my room by myself I would ask Him to bring Carol Beth back to life for just a little while so I could see her. I really believed He could but did not understand why He wouldn’t do that for me. Can you imagine the ruckus that would have caused if He were to grant that miracle?  Then as at age 25 I began to have some physical problems and our pastor told me that he knew that God was going to heal me from my physical problems and he believed it so much that he tried to find us to tell us that we wouldn’t need to make the trip to Wichita to see a specialist but we were already out of town. I wanted to believe and was comforted to think that God had revealed this to our pastor. I did get better after steroids but it wasn’t a quick miracle as in Jesus time. Then, my dear Mother was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease and praying for her healing began. She really believed He could heal her and she went to healing services and each of us prayed for her healing. That healing took place when her battle here on earth was done and the ultimate healing of life promised by God became a life in heaven. Now it is really easy for me to feel sorry for myself at this point but let’s look a little closer at another individual that lived on this earth who desired to have a miracle but was told He had to wait, that was Jesus Christ.

Look in Matthew 26:38 Speaking to His disciples, Jesus said, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.” Have you ever felt overwhelmed to death, rest assured Jesus knows how you feel but times that by a 1,000 or more and that is most likely how He felt. Read on in Matthew 26:39 Going a little farther, He fell with His face to the ground and prayed, ‘My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.’ Now when I pray that I am really hoping that it will be God’s will but generally it is my will that I am trying to please. Later, in verse 42 it tells us that He went a second time to His Father and prayed, “My Father, it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done.” We find the answer to why Jesus was willing to allow God’s will to be done in His life, as He is praying once again and He says in John 17: 1 “Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you.” He goes on to say in verse 4 and 5, “I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.” Now, how many of us can say that to our Heavenly Father? So many times I pray for miracles for my own sake but not for the sake of bringing glory to God. How many of us pray for protection because we are afraid or for healing because we want to feel better? If you think about it a little while, we pray for miracles to satisfy our needs not to bring glory to our Father. Sometimes I think we believe he owes it to us when in actuality we owe Him everything and more. I remember in a study I did in the past that I was supposed to write down what I wanted God to do in my life and when I did, I realized that there was nothing that I could ask for that He had not already given me. My purpose on this earth is not to get my way but to bring glory to Him.