Do you ever read about the life of Jesus and wonder why we don't see miracles like that today? Everywhere Jesus went, he preached and healed. And healed. And healed. I'm sure there are many reasons why a big portion of Jesus' mission was healing, but today I am struck with one.
Mark 6:5-6 says, "He could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them. And he was amazed at their lack of faith."
Out of all the places Jesus preached and healed, the one place in which he didn't heal many people was his hometown. These people simply couldn't believe in him. They had seen him grow up. They knew his mother. They knew his brothers and sisters. They couldn't get past the facts to see the clear miracles this man was doing.
Because of their lack of faith, they didn't see miracles.
Sometimes we also can't get past the obvious facts to be able to see the miracles performed in our midst.
In the case of my father-in-law, we have a hard time seeing past the facts. The tumor is inoperable. The chemotherapy nor radiation has eliminated the tumor. His body is taking an incredible toll from this over 2 year fight.
Yet the miracles are there. My mother-in-law could list many more but here are the ones I have witnessed. Last fall, I had to see a specialist, the same one who initially diagnosed Mike's liver tumor. His nurse remembered Mike, even over a year later, and asked how my husband was doing. I quickly corrected her, saying, "No, my father-in-law." After talking with her, I realized she hadn't made a mistake. She was asking how my husband was coping. When I told her my father-in-law was still in the fight, I'll never forget the joyous shock on her face.
Then this June I was in the emergency room with the family when Mike was taken in with some very frightening symptoms. I saw the faces of the ER doctors that my mother-in-law had been describing for the past two years. No one expected him to make it out of that hospital. The look in their eyes told it all.
Yes, God is performing miracles. Even miracles of healing. Perhaps not the healing where he is cancer free, but healing nonetheless. And God is gaining the glory in countless ways. He is gaining glory through my mother-in-law's blog as she shares their fight, their struggle, and every prayer need that's met. He is gaining glory through the love shown by the church, their local one and the body of believers around the country.
And really, isn't that what miracles are always all about anyway? Giving glory to God? Whether it be in my family's fight or in Jesus's earthly ministry, the whole purpose is to point to God, the one who loves us all and gave his only Son Jesus to save us from our sins that destine us to eternal hell.
The one who has so much love that He will allow his precious children to suffer like this in order to bring others to His saving grace. I'll tell you, I'd have an awful hard time allowing my child to suffer for someone else's benefit, but that's exactly what God is doing.
I'm convinced as long as God keeps granting miracles in Mike's life, there is at least one more person God is pursuing. Maybe it's you?
And you betcha, I'm praying for the ultimate miracle in Mike's earthly life.
Aunt Lenora
While getting dressed this Monday morning, I couldn't help but feel a little excited about today. I was going to a funeral. Yes, I know what you're thinking, but this was going to be no ordinary memorial service for me. My dad's aunt, Lenora Gray, went to be with her Savior, and we were going to be celebrating her past life on earth and her present life in heaven. I only had the pleasure of visiting with this godly woman a few times growing up, but she always impressed me as a gracious, God-fearing lady.
As I anticipated the service, the memory of her husband's funeral 13 years ago was still fresh in my mind. Uncle Herman's service was one of the most meaningful funerals I had ever attended. It was a celebration. After a fight with cancer, my godly uncle received the ultimate healing, and to a bystander his service would have appeared more like a worship service than a memorial. At 16 years of age, it impacted me.
And today, I was sure I would experience another celebration, of a Christ-follower passing from this life to the life Christ bought for her and for us all.
In the busyness of life, we need to be reminded that this life will end. We need to be challenged to tarry on for works that will endure for eternity. We need to be prodded to think about what legacy we will leave. Perhaps we should even reflect on what we anticipate our own funeral being like.
I, for one, want my funeral to be like Uncle Herman's and Aunt Lenora's. Where you can't tell the difference between it and a worship service. Where the saving Gospel of Jesus Christ is preached. Where God is glorified. Where my family, though they will miss me, will praise Jesus that we have hope of spending eternity together in the presence of the One who created us all.
"Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints" (Psalm 116:15)
As I anticipated the service, the memory of her husband's funeral 13 years ago was still fresh in my mind. Uncle Herman's service was one of the most meaningful funerals I had ever attended. It was a celebration. After a fight with cancer, my godly uncle received the ultimate healing, and to a bystander his service would have appeared more like a worship service than a memorial. At 16 years of age, it impacted me.
And today, I was sure I would experience another celebration, of a Christ-follower passing from this life to the life Christ bought for her and for us all.
In the busyness of life, we need to be reminded that this life will end. We need to be challenged to tarry on for works that will endure for eternity. We need to be prodded to think about what legacy we will leave. Perhaps we should even reflect on what we anticipate our own funeral being like.
I, for one, want my funeral to be like Uncle Herman's and Aunt Lenora's. Where you can't tell the difference between it and a worship service. Where the saving Gospel of Jesus Christ is preached. Where God is glorified. Where my family, though they will miss me, will praise Jesus that we have hope of spending eternity together in the presence of the One who created us all.
"Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints" (Psalm 116:15)
God Alone
Focal Verse: "I am the LORD; that is my name! I will not give my glory to another" (Isaiah 42:8).
I wonder sometimes if we don't see present-day miracles, because we don't have the faith to ask God for the otherwise impossible?
I started pondering this as I was working through my anger at God when a surgery to remove my father-in-law's tumor was unsuccessful last fall. We all thought this was the answer. I for one was sure that God was going to use this surgery to heal him. When that didn't happen, I was shocked. Confused. Angry. Then as I was working through my emotions, the verse in Isaiah crossed my mind: "I will not give my glory to another." I thought maybe, just maybe, God was waiting until every medical method had been exhausted, so that when Mike is healed, there would be no mistaking that God was the healer.
While I obviously can't predict the future, nor conclude that this will be the case in my father-in-law's situation, I started pondering the words of this verse in light of many other situations in life, and I started to see a central truth.
Perhaps we don't see - or even ask for - God's miracles, because we expect God to work alongside an earthly solution.
Instead of praying that God will heal a dead marriage, we buy self-help books, even Christian ones. But when the other partner doesn't want any part of the new book we found, we give up. We assume God just isn't going to intervene on this one.
Instead of praying that God will revive our church, we come up with new programs that we know will grow our numbers. But when these programs didn't yield the results, we assume we picked the wrong programs, or that someone didn't do his job.
Instead of praying that God will heal a relationship, we go to other friends to get their opinions on what we should do. But when all that does is give us another shoulder to cry on but no real results, we give up on the relationship and hold on to our bitterness.
You see, I'm convinced that we pray about lots of things, but how many times do we expect that God alone will answer. Not God along with our new book. Not God along with our new programs. Not God along with our friends. Now, I'm not saying that God can't use these things. Certainly he can and does. I'm simply wanting to point out what I have found to be true in my own wavering faith. When I pray, I am looking for the answer in other things, and either God will enable those to work, or God is my back-up plan. God is rarely THE solution I expect.
I am reminded of the story with the great prophet Elijah in 1 Kings 18. Elijah had a contest with the prophets of Baal to see which god would burn up their sacrifice with fire. After the prophets of Baal saw no results from their god, it was Elijah's turn. What is remarkable about this story is that Elijah had 4 jars full of water poured on the sacrifice, so that when God consumed the offering with fire, there was no doubt that it was God alone who performed this miracle.
Look at the prayer Elijah prays after the offering is drenched with water: "Answer me, O LORD, answer me, so these people will know that you, O LORD, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again" (verse 37). Elijah knew that there was a higher purpose to this miracle. Not only would the people see the glory of God, but they would also know that this God wanted a relationship with his people again.
After the fire not only consumed the offering but also all the water, soil, and stones around it, the people believed: "When all the people saw this, they fell prostrate and cried, 'The LORD -he is God! The LORD -he is God!' (verse 39)"
There was no doubt that God was the author of this miracle, and God used this miracle to turn his people back to him.
Oh, that I could have the faith of Elijah. That I would boldly pray for a miracle that would bring glory to God and people to faith in him. That I would expect God to answer in a miraculous way. And that if, even if I step out in bold faith, God chooses to say "no" or "not now" to my request, that I would simply trust in him and not get discouraged. That I would continue approaching his throne of grace, and that I would be sensitive to when he prompts me to pray for a miracle that would reveal his glory.
That I would have faith in God alone.
I wonder sometimes if we don't see present-day miracles, because we don't have the faith to ask God for the otherwise impossible?
I started pondering this as I was working through my anger at God when a surgery to remove my father-in-law's tumor was unsuccessful last fall. We all thought this was the answer. I for one was sure that God was going to use this surgery to heal him. When that didn't happen, I was shocked. Confused. Angry. Then as I was working through my emotions, the verse in Isaiah crossed my mind: "I will not give my glory to another." I thought maybe, just maybe, God was waiting until every medical method had been exhausted, so that when Mike is healed, there would be no mistaking that God was the healer.
While I obviously can't predict the future, nor conclude that this will be the case in my father-in-law's situation, I started pondering the words of this verse in light of many other situations in life, and I started to see a central truth.
Perhaps we don't see - or even ask for - God's miracles, because we expect God to work alongside an earthly solution.
Instead of praying that God will heal a dead marriage, we buy self-help books, even Christian ones. But when the other partner doesn't want any part of the new book we found, we give up. We assume God just isn't going to intervene on this one.
Instead of praying that God will revive our church, we come up with new programs that we know will grow our numbers. But when these programs didn't yield the results, we assume we picked the wrong programs, or that someone didn't do his job.
Instead of praying that God will heal a relationship, we go to other friends to get their opinions on what we should do. But when all that does is give us another shoulder to cry on but no real results, we give up on the relationship and hold on to our bitterness.
You see, I'm convinced that we pray about lots of things, but how many times do we expect that God alone will answer. Not God along with our new book. Not God along with our new programs. Not God along with our friends. Now, I'm not saying that God can't use these things. Certainly he can and does. I'm simply wanting to point out what I have found to be true in my own wavering faith. When I pray, I am looking for the answer in other things, and either God will enable those to work, or God is my back-up plan. God is rarely THE solution I expect.
I am reminded of the story with the great prophet Elijah in 1 Kings 18. Elijah had a contest with the prophets of Baal to see which god would burn up their sacrifice with fire. After the prophets of Baal saw no results from their god, it was Elijah's turn. What is remarkable about this story is that Elijah had 4 jars full of water poured on the sacrifice, so that when God consumed the offering with fire, there was no doubt that it was God alone who performed this miracle.
Look at the prayer Elijah prays after the offering is drenched with water: "Answer me, O LORD, answer me, so these people will know that you, O LORD, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again" (verse 37). Elijah knew that there was a higher purpose to this miracle. Not only would the people see the glory of God, but they would also know that this God wanted a relationship with his people again.
After the fire not only consumed the offering but also all the water, soil, and stones around it, the people believed: "When all the people saw this, they fell prostrate and cried, 'The LORD -he is God! The LORD -he is God!' (verse 39)"
There was no doubt that God was the author of this miracle, and God used this miracle to turn his people back to him.
Oh, that I could have the faith of Elijah. That I would boldly pray for a miracle that would bring glory to God and people to faith in him. That I would expect God to answer in a miraculous way. And that if, even if I step out in bold faith, God chooses to say "no" or "not now" to my request, that I would simply trust in him and not get discouraged. That I would continue approaching his throne of grace, and that I would be sensitive to when he prompts me to pray for a miracle that would reveal his glory.
That I would have faith in God alone.
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