Miracles Happen When There is No Option

This month, I will be focusing on motivation posts.  We may have heard someone say \”miracles still happen today\”. The question is do we believe this? After last week\’s post your-deadline-versus-gods-timing, I feel lead to share about a sermon I enjoyed in November last year.

Our Pastor preached from the story in Matthew 14: 22 – 32 where Jesus walked on water. He did not just do it by himself but he also had one of his disciples Peter who asked to join him do the same. Our Pastor titled his sermon Mid Sea Encounter/ You are next in line for a miracle. Before I share the lessons I draw from reading this passage and one of those our Pastor gave us, let us find out how google defines the word miracle:

A surprising and welcome event that is not explicable by natural or scientific laws and is therefore considered to be the work of a divine agency.

In order to make sense of this passage, you have to take a step back and follow the events that had preceded it. Jesus had just feed 5000 men (this number excluded women and children who were present). He did this using a boys lunch of two fish and five loaves of bread. If we go by our definition of the word miracle above, this in itself was a miracle. This event was still fresh in the minds of the disciples and yet for one reason or another, they forgot to call upon the same Jesus for help.

1. Jesus always shows up at the right time

The passage begins when Jesus sends the disciples into a boat and he goes by himself to pray. At three o\’clock in the morning when the disciples are facing the worst storm of their lives, he shows up. The response by Peter, \”Lord if it is really you, tell me to come to you walking on water\”  was one of desperation and shows they needed immediate relief from what they were going through. We can all agree that indeed this was perfect timing. The disciples needed Jesus\’s help and like he always does, he showed up.

2. Miracles happen when there is a need

Maybe Jesus would not have walked on water but there was a need, he saw it and attended to it. Just like he showed up for the disciples, he can still come to our rescue today. Let us ask ourselves what need(s) am I believing for this year? We are told that \”anything is possible if a person believes\”. This does not necessarily mean all we have to do is just think positively and we shall get what we desire. Instead it means that nothing is too difficult for God and if we believe that he can come through with a miracle then he will.

What results or report do you hold in your hands? In the post whose-report-will-you-believe. I shared how God used our then son\’s teacher to give us a solution to a need we had.

3. Miracles are performed in the absence of any plausible option

In the current passage, we read that Jesus told the disciples to get into \”the boat\”. This can be interpreted to mean there was no other way for him to get to the disciples except by walking on water. Our Pastor shared thus, \”each time you receive a negative report saying there is nothing to be done to your situation, this in effect means you are a candidate for a miracle\”. He used the story of the lame man who was healed at the pool at Bethesda found in John 5:1-15 to illustrate this point. This man had been ill for 38 years and we are told Jesus asked him a question \”do you want to get well?\” His response was he had no one to help him get into the pool. It was at this point that Jesus told him \”stand up, pick up your mat and walk\”.

Maybe like this man you are in a position where all your doors are closed. While others have people to help them you do not know anyone in that organisation you are believing to get a job in. Perhaphs it is not a job but something else and in the natural it looks like there will be no way out. This my friend is what qualifies you for a miracle if you dare to believe that Jesus who always shows up in time will come through for you.

As we go through 2017, let us trust Jesus with our seemingly impossible situations. We should choose to believe the report of the Lord even when everything is against it after all he still has miracles waiting for us when we trust him and do what he asks us to do.