Positioning Yourself for a Miracle, part 6

How would you respond if God asked you to do something stupid? Outlandish?  Make you look like a fool?  Make a public spectacle of yourself?  Would take many years to accomplish?  Would require all your available financial resources? Embarrass yourself and your family?  Had never been done before?  Could not understand it? How would you respond?

Consider Noah (see Genesis 6-9).  Noah was 500 years old when God spoke to him.  He didn't know what rain was because it had never rained before.  His instructions were precise, it would take an incredibly long time to complete them.  He had to use his own resources to make this happen. Was this really God giving him these instructions?  Noah's confession may have been -- I will do this, I can do this, nothing will keep me from doing this, God will help me, nothing is impossible with Him. 

How did Noah position himself for the miraculous when he and his household would be saved from the floodwaters that destroyed the whole earth?  Obedience, not just hearing the word but doing it.  Patience, taking the time to accomplish the mission.  Faith to believe that God said it, and that settled it.  Commitment and follow through, I will finish what I started no matter how much time it takes.

Will you allow Noah to be an example to you? Will you position yourself so that God can do for you exceedingly abundantly above all you can ask or think ... (see Ephesians 3:20)?

 

Positioning Yourself for a Miracle, part 5

If God were in a conversation with satan, how would he describe you?  Yes, you.  How would God, in a few words, describe you to the devil?  Saved ... unsaved?  Righteous ... unrighteous? Positive speaking ... negative speaking?  Truthful ... liar?  Lover of God ... lover of the world?  Faithful ... unfaithful?  Trustworthy ...  untrustworthy? Good person ... bad person?  Committed ... uncommitted? Humble ... prideful?  Prayerful ... prayerless? Lover of God ... lover of self? Pure ... impure?  Patient ... impatient?  Giver ... hoarder?  Forgiving ... unforgiving?  Kind ... unkind? Knowledgeable ... ignorant?  Obedient ... disobedient? And of course, the list goes on.

Once, God was in a conversation with satan on two different occasions.  Both times, God described Job in the same manner (see Job 1:8, 2:3) -- blameless, upright, fears God, and shuns evil. In addition, the book of Job opens with this same description of him (see Job 1:1).  Not once, not twice, but three times God repeats to us and for us this description of Job -- blameless, upright, fears God, shuns evil.  Job's experience became the worst of the worse.  He lost everything including his 10 children, his health, and his wealth.  Job reached a place where he absolutely needed a miracle.  The good news is that Job was already positioned for that miracle, for God to do exceedingly, abundantly above all he could have asked or imagined (see Ephesians 3:20).  How so, you may be thinking?  According to God, Job went into his great loss as blameless, upright, feared God, and shunned evil.  Indeed Job was already positioned for a miracle?

Are you in such a position today?  What do you need to do to be in position for your needed miracle?

Positioning Yourself for a Miracle, part 4

Is there hope for an unbeliever, a sinner, an unsaved person? Can such a one position herself/himself for a miracle?  Yes, there's always hope.  Yes, such a one can position himself/herself for a miracle.  Not sure of what to believe in such a case.  Consider a biblical example.

Rahab, the prostitute, is one such example (see Joshua 2 & 6).  She and her entire family were saved when Jericho, their homeland, was totally destroyed. Why?  Good question.  Her faith, her courage, and her efforts positioned her for the greatest miracle of all.  Yes, I know you're thinking, how could an unbeliever have faith? Remember that salvation, according to Romans 10:9-10, is belief in the heart and confession with the mouth.  What did she believe?   What could she have known about God?  More good questions.  She, along with all the people of Jericho, knew how God had moved on behalf of his people for the past 40 years.  They had heard about their miraculous deliverance from Egypt and Pharaoh ... they knew about their miraculous crossing of the Red Sea on dry land ... they knew how God led them with a cloud by day and fire by night ... they knew how God supernaturally fed them ... and so much more. She believed that God would destroy Jericho just as He had destroyed the Amorites. She had come to realize that their God was all powerful, nothing could stop Him from moving on behalf of His people, nothing was impossible for Him. 

Rahab's faith gave her the courage to hide the two spies.  She put forth the efforts to help them escape.  And she put forth the efforts to follow their instructions to her.  Her house would be identified by a scarlet cord that she had to hang from a window in her home.  Every family member in her home when the Israelites came would be saved. You know the end of the story.  This unbelieving prostitute and her family were saved when all others in Jericho were destroyed. Rahab's faith, her courage, and her efforts positioned her for the miracle working saving power of God to be displayed.

You can position yourself for a miracle just as she did.  Act now – in faith, with courage, make the effort.

Positioning Yourself for a Miracle, part 3

As Christians, we serve the miracle working God.  We serve the God with whom nothing is impossible.  We serve the God who is the same yesterday, today, and forever more.  We find throughout the Scriptures miracle after miracle after miracle.  Around us today, we need only look to see the miraculous.  We can expect and experience the miraculous in our own lives.  One of those interesting questions raised in an earlier blog -- is there a greatest miracle?

Yes, I believe there is.  Now your question may be, really, what is it?  I'm glad you asked.  The greatest miracle is a gift, a gift that only God gives.  It is a gift that, according to the Word of God, is without repentance or irrevocable (see Romans 11:29).  The greatest miracle is a gift that is undeserved. It is not something that we have to work for or that has to be earned.  We don't have to be either good or clean enough to receive it, nor be either bad or filthy enough to not receive it.  No matter how little your faith, God has given you enough faith to receive this miracle.  Maybe, you've figured out what the greatest miracle is.  Or just maybe, you're still pondering over it.

Well, I believe that the greatest miracle is the gift of salvation which leads to eternal life.  Ephesians 2:8-9 -- "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— ⁹ not by works, so that no one can boast."   This miracle gift opens the door to everything that we need for life and godliness. It is through this single, solitary gift that we may receive God’s great and precious promises, and experience the miraculous.  And the gift of salvation opens the door to eternal life.  Romans 6:23 -- "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."

Receive the greatest miracle of all.  Read Romans 10:9-10 -- "That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. ¹⁰ For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved."