Miracles: Don't Seek Them; Don't Discount Them, Either!

I received this story the other day:

Source: Joel News, July 10, 2007

"Recently I conducted a small crusade," says Indian pastor K. John Moses. "The first day we gathered in a small house [to pray]. After the prayer was over, the owner of the house came and told me he had a 22-year old daughter who was mentally affected. They had spent all their earnings on her, and consulted several doctors, but all had been in vain. After saying this he wept like a child before me.""I was moved with compassion for their situation and told the brother to not be discouraged. That night as I went to my room I wept bitterly, remembering them in my prayers. The next morning I gathered together the girl's parents and relatives. I spent the next whole night in prayers and supplications. Suddenly, I received a great power in my room. I felt as if I was ready to see a great act of Almighty God.""When the parents opened the door to their daughter's room, they noticed a great change in her behavior. They could not believe their eyes! As the result of the prayer meeting that night, she was free from all her madness! She was calm and polite. Her past strangeness and ugly deeds had vanished completely. The parents washed her and put new clothes on her and fed her. She went to her bed and slept continuously for two days. The parents [were filled] with boundless joy! It was nothing but the power of prayer and the Lord's good will towards her!""The people who witnessed the miracle praised God. Many more attended the next day's gospel meeting. Fifteen people were saved and brought into the glorious Kingdom of our Savior through this one prayer meeting."

God is at work around us. He is showing his hand in countries all over the world. The average Westerner has trouble with that. We are so scientifically oriented that to hear of a miracle is beyond us. We often believe, in fact, that even what God called miracles in the Bible can be easily explained away. Or we devalue the true meaning of the word "miracle" to a point that it holds nothing special for us. Not so!

First of all, miracles are in the faith arena. If you can explain something, there is nothing miraculous about it. A miracle surpasses the natural; it is the supernatural invading the realm of the natural.

Be assured, God is still very active in this world. He still heals the sick, makes the lame walk, and even raises the dead (read The Heavenly Man). He can make cars go farther on a tank of fuel. He can cause it to rain in times of drought, and dry up in times of rain.

Here is what you need to remember about the miraculous: true miracles are intended to bring honor and glory to God. That is why he does it. [WARNING: the devil can perform miracles, too, if he thinks it will take you farther from Jesus.] I think that is why Jesus said it's an adulterous and evil generation that seeks miracles. So don't spend your time looking for them. But don't discount them, either. Raise the bar of your expectations. God may want to do something in and through you that will only be explained as a miracle.

Pray for Peru

It's cold in Peru. At least 70 children have died from the cold. Temps will continue to be as low as -4 F (-20 C) for at least one more month.

Pray for this country and its nearly 29 million people.

That's bad. This is worse: Ninety percent of this country's people walk in darkness--not absence of electrical services. They walk in spiritual darkness. They bow to false gods. The worship the gods of the mountains, of the winds, of the water; they worship the gods of the trees, of the elements. They worship the sun. In many cases, they hide idols within their statues of the saints that the parade through the streets. They pray to icons, to images.

If one hundred percent of men and women in Peru died today, ninety percent would spend eternity separated from God. Ninety percent would be in hell. God wants that to change.

Pray for Peru.