How & Why God Works Miracles

When we find ourselves in a struggle that seems we must have a miracle to overcome, I think we often jump to conclusions about what that miracle is meant to look like. All to often God works miracles in tandem with natural means and thus we often don’t think they are miracles at all.

There is an account in scripture, in the book of Acts, when persecution breaks out against Christians, causing believers living in Jerusalem to flee to other cities. These new believers didn’t want to leave Jerusalem, but wanted to have endless bible studies with the apostles, so God had to create an “INCENTIVE” for them to get going. Again, many times God uses natural things to motivate us to trust him and not our circumstances. What often happens is we are caught off guard by life’s circumstances and think God is nowhere around when, in reality he is moving things in history to accomplish his purposes, even in our lives.

In the book of Acts the new Christian church finds itself overwhelmed by circumstances that seemed to be anything but God moving on their behalf. When bad things happen it’s not always what we think.

Acts 8:1

Saul was one of the official witnesses at the killing of Stephen. A great wave of persecution began that day, sweeping over the church in Jerusalem, and all the believers except the apostles fled into Judea and Samaria.

The believers responded to the persecution by fleeing Jerusalem. This, in fact, was what God wanted. What ended up happening was a shift not only in their location but also in their theology about salvation. These new converts to Christianity started witnessing to gentiles, which up till then didn’t even enter their minds because they were focused on seeing Israel redeemed. These young Christians had to put into practice what they learned from the apostles, like listening to the Holy Spirit. It’s one thing to be in class learning and quite another thing putting boots on the ground in application. How often do we pray for miracles when God wants us to expect the supernatural like experiencing visitations from  angels to help us live out our purpose. 

I can’t tell you all the times God spoke to me and others about going somewhere or meeting someone and at the end of such guidance we discover the meeting was not by chance but they were “DIVINE APPOINTMENTS” waiting for us to respond. Philip had one of those divine guidance events that changed an Ethiopian’s life forever.

Acts 8:26-27

As for Philip, an angel of the Lord said to him, “Go south down the desert road that runs from Jerusalem to Gaza.” So he did, and he met the treasurer of Ethiopia, a eunuch of great authority under the queen of Ethiopia. The eunuch had gone to Jerusalem to worship,

God desires all of us to move in the supernatural, yet only the ones that anticipate God moving actually see the supernatural occur. Again, it’s one thing to go to a bible study and learn about angelic visitations and quiet another to experience it first hand. Yet, moving in the supernatural is God’s desire for us. This Ethiopian man got saved because Philip listened to the voice of the Holy Spirit and thus a miracle happened. This miracle wasn’t in some church meeting, but it none-the-less was a miracle for Philip and the unsaved Ethiopian.

I think about how much the Holy Spirit wants to create divine moments when miracles can happen, but he struggles to get us believers to have faith for such things. The heart of God is for you and me to listen and obey, yet we are often too busy or having too little faith for a miracle to happen. When we finally pray and ask God for a miracle we often complain to God about why such a miracle doesn’t happen. We start out doubting and end up reinforcing our doubt.

Many times I believe miracles are just around the corner if only we would listen to the Holy Spirit rather than doing life on our own terms and our own way. Learning to listen for the Lord’s voice is a life-long exercise. Most of us spend a lifetime being confused about when God speaks, so we stop trying and just try to live a moral life rather than a Spirit-led life. 

Take for example Sue and I going to Africa. I have been in many countries throughout my Christian life, sharing and teaching on listening to the Holy Spirit. Africa always seemed to me to be a place I couldn’t see myself going. I heard and read about so many ministries going bad there, so I was closed to even thinking about ever visiting. Isn’t it sad how our own bias can keep us from God’s will.

Sue on the other hand, with a few other Christian business people and our grown son Joshua, went to Tanzania, Africa in 2019 to visit an orphanage. They did some ministry outreach to tribal Maasai people and experienced a powerful move of God there. When Sue came home and told me all that had happened something happened in my heart so that I could hear the Holy Spirit saying I needed to go. The Lord spoke to me that something supernatural would happen if I went. The long story is, Sue and I and others are still ministering in Tanzania with pastors and churches that came to life because we heard and went. The Holy Spirit didn’t move just because of us but because we partnered with Africans to see the miracles happen.

Ecclesiastes 4:9-10

Two people can accomplish more than twice as much as one; they get a better return for their labor. If one person falls, the other can reach out and help. But people who are alone when they fall are in real trouble.

You and I are destined to experience the miracle-working power of the Holy Spirit, but we must first start listening better and then obeying what he tells us. Remember the message the prophet Samuel spoke to king Saul and consider if you are giving sacrifice without listening to God’s voice.

1 Samuel 15:22

But Samuel replied, “What is more pleasing to the LORD: your burnt offerings and sacrifices or your obedience to his voice? Obedience is far better than sacrifice. Listening to him is much better than offering the fat of rams. 

Questions:

1) Are you regularly listening for the voice of the Holy Spirit or just waiting for him to speak to you whenever he wants? 1 Sam 3:9 applies to all of us to actively listen.

2) Is your heart tender towards the Lord so he can communicate with you? Psalms 85:8 talks about confessing we will listen.

May we all hear better than we did last year,

Pastor Dale