"Today's Devotion" For March 31, 2006
Read: John 2:1-11; Psalm 77
DO YOU NEED A MIRACLE TODAY?
"This, the first of His miraculous signs, Jesus performed in Cana of Galilee. He thus revealed His glory, and His disciples put their faith in Him." (John 2:11)
Do you need a miracle? Do you even believe in miracles? Most people will talk flippantly about it "taking a miracle" in order for some significant change from the norm to take place or a person to change their normal behavior. Ultimately, though, most such conversation is "wishing" because those "wishing" don't expect anything of significance to happen. But, when it comes to what miracles really are, believing in them requires a lot more than wishful thinking.
When the Bible talks about miracles, it is speaking about an act of God that suspends the laws of nature as He created them to be. We're most familiar with Jesus' miracles, such as changing water into wine at the Wedding in Cana (John 2), yet there were miracles as well throughout the Old Testament. John clearly defines the intent and substance of miracles when he call them "miraculous signs." They are events God uses to provide in a special way for His people and to reveal His glory and majesty, as John also notes in John 2:11. While miracles reveal God's glory and majesty, His power and His love, they are only meant for His people - Jesus' miracles never led anyone to believe in Him, only to confirm their faith in Him.
All too often people are looking for "miracles" when what they're really looking for is the Lord's guidance and some evidence that He's at work in their lives. A woman prays for a "miracle" because her husband's company is facing daily financial, production, and personnel setbacks. Another calls upon our Father in heaven to perform a "miracle" so that she and her husband might get help with their finances and save their home while he's out of work. These aren't situations calling for miracles but for God's guidance and blessings to overcome difficult situations and to provide for basic needs.
So, do you need a miracle? Do you need God to suspend the laws of nature and accomplish something for you that goes against the norm? Do you believe in miracles, trusting that God can do anything and can make good things happen despite all evidence and circumstances to the contrary? Just believing that God can stay or accelerate the basic laws of the universe to accomplish His Will and purpose for our lives isn't the point of God's miracles - His miraculous signs. Rather, believing in God's miracles is to belive that He accomplishes extraordinary things in our lives to encourage us and strengthen our faith. That's the kind of miracle God's forgiveness, grace, mercy, and love in Jesus is all about, for in Christ, God suspends His Law and declares us to be righteous and holy because Jesus paid the full price for our sins on the Cross.
That's the miracle that happens by faith in our lives every day. Do we need a miracle in our lives? Absolutely. Ever day. For we are in need of God's love and forgiveness in Christ, which overcomes every bit of Sin's power in our lives, so that we can live in Him and be with Him forever. The greatest miracle of our lives is repeated over and over again as God's Spirit lifts us up to Him and assures us that we are His beloved, redeemed, and forgiven people in Christ. The greatest miracle of our lives is repeated over and over again as we are strengthened in His forgiveness and love to share that love and forgiveness in Christ with others - fearlessly and courageously, lovingly and gladly.
Thus, in His grace, mercy, and love, our Father in heaven performs the miracle of faith in our lives every time we bow before our heavenly Father, asking Him to heal diseases that have defeated us and the doctors and He provides the healing. His miracle of faith occurs every time we share God's love in Christ Jesus with lost sinners and they come to repentance and faith. We experience God's great miracle of faith at work every time we face the pounding seas, the blustery winds, and the hurricanes and typhoons of life, and God calms the seas, quiets the winds, and stills the storms, giving us life and hope. This is the miracle of faith that our Father performs everyday of our lives, as He keeps us in His loving arms and upholds us in the palm of His hand. So, do you need a miracle today? You bet! And you can be sure that God will provide it.
Prayer: "Lord, I need a miracle today!" I need Your forgiveness and mercy and grace and love in Jesus Christ. I need You to remind me by Your Word and Spirit that You have made me Your very own child in Christ Jesus and that I experience the miracle of Your forgiveness each and every day in Him. As I walk through the "storms" of life, help me to seek Your guidance and to see Your hand at work in my behalf. Guide me in my life of faith, trusting that You will see me through every difficult time, giving me the courage and strength necessary to overcome each day's challenges. Father, work the miracle of faith in the hearts of those who don't yet know Your love in Christ, and make me an instrument to bring that about. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
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--Pastor Boeck
Copyright © 2006 Rev. Richard J. Boeck, Jr. All rights reserved.
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I am sending you this letter, with great hope in my heart that you WILL RECIVE IT AND GOD MAKES A WAY FOR YOU TO READ IT. we have been married twenty one years this December. in June 2010 my husband came home and set to me we need to talk, then he told me he had a girl friend and that he was moving out {my husband was a christen when we got married but had backslid en} I could not believe what I was hearing, he packed his bags and left, I cryed and prayed day and night cryed so hard that my eyes were bleeding, the girl her name is Tonya she is twenty years younger then my husband. I stood on Gods word and my husband would call me almost every day he would say he loved me but that he wasn't in love with me any moore, he would also tell me to keep praying and trusting God, I was doing that any way no matter what he said. then he came home January 2, 2011, I was so happy and so grateful for what God had dune Aaron was happy to and prayed with me, and was very loving his old self. However the girl would not give up she would drive by our house day and night she was constantly calling and texting, my husband is a entertainer she showed up every time he performed front and center, dressed very sexy and she would follow us when we went places, when we would even go to the store she would be out side in the lot when we came out, I also prayed for her all the time and I forgive her, when she would do these things and I would start to feel and kind of haterd for Tonya I would ask God not to let me hate her and I ask that God would remove her from our lives and save her. She came to my doore three different times when I would answer she would tell me that my husband didn't love me that he loved her that he didn't want me he wanted her and many moore evil and hurtful things she would how I was a old woman {my husband and I are a year and have apart} I told her that I forgave her and that I pray for her every day, that seamed to make her mad and she said that she was a Christan and not to judge her, she also said to me good luck with your prayers so please pray for her as well on October 14, 2011 my husband again told me he was leaving to move in with her. He was crying said he loved but that he wasn't happy, when I started crying he said don't give up keep praying dont give up ask god to give him a heart just like mine. I said I didn't want to go back to that monition, please don't go he hugged me and cryed and said please don't ever give up he said I don't want to go to hell. I am praying and crying out to the Lord day and night for my husbands heart to be turned to me and for him to come home and for her to be removed from our lives for ever please I ask with a humble heart to pray I need a miracle. I told my husband before he left that we are one and that I don't want to live a Tonya's house and he said honey don't give up. He 55years old. Please stand with me my birthday is come up Aaron isn't taking my calls I love the Lord and all my hope is in my father God, I am sorry the letter is so long I know you are bissy, I know nuffing is to hard for God thank you for your time I am very grateful, please let me know that you have recived my letter
Sharon Marie Bell
God I need a miracle today for my daughter & granddaughter 10 months old in this brutal heat in triple digits in Oklahoma & her air conditioner stopped working with no money to call repair man nor fix. I am a broken grandmother & all I can do is prayer as they cannot sleep & must work each day they're barely making bills as me so need a true miracle today!! All we can do is cry & pray!! Please God grant a miracle for them!!!" Please!!
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