If someone told you that there were 4 things you could do to guarantee more of the miraculous in your life, what would your reaction be?
It’s an interesting question, isn’t it?
Sometimes if we hear a statement like that it seems almost presumptuous. But the reality is, Jesus assured us that our lives would be filled with healings and miracles. He told us that ‘those who believe’ would see people healed when they placed their hands on them (Mark 16:18) and that they would even do greater works than He did! (John 14:12).
So the question is, how do we make these truths our experience?
Over the years, I’ve been blessed to see many remarkable healings take place. From a baby declared clinically dead being raised to complete health, to miracles involving metal pins in the body, destroyed nerves being restored, arthritis symptoms healed, hearing restored, tumours instantly dissolved and many, many more.
But I’ve also known what it’s like to walk through seasons where the breakthrough doesn’t seem to come. Where heaven doesn’t seem to be flowing through you in quite the same way (although that’s not actually the truth at all). And what I’ve learned from both seasons is that it wasn’t God who changed anything in either scenario; it was me. When I intentionally cultivate 4 basic things in my life, miracles abound.
So, are you ready? Here are 4 ways you can see more of the miraculous in your life!
1. Believing the right things
For the past few hundred years, the Church has rightly emphasised the need to believe in Jesus for salvation. However, we’ve largely failed to progress from this ‘infant’ state of Christianity into maturity of faith. The Bible invites us into a miraculous lifestyle that is only possible when we believe not just in Jesus, but like Jesus. It’s our responsibility to continually feed ourselves on the promises, teachings and testimonies of scripture that will edify our faith and develop the kind of assurance that Jesus walked in. When someone came to Jesus for a miracle, He didn’t look up to the Father longingly for an answer. He knew the answer was in Him, and He released it. Those two verses above are just a sample of the many scriptural truths that we need to be continually aligning our minds with.
2. Marinating in His love
Everything Jesus did was because of the Presence of the Holy Spirit (Acts 10:38). The Presence of God isn’t some kind of abstract, mystical force. It’s a tangible manifestation of your heavenly Daddy’s love. Ephesians 3:17-19 explains how God’s Presence and His love are one and the same:
‘And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge – that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.’
Experiencing God’s love IS His Presence. His Presence IS His love made manifest. It’s the unconditional love of a Good Father.
I often tell people: stop trying to get people healed. Instead, just get better at letting God marinade you in His love, wherever you are. When you’re driving to work. When you’re writing a report at work. When you’re in a conversation with a colleague. When you’re getting a coffee.
Whatever it is, just let Him hug you in these moments. Our experience of it will become more commonplace as we increase our awareness of the fact that He’s already doing it. And when we do this, we begin to cultivate the atmosphere of heaven wherever we go.
3. Taking risks
Within a healthcare context, this clearly needs to be partnered with wisdom and honour. But risk has always been – and always will be – a key part of seeing the miraculous. Why? Because often what we call ‘risk’ is actually just a physical act that proves our trust in something other than the world’s understanding of what is and isn’t possible. The reality is, if we really believe that heaven’s inside us, our behaviour will reflect this. Faith looks like something.
However, when there are things like professional codes of conduct, clinical guidelines, employers to honour, patients/clients – it’s absolutely critical that we remain professionals who are known for their excellence, and that none of the promises we’ve made to our employers or our governing bodies are in any way compromised. We’ll soon be providing some excellent teaching on this very subject, so watch out for more on the way!
4. Stewarding the testimony
I recently wrote about this in my article, Harness The Power of The Testimony In Your Life. A testimony is a profoundly powerful thing. It’s not just encouraging news. A testimony actually has the power to release grace into someone’s life.
The Hebrew word eduth means “testimony, precept or warning.” It comes from a word that means “witness”. And that word comes from a primitive root (Ayin-Vav-Daleth) that means “to return, to repeat, to do again.”
In its simplest form, the Hebrew word for “testimony” defines it as evidence of what God is going to do again. We see this paralleled in the New Testament, when the angel tells John that “the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy” (Revelation 19:10). It’s not backward-looking; it’s future-forming.
When we fill our lives with stories of what God is doing in the world today, it releases faith and enables us to benefit from a momentum of God’s activity. It actually begins to change how we see ourselves, the world around us, and impossible situations.
So there you have it! 4 ways that you can cultivate more of the miraculous in your life.