Waiting for a Miracle

Introduction Before we begin this grand adventure, we need to unpack some truths so that you have a firm foundation to stand upon when the enemy comes to steal your promise. A sure, firm place to stand as you lift your shield and wield your sword is vital for your survival and advancement into the land of promises fulfilled. Since this book is titled Waiting For a Miracle, let's start by defining "miracle." Webster defines a miracle as: A surprising and welcome event that is not explainable by natural or scientific laws and is therefore considered to be the work of a divine agency. WOW! Let that sink in. That leads us to the second layer in our foundation. If you are believing for a miracle, you will need to acknowledge early and often that worldly wisdom is not going to provide you with any helpful instruction. The Divine will almost always conflict with the practical. "Don’t let anyone capture you with empty philosophies and high-sounding nonsense that come from human thinking and from the spiritual powers of this world, rather than from Christ. For in Christ lives all the fullness of God in human body." Colossians 2:8-9 (NLT) You must align yourself with the indisputable fact that what you are asked to do will appear as "foolishness" to the world. Having one foot grounded in God's Word and one in the world's reality will leave you as easy prey for the enemy to manipulate your senses and cause you to base your truth on your feelings instead of on the Word of God. Trust me, I know personally that is a recipe for depression and failure. During a particularly trying season, The Lord dropped this truth into my spirit and it has been a plumb line for me ever since. "God's Word trumps reality EVERYTIME!" (emphasis God's) Read that again. Settle that deep in your spirit and resolve to know beyond a shadow of a doubt that God's Word is the only truth that matters. It is unshakable, indisputable and 100% reliable, now and forever more!!! I love this excerpt from Birthing the Miraculous by Heidi Baker; "This is often how our promises from the Lord look- completely and utterly impossible!" In laying this foundation, please keep in mind-this is not a book detailing how to get a miracle. Miracles are the gift of a loving and merciful God. Only God can "give" a miracle. That said, we can choose to partner with Him and be both the recipient of a miracle and the instrument God uses to bring forth a miracle in the lives of others. We will unpack several examples in scripture where this is the case. But here's a warning: I also believe we can stop a miracle with our words of unbelief. Is it possible that is why Zachariah was made mute until after the time of John the Baptist's birth (see Luke 1:5-25 & 57-64)? His doubting words of unbelief when told the good news that Elizabeth would bare him a son put him in opposition to the promise of God. In this instance, God overrode his physical body by silencing him. That is not always the case. In Scripture, the Israelites were about to enter their promised land. As they stood in the wilderness of Paran (see Numbers 13:1-33), ten of the twelve spies came back and, with their mouths, declared their unbelief in God's promise to give them their promised land. An entire generation was robbed of their miracle because of the doubting words of ten men,. My hope is that this book will help you stand fast and go forward in faith and peace as you wait for your miracle. It is a list of six principles that the Lord has shown me to be present time and time again in the midst of waiting for the miracles in my life. My hope is that our time together will give you the boldness and confidence to walk full of faith in the midst of seemingly impossible odds and unlikely victories. We MUST believe that God wants to do miraculous things in the lives of His people! How do I know this? The Word of God assures me that this is so. Every situation we could ever face that would need a miraculous intervention from Heaven has already been written about in God's Word. The stories in the Bible are examples- not exceptions! If God did it for Moses, or Abraham, or Peter, or Esther, or Hannah, or Mary (three Mary's are specifically mentioned), He will do it for you! I'm reminded of the verse in Psalm 23: "He has set a table before me in the presence of my enemies." My hope is that this verse will begin to take on new meaning for you. You see, David is in the waiting here, in that place of waiting for his miracle. He is in the valley between his current circumstances and the fulfillment of his promise to be the King of Israel. In the midst of impossible odds, with King Saul wanting to take his life and countless enemies surrounding him, David chooses to believe and declare the words spoken to him by the prophet Samuel. There was absolutely nothing visible about his promise in that moment. Not one of his senses could discern a reality that would make this seem probable. But David KNEW his God. He KNEW Who held his promise and in quiet confidence he declares: "HE sets a (banquet) table before me in the presence of my enemies." That's the kind of faith the Lord has worked in my life and it's my deepest desire that this kind of faith would become your legacy, too. Now let's begin. I'm full of hope that lies are going to be cast down and that joy is going to rise up as we journey through these pages together.