My God is bigger than your God; my God is the greatest God in all the world. I want to talk about Him all day; and I will not stop talking about Jesus! I’ve got good news for you. My God is your God. Your God is my God. Hallelujah!
I want to try and encourage you, so that you can receive a powerful blessing in your life. Do you want a blessing? Would you like to see a miracle in your life?
I can show you how you can receive real miracles in your own life
The first thing I want you to understand is, my God is a God of miracles. He is a God of power, of glory, of miracles. I just want to read to you from the Bible. I want you to read with me. I am going to read from Matthew 14:22-32.
Immediately Jesus made His disciples get into the boat and go before Him to the other side, while He sent the multitudes away. And when He had sent the multitudes away, He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray. Now when evening came, He was alone there. But the boat was now in the middle of the sea, tossed by the waves, for the wind was contrary.
Now in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went to them, walking on the sea. And when the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, “It is a ghost!” And they cried out for fear.
But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, “Be of good cheer! It is I; do not be afraid.”
And Peter answered Him and said, “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.”
So He said, “Come.” And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus. But when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink he cried out, saying, “Lord, save me!”
And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him, and said to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased.
I’ve said that God is a God of miracles. I know for many of you, a miracle is a miracle of healing. That is quite correct. But there are many different kinds of miracles. Immediately before the story that I read to you, there had been another miracle, because Jesus had just fed five thousand hungry people. They had been a long time without food, but yet Jesus fed five thousand with five tiny little loaves of bread and two fish. There is only one thing I can say, that is impossible! Just think how wonderful it would be in church on Sunday, your pastor makes a big announcement, “We are going to feed every one of you, and we are going to feed you for free for the whole day; here we have the food, and to feed everyone here, I have five tiny pieces of bread and two small fish.” Is that enough? In ordinary terms that is inadequate. The Bible says it was enough for one hungry boy and no more. And yet with that tiny portion, God fed five thousand. That is a miracle!
God always answers prayer
I have learned after more than sixty years of ministry that God always answers prayer. And I want to encourage you. God never fails, He cannot fail. But to get the answer at the right hour we have to be ready, we have to be obedient and God will answer – at the last minute. In my life God so often answers one minute before midnight. One minute before the crisis erupts. We have many kinds of problems, many different needs, but I believe in miracles. Do you? Then let me warn you of two things!
God does not work miracles alone! He needs people to be involved in them. When He miraculously fed five thousand, He first needed five thousand hungry people, as well as a boy with five loaves and two fishes. When He walked on the water, the miracle also involved the storm and the disciples. In order that your miracle can happen, God needs you to become part of the miracle.
You can’t have a miracle without a problem! If that boat had not been in a storm on the sea, there would have been no miracle with Jesus walking on the water. If there had not been five thousand hungry people, there would no miracle of provision. If you want to see miracles, God is going to use your problem, your difficulty, your crisis in order to work the miracle. That crisis that you have – that sickness, that cancer, that arthritis, that financial problem – God will use this to create a miracle.
God works miracles every day!
Our God answers prayer – and He works miracles. I have seen every kind of miracle you can imagine: people born blind – God opens their eyes; broken backs – mended; cancers – healed; cripples – get out of wheelchairs. I’ve seen miracles that are not healing: financial provision; my own miraculous release from prison, and many others besides. I know these miracles will happen when I pray; I don’t have any question about it. It’s no different from knowing that every morning the sun will get out of bed and show itself at my window. God works miracles every day – but it’s for us to believe that He can, and will in our lives! This is where faith becomes so important. I would describe the word ‘faith’ in simple terms as ‘trust’, or ‘belief’. I know God and have learned to trust the God I know! That is all faith is!
‘Oh, that we might know the Lord! Let us press on to know him. He will respond to us as surely as the arrival of dawn or the coming of rains in early spring.’ - Hosea 6:3