I want you to know who Jesus really is, to experience His love and power. The amazing thing about blind Bartimaeus is that despite his blindness, he ‘saw’ Jesus - he recognised Him as the Son of God with power. My prayer is that God would open your eyes so that you would have eyes to see and ears to hear: to know in whom you have believed.
So Jesus answered and said to him, “What do you want Me to do for you?” The blind man said to Him, “Rabboni, that I may receive my sight.” Then Jesus said to him, “Go your way; your faith has made you well.” And immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus on the road. (Mark 10:51-52, NKJV)
Blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear (Matthew 13:16)
In this story about blind Bartimaeus, there is a much bigger miracle here than you may realise. Bartimaeus had an amazing gift: he could actually ‘see’ while he was totally blind. We know from reading this story that Jesus restored his physical sight, but yet in his blindness, he could ‘see’ something those around him couldn’t. This blind man was sitting at the side of the road, he was begging for money so he could buy food. And then he heard the news that Jesus was passing by. He became so excited that the crowds shouted at him to be quiet, but he called out louder and louder, “Jesus, Son of David… I know who You are; You are the Son of David; You are the Messiah; You can heal me! Jesus have mercy on me!”
Jesus stopped and called Bartimaeus to Him. There were hundreds, if not thousands of people in the crowds surrounding Jesus. They were not all healed that day, but Bartimaeus was. Why was he different from the others? Why are you going to be different? Why is God going to touch you? Bartimaeus knew who Jesus was; he knew Jesus had power to heal; he knew the authority Jesus had. When you know Jesus - I mean really know Him, not as a historical figure in the Bible, but as the living Son of God, then you will see miracles in your life.
I know in whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed to Him (2 Timothy 1:12, NKJV)
I know God. I have seen His power and fire. More than that, the fire is in me, burning in my soul. There is a power that transforms me when I preach the Gospel so that I am not the ordinary David Hathaway. I have a power, yes a fire – from God. That is why, when I declare the Word of God, miracles happen. It’s not me, it's God. He wants you to know, to see the evidence of His fire and power! I know who God is and have seen Him in action.
While I was holding crusades in Russia, October 1998, a man came into one of the meetings, who had been badly burned. Three months before, a container of boiling tar had exploded, the tar engulfing his legs. He stood in front of me still in agony, this was Russia and it had taken too long to get to hospital, even then the lack of medical equipment and supplies meant that little had been done to help him. What a challenge, what can your God do for such an extreme case? He told us that to remove the tar, they had ‘cut the meat off his legs’. I just reached out and touched his pain-racked body, ‘In the Name of Jesus I command the pain and injury to go!’ That’s all, but immediately the pain went! He came back the next night to say that the pain had not returned, he had slept for the first time in three months and the ‘meat was growing back on his legs’. He was so excited, he grabbed the microphone and told everyone, ‘It’s real, this Jesus is real, my legs are a miracle! This is not religion or psychology; Jesus is the real thing!’ I could have wept for joy – with these kind of miracles the world would believe on Him! No wonder when God sent Jesus into the world it was the miracles He used to convince the unbelieving Jews! This is why I get so excited, I don’t just ‘believe’, I KNOW Jesus!
Often in a crowd of several thousand people I tell them that my God is alive and will work MIRACLES NOW! However, this takes not only faith, but courage. In one crusade in a football stadium in Kherson, a large city in southern Ukraine, there was little faith in the thousands of unbelievers in the crowd. What could I do to prove that the God of the Bible is alive and has power and can work miracles today? I had called the people to repent and thousands had responded, but it now needed a big demonstration to prove the truth of God’s Word. I asked for only people with broken arms and legs to come to the platform. Eleven came forward, every one with broken bones. This was not easy, I could only do it because I was under a powerful anointing from the Holy Spirit – if I was wrong, how could I continue the crusade, I would be laughed at. But I know HIM, and surprisingly, God loves a challenge! God loved it when David challenged Goliath, when Elijah called down fire on Mount Carmel. God is not afraid... I laid my hands on all eleven. What does the Bible say in Mark 16? – These signs will follow those who believe, they will put their hands on the eleven people with broken arms and legs... and what will happen? They will be healed! I know what the Bible says, I know God has the power and I know HIM!
I asked the Holy Spirit to work a miracle and exalt the Name of Jesus so that everyone in the stadium would know that this was not me but the Lord Himself. I became excited because HE HEALED THEM ALL – instantly, in front of the crowd, just as it was in Jesus’ day and just like the Acts of the Apostles – only it happened HERE and NOW! Not past but present, not abstract but reality, not words but actions! This is why I speak with confidence, as the apostle said, ‘I KNOW in whom I have believed!’
Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in Your law (Psalm 119:18, NIV)
‘So real to me’ used by kind permission of www.vinesong.com