I was listening to the God channel the other day and a couple of things really stood out to me. A man had ventured into a foreign nation to preach the gospel and to reach the lost for Jesus. He had felt that the Holy Spirit was leading him and his team across a certain river into an area in which God wanted them to minister to other people. They followed God’s lead and tested to see how deep the water was. When they discovered that the river was only knee-deep they continued to walk across the river with the water only coming up to their knees.
They arrived in the area and began to minister to the people. When they had completed their mission, the people asked them how they had arrived in the area. They responded that they had merely walked across the river, as it was only knee deep. The people explained to them that the river was in fact very deep. They proceeded to test the depth of the river and discovered that very close the shore the river was in fact fifteen to twenty feet deep. The Lord had, unbeknown to the mission team, performed a miracle! To this day, the man does not know whether God had lowered the river level or raised a sand bar for them to walk on.
“What is the point of this story?” you may ask. The missionary shared with the TV audience that his revelation was that we are not to pursue the miraculous by itself, but to pursue the lost (those needing Jesus) and God will give us the miraculous to fulfil this mission, in this missionary’s words: “following miracles is like chasing after rainbows”. The mission team had the goal of reaching the lost in that area for Jesus. God provided the miracle.
This truly is a challenge and something that we must consider. What is the motive of our hearts when it comes to the miraculous power of God? Bill Johnson says that the miraculous power of God is always to point unbelievers (and us) towards Jesus. The miraculous power is not merely to satisfy our needs and confirm our theology. It is rather to point us to the reality of the Holy Spirit and His power and that God wants to partner with us in releasing/realising His will on earth :that none should perish but all come to a knowledge of Him.
Lots of love
Ryan
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