Do You Need A Miracle?

With Bishop Ronald K. Powell

Introduction:
A great man of God once said that miracles pass us by every day.
It’s time for miracles to stop passing us by, and it’s time for them to start manifesting in
our lives-in our homes, our families, our businesses and jobs, our churches and
communities. It’s time for us to expect miracles all the time, to expect God to do the
extraordinary…to overrule perverted nature.
Our Text:
In Judges 6:13, Gideon said it like this: “If the Lord be with us, why then is all
this befallen us? and where be all his miracles which our fathers told us of?”
That question is still around today. In the Church, people don’t generally see many
miracles happening. And they certainly don’t see them happening in their normal
everyday living.

So, where are all the miracles? Do they still exist? Isn’t God willing to
intervene in our lives anymore?

God Is Still God:
Miracles don’t just happen, friends. You and I have to make them happen.
We have to activate them by cooperating with God.
Only by our yielding to God can His supernatural power manifest on our behalf
and override the natural circumstances we face in this life.

Galatians 3:5 says, “He therefore that ministereth [or supplies] to you the Spirit, and
worketh miracles among you, doeth he it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of
faith?”

In other words:
God, the One Who supplies us with His Spirit-or with supernatural power-is still in the
business of working miracles among us.

GOD DEFINED:
“One who must be worshiped as having supernatural abilities.”
Take that a step further, and we find that the word supernatural means “that
which goes beyond the law and power of nature.”

So we’re talking about the One Who must be worshiped as having abilities that
go beyond the law and power of this natural world in which we live.
That’s why the Bible is full of scriptures such as Matthew 19:26 which say, “With
men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.”

Consider This:
Luke 1:37-“For with God nothing shall be impossible.”
Mark 9:23-“All things are possible to him that believeth.”

Still, the majority of people in our world today choose to live by their own limited
resources and go their own way rather than depend upon God and go His way.
For believers, however, the moment we became Christians we were
called to live in the realm of “all things are possible.” We took a step
from impossible with man (the natural realm) to possible with Almighty
God (the supernatural realm).

Now, it’s wonderful that we took that step, but as we’re about to see, there are some
things we must know, and continually remind ourselves of, if we are to walk further in
that miraculous arena with God-and let Him be God in our lives.

Don’t Hold Your Peace!
You’ll recall we saw in Galatians 3:5 that God supplies us with His Spirit and works
miracles among us. He does it by our faith in what He says. So, we do have a vital role
in the miraculous.

To understand just how vital our part is, however, I want us to
examine a miracle recorded in Luke 18: 35-39:
And it came to pass, that as he was come nigh unto Jericho, a certain blind man sat by
the way side begging: And hearing the multitude pass by, he asked what it meant. And
they told him, that Jesus of Nazareth passeth by. And he cried, saying, Jesus, thou Son
of David, have mercy on me. And they which went before rebuked him, that he should
hold his peace: but he cried so much the more, Thou Son of David, have mercy on me.

First, notice that the blind man was begging.
If we do not learn to yield to the power of God, Satan will have us begging through life and,
all the while, our Father has made every provision in heaven and earth so we
shouldn’t have to beg a day in our lives.

Truthfully, I see this blind man as those Christians who do not know their covenant
rights and, as a result, they have been placed in a beggarly position.
“Oh, God, won’t You please heal me?”
No, that’s not our position in the blood covenant.
God, Himself, told us to put Him in remembrance of the covenant (Isaiah 43:26), and
make a demand on His power.

We have every right to be healed, every right to be prosperous, every right for our
children to walk with the Lord-because we have a covenant!

Second, notice that when the blind man heard all the
commotion of the crowd passing by he called out to find out what
was happening.

What did the people tell him? Jesus of Nazareth is passing by!
My friend, Jesus is passing by us every day. Moment by moment, He passes near us.
In fact if you’re a Christian, He is in you right now. Still, if we want our miracle, we will
have to take action. We will have to do our part.

Third, the blind man started hollering.
Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me! Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!
Forth, once this man started making his demand on Jesus, notice what the people
around him did. Verse 39 says they rebuked him and told him to shut up.

Today, as then, organized religion tries to keep us from our miracles.
I know, because it kept me from them. Religious traditions kept me from the Baptism
in the Holy Spirit, healing, and so on. They may have kept me out of hell, but they also
kept me from so much of heaven.

So, here we have a blind man who was able to see his miracle passing
by, yet the religious people around him couldn’t. His natural eye couldn’t see a thing,
but he saw clearly with the eyes of his spirit, with the eyes of revelation-and what he
saw, the religious folks rebuked. But that didn’t stop him. He just cried out louder, and
with more intensity.

When Faith Talks...
Now that we’ve seen the blind man’s part in this press toward a miracle, let’s examine
God’s part.
We find it in Luke 18:40-43:
And Jesus stood, and commanded [the blind man] to be brought unto him: and when he
was come near, he asked him, saying, What wilt thou that I shall do unto thee? And he
said, Lord, that I may receive my sight. And Jesus said unto him, Receive thy sight:
thy faith hath saved thee. And immediately he received his sight, and followed him,
glorifying God: and all the people, when they saw it, gave praise unto God.

In the middle of a noisy crowd,Jesus heard a distinct voice.
It was the voice of faith. When He heard that voice, The Amplified Bible says He
“stood still” (verse 40). He stopped. Jesus hasn’t changed. He’s still the
same (Hebrews 13:8).

Any time He hears the voice of faith, He stops.

When anyone speaks words of faith, it’s like calling Him to attention. He must stop, because He is under divine orders. The
voice of faith places a demand on His power.

So once we make that demand on God’s power, and once Jesus stops…then notice what
He does-verse 40 says, “Jesus stood, and commanded … ”
When we make a demand, God
makes a command.

He makes a command on our behalf. He releases supernatural power to change
natural, perverted situations, and causes them to line up with what we believe. His
power submits to our faith.

You see, God has placed Himself in a situation where our faith controls Him, as well as
all of His resources in heaven. You and I have the ability to move God and all of
heaven at any given time-in the supermarket, in the car, in the house, in the yard, on
the job.

So, on the road that day, Jesus could not go anywhere or do anything until He
answered the voice of faith that cried out to Him.

Just Receive
After Jesus commanded the blind man be brought to Him,
He asked the man, “What wilt thou that I shall do unto thee?”
(Notice He didn’t say, “Let me see what I can do for you,” or “Sure, I want to help
you, but let’s don’t get carried away.”)
Jesus placed no limits on the man’s request.
Actually, the limits were up to the blind man. So he told Jesus, “Lord, that I may
receive my sight” (verse 41).
With that, Jesus replied, “Receive thy sight; thy faith hath saved thee” (verse
42).

Receive. All the man had to do was just receive.
Today, Christians lack a lot because they don’t receive-and that shouldn’t be.
As believers, we should have such a lifestyle of deliverance that people are constantly
attracted to us. And why not? We have something that can stop Jesus, the Miracle
Worker, at any time…and for any reason!

My brother and sister, Jesus stopped on His way to Jericho that day because He heard
the voice of faith.
That voice stopped Him in His tracks. He didn’t have to think about it or pray it. He
had no choice. He had to respond. But the key was faith.
Jesus doesn’t just drop in with miracle-working power. As with anything, He must have
a faith invitation. If He doesn’t, He will pass us by.

A lot of miracles have been getting away from us because, even though Jesus
shows up, we let Him pass by.

We don’t call out with the voice of faith necessary to stop Him.
So, stop Him! Don’t let Jesus pass you by! Speak words of faith-cry, shout, use
greater intensity if you have to, but do it with the voice of faith!

And once Jesus stops, don’t back off. Don’t limit Him, or yourself! Go ahead and
tell Him what you would have Him do for you. Then receive.

Closing
Yes, we serve a miracle-working God, and heaven has come down to us. But, your
miracle is up to you. So, don’t let it pass you by. Stop Jesus!