THE MIRACLE CRY
Dr. D. K. Olukoya
Beloved, before we go into the message, let us start by uttering a miracle cry. Pray aggressively like this: "Oh Lord, convert my disappointment into miracle, in the name of Jesus."
We will start by looking at some verses on miracle cry in the Bible. Psalm 56:9 says, "When I cry unto thee, then shall my enemies turn back. This I know, for God is for me."
Psalm 61: I - 2 says, "Hear my cry, O God: attend to my prayer. From the end of the earth will I cry unto thee, when my heart is overwhelmed: lead me to the rock that is higher than I."
Psalm 107:26-27 says, "They mount up to the heaven, they go down again to the depths: their soul is melted because of trouble. They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wit’s end." (That is, they have done everything they can, doctors have done their best and everybody has said, "Finish, this is the limit which we can help you," then what did they do.)
Verses 28-31 say, "Then they cry unto the Lord in their trouble, and He bringeth them out of their distresses. He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still. Then are they glad because they be quiet; so He bringeth them unto their desired haven. Oh that men would praise the Lord for His goodness and for His wonderful works to the children of men!"
You can say well, these are Bible theories, but there was a man who practicalised it. Mark 10:46 says, "And they came to Jericho: and as He went out of Jericho with his disciples and a great number of people, blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, sat by the highway side begging. And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out, and say, Jesus thou son of David, have mercy on me." That was his cry.
Jesus was going out of Jericho on His last journey to Jerusalem and blind Bartimaeus was sitting there begging. When he heard that it was Jesus, he cried out, "Jesus thou son of David, have mercy on me."
Verse 48 says, "And many charged him that he should hold his peace. (Shut up, die in your blindness) but he cried the more a great deal, (Meaning that he increased the volume) Thou son of David, have mercy on me." So he was asked to keep quiet, but he refused to be silent.
In verse 49, the cry did something to Jesus, "And Jesus stood still, (He could not go further because it is not possible for the Lord to neglect a deep cry) and commanded him to be called. And they called the blind man (the same people who said shut up) saying unto him, Be of good comfort, rise He calleth thee."
Verse 50: "And he casting away his garment, rose and came to Jesus."
When he was told to keep quiet, he refused and Jesus sent for him. He cast away his garment that was disturbing him, so that his movement would be fast.
Verse 51 says, "And Jesus answered and said unto him, What will thou that I should do unto thee? (a very interesting question, just as He is asking you as you are reading this message now.) The blind man said unto him, Lord, that I might receive my sight." Why did Jesus ask him that kind of question? Jesus asked him that question because his first prayer point was mercy, and as far as the Bible is concerned, there are different kinds of mercy in it. So, Jesus wanted him to identify the one he wanted.
There was a crusade somewhere and the Lord was doing quite a lot of wonders there. But everyday, there was this blind man by the door, begging alms. One day, a brother after coming from evangelism was annoyed and said to him, "Mr. man, there is miracle happening there and you are sitting down here, begging. In holy anger, the brother laid hands on him and said, "Receive your sight, in the name of Jesus," his eyes opened and he could see. People who saw it, jumped up and were rejoicing. But to their amazement, the man who was formerly blind was crying. He said, "Do you see what you have done now, where will I get the kind of money I was making here, did I beg you to pray."
So it was important for Jesus to ask blind Bartimaeus what he wanted. And Jesus used to ask this kind of question a lot. Look at the man he found by the pool of Bethesda, He looked at the man and asked him, "Wilt thou be made whole?" May be all that blind man wanted was ten kobo. The man was busy telling stories: "There is nobody to put me inside the water, etc," instead of the man saying what he wanted. Jesus asked many questions in the Bible. I counsel you to find time and study them. It is a very good Bible study.
SPIRITUAL BLINDNESS
If you are a good reader of the Bible, you will find out that the Bible uses blindness a lot as a figure of ignorance and darkness. So, when it talks about the Messiah as the light of the world to open the blind eyes, it is talking about the darkness that the enemy has constructed in the lives of people. This darkness is being taken away by Jesus Christ who is the light of the world and the Son of God. When the Bible says, "In whom the god of this world has blinded the minds of those that believe not;" it is talking about another kind of blindness. Those with blind hearts find it very hard to understand the gospel no matter how much you preach. Jesus called the Pharisees, "Thou blind Pharisees," not because their eyes were blind, but because they were spiritually blind. It is only the light of Christ that can remove ignorance and spiritual darkness. He says, "I am the light of the world, he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness but shall have the light of life."
When you see a Bible story or parable, don’t just look at it like that on the surface. God uses them to teach deep lessons. Blindness and darkness are serious problems. The effect of blindness is very bad. A spiritually blindman will not see where he is going in the spirit. He will be stumbling over unseen objects in the spirit. Such a person can go to the enemy’s camp to receive help, because he cannot see beyond his nose. He will be warming himself in the fire of the enemy and he will be getting in the ways of others and obstructing them. When you are spiritually blind, you will be confused and even spoil things for other people around you. For example, a blind father will bring charms home and distribute them to his children who are ignorant. A blindman will miss all the beauty of light and beautiful things that God has made around him. So, spiritual blindness is worse than physical blindness. I want you to pray the prayer of the Psalmist which says, "Open thou my eyes that I might behold wondrous things." Was the Psalmist blind? No. He was talking about the eyes of the spirit man. I like you to lay your hands on your chest and pray this one aggressively: "Every spiritual darkness, fly away from my heart, in the name of Jesus.
What are the other lessons we can pick from the miracle cry of Blind Bartimaeus?
1. Do not waste time: Ask for the touch of the Lord while He is still around. That popular song says, "...While on others thou art calling, do not pass me by." Jesus never passed that way again. He was on His way to die. Bartimaeus had his last opportunity and made very good use of it. Many people hear the gospel not knowing that they could be hearing it for the last time. Perhaps, if they had listened, they could have been saved.
WIGGLESWORTH’S EXAMPLE
Brother Wigglesworth who was an aggressive evangelist said that one day, God said to him, "Stand up son, and go into the market place. I have eleven souls to save through you today." He went to the market place and stayed there. As people were passing by, he kept asking the Lord, "Is it this one Lord?" If the Lord said no, he would let the person go. But when the Lord said, "Yes that is the one," Wigglesworth in his known crude manner, would rush to the person and say, "Are you born again?" If his answer is no, he would say to him, "You must get born again now." And right there in the market place, he would open the Bible and begin to teach the person.Generally, all the people he approached that way gave their lives to Christ.
There was a day the Lord told him that eleven people would give their lives through him in the market place on that day. He got ten, and the eleventh person was not forthcoming before the market started closing and he too was getting impatient. He stood there until everybody went away from the market. Suddenly, somebody came along on a chariot and the Lord said, "That is the man." Wigglesworth ran and jumped on the chariot. He said to the man, "Is it because of you I have been waiting for so long, give your life now," and the man said, "Yes sir," and gave his life. Two days later, Wigglesworth saw in the newspaper that the man died the next day. This is why spiritual opportunities are to be used to the fullest.
I do not believe that you are reading this bulletin by chance, so the opportunity God has given to you to read this message must be used to the fullest. Jesus never passed that way again.
2. Learn to cry out: Bartimaeus cried for mercy. He understood the act of begging very well and he applied it. If men will take the place of blind beggars before God and call for mercy, they will find it. Romans 10:13 says, "For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." Sometimes, all we need to do is to cry for God’s mercy. His power is able to deliver. I like you to close your eyes again and pray like this: "Lord have mercy upon me, in the name of Jesus."
3. Have faith: The man had never seen Jesus before because he was blind but by faith he believed and cried unto him. It was first a cry and later, he saw. The world’s order of doing things is seeing before believing, but heaven’s order is believing before seeing. When Martha said to Jesus, "If you had been here, my brother would not have died." Jesus answered her with a straight single sentence, "Thy brother shall live again." She said, "Yes I know, he would rise again on the resurrection morning." And Jesus said, "I am the resurrection. Said I not unto thee that if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God." Very simple, if you don’t believe, the glory of God will be far away from you.
4. Do not let others kill your faith: Many people asked blind Bartimaeus to keep quiet, but he did not listen to them. The person who is saying, "A whole you," can not lift one finger to help you out of your problem. There was one boy that used to come to Mountain of Fire and Miracles ministries and his parents did not quite like it. They tried to stop him but could not, so they tried using charms. After putting some charms in their mouths, they woke the boy up at 12 midnight and said, "Hear now, you will not go to that place again. Do you hear, as from today, the memory of that place will be removed from your brain, you will not go there again." While they went away rejoicing, the boy was laughing at their foolishness on his bed. The next day, he was the first to arrive here.
Millions of people are kept from heaven by the thought of what others will say. Sometimes, when an altar call is made, some people will open their eyes and first of all look around their surrounding to see whether there is anybody with his hand up before they raise theirs, and when they cannot find any, they keep their hands down. This is how many people perish. Some people come to crusades with their girlfriends and boyfriends and when the word of God hits them where they are, they will not be able to come out because of their partners. Let it be clear to you that whether you do good or bad, people will talk. Jesus said, "Woe unto you when they say that you are good." It means that you are one of them. But immediately you begin to live the kind of life God wants you to live, you will be criticized and attacked. If you are going to be listening to what people are saying or thinking about you, before you serve the Lord, you will end up in trouble.
Millions of people are kept away from their breakthroughs by listening to what others will say. God will hold you responsible if you allow your life to be directed by men. Bartimaeus refused to be influenced by those around him. He told them, "It is easy for you to be saying keep quiet, but I am the one that is blind." He screamed and Jesus stopped.
5.Perseverance: The Lord has a method of sometimes waiting for sometime before He answers. Not because He does not know that there is problem, but He likes to test the reality of your desire. When you refuse to be discouraged, that is the mark of true faith. Some people fall under pressure. A man had problems. One night, he felt so sad that he went to bed discouraged. As he slept, he had a dream in which he found himself in a market place. At the market place, he stumbled into a particular stall, with Mr. devil written on it and the devil was there too. The man said, "Mr devil, so you too are selling things in this market? The devil said, "Yes." Then, he began to look at what he was selling and saw items like hypertension, bad luck, cancer, all kinds of terrible things. He looked through and said to the devil, "Hello sir, what is the most expensive thing in your stall? And he pointed at "discouragement," and told the man that when he wants to catch Christians, he uses it. So when they get discouraged, their faith goes down and they will not be able to pray and then fear will move in. And when that happens, worry will follow it, and then, he the devil will move in. Discouragement is a powerful weapon of the enemy.
6. Violent faith: Another thing you can learn from this miracle cry of Bathimeaus is the principle of violent faith. Jesus said to him, thy faith has made you whole. Jesus healed him because he believed and asked. God honours faith. It is the appointed medium through which blessings come to us.
7. The holy haste of Bartimaeus: When Jesus told him to come, he moved like thunder, threw away his garment so that it would not hinder him and came to Jesus. Remember, in countries that are cold, beggars used to have lots of heavy clothing. So, he had lots of things to discard. He pulled them off and started to move and then his eyes got opened immediately and he started seeing. You too can call upon Him before He passes by. And now, He is calling all men to repentance.
I will like you to utter twenty-one miracle cries that can fetch you twenty-one miracles after reading this message. But before you do that, let us look at some enemies of miracle cries.
1. Unrepentance: Sin is an enemy of holy cry. Any willful sinner is going to hell fire no matter what they call him or her.
2. Unbelief: You must cast the garment of unbelief away so that it does not hinder you.
3. Hatred: If you hate anybody, the Bible says, you are a murderer. There was war in a city. The enemies were pursuing two men. These two people were arch enemies, they did not like each other at all. One of them ran and hid himself inside a pit. The other one ran into the bush and hid himself there. The enemies were searching for them and after some time, they got the man in the pit and wanted to kill him, and he was begging them saying, "Please sirs, my wife just delivered a baby five days ago, please have mercy, don’t render my baby fatherless. But the other man hiding in the bush shouted and told them that his enemy was lying and in the process, he exposed himself and the people looking for both of them were able to kill them. That is what hatred does. Believers should not hate anybody, the only person they should hate is the devil.
4. Unforgiving spirit: If you refuse to forgive those who offend you, you will be looking for tormentors. You must forgive all who have offended you.
5. Ingratitude: If you are not grateful for what God has done for you, if you do not count your blessings, you are inviting trouble into your life.
You must utter these miracle cries aggressively. Determine that your situation must change today. God does not mind going to the uttermost part of the earth to root out your blessings. God does not even mind removing a whole town because of one person.
A man shared a testimony with me. He led a prayer meeting somewhere and called a fire prayer point which says, "All those who are planning evil against me, gather here now in the name of Jesus. Everybody prayed and the spirits started coming. When they came. He told the congregation, "Now, issue the fire of judgement upon them," and they began to call on the fire of judgement. The man said he prayed like a mad person until his clothes were soaked. A week after that time, he started to get information from his village. The first person to die was their chief priest before others followed. Many of us do not know those who are in charge of our cases but when you fire a divine arrow, anything can happen.
Miracle cries:
1. I break every hold of witchcraft over my life, in the name of Jesus.
2. All my unfavorable situations, change now, in the name of Jesus.
3. I command all my battles to be converted to blessings, in the name of Jesus.
4. You mountain confronting me, crumble now, in the name of Jesus.
5. I bind every desert spirit, in the name of Jesus.
6. Oh Lord, beer me up on the wings of eagle before my enemies, in the name of Jesus.
7. Lay your hands on your eyes and pray like this :O Lord, anoint my eyes to see my divine opportunities, in the name of Jesus. As you are laying your hands on your eyes, where you never thought good things could come, I pray, that the Lord will begin to open your eyes to see them. I also pray that all your enemies that have been hiding as unfriendly friends shall now be revealed unto you. I pray that every unrepentant witch, working against you, shall confess and die before you, in the name of Jesus.
8. I refuse to allow my past to disturb my future, in the name of Jesus.
9. I bind the strong man of financial problems, in the name of Jesus.
10. Let every satanic battle confronting me, fall apart now, in the name of Jesus.
11. Every crooked and difficult area of my life, straighten out now, in the name of Jesus.
12. Let the spirit of excellence manifest in every area of my life, in the name of Jesus.
13. Let the fear of me fill the mind of my enemy, in the name of Jesus.
14. Let divine harvest meet harvest in my life, in the name of Jesus
15. I receive power to leap over every wall that the enemy has built against me, in Jesus’ name. 16. Let the mockery of my enemy result into my advancement, in the name of Jesus.
17. Oh Lord, turn my mourning into dancing and my tears to joy, in the name of Jesus.
18. Oh Lord, display your power against every unrepentant opposition, in the name of Jesus.
19. Oh Lord, convert my opposition to promotion, in the name of Jesus.
20. Let every Goliath defying my prayers. be paralyzed, in the name of Jesus.
21. I laugh my enemies to scorn, in the name of Jesus.
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