Last week we talked about planting a seed in someone else’s life. Reaching out and touching them with the message of hope, coming alongside and being an impact player in their life by telling them of Jesus. I asked, how many of you could use a miracle this Christmas, and many of you raised your hands. Some of you have been hit by the recession. My son received his layoff notice from Boeing this week. It hits home. Others need a miracle in relationships, with their kids, in their marriage. There are others who are in need of a physical miracle, the wear and tear on the body has taken its toll, and others, it is an emotional or physical healing. And you wonder can God conceive His miracle in me.
Often times we can point to others who seem to have it better off than we do. And we grumble, I mean wonder, why can’t God do it for me. Probably every one of us in this room have a miracle need in the incubator, some longer than nine months. When you think it is time, you are disappointed with false labor. What can we learn to help us to bring our miracle to term at Christmas? The first thing you need to do is…
Believe
Looking at the life of Mary, the mother of Jesus, who experienced the greatest miracle at Christmas, the birth of Jesus there are some practical lessons we can learn. The Bible states in Luke 1:45 And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord.
Would someone ask for a miracle from God and not believe God would do it? Would you? An angel comes to Mary and tells her she is going to give birth to the Son of God. A one-time experience, Never before, never again to be repeated. To practical knowledge of anyone else ever having this experience. Would you believe it? Even when miracles happen in the lives of others there are always doubters. Mary was not one of those. She believed it. God said it that settled it. Don’t you wish everyone had that type of positive attitude?
Billy Graham speaking of miracles said: Jonah swallowed by a fish? I’d believe it if Scripture said Jonah swallowed the fish! It’s not difficult to believe if you believe in a God of miracles.
So if you are asking God for a miracle, you need to believe in God, that He is the miracle worker, and that He will work that miracle in you.
If you ask and don’t believe you have an aborted miracle.
In your notes there is a line for you to write down your miracle. Why don’t you take a moment to write down what you believe God for?
I Intercede
Intercessions in another way of saying pray. Pray with thanksgiving to God. Mary in Luke 46-48 said, Oh how I praise the Lord, How I rejoice in God my Savior! For he took notice of His lowly servant girl, and now generation after generation will call me blessed. Before the birth of the miracle, Mary is singing a song of praise before the Lord, believing before she was receiving.
Jesus said in Matthew 21:22 And all things you ask in prayer; believing, you shall receive.
It more than believes for a miracle, it is also asking in prayer, interceding, standing before the throne of God demonstrating your faith. Mary prayed a prayer of faith, a prayer acknowledging her belief in God’s miracle.
In the cartoon Ziggy, Ziggy is standing, looking up on a mountain, the sky is dark and she yells out, “Have I been put on hold for the rest of my life?”
In the darkness of the moment, in the hour of great need, you need to believe and you need to intercede before God in faith for your miracle. Don’t let doubt steal your miracle. Doubt results in too many still born miracles. Don’t let doubt dampen your day.
R relax
Tense people are not good recipients for a miracle. In Luke 2 we read of the census, of Joseph going to the city of his birth, Bethlehem, verses 5 & 6, along with Mary, who was engaged to him, and was with child. And it came about that while they were there, the days were completed for her to give birth. Let me back track a minute. The angel came and told her of the miracle, the Messiah she was going to give birth. The first thing she did was visit Elizabeth, her relative after she heard she also was pregnant, staying a few months to help her out. Then Joseph gets word of the census, having to travel a distance to Bethlehem, Mary, instead of saying I’m in pain, my belly is protruding, my back is giving me pain, desires to make the journey. We know the story of the innkeeper, no room, just a stinky manger overcrowded with animals. How many of you would have tensed up? Some do at the very beginning of this journey of conception. Mary seems unconcerned. Tension can lead to a miscarriage of your miracle.
We live in a nation that is filled with tension. Twenty million Americans are treated medically for headaches, heart attacked induced living has sent many to their graves far too soon, and some of the miracles we are seeking are the result of our tension filled lives. I am learning the lesson myself, take time and enjoy living, and in the midst of it you might find the bloom of your miracle opening.
It is good to slow down, it is good to take time, and it is good to be silent before the Lord awaiting His power. David Brainerd said, In the silence I make in midst of the turmoil of life I have an appointment with God. From these silences I come forth with spirit refreshed, and with a renewed sense of power. I hear the Voice in the silence, and become increasingly aware that it is the Voice of God. O how comfortable is a little glimpse of God.
Here the miracle is conceived in that moment when our spirit touches the Almighty, when words are lost, when tranquility is found, when God moves us in new directions, opening doors we had never seen, but stood alongside us throughout the corridor of our life.
Is there a sense of anticipation starting to build within you? Is there an awareness of a miracle about to be born? Here is what you need to do next…
T Think
You need to think about, to visualize your miracle happening. What parent, in the midst of the gestation cycle of there soon to be born child, does not begin to visualize the birth? Luke 2:19 But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart. When the angel came with the Good News of Mary’s miracle, it says she pondered, she thought through what the angel had said in preparation for what God was about to do. How many of you ponder or think through? How many of you are action people. If it isn’t happening, I am going to make it happen. How many of you think? If you are a thinker, you are in the minority. It is estimated that 5% of all people think they think and 85% would rather die than think.
What is the miracle you want? Have you thought through why you want it? Emerson said, “Beware of what you set your mind on for that you will surely become.” That’s the importance of thinking through.
Mary pondered, she thought.
H Habitation
Hebrews 11 Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. This is where Mary lived. Between the word and the womb, the conception of the miracle and the birth of the Christ child. It is the habitation of our lives. It is living now in pain, looking forward to relief, toward pleasure. Church, this is where we live most of our life; it is our habitation of hope. Camp out on your miracle don’t let go.
Working through this, you will give birth to your miracle. To make it happen, you have to go all the way. One of our daughters, in the midst of the pain of labor, said I quit. The nurse, doctor and her mother worked at encouraging her, she had come so far, and it was too late to quit. Can I say this to you; you have come to far in birthing your miracle to quit too.
A little over a year ago, we started an early worship service. We know, because of the parking problem and our vision for seeing the city come to know Jesus and understand how practical His message is and how He can change their lives for the better, we were going to need more room. Another service is less expensive than new construction. We began the service in faith; we know God has a plan. In fact we have been talking about recruiting members for a second worship team for two Saturday night services. The reality is the 9:30 service is sparsely attended, sometimes its just one or two people, once it was two visitors in addition to the worship and sound team. Why do we keep it going? Because we know the physical manifestation of what is going to happen is in the birth canal and things are getting ready to happen. There is a habitation taking place and a birth springing forth.
Do you live by sight or by faith? Is it what God said or what you see? Miracles are birthed in believing when there is not yet any seeing. It is trusting not trucking. It is rejoicing not remorsing. It is lifting up not being let down. It is in believing what I have yet to see instead of bemoaning what stands before my eyes. God has a miracle for me.
Name your miracle this Christmas. Don’t waste another moment on what is trite, intercede before the Lord, and let Him know the desires of your heart, resting in His strength knowing He will carry you through. Think ahead of what you see God doing as He fulfills what He has promised and let your habitation be in His presence. Get into the flow; get ready to go all the way, God has something mighty in store for you.
ALTAR
