The first miracle Jesus did was
at a Wedding feast in Cana. In response to a great need, He turned
water into wine. The same Jesus who did that miracle lives inside of
you--and He's just as willing to do miracles today as He was then.
Jesus did His first miracle for
FAMILY at the request of His mother—even though He said it was not
yet His time.
You are family. Jesus said in
Matthew 28:50: "Anyone who obeys my Father in heaven is my
brother, sister, and mother!"
But, to get your miracle,
you have to:
1.
Believe and expect.
Even
Jesus could do no great miracles where there was a lack of belief.
Mark 6:5-6 6And
He could do no miracle there except that Helaid His hands on a few
sick people and healed them. 6And He
wondered at their unbelief. And He was going around the villages
teaching.
2. Ask
God. He wants to answer your prayers.
You have not because you ask
not. James 4:2
3.
Don't be offended if it doesn't happen the way you expect or if the
way it does happen is humbling.
4. Be
persistent and don't give up! Remember the widow who kept asking.
5.
When He tells you what to do, do it---even if it seems ridiculous.
The Wedding in Cana:
The weddings they had in those days were different from our weddings
today. They didn’t just last a few hours. The celebration usually
lasted for a week and it was important that there was enough food
and wine to feed all the guests for the duration of the
celebration. If the family ran out of food it was a social
disgrace and they would be shamed in front of family, friends, and
neighbors.
Jesus, His mother, and His
Disciples were guests at the wedding and were in the midst of
celebrating when the unthinkable happened: They ran out of wine.
That could be a disaster for the family. When Mary saw the problem,
she immediately told Jesus. She knew the power that He had.
Mary was asking Jesus to do
something about it. But, there was more to it than that. He had not
yet done any public miracle, so if He did this, it would be the
beginning of Him manifesting His power. Maybe Mary felt that
the crisis was God’s way of “pushing” His Son into declaring Himself
publicly. She didn’t totally understand God’s way of dealing with
things, but she was still Jesus’ mother and she asked Him to do this
as a mother to a Son. But, things were about to change.
Jesus answered her in a way
that shows that He was aware of the change. He addressed her as
“woman”, not Mother. This wasn’t being disrespectful. In those
days “woman” was an honorable way of addressing someone. It was like
saying “Ma’am”. But it was not what He had called her
before. Their relationship had changed forever. His concern had
moved from just His physical family to His whole Spiritual
family. Later on, in Matthew 12:47, He would be told that His
mother and brothers were looking for Him and He would react this
way:
Mat 12:48-50 , "Who is
my mother? Who are my brothers?" He pointed to his disciples.
"Look!" he said, "these are my mother and brothers." Then he added,
"Anyone who obeys my Father in heaven is my brother, sister, and
mother!"
He was saying a wonderful
thing: people like you and I, who obey God’s will were included in
His family---His Spiritual family.
Yes Jesus was the son of Mary, but at this point in Jesus life, His
greater relationship with mankind was beginning to be manifested.
He tells her His time hasn’t
come yet. She understood what He was saying; He was not going to use
this as a chance to draw attention to Himself and publicly declare
Himself to be the Messiah. Okay, she bowed to God’s will, but that
didn’t mean there wouldn’t be a miracle. She was persistent. She
didn’t take this as a refusal, but simply turned to the servants and
said: “Do whatever He tells you.” Jesus had submitted to His
parents, but now the role was reversed; the Son was in command, not
the mother.
There's a lesson for all of us here. "what ever He says, do it"
Even though their relationship
had changed; even though He said His ‘time’ had not come, because
Mary didn’t get offended and didn’t give up (she just left the
matter in His Hands and trusted Him to do what was right) she got
her miracle.
That’s
another good lesson. If things don’t happen he way we expect, we
shouldn’t get upset. We should trust God and continue to
believe. If we get offended, we’ll miss our miracle.
This was a very touching moment
between mother and son and showed the great love and respect Jesus
had for Mary. He performed His last act as “her son” and His first
act as the Lord and relative of every person who obeys the Father.
He gave her the blessing of ‘inspiring’ His first miraculous act as
the Messiah.
Now there were set there
six waterpots of stone, according to the manner of purification of
the Jews, containing twenty or thirty gallons apiece. 7 Jesus said
to them, "Fill the waterpots with water." And they filled them up to
the brim. 8 And He said to them, "Draw some out now, and take it to
the master of the feast." And they took it.
The servants listened and
obeyed and Jesus solved their problem; He turned the water into
wine.
9 When the master of the
feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and did not know
where it came from (but the servants who had drawn the water knew),
the master of the feast called the bridegroom. 10 And he said to
him, "Every man at the beginning sets out the good wine, and when
the guests have well drunk, then the inferior. You have kept the
good wine until now!"
Everyone was happy because
the need had been met. When we have a need or a problem that will
take a miracle to solve, God will give us that miracle IF we do the
following:
1)Pray and ask
GOD to fill the need.
2)Turn it over to
Him without being worried or anxious and trust Him to do what is
right...but be persistent and don't give up!
3)Be ready to do
what He says, even if it sounds ridiculous.
Miracles are not just for
‘special people’. We’re all special to God. Miracles don’t
always happen the way we think they’re going to, but we can all
receive miraculous answers to prayer, if we do things God’s way.
Maybe you need a miracle
today for yourself or your family, for your finances or your house
or car--- or even for a pet you love. Just ask God to do a
miracle---and whatever God says, do it!
Maybe you need a miracle of provision or healing or restoration. God
can do it!
AND MAYBE YOU NEED HEALING!
GOD
CAN HEAL YOU AND RAISE YOU UP NO MATTER WHAT YOUR CONDITION.
If you are not healed at the moment, don't
feel like you are lacking in faith, or that God has forgotten you.
Don't let people condemn you. It takes great faith to persevere
through pain and sickness and still have faith and hope.
However, don't ever think that your case is too hard for God. No
matter how "incurable" you are, no matter how long you have
suffered, God is able to heal and even rebuild. I don't think we
should ever let go of that hope. But, I also do not think we should
put our lives on "hold" waiting for it to happen. Just remember that
God specializes in what the world calls "hopeless cases".
Acts 9:32-34(AMP) Now as
Peter went here and there among them all, he went down also to the
saints who lived at Lydda. 33There he found a man named
Aeneas, who had been bedfast for eight years and was paralyzed.
34And Peter
said to him, Aeneas, Jesus Christ (the Messiah) [now] makes you
whole. Get up and make your bed! And immediately [Aeneas] stood up.
The New
Testament is filled with reports of the miracles that Jesus
performed, and these miracles did not stop with His death,
resurrection, and ascension to Heaven. His apostles performed the
same miracles and Jesus Himself said:
MARK
16:17-18 (NKJ) 17 "And these signs will follow those who believe: In
My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues;
18 "they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly,
it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and
they will recover."
Scripture never says these signs would disappear from
following believers. We still have the power to lay hands on the
sick and see them healed; we have power to cast out spirits. We have
the same power to say "rise up and be healed" as Peter did. This
power resides in the Body of Christ and we need to use it.
This man had been paralyzed and bed-ridden for eight years.
In the eyes of the world, his situation was hopeless. But in the
eyes of God, this was the ideal situation for a an amazing miracle.
This was more than a healing---this was a work of resurrection power
to restore the muscles and tissues and bones that had been as good
as DEAD for eight years. God still does this TODAY.
You might be thinking right about now 'well, if this power
is still here today, how come so many people are sick and
disabled?'. And, you might get many different answers to that
question. Here is my answer: I DON'T KNOW.
I myself have been healed of paralysis and various other
serious ailments, and yet I, like you, am at the present time
confined to my house. I am not yet totally healed.
THAT DOESN'T CHANGE THE TRUTH AND PRESENT DAY REALITY OF
GOD'S HEALING AND RESTORATION POWER.
God not only heals today, He rebuilds, He resurrects. God
gives the ULTIMATE EXTREME MAKEOVER.
But, while you and I are waiting for our Extreme Makeover
God Edition, lets do everything we can to be close to God---to serve
Him and love Him---to show the devil how stupid he is to think he
can come between us and God or stop us from doing great damaged to
the kingdom of darkness.
Right now, there is a world in
trouble for us to pray for. We need to pray and do warfare against
the enemy--the spirit of terrorism sent from satan that is doing
such damage in the world. We need to pray for the nations and for
Israel. We need to pray for the people who are caught in the middle
of all this warfare. And, we need to [ray for our leaders, that they
will receive and act on God's wisdom.
Let's turn what Satan meant for evil into a great testimony
to God's power, whether that power is shown through miraculous
healing or by remaining steadfast in our faith, whatever our
situation.
