Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Something Extraordinary








"Miracles have happened when God's people come together in prayer."
~ Billy Graham ~


I must say when I first read this quote I had a hard time thinking about what I might share. I love Billy Graham, and I know he’s witnessed more miracles in his lifetime then anyone could ever imagine! Each time he spoke, thousands of lives were changed. Miracles happened.

But there are times when God’s people pray and miracles don’t happen. Well, at least not in an obvious way. I started to wonder; "So what is a miracle?"

According to the Strong’s Concordance, the Greek word for “miracle” means something wonderful; supernatural; a sign or wonder. Now, this thought is very interesting.

The first miracle recorded in the New Testament occurred at a wedding feast in Cana. Let’s read - “This, the first of his miraculous signs, Jesus performed in Cana of Galilee. He thus revealed his glory, and his disciples put their faith in him.” Jn. 2:11



So here we see a group of people gathered together at a wedding. It was there that Jesus learned that the host had a great and desperate need when he ran out of wine. What a terrible embarrassment this would have been for the family. Jesus called the servants to fill several large pots with water, and then He transformed an ordinary element into something extraordinary. A miracle was performed, and the people were amazed.

This is the very same thing Jesus did when we first came to Him with our great and desperate need. He took our sin stained empty lives, filled them with His Holy Spirit, and transformed them into something wonderful. We were once dead in sin, but now have received a new and eternal life! I don’t think it gets any more miraculous then that!

I believe when God’s people gather together and pray, wonderful things do happen. Prayer is our way of acknowledging our need before God. In our times of greatest weakness, when we have no power to change our situation, the only thing we can do is cry out to Him for help. What we are saying is; “You are Lord, and we are mere men”. This place of humility is the very place where miracles begin.

I love this passage because it reveals what God truly longs to do for us.
2 Chronicles 16:9: “For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him...”

Every time I gather together with other believers to pray, my faith is increased. I truly expect that something wonderful will happen because of the prayers we bring before His throne. Sometimes God’s final answer may not be the one I was hoping for, but I know this; God is pleased when we pray, and the opportunity for Him to transform the ordinary into something extraordinary is always present.



Please join us today at Beloved Ma Ma's site and see what others have to share. Thanks so much for taking time to drop by today. Believing God for something "wonderful" for you today!



14 comments:

Anonymous said...

Prayer is extraordinary! It never ceases to amaze what can happen when God's people join together in prayer.

Anonymous said...

Susan, I think we had the same reaction when we read this quote. I was not questioning God's ability to perform miracles, rather His willingness at times. I think if He were performing miracles right and left, our faith would not be as strong. For me, his "no" answers are when I've grown the most.

I absolutely LOVE IT that you went back to the Greek. The only question is, why didn't I think of that?!?! This post is one that I felt like I should be reading during my quiet time. So deep!!

Great job on this!! Next time I need to pull out my Greek Bible!!

lori said...

Your words were extrordinary! O felt like you and could not put it down when I read this quote....
Often my miracles have been in response to the "no" from GOD....
Thank you for posting this....you really, really said what I couldn't get out of my head and onto the computer!

It was beautiful!!!
(I'm copying it;))
hugs,
lori

Heather said...

Expecting Him to transform the ordinary into the extraordinary. That's what it's all about!

Lelia Chealey said...

Loved when you wrote this:
"I truly expect that something wonderful will happen because of the prayers we bring before His throne"
AWESOME & Amen!!!

Anonymous said...

Beautiful! Amen.

twinklemom said...

Extraodinary post! I loved it!

Kelley said...

Wow! I absolutely love what you wrote here! The comparison of how Jesus turned the water (ordinary)into wine (extraordinary) with how God transformed us, is so beautiful and humbling! Thank you for your clarity and insight!

Also, thanks for the kind & encouraging words to my little girl for donating her hair. We have heard from many people about how it touched them in some way. God is so good to let her know what she did is a blessing to others!

~~Kelley

Anonymous said...

Beautifully anointed post! Thank you.

Tea with Tiffany said...

Great reminder about the miracle power of prayer. God loves to do miracles in hearts of the hopeless. I love, love prayer. I believe God loves the music of our voices as we cry out to Him.

Beth Moore taught on this miracle recently on Life Today(a show I tape). Her point was God is not boring. He loves a good party. A reminder that we don't serve a dull God.

Unknown said...

Well said, thank you for reminding us the truth about miracles and answered prayers. Love it!

Blessings.

Amico Dio said...

Your words often capture me and I love the message here! You are awesome, Susan!

I'm glad you enjoyed service a couple weeks ago!

much love, my friend

Anonymous said...

Thank you so much for sharing and for stopping by on Tuesday :0)

Tonya said...

Susan, I just read your post on prayer and I couldn't agree more. You shared with me recently how a family stood as Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego when they faced the fiery furnace...

17 If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and He will rescue us from your hand, O king. 18 But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up."

We too took that very passage and STOOD on GOD'S WORD for Brent. Prayer IS ALWAYS ANSWERED. Sometimes it's not how we desire, but GOD'S way is ALWAYS BEST! We must always go back to 1 John 5:14-15...

1 John 5:14-15 (New American Standard Bible)
14This is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. 15And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him.

As we all know, sometimes it's NOT HIS will to heal our loved ones. When we lose someone we love to death, can we say that the LORD didn't answer our prayer? NO, HE gave them an Ephesians 3:20 kind of healing.. He healed our Brent with a healing that's GREATER THAN ANYTHING we could've asked or imagined.

I'm SO BLESSED to have a friend like you, a friend who is TRULY GROUNDED in GOD'S WORD. THANK YOU, for being such an inspiration to me!