Where Miracles Come From

Several years ago as I was meditating on scripture, I asked the Lord where miracles came from. He said, “The bridge to miracles is found in the secret place.” That was cryptic, but okay.Then He led me to read Psalm 91, which begins: "He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High God shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty...."If we desire to see more of the power of God working in our lives through signs and wonders, we must live in the secret place of an intimate relationship with Jesus Christ. We can’t just visit once in a while. Letting our relationship permeate every part of lives will have dramatic effects; I know it has in my life.The natural outflow of living in the spirit and receiving the things of God is our desire to share it. Jesus said to “go into all the world and preach the Gospel (good news) to every creature” (Mark 16:15). As we’ve discussed before, that good news includes the healing of our bodies. Children naturally imitate their parents. Their behaviors, mannerisms, accent, actions, thought patterns, and decision making are all shaped through the formative years they spent abiding together. As children of God, created in His image, heirs to the kingdom, and filled with His Holy Spirit, it is part of our nature to imitate our Father. Just as naturally as earthly children imitate their earthly parents, we too will begin to imitate the Lord as we abide with him.Miracles are conceived in us and through us as we dwell in the secret place of the Most High. Through relationship with Him, we get to partake of the great and precious promises that bring the dead back to life, heal the crippled and diseased, set the mentally ill free from their torment, and break every chain life tries to bind us with (2 Peter 1:2-4). This miracle of relationship is not one that can be microwaved; it takes time, a life-long journey, but it can start today!As we develop our spiritual hearing, not only does it transform our lives, but it becomes much easier to pray for other people, too. Intimacy with Jesus causes us to see people differently, to look for the good in them, and to see them through His eyes rather than as a bundle of problems. Everyone is different and uniquely created by God. When we love people as He loves them, we become an extension of God's hand-ministers of reconciliation moved by compassion.Compassion is a powerful force; it is love that compels us to act.Every time that Jesus was moved with compassion in scripture, miracles followed.Ask the Lord to help you see each person who comes to you the way He does. His love never fails. There are not many things in this world that we can say never fail, but God’s love never fails because it is a perfect, no strings attached, unearned, undeserved, crazy, extravagant, and ever-lasting. His love both created us and cures us. It crushes fear in a heartbeat, and it’s in us!One of the most dramatic deliverances from fear I ever witnessed that came through a move of compassion was at a meeting in Phoenix, Arizona. A young man came to ask for prayer for his wife. She was upstairs in their hotel room, too sick to come to the meeting. She had been bedridden with a crippling condition that left her in constant pain and unable to move for years. No doctor had been able to help her.The young man asked me to agree with him in prayer for his wife’s healing, but as I listened to the Holy Spirit, I felt that he needed ministering to as well. So I began with him. The Holy Spirit showed me that this young man was dealing with fear. Together, we took authority over fear and spoke peace over him. As he allowed the peace of God to rule in his heart, God’s perfect love drove out fear, and tension drained from his face. He left buoyant and happy.Later that evening, I saw the man again. This time he was accompanied by a beautiful young woman. I didn’t recognize him immediately (I had seen a lot of people by that point), but he reminded me that I had prayed for him that morning. He looked so different; his countenance completely changed. He wanted to come back and share his testimony with me. He said, “On the way back to my hotel room, after you prayed, something happened to my wife. When I walked into our room, she was sitting up and completely healed:' She said that the power of God came upon her suddenly as she lay in the bed. All pain left and strength returned to her body.He went on to tell me how his wife had been longing to step out in faith and believe God for healing, but his fear had kept them both in bondage. He was terrified of losing her, and every time she wanted to step out in faith, he became more afraid because it meant no medicines, no doctors, and possibly no life. But the moment God's love penetrated his heart and the fear left him, she was able to receive too. No one spoke to her. No one touched her or prayed for her. But the power of God was released, and she received. I still don't totally understand how it worked, but I know that the compassion of God flowing through me into her husband was the catalyst that enabled her to receive.