Not Seeing Miracles? Your Heart May Be the Reason

I was wondering one time why I wasn’t seeing some things happen. I believed. I had seen the dead raised.

And if you can see the dead raised, you’ve definitely got faith. And yet I saw other people that I prayed for who didn’t receive their healing.

I was saying, “God, what's going on?”

I was reading Mark chapter 6, where Jesus came walking on the water and entered into the boat. The disciples were “sore amazed in themselves beyond measure, and wondered.” That's exactly the way I was feeling. I was reading these things and just letting all of this soak in on me, and it was overwhelming me.

And I was feeling pretty good about the fact that I was amazed.

Then I read the next verse: “For they considered not the miracle of the loaves: for their heart was hardened.”

That word for is a conjunction tying it to the previous thing. The reason they were sore amazed in themselves beyond measure and wondered was because they hadn't considered the miracle of the loaves. Jesus had fed the five thousand, and this had happened right before this. They should have considered what they had already seen.

And man, that rocked me to my core.

A Hardened Heart Wasn’t What I Thought

I had always thought that a person with a hardened heart was somebody who hated God, somebody who was out robbing and murdering and committing adultery and doing things like that.

But this says that if you are shocked to see the supernatural power of God, if you relate to the natural more than you relate to the supernatural, then you've got a hardened heart.

That rocked me to my core because I realized the reason I wasn't seeing more healings and more things manifest was because of my hardened heart.

I wasn't a God hater. I was seeking God and loving Him. But I recognized that this was one of the most foundational things the Lord had ever taught me in my life about hardness of heart.

The disciples had just seen Jesus multiply five loaves and two fish and feed thousands of people. Then they got into a storm, and when Jesus came walking on the water, they were overwhelmed by it.

They hadn't considered the miracle of the loaves.

There's a difference between having seen God do something and actually considering it, letting it affect the way you respond to the next situation.

Be of Good Cheer Before the Situation Changes

When Jesus came walking on the water, the disciples were afraid. He said, “Be of good cheer. It is I. Be not afraid.”

He could have made them of good cheer by instantly stilling the wind and the storm. But instead, they had to respond in faith. He told them to be of good cheer before the situation was changed.

You have to do the same thing.

Before you see the miraculous power of God, before you see a supernatural intervention in the storm you're in, you have to exert some faith. You have to be of good cheer and you have to believe.

Anybody can believe on the other side of the Red Sea after the waters have already been parted and Pharaoh and his armies are destroyed. Anybody can rejoice on the other side of the sea.

Can you rejoice on this side of the Red Sea when the armies are still coming against you?

Before you see the finances come in, before you see all of these things happen, if you're in a storm, whether it's physical, financial, emotional, relational, whatever it is, you need to express some faith now. You need to be of good cheer and not be afraid before you see the end results.

Anybody can rejoice after it's over. You've got to exert some faith in the midst of the situation.

This is also why I believe you can't just hope that somehow God will come and do something. You have to encourage yourself, stir yourself up, and by faith reach out and take hold of the things of God.

Jesus was coming to help these disciples. He presented Himself to them. But they had to respond.

Jesus Wasn’t A Man Pleaser

Right before all of this happened, Jesus had fed the five thousand. John says that when Jesus perceived that the people were going to come and take Him by force and make Him a king, He departed into a mountain Himself alone.

Man, I could spend a lot of time on that.

Jesus wasn't like us. When people praise us and say all of these things about us, it usually goes to our head. We get swelled up with pride.

But when Jesus saw that these people wanted to make Him a king by force, He left them and went into a mountain by Himself to pray.

The antidote to pride, the antidote to the things Satan is tempting us with, is to get into the presence of God.

When you spend time in the presence of God, and you're seeing His glory and thinking about how awesome God is, it'll put you in your place.

Jesus was God Almighty. In one sense, it wouldn't have been wrong for Him to receive honor. But it would have been wrong for Jesus to take the acclaim of people more than wanting to please His Father.

It's not that you reject honor when it comes your way. But you have to seek the honor that comes from God alone.

Jesus said in John 5:44, “How can you believe, which receive honour one of another, and seek not the honour that cometh from God only?”

If God magnifies you, there is a godly type of magnification. He did this with Joshua. He did it with Moses. But even when you're experiencing good things because you've been trusting God, you have to constantly put it into its proper perspective.

The way you do that is by getting into the presence of God.

That's what Jesus did.

Later, thousands of people were following Him, and Jesus got tough with them. The entire group left. They went from numbering in the thousands down to nothing.

Not many ministers would do that.

Most ministers would do anything they could to keep the numbers up and keep it looking like people were just clamoring after them. Jesus wasn't like most of us. He spoke the truth to people and He cut to the core.

Even after all of these people left Him, He turned to His disciples and said, in effect, “Are you going to leave too?”

Jesus was after the acceptance of His Father.

Man, that's awesome. What a great example.

If you're a man pleaser, if you're constantly seeking for people's acclaim, you cannot operate in the faith of God. Jesus was out to please God only. He was not a man pleaser.

You Have to Look at the Motive

The people who wanted to make Jesus king looked good on the outside.

They were following Him. They were praising Him. They wanted to make Him a king.

But Jesus could see through all of that.

The next day, these same people came looking for Him. They knew the disciples had left in a boat without Jesus, and now Jesus was on the other side of the sea. They asked Him how He got there.

Jesus could have told them He walked across the water. But Jesus wasn't self-promoting. Instead, He went straight to their heart.

He said, “You seek me, not because you saw the miracles, but because you did eat of the loaves, and were filled.”

They had gotten their bellies full.

Jesus saw that the reason they wanted to make Him king was because they thought He would multiply food and take care of them. They were seeing Jesus as a way of getting their needs met.

The motive behind what you do is more important than what you do.

Many times we evaluate things on a surface level and don't see why people are doing what they're doing. Man looks on the outward appearance, but God looks at the heart.

God is more impressed with the motive behind your actions than He is your actions. And many times we're just carnal and judge things only on a surface level.

Jesus could see through that.

There's something to learn from this because there are people who will come to you and issue compliments, but the truth is they're wanting to get something from you.

They aren't giving to you. They're flattering you, hoping you'll do what they want you to do.

You've got to be sharp enough to see through that.

Jesus had thousands of people who wanted to make Him king, but He saw their heart. What they were saying sounded positive. Their motive was wrong.

“What shall we do?”

Jesus told these people, “Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life.”

They were excited because Jesus had multiplied five loaves and two fish and fed all of these people. They were excited because they got something physical.

Jesus told them they needed to put the emphasis on the spiritual. Eternal things are much more important than physical things.

Then they asked Him, “What shall we do, that we might work the works of God?”

You know, that's a great question.

Basically, that's a question every person has to answer. What does it take to have relationship with God? What does it take to do the works of God?

Jesus answered, “This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.”

Faith. Belief on Jesus.

That is so simple, and yet it's profound.

Most people would rather substitute some action.

They would rather go to some church and go through all of the liturgical things and take communion. All of these things in their proper place are fine. But I'm saying people will go through the motions.

They'll dress up. They'll outwardly appear that they're seeking the Lord.

But very, very, very few people go to the heart and get their heart right with God.

What God is really looking for is your heart. Romans 12:1 talks about being a living sacrifice. He wants your heart.

And if He gets your heart, He'll get your actions.

He'll get you going to church. He'll get you paying your tithes. He'll get you studying the Word and doing all of these other things.

But if you try to study the Word and pay a tithe and do these things to substitute for your heart, that's not right.

Jesus said, “This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.”

And then these people turned around and asked Him for another sign.

He had already fed the five thousand with five loaves and two fish. They had seen blind eyes open and deaf ears open. They had seen more than enough miracles.

And yet they were asking, “What sign showest thou then, that we may see, and believe thee?”

Then they brought up Moses and the manna in the wilderness. Basically they were saying, “Can you do this? Can you provide manna the way Moses did?”

Jesus had already told them what was in their heart.

They looked good on the outside. They were saying positive things. But they were doing it because they had gotten their bellies full.

And Jesus began to drill down and get to their hearts.