Does the God of the Bible do miracles today? Or does He sit distant and remote with hands tied, unable to intervene in our lives or the ways of the world?
Does He love us from afar - watching our struggles, shaking his head at our rebellion, and weighing our attempts to do good on some heavenly scale? Or is God simply a theory, a formula for right living?
Believe it or not
The Bible tells us that Jesus is alive and sitting at the right hand of God, interceding for us (Romans 8:34). It’s happening right now, as you read this. Jesus is interceding for you whether you believe it or not. It’s like a scientific principle: you can refuse to believe that an apple will fall when you drop it or that an ice cube will melt in the sun or that the wind, which you cannot see, will strip autumn leaves from a tree. Believe it or not, it will still happen.
Jesus said that those who have not seen and yet believe are blessed (John 20:29). But we are far more like Thomas who could not believe Jesus had risen from the dead until he saw with his own eyes.
In this 'Faith' section of my blog I will tell some of the miracles the Lord has done in my life and what I have learned through them about the nature of God, Jesus his son and the Holy Spirit, our counselor and guide.
Father
When the disciples asked Jesus how they should pray he taught them the famous Lord’s Prayer: ‘Our Father who art in heaven…’ The Bible says that God is our Father and we are his children. It says that if any child asks his earthly father for bread, will he give him a stone? If he asks for a fish, will he give him a snake?
If our human father knows how to give good things to his children, how much more will our Father in heaven, the one who formed us in our mother’s womb, who knows what we’re thinking, who sees everything we do, who loved us so much that He sent his one and only Son to take the punishment for every wrong thing we have ever done or will ever do; how much more will this Father give us good things.
I am not here to debate why God does not heal everyone. God’s foolishness is greater than man’s wisdom. It would be like a toddler trying to explain how her father flies a plane. I use this example because my father did fly a plane.
Every Sunday after church he would take me and my brother out to the airport. Sometimes we asked if we could have a go at flying and he would let us pull back on the stick sending the plane upwards, and then push the stick forward so the plane fell. If you did this quickly you would fly up in your seat and hit your head on the roof – it was our favourite thing!
Did my dad really let his eight year old daughter fly the plane? For that moment I did but my dad always had his hands on the other stick, ready to right any mistakes. Dad told me about when he landed the plane on a beach with me with him as a three year old. It was a bumpy landing and I started to cry. ‘Wasn’t that fun!’ he said, and I was instantly happy.
The same happened at sea – a sudden storm blew up and we had to surf the huge swell - up one side of the wave and down into the trough with the next wave towering before us.
‘Isn’t this fun!’ said my father. ‘Just aim the boat straight into the waves and we won’t tip over.’
His calm confidence placated my fear despite the screams of my mum. It’s not exactly a relaxing family outing to end up surfing giant ocean waves in a small boat with four kids.
Our childhood was full of accidental adventures like this.
Trust
I never read a book that told me to trust my dad; I just did. The experiences built my trust. It’s the same with the Lord. Our experiences with Him build our trust.
So in case you’ve had few experiences or maybe have just not noticed what your Father in heaven has been doing for you, let me tell you a few of my own. I pray they will encourage you to know that the Lord is truly alive and active in our world today.