“A miracle is something which would never have happened had nature, as it were, been left to its own devices” (Anthony Flew, British Atheist)
A miracle evokes wonder in people. A miracle elicits a response from those who have eyes to see and ears to hear.
Many people wrongly believe that they have no part in miracles. They believe that a miracle either happens or it doesn’t. Scripture disagrees with those people.
An angel spoke to Mary and then the Spirit of God planted a seed within her womb. Mary receives the miracle AND declares prophetically 30-years in advance what God is going to do with that unseen seed. Mary participated in her miracle by receiving it, declaring it and then carrying it to fruition.
We must do the same.
Pastor Les shares how wonder is evoked within us when we receive the seed, declare the seed and then walk into the promise of God.
From Preaching Notes…
We must CHOOSE to repeat the promise (s) of God! The promise itself isn’t enough! A necessary element for the promises of God is the good ground in your heart. When we receive the promise we MUST begin to repeat the promise.
Yet, we all struggle with repeating a promise without first SEEING something happen. But, we don’t struggle with saying, “The Astros are going to win it all, Baby!” even though in their entire history they had never even been to a World Series. Maybe that is because we can see a future where the Astros are World Champions but we cannot see a future where we are no longer depressed; a future where we are at peace with who we are in God’s eyes; or a future where God’s goodness overwhelms all that is bad within us and the world?
In the Christmas Story Mary breaks into song when she hears Gabriel speak God’s words to her even though she has yet to even feel the impact of pregnancy. She breaks into a song of belief and trust that what God speaks He will bring about.
When we hear that something seemingly impossible is going to happen we MUST start singing and repeating God’s promises from the past, making them our own and acting upon them even when we see nothing going on in the visible world.