| Author | Message | ||
| Violet |
Last night my daughter experienced a miracle healing. She is 11 and fell off her scooter. We took her to the after hours clinic to have x-rays done. The Dr. told us her elbow was broken and possibly her upper arm. she might have to have emergency surgery that night, they sent us to the ER. When we went to the ER the Dr. there said she had sent the x-rays to the radiologist and that we would probably need more x-rays to find out just where the break was. Mom started praying. We just started our own business in Feb. and have a $3100 deductable on our insurance policy. We have very little income coming in, but we had trusted God on this venture and had felt he had led us in this path. Anyway, we sat for over and hour, praying and waiting. Also my daughter is a violinist with a spring concert coming up. Alittle while later the ER Dr. came back in. She had met with the radiologist, no break, not even a crack. She made the comment of she didn't know how this could of happened as the 1st Dr was generally very good at reading x-rays. I knew in my heart what happened. She may of been a good Dr. but we had consulted with the Great Physician. Modern Day Miracles look for them, recognize them, and praise God for them. | ||
| Sherry2 |
God is so good! Doesn't it amaze you that He cares for us like that? I mean, I know answers don't always come like that. But they do very often, and it just amazes me. To continue on answered prayers, today we just had one instantaneous answer. Jon was fixing the car tonight so we can go on our weekend getaway (yes, all by ourselves, kids at the grandparents). And the tie rod was not coming lose at all. He was getting really frustrated. So I went to see if I could be of any assistance and stayed with him for a while. I was praying but not really with any faith...just thinking "Oh boy." But then it just sort-of hit me that what if Satan was trying to thwart this. So I changed my prayer to spiritual warfare, and asked God to rebuke Satan in Jesus' name, and to send angels to help Jon know what to do, and to forgive us for not humbling ourselves to Him or the assistance of others"...and Jon says "Crap!" I look up, ask what's up. He just realized he'd been trying to remove it the wrong way the whole time. So I prayed again. And as I am I'm watching the whole thing loosen right up and he's taking it off. I said "Praise the Lord. God answers prayer. That one was instantly!" Jon said, "Really? Well was that from the time I realized I was doing it wrong or to when it started coming off?" "It was from the time you knew you were doing something wrong." I just started thanking God out loud right there. That was just so cool! God knows this weekend is important, and apparently there is spiritual warfare going on. Isn't God good! Wow! I've been telling my kids, "Look, the car is all better. God and Daddy fixed it." :) | ||
| Colleentinker |
Viiolet and Sherry, thank you for sharing your stories! God's love is surprising. He doesn't follow a formula when he works with us. Sherry, I appreciate what you said about spiritual warfare. I absolutely believe you are right. When we commit our lives to Jesus and begin to live in grace, we do come under attack. I had a startling thought on Thursday as I was driving to school. In the Lord's prayer it says, "And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, for thine is the kingdom, and the power and the glory forever." All my life I've thought of those two clause, "lead us not into temptation" and "deliver us from evil" as parallel, restating each other. It hit me on Thursday that they're not the same, although they're related. "Deliver us from evil" is not another way of saying "keep us from temptation". "Deliver us from evil" is a spiritual warfare prayer. Jesus modelled for us to pray for protection from evil! He asks for us to ask him to protect us from Satan and his schemes. Sometimes when I'm praying for my husband at work or for my boys or myself, I ask God to send his Spirit to replace whatever evil might be harrassing me or them. Remember the parable of the woman who swept her house clean, but seven devils came in and took the place of the one that had previously been there? I believe that God wants us not only to pray for protection and deliverance, but to actively submit all the parts of our lives to Him and to allow his Spirit to have all of us. Only in him--not just in the absence of evil--do we have rest! Praising God for his protection and rest, Colleen | ||
| Patti |
Modern Day Miracles look for them, recognize them, and praise God for them. Then why didn't God heal my brother, Rayna's sister, or my neighbor's son, Benjamin Jones? | ||
| Sherry2 |
The same reason He allowed John the Baptist to be beheaded, Patti. There are no ways for us to know all the reasons that God allows some things and not others, but the fact remains He loved us and sent His Son to redeem us, and therefore we can trust Him. Just like Shadrack, Meshack, and Abednego who knew that God could deliver them from the fiery furnace if He wanted to, but submitted unto His will either way. Even Jesus pleaded for the cup to be removed, nevertheless not my will but Thine be done. I know that He is right with us during the pain of things like losing a brother, or a son. He doesn't always heal, but the miracle of His love is with us all the time. Do you not see that you yourself are a miracle, Patti? Look at His awesome workings in your life, and how He's transformed your heart? I wonder about your question, and what is going on in your life right now that is hurting so? Is there something going on right now? | ||
| Lori |
Christian suffering is always so difficult to understand--and we always want answers as to why but there are some things that we aren't every going to understand on this earth. Here are some brief notes that I wrote down about Christian Suffering, don't know if it will help you but here it is: Christian Suffering caused by: 1. Details of life--Ecclesiates 2. Guilt Reaction/ Suppression of the subconscious 1 Tim. 1:5,6; 1:19,20; 3:19; 4;1,2 3. "Scar Tissue" on the soul--Eph. 4:17-19 4. Failure to Isolate sin- Heb 12:15 5. Rejectio of Authority-Judges 19,20,21 Jeremiah 7 6. Rapid Construction of Edification Complex of the Soul-James 1:1-6 7. Suffering through interrelationship with those who suffer- 1 Chron. 21; 1 Cor. 12:26; Rom. 14:7 8. Suffering because of rejection of the right spouse Ezekial 23:16 9. Suffering from diveine discipline-Heb 12:6; Ps. 38 10. Rejection of the Word-Jeremiah 13 11. Angelic conflic- 1 Peter 3:17; 1:12 Eph.3:9-13 12. To Demonstrate Power of the Provision of Grace 2 Cor. 12:1-10 13. Suffering to learn the value of Bible doctrine- ps 119:67,68,71 14. Suffering from temporary loss of norms and standards jeremiah 2:34,35 15. Suffering from war. 16. Suffering from emotional "short circuit" in time of tragedy or in disaster- John 20:9-18 Reasons for death l. Work is finished 2 Tim. 4:7,8 2. Gloriying God- Phil. l:20,21 (death glorifies more than life) 3. Maximum Divine Discipline-1 Jn. 5:16; 1 Chron. 10:13 4. Dying Grace Job 5:17-25; Ps 116:15; 23:4 Unique Sufferings of Christ Psalm 22:1 Isaiah 52:13-53:12 I don't have time to check for typo's. Lori | ||
| Violet |
Patti, God Did not heal my mother from cancer, did not heal my father in law from cancer, did not heal my father from diabetis, had not healed my youngest daughter from foot diformity. But that does not stop me from looking for and recognizing miracles. We cry why not God, but we neglect to cry thank you when He does heal. I was only trying to share my joy with others and give praise where it was due. | ||
| Patti |
Please don't bother to answer. I am not looking for answers; there are none. And I have heard all of the attempts. I just find it very frustrating when Christians talk about all the "miracles" in their lives (God used to find my grandmother's needles for her. I always had to find mine myself.) when the sincere prayers of millions of His servants about life-and-death matters are going unanswered. It seems to me that "miracles" are in the eyes of the beholder. I, for one, having heard about all of the miraculous things that happened to SDAs who refused to water their crops on the sabbath, etc, etc, have serious problems with these stories being perpetuated in the face of people who are facing huge and seemingly unsurmountable problems seeming ignored by God. I cannot accept that God is a on a string in heaven, like a puppet, just waiting for us to pull His strings. I do believe that all things work together for good, but I think it rather belittles God to cry "Miracle" at every little thing that goes our way. The ways of God are beyond knowing. While it is fine with me for someone to believe that God blesses them, to tout this as a sign of God's particular blessing for that individual creats a theological dilemma for the one whose very serious pleading goes unanswered. For example, whenever there is a natural disaster, the media is full of stories of those whose lives and/or properties were spared and who proclaim the goodness of God and credit Him with protecting them. Well, what about those who lost lives, loved ones, homes, and everything? Was God not good to them? Was he punishing them by not protecting them? When one proclaims that God blessed him or her by especially performing this miracle for them, the problem that it sets ups is that one must believe that God is cursing those whose prayer is not answered. Allenette, I have given you a good opening here... Take it away. | ||
| Patti |
I am sorry if I sounded harsh. My reaction was not against anyone in particular, and I truly did not mean to belittle anyone's beliefs. | ||
| Lydell |
Patti, to follow your line of reasoning, which certainly sounds like nothing more than fatalism, then we also should never talk about being saved because some are not. We live in a part of the country that is often hit by tornadoes and hurricanes. I always find it interesting to hear the reactions of people to the things that happen. Some who have lost homes and loved ones will curse God. But others who have suffered the same and greater losses will declare, "well, it really looks horrible. But I know the Lord will get us through this." It comes down to a difference between belief that God exists and faith in Him, I think. If I believe that the Lord is a God of overwhelming love for me, then I can rest assured that no matter what happens, He will not leave me. He will bring good from the ashes, and in the midst of the ashes I can still experience His peace and joy because of that knowledge. He sees the huge overall picture of what impact the present problems will have on my future. Because I know that His love is trustworthy, I can rest assured that anything that comes into my life has only been allowed because he already knows that it is something I CAN get to the other side of with His help. His plan to prosper me and not harm me is not going to be permanently derailed by anything satan throws my way. He's sovereign. He knows what will work for the best in my life, I don't. But even tho He knows, He still tells me to ask for His help. Why? Probably more for my benefit than for His. If I am involved in taking the problem to Him and seeking His help then I have taken my eyes off of the problem, off of circumstances, off of whatever pain is involved, and am actively acknowledging that He is greater than anything else. I am acknowledging Him for who He is. I am moving beyond an intellectual assent to the historical facts of Christ's existance and participating actively in what He is doing here on earth. We tend to look at the issue of the standpoint of what will protect us from suffering pain. But what God wants is far greater than delivering us from a particular painful thing before us. He is more interested in our spiritual growth. Does God heal the sick? Sure He does. But He also commands us to pray for the healing of the sick. Are all of them going to be miraculously cured? Well, it didn't happen at the pool of Bethesda. Did God love that one cripple more than the rest of the people there, or curse the rest of them? No, but He did have a plan for each persons life. Should that cripple guy have kept silent because the others weren't cured? Christ didn't tell him to keep quiet about it. I think Matthew 12:22-32 speaks to this discussion. The Pharisees had accused Christ of casting out demons by the devil. Christ's response was that speaking against the Son of Man would be forgiven. But blasphemy against the Holy Spirit will not. Just a reminder that it is wise to be very careful about not acknowledging the Spirit's handiwork. | ||
| Patti |
Patti, to follow your line of reasoning, which certainly sounds like nothing more than fatalism, then we also should never talk about being saved because some are not. With all due respect, Lydell, this is not a salvation issue. We are not saved on the basis of whether we believe God works miracles in our lives or not. | ||
| Violet |
Then Patti, would you like to expain how my daughter was healed if it was not God? You seem like a very bitter person to jump so hard on someone trying to praise God and give Him thanks. I suppose if you gave a wedding gift and were not sent a thank you note you would not be upset? How much more should we thank God. I in no way think that God is on a string just sitting up there waiting to jump when a prayer is sent up. I guess I have gone through so much death in the past 3 years, four close family members, that this is a joyful event. It makes me sad that to think that if I would of come to the forum upset about the deaths I would of been comforted, but because I brought rejoycing I am slammed. Can a person not share joy as well as misery here or do you just want to hear the pain and misery? Reread your post and ask your self just how negative am I, and is this they way I want to protray myself to the public? | ||
| Patti |
Then Patti, would you like to expain how my daughter was healed if it was not God? It is not for me to explain. Perhaps you would like to explain why your daughter was healed and not my brother? You seem like a very bitter person LOL! The SDAs say the same thing about me! to jump so hard on someone trying to praise God and give Him thanks. So I should not question the stories of how the SDAs who did not water their crops on the sabbath had bigger, better, and more productive crops than anyone in 15 counties also? It is not that I question your story, though. It is that I am a thoroughly realistic person. When someone says that God reached down and personally performed a miracle for them, then it excludes His performing one for those who sincerely and diligently pray and whose prayers are not answered. Having just lost my brother, that was my immediate response to this thread. I am sorry if you are offended. I did not mean it that way. | ||
| Sherry2 |
Hey there everyone! And I'm just going to keep on praising Him! I am so thankful for His love and grace. I just read the three new stories in the Stories section. Anyone else had a chance yet? What a joy it is to be intimate with God and not to have fear be such a denominator. And what a priveledge to have the security of salvation. I just look back on this last year, and have seen such a difference in my own life it is amazing. I was so terrified of death too. I just never knew if I would "make it" or not. And now, though I don't want to die, I am looking forward to seeing Jesus face when I do die, and being safe in His presence. It is just such a blessing that HE has given. I had lots of out-and-out demonic battles to face as well. Gosh, I remember times of just crying at night being terrified I was lost, feeling like I was surrounded by Satanic forces, and just cowering literally by my bed, praying God would save me, singing "Jesus loves me"...that song was the only thing that settled me till I'd fall asleep exhausted. It brings tears to my eyes just writing it. I cannot tell you and even begin to express what it means to be free from all that bondage, friends. I wish I could speak in tongues to express the depth of it. I totally get it why people will bow down and throw their crowns before Jesus! " By grace are you saved through faith and not of yourselves - it is a gift from God." It is so awesome. Thank you Lord. From the bottom of my heart, God. Thank you. | ||
| Lydell |
Speaking of miracles. My son, and some of his youth group, went to visit a friend in the hospital. The girl was in a car accident last week and her back is broken in two places. She'd been given an epidural yesterday morning that wasn't having much effect on the pain by the evening when they went to visit. When the kids got in the room she was in extreme pain and shivering so severly from fever it was almost like she was having spasms. Dan says that the kids laid hands on her and prayed and within 5 minutes the shivering stopped, her color returend to normal, and the pain began dropping off. Patti, this beginnings of her healing is what gives Alicia hope that her complete healing will come quickly. The girl began crying while the kids were there. Not because of her friends coming to visit, but because this "small" healing was the promise that God does care about her. And that's the way it always is to me. The "small" miracles, the "small" answers to prayer, whether on my behalf or someone else's is proof to me that the Lord is still working today. When my dad died last year, my mom could have begun cursing God for allowing it to happen. Instead tho, every day she would take notice of the small things that the Lord was doing. The answers to prayer that we were seeing. A vital paper that we found. Making contact with a valued friend she'd lost contact with. A phone call just at the moment when she was feeling the most low. God's provision of a free car for her. An insurance check coming more quickly than we ever dreamed. God's peace helping her thru making decisions that she would have been unable to handle otherwise. During the time she was going thru this, we heard of another person's husband being healed. It didn't make mom bitter that hers had not been. Instead she rejoiced with her. And it hasn't stopped her from praying for the healing of others. Mom knows that God has the timing for our birth in hand, and that we only die when God says that our time is up. Until He says that it is time, we are NOT going to die. You are right, we are not saved on the basis of whether or not we believe that God works miracles. But whether or not we believe He works miracles has a huge impact on our relationship with Him. If I merely assent that He will do whatever He will do then there is no point in my talking to Him at all. Wouldn't it be a fine marriage with my husband if our relationship was like that? "oh well, I know my husband will give me money for the shopping trip today if he wants me to have it," ao I don't ask. Hey, when I know he went to the bank yesterday and I didn't have the chance to, I'm going to ask for the cash! God has already been to the bank on all my stuff. So I ask to make the withdrawal. The Father longs to give good things to us. How often do we not receive because we just don't honestly believe in His power to answer our prayers and we don't ask? He has a bunch of work He wants done in this world. I have to draw on his power to get it done. Tonight we do a hospital outreach with our church. We take snacks to hospital waiting rooms. You would be astounded at the number of folks who ask for prayer before we ever offer. And we have never once had someone turn down our offer to pray for someone. What kinds of prayers do you offer if you don't believe God loves them and is willing to do a miracle on their behalf? I'm sure you DID pray for your brother to be healed. I'm sorry for your sake that a miracle didn't happen. But it is still God's timing and God's sovereignty at work there. I can't answer your question of why not your brother. People do not live forever. Stuff happens. But it doesn't change the fact that God DOES perform miracles, both large and small on a regular basis. When I'm in need of healing it doesn't diminish my view of God that someone else has been miraculously cured instead of me. It just makes my faith in His power and ability to heal that much stronger. That something He does is not "huge" does not keep it from being a miracle. When He found my lost wedding rings it was no less important to me than the girl's fever going down last night. Because! Both are an intimate demonstration of God's love. And I joyfully tell the story of my wedding rings being found as much as I tell of my neck being healed. I intend to stay open to Him demonstrating His intimacy with me in any way He choses daily. The Christian life is far more fascinating and joyful that way. And far truer to the example we have in scripture. | ||
| Lori |
What is the biggest miracle? For God to remove all adversity and unpleasantness from you and those you love or for God to give you peace in the midst of all the trouble, turmoil and suffering around you? What is the bigger miracle? To remove the disease from the man or to give the man such "dying grace" that he would rather suffer than be removed from the peace of God that he has been given? It is a bigger miracle for a believer to have the peace of God in all circumstances than for God to just fix all the circumstances to a level that we can easily tolerate. We are to praise God in all circumstances. ALL circumstances NOT just good ones. When is the last time that you praise God because someone opposed you, when is the last time you praised God because you waited 20 minutes in a check out line, when is that last time you praised God because someone flipped you off in traffic? Did you praise God when you had the stomach virus? Do you praise God when you parent or your child dies? I think most of us can easily answer NO to all these questions--I certainly wasn't praising God while I stood in the Wal-Mart checking line way too long. NO, not all--I was thinking how I'd like to show them what I thought about their too few checkers by leaving my cart and going and filling up a couple of more carts full of cold and frozen goods and just walking away. That was far cry from praising God. Now if I had gotten lucky and walked up to the checkout who had just opened and walked right out--then I would have praised God!!! But what would have been the bigger miracle--it would have been the Holy Spirits power working within me to have caused me to have praised God right there while I was waiting in line. Anybody can praise God for ease and comfort, it takes someone under the divine power of the Holy Spirit to praise God when circumstances aren't good. | ||
| Violet |
Patti, your doubt in miracles because someone might of told a subjective story about crops is sad. Maybe they did have a better crop, maybe they did not water on Sabbath, but maybe there was another variable in the story they did not tell you about. They could of been telling the truth on the first to parts. Maybe with my daughter there was not a healing only a misread x-ray, but I will still give glory to God for keeping her safe--either way He gets praised. I am so sorry for the loss of your brother--I can honestly say I know how much it hurts and you wonder why, but we must trust God to do the right thing. When my mother died 3 years ago I could not figure it out. But it allowed me to stay home with my kids and raise them. When my father in law died last fall I wondered why--things happened and now my mother in law is seeking Jesus- she would of never of done that before. These are things that miricle do occur we just have to recognize God's hand in everything. One day you will see why it happened. It may be that you are to share compation with others who need someone who understands death. Who knows, but God is in control and He will never allow anything that is not able to make us better children if we aks Him. | ||
| Colleentinker |
I think, too, that miracles are not about us. If we experience a miracle, it's not because God sees merit in us or in our request. It's about him and about a big picture we cannot see. I see miracles as events that often require much more accountability from the people receiving them than was required of them before the miracles. God reveals his love to us in all circumstances, not just through miracles--and not more through miracles. His love and his glory are what our lives are about. We can't always see why we experience the joys and sorrows we experience. Colleen | ||
| Maryann |
Hi Patti, I have thought about you often in the last few months, but, particularly since this thread got started. You said: ***I cannot accept that God is a on a string in heaven, like a puppet, just waiting for us to pull His strings. I do believe that all things work together for good, but I think it rather belittles God to cry "Miracle" at every little thing that goes our way. The ways of God are beyond knowing.*** I agree whole heartedly with that statement about God not being a puppet! That is such a common idea with the "word faith" camp. Sometimes I wonder why we are to pray for what ever it is that we pray for as God has already made up His mind and our prayers are not the strings that control the puppet. (I'm not calling God a puppet!) But the Bible says we are to pray with out ceasing. Does it make any difference if we pray? Well, I think so. It puts us more in tune with the will of God, I think. Good things happen and horrible things happen to Christians. When we pray and when we don't. I had cancer and my doctor refused to biopsy me yet something just "made" me ask Bruce for a referal in CA. Even though I hadn't prayed about it, I was just very strongly impressed to dig deeper into my problem till satified. From that whole experience, I ended up in the Garden of Eden in S. CA., I got a zillion wonderful new, former SDA friends, the burn deeeeeeep inside me for SDA's is just growing stronger all the time. God has put so many SDA's in my path that I'm tripping all over them. I found my best friend from 2nd grade and my brother's best friend from H.S. in Collegedale and am writing to them! I did pray and God guided me to a dead end street and I found a wonderful house owned by SDA's, next to an SDA school (12 grade). I couldn't buy it at the time, so offered a lease option. They declined the lease option but said they would take their house off the market for one whole year to give me a chance to get back on my feet. My hearts desire is to work part time so I can devote time to family and a book. What God gave me was a job that works 10 to 12 hours a day for a few months and then you're off for a month or so!!!!! That's like having your cake and eating it too!!! I don't necessarily call those above things miracles unless is would be a rather broad use of the term. I think alot of us tend to call something a miracle that is really a demonstration of God's love in a Fatherly setting, taking care of our needs, desires and wants. Using the models from the Bible, miracle were instantanious reversals, not gradual turning. I have never experienced the death of a family member. I have lost 4 very good friends though. Death is NOT funny! Death hurts!! You said: ***Then why didn't God heal my brother,*** You also mentioned that you have heard alot of reasons but they don't help. I haven't kept up on the forum for months so don't know alot of what has been said. But, here is what has been on my mind for the last few days. If my memory serves me at all, you had said that Jerry had accepted the Lord in his last days. God in his foreknowledge may have known that this would have been the only way that Jerry would have come to believe in Him! Jerry may have lived a long life and drifted futher and further from the Lord or may have had an accident that would not have given him the time to accept the Lord. You have assurance of your own salvation, so, you also can have assurance that you will see your brother again:-)) You will also never know till the second coming of what impact that Jerry's last few weeks had on others as far as their eternal life is concerned. Not only does God make all things work out, He also works in mysterious ways. No one should expect your pain to evaporate because of your or Jerry's salvation. The Bible doesn't tell us not to grieve, it tells us not to grieve as those with no hope. Thank God for hope. Thank God for Salvation. Thank God for the re-union you will have in heaven. Till then, grieve for and miss your brother as those are God given emotions. Maryann......IBC=Insured By Christ... DTC=Deeded To Christ | ||
| Richardtinker |
A note on prayer: For the past few months I have been praying for someone that I have had difficulty dealing with. God has been answering my prayer by changing the way I see and relate to this person. I have seen changes in that person, too, but maybe some of those changes are because I have changed. -Richard |
