There are three basic ways that true miracles happen. Today I want to describe all three to you and show how God can use you to heal the sick, raise the dead, and more in the name of Jesus.
The first way miracles often happen is through a person exercising their own faith and thereby receiving what God wants to do. This happened especially throughout the life of Jesus, as evidenced by the many times He said, “Your faith has healed you.”
While the first way depends on the person’s own faith, the other two ways have more to do with the one ministering.
In Second Kings 4:18–37, we meet a woman whose son dies in her arms. Leaving her boy in the spare room where the prophet Elisha often stayed, she hurried off on a donkey to ask Elisha for help.
Upon reaching him at Mount Carmel, she shared her story. Elisha told his servant, “Here, take my staff and lay it on the boy’s face.” Elisha’s servant, Gehazi, ran ahead of them to the house, laid the staff on the boy’s face, and guess what happened…
Nothing!
Now this got me thinking because obviously Elisha thought it would work! Why didn’t the boy come back to life? Let’s go on with the story.
Truth be told, what Elisha did next would have probably gotten him arrested in today’s world:
2 Kings 4:34–35 – Then he got on the bed and lay on the boy, mouth to mouth, eyes to eyes, hands to hands. As he stretched himself out on him, the boy’s body grew warm. Elisha turned away and walked back and forth in the room and then got on the bed and stretched out on him once more. The boy sneezed seven times and opened his eyes. (NIV)
Can I just comment how funny that is to me? Given Elisha’s position, the boy probably sneezed all over his face! Sorry…let’s stay on topic.
The prophet’s staff—throughout the Old Testament—represented his authority. There are some miracles and healings that take place based purely on one’s authority–like when the Centurion assured Jesus that all He had to do was speak and his servant would be healed (Luke 7:1-10). This is the second way miracles happen: through authority.
The third way is what we see finally working in this story: imparting life. Some miracles will happen because of the presence of the Spirit of God in your physical body transferring to the one who needs a touch from the Lord. “Your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit.” Notice how Elisha stretched out once and the boy grew warm. Then he paced—probably praying in his heart, asking God to finish the work. The second time, the boy came back to life. There seems to be a transference of something.
Consider, for instance, the woman with the issue of blood. Jesus was in the middle of a big crowd of people bumping into Him, but when that woman touched Him, He knew something had happened. “Who touched Me?” Peter thought He was crazy since everyone was getting shoved around, but Jesus persisted, “Someone touched Me because I felt power go out from Me.” Something of the Spirit’s power in Jesus left Him and entered the woman to heal her.
So when a person comes to you for prayer, realize there are three ways the miracle could happen. Perhaps he or she will have all the faith they need and simply draw on God without you even having to do anything. You can just pray and watch God do the work. If that doesn’t work, try authority—speak to the situation and command it to be changed in the name of Jesus. And if that doesn’t work, there’s always the possibility that—like Elisha—you need to make some form of contact with the person to offer them a taste of God’s power which is resident within you through the Holy Spirit.
Personally, I like to sandwich them all together—praying for the person, commanding the condition to change, and laying hands on them all at the same time.
One of those is bound to work, right?
Have an awesome week!
–Art
