HOW TO

God Was With Him

"how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him. Acts 10:38

Andrew Wommack  in his article How To Receive A Miracle writes

A miracle — the supernatural intervention of God. All of us have needed a miracle in the past, need one now, or will need of one in the future. The problem is that most Christians don't know how to receive a miracle from God.

The best advice is don't wait until a storm hits to learn how to believe God for a miracle. During a storm, emotions will cancel out your faith.

It's good to clarify the difference between a blessing and a miracle. A miracle is a supernatural intervention of God in a crisis situation. A blessing is still God's power, but it flows through natural channels. Blessings are better than miracles. If you live your life from one miracle to the next, you will live from crisis to crisis. It's better to be blessed with good health than to always need divine healing. God's will is for us to walk in blessing.

We all need a miracle at some time to simply jump-start our faith. If it weren't for miracles, we wouldn't grow to the point where we could walk in the blessings of God. Most Christians believe that God does miracles, but simply believing God is able to do it is not enough. You must know how to receive it.

Many Christians just wish and hope it happens. They think there is no way to grab a hold of miracles and make them happen. That's not what the Bible teaches.

God is predictable and orderly. He doesn't do one thing this time and another thing another time. God created this world and everything physical around us, and the physical world is orderly. God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He is forever faithful.

Faith is governed by laws. Romans 3:27 says, "Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith." The kingdom of God operates under law. It is consistent. When someone is killed due to the law of gravity, we may wonder why God did that. He didn't, but there are laws that He put in place.

Gravity says that if you jump off a building, you will be killed. If you cooperate with God's laws, you will be fine. If you ignore those laws, you can be killed by the laws intended for your good. It's the same with the spiritual laws of God.

So, how do you receive a miracle from God? First, you must recognize that miracles are not just hit and miss. You can tap into a miracle. You learn the laws of God and how they work, and miracles will happen. I'm not saying you can push a button and God pops out or you can make God do whatever you want. I'm saying God is turned on all the time and any time, you get turned on, you can see the power of God operate. God is always wanting to move on your behalf. God is for you — He is a good God.

God's desire is for you to prosper (Ps. 35:27). God's will is for you to be healthy (3 John 2). God's will is for you to be above only and not beneath (Deut. 28:13).

You are the one who controls God's ability in your life. God doesn't. It is God's power and His ability, but it's up to you. The Scripture says in Ephesians 3:20, "Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us." Many people leave off that last phrase, "according to the power that worketh in us." If there is no power in you, you can stop God's intervention in your life. God has chosen to never violate your will. God has chosen to flow through you. Satan can't stop God's power, but you can. God wants you to have a miracle, but you have to stop waiting and start believing.

The most important miracle in the Bible is the virgin birth of Jesus. God came and lived in a physical body — now that's a miracle. The account is found in Luke 1.

The angel came and spoke to Mary of this miracle. The miracle happened when Mary answered (in verse 38), "Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word." When God creates, He speaks it into existence by His Word.

God did all His miracles by the spoken Word. In Genesis, He created the world by the spoken Word. Hebrews 11 tells us, "Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear." The important point is that your words are involved in your miracle.

Many Christians put prayer above all and believe that if you pray, it will happen. Prayer is like water or fertilizer that you put on the seed. But, without planting a seed, watering is useless. If God was moved by need, every person's need would be met. Also, those in the worst situations would get their needs met first. That's not true.

You must plant a seed, which is the Word of God. First Peter 1:23 says, "Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever." We are born again of incorruptible seed — the Word of God. The word "seed" in this scripture means sperm. We are born of a supernatural union and the seed of the Word of God.

Farmers believe that if you plant wheat, you get wheat. If you plant corn, you get corn. They don't question it — they are simply laws. Everybody agrees with that in the natural; but when it comes to spiritual things, most people don't believe that.

But the truth is, if you aren't reaping what the Word of God says, you haven't planted what the Word of God says to plant. You reap what you sow. If the Word of God is primary in your life, you're going to get the results of the Word of God. That doesn't mean Satan won't fight you and you won't have problems. The end result will be you're going to have what the Word of God says. Satan may fight you, but you'll win. Many of us know this intellectually, but in our hearts, there is fear or reservation. We don't have the absolute confidence that God's Word is going to prevail in our lives.

Romans 8:6 says, "For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace." If all you think about is the Word of God, that's all you'll get. You may not be thinking, I want to be sick, but your thinking has been sick. Proverbs 4:22 tells us that the Word of God is "life unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh."

When God wanted to bring Jesus into the earth, He couldn't just create Jesus. God gave all authority over the earth to man. God did not rule directly over the affairs of the earth. After man blew it, God couldn't come down here and intervene. He had to work through man. God was looking for a man to flow through but couldn't find one. So, He had to come Himself (Is. 59:16). In the virgin birth, the Word of God was the seed. Everything else about the birth was natural. God spoke that miracle into existence.

I believe every one of us has a spiritual womb where the Word of God enters in and germinates, and we conceive a miracle. Sometimes you may receive a miracle as a gift through someone else's faith. You can't depend on someone else; God wants you to be able to conceive a miracle. Meditate on the Word day and night, and you will get spiritually pregnant and bring forth fruit.

It's impossible to have a miracle without planting the Word of God. One farmer thought he could violate the laws of God. He waited to plant wheat until everyone else's wheat was about ready to harvest. He planted $100,000 worth of wheat the month before harvest. When it didn't come up and he lost his money, he came and wanted me to pray. I told him that's not the way it works. You don't sow a crop when you want a crop. Some of us haven't had the seed planted in us, but we want the crop. There is a time of sowing and reaping (Gal. 6:9).

We don't just naturally grow up believing God. It takes renewing our minds. God's Word is the most important step to receive a miracle. Romans 10:17 says, "So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." You can't just know the Word intellectually. You must meditate on it so it becomes living and active on the inside of you. Most of us don't meditate on the Word as we should. We are occupied and don't have time, and we are upset with God when we don't receive our miracle. That's just as foolish as the man who didn't plant his seed but was upset when he didn't receive a crop.

If God's Word is planted in your heart, you'll receive. It doesn't matter what you feel — God's Word will produce a miracle.

Most of us have had times when we have prayed a prayer of faith, and our prayers seemed to go unanswered. Maybe you got into the Word of God, planted a seed, and prayed for a miracle. Then, nothing happened.

The problem is that many people stop believing at that moment. God's Word says in Mark 11:24, "What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them." This is where most Christians stumble. The Bible says to believe when you pray that you have received.

Most of us are familiar with Matthew 7:7, which says, "Ask, and it shall be given you." However, when we don't see an immediate manifestation to prayer, we say, "Well, not everyone receives." That's not scriptural because the next verse says, "For every one that asketh receiveth." Most of us don't really believe this scripture. We lose our excitement in the Word and don't expect it to work like that.

We had a friend with leukemia, and she believed that she would be healed. We prayed that she would be healed. On her death bed, she still believed she would be healed at any time. She died and we prayed for her to be raised from the dead for a long time. Her father said that it couldn't be God's will for everyone to be healed, or she would have been healed. We didn't understand and it was hard for me. It was several years before I figured out how we allowed the devil to beat us on that one.

We have a responsibility to bring about God's will. Some people believe that God's will comes to pass no matter what we do, but that's not true. God is bound by His own laws. Second Peter 3:9 says that it's not God's will that anyone should perish. For that to happen, there has to be someone to preach the Gospel. God's will does not automatically comes to pass. Psalm 89:34 says, "My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips." God has bound Himself by His own Word. God gave us authority over the devil, and we must exercise what God has given us.

Most people interpret God's Word by their own experience, "God's Word says one thing, but here is what happened." If someone doesn't get healed, we make our own theology and say, "Well, not everyone gets healed." God doesn't say no to something He already said yes to. You need to learn to interpret your circumstances by God's Word — not God's Word by your circumstances.

Most of us have seen a promise in God's Word and believed to the best of our ability, but it didn't come to pass. How do we harmonize the fact that God is true to His Word and it didn't happen?

There is a physical world, and there is a spiritual world. The spiritual world created this physical world. There is a spiritual reality for everything physical. In 2 Kings 6, you can read the story of Elisha. When the Syrian army had surrounded Elisha and his army, a servant asked Elisha, "What shall we do?" Elisha answered, "Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them." Verse 17 tells us, "And Elisha prayed, and said, LORD, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And the LORD opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha." There weren't more physically but more spiritually. The angels of God surrounded them. Elisha spoke the truth.

Some people say it's a lie to speak that you're healed when you don't feel healed, but that's operating only by your five senses. You have to walk in the spirit. There are spiritual realities. John 6:63 says, "It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life." The Bible is spiritual truth. We are limited when we only think in the physical realm. Just because you can't see it doesn't mean God didn't do it. God always answers when you pray according to His will. When God answers your prayer, He gives it to you in spiritual form. If you ask for finances, God releases the spiritual power to produce those finances. If you pray for healing, He gives it to you in spiritual form. God's operation ends in the spiritual realm, independent of you.

Faith is the key that brings the answer into the physical realm. "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen" (Heb. 11:1). Your faith brings what God has accomplished into physical reality. God gives it to you in the spirit, then faith brings it into the physical realm. Many times you don't know God has answered your prayer because you can't perceive it in the physical. You have to believe something is happening beyond your five senses. If you don't believe it until you see it, you won't receive from God. The Bible says you have to believe you receive when you pray.

What happens between the time you say amen and see the answer manifested? We learn something about this when we read about the prayers of Daniel. In Daniel 9:20, Daniel is praying, and the angel Gabriel appears and tells him (in verse 23), "At the beginning of thy supplications the commandment came forth, and I am come to shew thee." In only three minutes, God answered his prayer. Gabriel said at the beginning of his prayer God answered, but it took three minutes for it to become visible. Sometimes it takes a little time to manifest in the physical. Often, we step out of faith and stop the manifestation from coming.

In Daniel 10, Daniel is praying again. This time it says, in verse 3, he fasted and prayed for three weeks. In verse 10, God sends a messenger and answers. Why did it take three minutes the first time and three weeks the second time? Some people say that God is making them wait to teach them something. That is not scriptural. The Bible says that the Scripture is given to teach us. We can learn through trials, but God doesn't send them to teach us.

In verse 12, the angel told Daniel that God heard his prayer the first day and sent the answer. What held up the answer? The prince of the kingdom of Persia did battle with the angel for 21 days. There was spiritual warfare going on for three weeks. Satan fought to keep the answer from Daniel. In the Old Testament, people didn't have authority over the devil. That authority came with Jesus. If God had shown Daniel what was going on, he couldn't have done anything. In the New Testament, the blinders are removed because we have authority over Satan. We don't have to wait for the devil to run his course. When Jesus withstood temptation, the devil left because he had done everything he could do (Matt. 4; Luke 4). Satan doesn't have a limitless bag of tricks.

If you pray and don't see manifestation immediately, God is waiting on you to stand against the devil and bring it into being.

How can Satan hinder your prayer? He can use another person to hinder your prayer. Sometimes, other people are involved in your answer. If you are praying for finances, intercede for the people who will be used in your prosperity. If you are trying to sell a house, pray for the person who will buy your house. If you want a promotion at work, pray for the boss who will be used to give you your promotion.

Some of you may think you don't have enough faith to believe for a miracle. The truth is that you can't get any more faith than you already have. Romans 12:3 says that God has dealt to every man the measure of faith. God gave us all the same measure of faith.

In Galatians 2:20, Paul said, "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me." Paul said that he uses the faith of Jesus. You have the same amount of faith that Jesus has. That should be enough.

EXTRACT FROM Be Not Ignorant
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