The Case For Miracles

Welcome to Running With Horses, a podcast devoted to inspire you concerning a relationship with Almighty God that empowers you to accomplish things you never thought possible.

Surely Weaver wants to take you there. And now here's today's episode. My name is Judith Healy, and I'm the author and creator of the book, The Shield of David. And you know, you know, in the front door of my home this morning, I opened the door. The breeze that was blowing was strong enough so that the entire flag was unfurled. It is the Magen David, the Magen David. It means the shield of David.

And you know, it just hit me. It really hit me, the power of God to deliver Israel displayed or reminiscent of the kingdom of King David, his son Solomon, the land that was occupied during the reign of King David, which by the way, you remember, is the closest to fully occupying the promised land that the Jews have ever accomplished during the time of King David and his son Solomon. This six-pointed star, the Star of David, is the symbol for Judaism and Israel. And as the shield of David, it reminds us of the power that God intended in giving the land to the people, to the Jewish people. Which brings us to the title of today's podcast, A Case for Miracles, because you know, Israel's existence can only be explained under the category of the miraculous.

Only way. It's similar to your story, my story, and really for many people today, without an understanding of what the miraculous power of God is like, maybe they don't have a baseline, don't have a history with God so that they can even fully understand what they're seeing when they see a miracle. I mean, the whole world should look at the nation of Israel, the nation state of Israel, and be completely convinced that God is on their side, otherwise they wouldn't exist at all, beginning with the 1948 birth of that land, not the land, of that, the borders that were given to the Jewish people as their own nation state.

That is a sovereign border, a sovereign land, much less than what God intended, but the Lord gave it to them so that they're now in the land. That's what I mean by the miracle, and the series of miracles that began to unfold in 1948. Compare that, and again, to make the case for miracles, for you and I, you know, there's a constant downloading of our understanding of what God really means by the term miracles.

You also have to contrast it with an understanding of Satan's power, which really just, you know, it distills down into Satan's attempts to interrupt God's power in your life, in my life, to what, deliver, heal, manifest in some way to bring about God's plan in opposition to Satan. So three things, let's just tie these together under this title, A Case for Miracles. First of all, Jesus' miracle ministry that we read about in the scripture is our example. Secondly, the backdrop of our day, that is the time that we're living in, and the fact that many in our day disbelieve.

They not only don't believe in the miracle power of an almighty loving God, they actually disbelieve, are contemptuous toward the very mention of such, and my last point, something that the Apostle Paul gave us in 1 Corinthians 10, really a warning for those of us who live at the end of the age. Jesus' miracle ministry is our example, first of all. If you do a quick mental rehearsal of the stories that you remember from the four Gospel accounts, also in the Epistles, just the Bible stories you know, just the parables and the demonstrations of God's healing power, plus add to that your experience, the time that God's miracle power has been evident in your life more than once, in a big way, in a small way, in clusters of miracles, any time that you sought Him in a matter, any time you prayed about a particular thing, or maybe you didn't pray at all, God in His mercy just released miracle working power on your behalf, consider all of that together.

And then you can also add to that, honestly, factually, the times that the answer you got was not the one you wanted or what you planned. All of that together is your experience combined with the miracle ministry of Jesus. And we see something here that Jesus said that is very critical to our understanding, Matthew 22, 29. He made the connection between the knowledge of Scripture so that we could understand the power of God. He said, you are mistaken because you do not know the Scripture, nor can you understand the power of God.

You see the connection. He used the word, you are mistaken. I am mistaken when an absence of the Scripture in my understanding completely makes it impossible for me to grasp the power of God. So here's the connection between the two in Jesus' own words. So when someone says, we need a miracle, I need a miracle, please pray for a miracle. Keep in mind for some people, that is only an expression, something they've heard. Maybe it's popular to say something like that, but without a real baseline, a history in God's Word that would give an understanding of the power that's available in making the connection to the miracle.

So that is the first thing. God's power is directly connected to our understanding of the Scriptures. And then secondly, the backdrop of our day with Jesus' miracle ministry is our example, First Corinthians 10, 11 through 13, something that Paul wrote to us. And he's using the example of the Jewish people coming out of bondage, out of Egypt, out of slavery there for hundreds of years, being delivered through a Red Sea deliverance. And then the time that was spent in the wilderness, a 40-year period, which by the way, is basically a generation, a generation spent that amount of time in the wilderness. And also, by the way, the wilderness in this part of the world is wilderness.

It is cut off, it is barren, it is not just a symbolic thing for them, maybe symbolic for us, but for them, very, very real. And Paul explains that in that wilderness experience, temptation took over for this generation that occupied or demanded or required that they remain there 40 years. And Paul is saying, you need to avoid this, you need to be aware, and this is your example. So as Paul explains what they went through and the temptation that they had, and it's abbreviated here, this is not the whole story, a few verses referencing that event.

Verse 11 is the most important thing. What we're looking at right here, they were written down to warn us who live at the end of the age. They were written down to warn us who live at the end of the age. And just an explanation here of the terminology, the end of the age. Remember, the end times began with the resurrection and ascension of our Lord. That opened up the period of time, the last days. The last of the last days began in 1948, Ezekiel 36 and 37, with the establishment of the nation state of Israel. So we have the last days that began for us with the resurrection and ascension of the Lord, and then the last of the last days, beginning with the establishment of the nation state of Israel. Keep in mind that this period of time, the closing out of the age, will culminate with the second coming of Jesus. It began with his resurrection and ascension, it will culminate with his second coming, and in the meantime, we are living in that block of time that is the last of the last days, beginning in 1948.

So these things happened as examples for us to warn us how to live at the end of the age. Remember, he says here, and this is verses 11 through 13, just a couple of things, that God is faithful. He is faithful, and temptation is going to come, but he supplies the answer to the temptation so that you can stand when you are tempted. He shows you a way out of that temptation. The way that that then comes down to us, the influence that it should have for us, is this thought that comes to separate us from trusting God, believing him, having any understanding of the miracle power he wants to deliver, it's in his heart, it's in his plan, he wants that for you. Not a button that we push, not an automatic thing, this is not mystical in that sense, it is part of his plan to deliver us many times, our deliverance is at hand, but we are closed off from it because we don't know how to believe. You see, the temptation to disbelieve gets the upper hand. In this case, the temptation of the age is ignorance.

We are ignorant of the power of Satan, of his devices, we are ignorant of that, and we are also ignorant of spiritual gifts, we are ignorant of spiritual things, therefore this ignorance carries the day. But for those of us who know the joyful sound, who are plugged in, connected to, and are absolutely unequivocal about the power of God's word and his promises there, we know that our part is to stand, our part is to believe him, to trust him, and then trust him with the outcome no matter what. You see, this is the way we live, and this is the case, this is the biblical case for Jews, just as is the case for modern day Israel, the nation state, of the Jewish people, set right in the center of otherwise hostile neighbors on every side, and really for continuing circles, you know, like the circles keep getting wider and wider, and there are more and more nations that are opposed to tiny Israel, and the temptation then is for the Jewish people to give up, to cave in, and to refuse to stand for the inheritance that God intends and promises. But see, they don't give up, they don't give up, they continue to stand, they continue to believe that the miracles of the past are the miracles of the present and will continue into the future, that's the pattern for you, for me, that's the way we are to live, that is the way that we can imitate their example to refuse temptation.

Not to yield to it the way they did in the wilderness, but to refuse to yield to it in this, our day. It is time to believe God for the miraculous. Don't be moved when it doesn't happen the way that you think or the way that you plan.

Trust God, He always knows more than you do. Keep believing, don't give up, no matter what. Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed this episode and you'd like to help support this podcast, please share it with others, post about it on social media, or leave a rating and review. Don't forget to check out the show notes or visit acleartrumpet.org where you can subscribe to Shirley's email list, download the ministry app, and purchase your very own copy of Shirley's 365-day devotional, Running with Horses. Thanks again, and we'll see you next time. Bye.