Prayer and Miracles

This post follows on from Wednesday - if you missed that click here to start with.

Simon and Andrew brought their problem to Jesus immediately - and immediately Jesus did something about it. So why doesn't it seem to work that way in my life?

It is a serious mistake to think that Jesus and the disciples had a comfortable and trouble free life because they simply prayed for miracles and God gave them what they wanted. Earlier in chapter 1 we find Jesus being sent by the Spirit into the wilderness for 40 days to be tempted by Satan. Then John the Baptist finds himself in prison where later he is beheaded. As we continue to read through the New Testament we find that Jesus and most of the disciples suffered and were ultimately killed because of their faith. The fact that God performed miracles was no guarantee of an easy life. The miracles were a signpost to something else.

Prayer is not about bringing a list of requests to God - so that God conforms to my wishes. Prayer is about putting myself in a place where I allow God to transform me so that I want what God wants. Sometimes that may mean a miracle - of the healing variety. They do happen.

But at other times it means that I have to walk the valley of the shadow of death - and trust that God walks with me; trust that God knows what is going on; trust that God loves me - and that for whatever reason (a reason that is totally beyond me at this particular point in time) this is God's best for me. And within the context of the storm, rather than panic, I allow God to give me the peace that is beyond all understanding. A peace that comes from knowing, as we thought with Tuesday's Tune, that because of God's love and forgiveness, it is well.

Listen to this message here