“In solemn truth I tell you, anyone believing in Me shall do the same miracles I have done, and even greater ones, because I am going to be with the Father. You can ask Him for anything, using My name, and I will do it, for this will bring praise to the Father because of what I, the Son, will do for you.” (John 14:12,13)

For many years, during and after seminary, I asked leading theologians, pastors and students, “What does this passage mean? How can I and other believers do the same miracles that our Lord did when He was here in the flesh – and even greater ones?”

Surely there had to be some mistakes in the translation of this passage, for I saw little evidence of this supernatural power in the lives of the Christians around me or in my own life.

But I had wrongly interpreted what Jesus said. I was thinking only of the miracles of physical healing. God still heals the sick and almost daily I pray that He will touch the ailing bodies of ill ones. God sometimes heals them miraculously, though mostly He works through the skill of surgeons and the miracle of modern medicine.

Yet, while physical healing is certainly valid and very desirable, I realize more and more that a greater miracle is the miracle of new birth. For the body that is healed will one day die, but the person who is introduced to Christ and experiences salvation will live forever. The main reason our Lord came to this earth was to “seek and save the lost,” not primarily to perform miracles of physical healing. Frequently, we are privileged to experience the reality of our Lord’s promise as He enables us to “seek and save the lost” in greater numbers than He did while He was here in the flesh.

For example, in 1980, during the Korean Here’s Life World Evangelization Crusade we saw more than one million people indicate salvation decisions during the week.

Bible Reading: Matthew 21:21-22

Today’s Action Point: Beginning today, I will claim, in the name of Jesus, that He who dwells within me, who came to seek and to save the lost and is not willing that any should perish, will do even greater miracles in and through my life than He did while here in the flesh. By faith, I will experience and share the Supernatural life of Christ with others.

How accurate is the Bible? Is what we have today what was written down 2000 years ago? Is what was written down 2000 years ago true?” Over the course of the video series, Josh McDowell explores questions of truth and accuracy within the Bible. Fact, fiction or fallacy? Can we trust what the Bible says?

Take the next step:
How does the Bible fit into what we crave in life?
Would you like to dig deeper into the Bible? Try our study on John 6.

Back to the Fact, Fiction or Fallacy index page

How accurate is the Bible? Is what we have today what was written down 2000 years ago? Is what was written down 2000 years ago true?” Over the course of the video series, Josh McDowell explores questions of truth and accuracy within the Bible. Fact, fiction or fallacy? Can we trust what the Bible says?

Take the next step:
How does the Bible fit into what we crave in life?
Would you like to dig deeper into the Bible? Try our study on John 6.

Back to the Fact, Fiction or Fallacy index page

Can we pray for you today?

“God spoke to him and said, ‘What are you doing here, Elijah?’ He replied, ‘I have worked hard for you, God. The Israelites have turned against you. I’m the only one left and now they’re trying to kill me too’”  (1 Kings 19:13b-14).

This passage tells of the amazing miracle that Elijah witnessed when God sent fire to consume his sacrifice and everything around it. But he was on the run from a vengeful Queen. He was exhausted mentally and physically, and couldn’t remember when he’d had anything to eat or drink. Elijah felt like he was all alone. He believed he was the only prophet of God left in Israel.

He finally stopped running and settled in a cave for the night. God spoke to him and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” God wanted him to know that He was all powerful and could protect him from his enemies. He did not need to run away. Elijah had just experienced an amazing miracle on Mount Carmel, but he did not remember that the God who set the sacrifice ablaze was the same God who could protect and guide him now.

Could God be saying to you, “What are you doing here?” Maybe you’re wondering how you’ve gotten to this place in your life. You feel like you’re just barely making it through the day, and you don’t have the time or the energy to be involved in a ministry. God knows how you feel, and He understands how many responsibilities you have every day. If there’s something God wants you to do, He will help you find the time and give you the strength you need to accomplish His work. Philippians 1:6 says, “He who began a good work in you, will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”

You may already be in God’s will, doing all that He has planned for you. But, what if there’s more that God wants you to achieve? Maybe you’ve been involved in a ministry you thought was right for you, it was where God wanted you to serve. But lately you’ve been hearing from God that He has a different work for you to do. You can easily settle in to a routine and be involved in things you think would please God, but be totally missing His will for you.

It’s never too late to obey God. God is waiting, longing for you to come to Him in complete submission and ask Him what His plan is for your life. He delights in answering this prayer. Maybe you feel the Lord is asking you “What are you doing here?” You think you’ve gotten off course; you’re not in the center of His will. It’s never too late to obey God. You can surrender your life to Him, maybe for the first time or in a new way today. It will be a decision you will never regret.

Questions: In your walk with God, have you gotten off course? What is God’s plan for your life? Are you in the center of God’s will?

Related:
Can God Perform Miracles? True or False

Are you considering divorce? We want to pray for you.

“Then He commanded the multitudes to sit down on the grass and He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, He blessed and broke and gave the loaves to the disciples and the disciples gave to the multitudes. Now those who had eaten were about five thousand men, besides women and children” (Matthew 14:19, 21, NKJV).

Recently I was part of a small team of ladies who put on a square dance and auction to raise funds to donate a water well to Africa. We thoroughly enjoyed the organizing process, found our community to be very generous in donating auction items, and had a lot of fun at the actual event.

We raised enough money for a water well that would impact the lives of 1000 people providing clean water and improved health for both people and animals, strengthening their economy, and opening the way for the girls to go to school rather than spending their days walking miles for water.  It also meant that we could plant a church in the village that would change lives for eternity.

I was so overwhelmed by the small thing that we had done. How little of my actual time and energy it cost, and yet what a HUGE impact it had on a whole village for now and for eternity. I began to realize that this is what the story about the fish and the loaves is about. It’s the little thing that we have to offer, and if we are willing to give that little thing, God can take it, multiply it, and use it to bless thousands.

We can often feel inadequate and that we have so little to give, but this miracle tells us that if we will just be obedient and give the little we have, we can have a major impact in the lives of others. What are the fish and loaves in your hand? What little thing is God asking you to do or give that has the potential to bless multitudes?

It is said that “there are those who make things happen, those who watch things happen, and those who say what happened???” Let’s be those who MAKE THINGS HAPPEN to the glory of our God!

Questions: What little thing is God asking you to do or give that has the potential to bless multitudes?

Is there life after abuse? If you are a victim of abuse, please take this study to discover tools to deal with this.

Imagine her packing 5 small barley loaves and 2 small fish and handing them to her young son. Probably not yet a teenager, the boy was anxious to go and join the crowd following Jesus. She would have had no idea what a life-changing event this would be for her son as he left to join the crowd of onlookers.

The story of the miracle of the feeding of the 5000 is a familiar one. It was an exciting time 2000 years ago when great crowds of people followed Jesus because they saw miraculous healing of the sick. (John 6:1-14)

When the crowd became tired and hungry Jesus asked what food they had available. That young boy’s lunch was used in a miracle that we still read today.

I wonder if the boy’s Mom was in the crowd that day. A mother would have been concerned about the heat and the long day. She would have insisted her child eat the lunch she had prepared. She would want her child nourished. When Jesus asked his disciples about feeding the crowd would she have drawn the little boy back as he stepped forward to offer Andrew his own lunch?  Mother logic could possibly have blocked a miracle.

The little boy did step forward. He did offer his small lunch to the disciple of Jesus and the rest is history. Even Andrew wondered how so little food could even make an impact with this large crowd. Yet a miracle awaited. Jesus took the boy’s loaves, gave thanks and had them distributed to the crowd of over 5000!

Imagine the exciting story that boy went home with! There had even been twelve basketfuls of leftovers. The little boy must have been changed forever as he saw his small resource used greatly in the hands of Jesus. What a miracle!

As moms, it is often easy to let logic try to over-ride the sometimes-radical faith of our children. It’s been our job to stabilize, rationalize and energize our children as they have grown. To release them to be Jesus followers is not always easy. Sometimes it will look to us like they are giving up the very thing they need. Trusting Jesus with their hearts and their lives is what we are called to do.

“Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these” (Luke 18:16).

Father God, thank you for recording this amazing little story for all time. Thank you for the hidden lesson of the mom who let her son go to follow Jesus. Help me today to release my children to You, whatever their ages, so that I might not hinder any work You are doing in their lives. Hold my mother heart in your hand. In Jesus’ name I pray, amen.

Questions: Why do you suppose Jesus frequently used children to help to demonstrate who He was? What was the purpose of the miracle of the feeding of the 5000? What miracle has Jesus performed in your life recently?

Are you searching for purpose in life?

I love the picture painted for us in the account of Jesus’ very first miracle when He turned water into wine at the wedding feast in Cana of Galilee.   The very story of Easter is embedded in this telling of the miracle.

Imagine the heavy, cold stone jars, laboriously filled with water by the servants. Imagine the ceremonial washing that took place as the water from these jars was poured out in cleansing rituals as the Israelites followed the rules of the old covenant to purify themselves before God.

Then imagine the wedding goers’ astonishment as Jesus called for these jugs to be filled and then changed the contents from water to rich wine! Wine is often used as a symbol of life and of the Holy Spirit throughout Scripture.  Here, at Jesus very first miracle, we see the amazing symbolism of exchanging not just one element for another, but the exchanging of something much deeper.

Our own efforts to become holy and clean before our loving God are exchanged for His forgiveness. His blood is the only cleansing we need.  His filling of new life, through the power of the Holy Spirit, is complete and right “to the brim”.

The thoughtful examination of the details of this amazing miracle is brought to light by author Doug Emberley in his book “Simply Water to Wine?”

Yes, Jesus death bought our forgiveness at the cross and His resurrection brought us new life filled with the power of the Holy Spirit. There is no room to add our own good works to try to earn the forgiveness that Jesus brings! No. His work alone brings the new life our hearts hunger and thirst for. He fills us to the brim as we believe and receive His gift of forgiveness and allow the Holy Spirit to fill us – right to the brim of our lives!

Lord Jesus, refresh my heart with the truth of Your sacrifice in death and with a new realization of the power that is mine through Your resurrection.  Thank you that what You did is complete and “filled to the brim”; I need only believe and receive. In the name of Jesus I pray, amen.

Order this little book to share the life-changing story of Jesus’ first miracle.

Questions: How has Jesus made a difference in your daily walk?  How can you experience the power of the Holy Spirit?

About the Author Gail Rodgers

Are you lonely in your relationship? We want to pray for you.

There is a place we can reside in, a place within Jesus that we can enter into where hope and expectancy prevail and overcome any circumstance.  It is a place of knowing that God not only CAN touch us in a way that we long to be touched, but that He desires to and delights in it.

It’s in hearing Jesus say these words, “I am willing” being spoken into our spirits that allows us to wake up to hope in a place of darkness.  His love amidst fear opens us up to His miracle working power in our lives.

As Jesus comes down from the mountain after having given what we call the Sermon on the Mount, a leper, a man considered as unclean as one can be, comes out from among the crowd and follows Him.  Known as an outcast whom no one would touch and fear even going near, he falls on his knees and worships Jesus.  He worships Him.

I wonder if he had any inhibitions. I don’t believe so.  I can almost see him in the crowd listening with such eagerness to the words of Jesus, spoken with such authority.  I can imagine him pushing his way through the crowd to get closer to the One his hope lay in, so careful not to touch anyone. He positions himself into a place of pure worship before Jesus, a place, of such humility.  He goes with boldness and courage, and gets the touch he longed for as Jesus healed him.

Jesus came to reveal the desire of His Father.  He came to manifest His Father’s love for us. Tenderly and so beautifully, he reveals the truth that not only is He with us, He is willing and desires the very thing we desire.

If you could hear anything today, I pray it would be this:  Jesus delights in you and is willing to come and touch you in the area of your need, whatever that may be.  I pray you would recognize and know, that Jesus not only can heal, restore, reconcile and do all these marvelous things, but that He is WILLING.

He desires to come near you, to enter into your situation, and touch it in a way that your circumstances will change for the better.  Even when the change that you have been longing for so many years has taken away your hope, His Word will renew Your faith to believing once again.  Jesus delights in touching your life.

Jesus is the only way. He is The way, and the leper knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that Jesus would be His way into wholeness and healing.  I pray that you enter into a place of worship just as this leper did; that nothing would hinder you to receive the glorious truth and promise of these words:  “I am willing”.

Questions: How does knowing that Jesus is willing to touch you in your area of need, affect your relationship with him?

About the Author Brigitte Straub

“Do not fear, for I am with you; do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, surely I will help you, surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.” Isaiah 41:10

On October 13, 2010, 33 Chilean miners were rescued after 66 days of being trapped underground.

Over the 66 day period, they were given many gifts, including gifts from Campus Crusade for Christ Chile. CCC Chile provided each miner with MP3 players featuring audio versions of the JESUS Film and the Bible – as well as a CCC t-shirt. We praise the Lord that during their time underground, two miners found Christ, as well as one of their wives, and others found a renewal of faith.

When the miners were rescued, one-by-one, they presented themselves in the t-shirts that read, “Thank You, Lord” and bearing the JESUS Film Project logo. On the back is written, Psalm 95:4  “In his hand are the depths of the earth; the heights of the mountains are his also”.

One of the miners that was called to the Lord, knelt and prayed the moment he was rescued.

Another miner, Mario Sepulveda , who handed out rocks from the bottom of the mine as souvenirs, stated: “I seized the hand of God, it was the best hand. I always knew God would get us out of there.”

It truly is quite an amazing story of God’s faithfulness and the strength of His power. God never leaves us, even in our darkest moments. He walks with us through our pain and suffering and guides us to our triumphs. We just need to hold his hand.

Power to Change is the Canadian division of Campus Crusade for Christ International and has many ministries active globally. If you would like more information or to help make a difference by volunteering your time, please call 1.800.563.1106 or visit the Get Involved section of this website.