Miracle of Miracles!
Yes! He has done it!
Done what? And by whom? And what is there to be so excited about?
As I have gone through these pictures to write this series I have skipped over this one every week thinking I would write something when I had experienced some wonderful answer to prayer or some awesome miracle that I heard about or experienced. I keep looking for something that “He” has done that would warrant me writing anything with such enthusiasm. I have so many things that I keep praying about that I would love to lift my hands up in the air and celebrate their exciting answer. But many of them remain in the hoping place rather than the “He’s done it” place. Maybe you can relate to me. Are there many things that you keep asking God to do and would like to say- He’s done it? Well, I am sure there are, but while we wait what can we celebrate?
John 14:12
I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.
Earlier in my walk with Christ I wondered what the “greater” things would be that Jesus spoke about here. Would I see wonderful healing? Maybe I would see a miracle that would show His great power. What would be “greater” than the division of the Red Sea? How would I respond if I saw a man with a withered hand that turned healthy? What would be greater than that?
Then one day, it occurred to me that there was one miracle that no one had seen before Jesus’ death and resurrection. That would be the miracle of a changed human heart. I realized that what I was looking for was more of a physical or practical miracle on the outside of a man’s existence. The healed hand of the man would eventually turn to dust. So I wondered if that was really the Miracle of all Miracles. Then as I thought of the seas that split I realized they would see a regeneration of a new heaven’s and a new earth so even that was temporary. Is it true what Solomon said in Ecclesiastes, “Meaningless! Meaningless!” says the Teacher. “Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless.”
Not now! Because our lives have been renewed! The regeneration of the heart is eternal. The man whose life was made new by the sacrifice of Jesus life is truly the Miracle of all Miracles! So, was Jesus referring to the greater things we would see as being a result of the fulfillment of the gospel? I think that may be the case.
Jeremiah 17:9
The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?
So many times I have either said myself, or heard from another Christian that my heart is of no good, it is deceitful. I have distrusted my own thinking process negating it as being broken and out of sync with what Jesus would want. I have often thought of my life as being worthless, deceived, broken and often responded to today as though it had little meaning because of the false belief’s I held to.
But, when I reflect on the miracle of Jesus bringing a new heart into my old broken one I can see that new life began here!
The words I spoke were wrong.
They spoke death to a new life instead of encouraging the new heart growth to continue. I wish I could go back and speak life to those I told that they had deceived hearts. I also needed to hear about my new heart. I realize that my new heart is no longer a deceived broken place, but a brand new place to operate out of. My heart is no longer deceitful! It is renewed and full of life!
Yes, He’s done it!
Ezekiel 11:19
I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh.
Jesus has renewed my heart. He has brought me into new eternal life with Him and it began when the gospel was imparted into my dead soul! The Miracle of all Miracles has occurred in me! It may have occurred in you too! And maybe it will occur in those you love, are praying for, or haven’t even met yet! Now that is something to get really excited about!
Now that I have a new life, a new pure heart from Him, than I have to consider what He may want to do in me, or through me as a result of Him breathing new life into me. Boy, these miracles can be troublesome to our patterns of life, troublesome to our old value system. They can sure upset the “apple cart” of my comforts.
How about you? Does your new heart cause you trouble. I can no longer live in the excuse that I have a deceitful heart – because I don’t. I now have a conscience that comes from the pure heart that Jesus put inside of me.
Jesus has asked me to use my new heart like He does. That means He wants me to live like He did. Using the tissue in my new heart for loving others sacrificially is hard and requires me to exercise that muscle to maturity. Dying to myself so that others may have life.
So, what does this look like for me today? As I listen to others I have to train myself to hear their heart beat, to hear their needs and desires and respond to them as I feel led to do so.
I was in a room full of some friends of ours and heard a man talk about moving some furniture into a trailer for his daughter. I knew this was hard work and it was 100 degrees outside. “Wow, that would be really hard to do by yourself”, I thought. And the day he had to do this was a day of rest for me. He lived about 45 minutes from me and my first thought was, oh, he can do it. He is strong and after all, he wasn’t actually asking for help. Then my new heart kicked into gear. The purity that God had placed there rose up and spoke out, “I’ll be there when you begin. What time will you load the trailer?” ” Oh, no problem, I can do that.”
When the day came and I went to his house and helped load the trailer. My wife met us there soon afterwards and we all went out to have some dinner and talked about life, hurts, needs, and joys with each other. This is life on life, this is community, this is connecting as Jesus did. New life came out of a new heart.
Deuteronomy 30:19
This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live.
We are given the opportunity to choose life! Many years ago I learned that our modern technology of the computer system was based on a series of on and off switches. The pattern of the up or down in the series would designate the action that the computer should make. This would bring the desired outcome of the project.
In our lives, we have choices. Our new heart tells us to choose life but our flesh has had the pattern of choosing death. That is where a tremendous battle lies. So, we move into life then take a step back into death and therefore we develop the outcome of our choices. As God renews us and we exercise our “heart” muscle, we will hopefully make more life choices and in the end we will have a better outcome.
Luke 7:36-50 (The Message)
One of the Pharisees asked him over for a meal. He went to the Pharisee’s house and sat down at the dinner table. Just then a woman of the village, the town harlot, having learned that Jesus was a guest in the home of the Pharisee, came with a bottle of very expensive perfume and stood at his feet, weeping, raining tears on his feet. Letting down her hair, she dried his feet, kissed them, and anointed them with the perfume. When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man was the prophet I thought he was, he would have known what kind of woman this is who is falling all over him.”
I wonder if the meals that we saw in scripture were attached to Jesus helping with practical needs. Do you think Jesus helped people with their practical needs which ended up with a gathering at their homes? Did he help someone with their crops, their livestock? Do you think he responded to someone needing a favor? We don’t really know from Scripture, but one thing we see here is Jesus doing “life on life” with those around him. The town harlot made a life choice to show her love to Jesus and in the end, she received life from Him. The Pharisee was all caught up in his own laws that kill rather than learning to live in the Spirit that brings life.
2 Corinthians 3:6 (NIV)
He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant—not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
We must stop telling each other that we are broken, heartless and deceived. We must start affirming in one another, as fellow believers in Jesus Christ, that He has brought His goodness into our brokenness and that we really do have something wonderful growing within us. In Larry Crabb’s book, Connecting, he asks us to consider, “What do I have to give to someone else?” He also asks us to consider, “What do I need within me in order to receive from someone else?” I would say we have the goodness of the truth of the love of God within us to share with others. I would also say, we need to consider nurturing the humility of our new heart so that we can humbly receive goodness from others.
Have you rejected someone’s offer of kindness because you felt that you couldn’t accept it? Have you turned away from someone’s hospitality because you didn’t believe you deserved it? Has someone offered you a message of hope and in your heart you deflected it because you thought you were intrinsically bad?
Well, it’s time for a change! Connect, receive, give, and embrace the Miracle of Miracles has come!
Has God entered your soul? Do you have a new heart planted in your being? Can you truly celebrate the miracle that is greater than all of the others? Can we who have found His new life within us throw up our hands and say with confidence and excitement:
He’s Done It!
Psalm 33 (Paraphrase)
Now that is worth celebrating. God will take care of the temporary struggles, pain, trials – in His time, in His way. We can continue to celebrate in the midst of these circumstances.
And God continues to create and to renew the world about us.
He does this through those who relate to Him, who rely on His ever-present love.
He delivers his children from the fear of death and through them gives life to this world.
God’s love is sure and everlasting.
The hearts that are open to His love are filled with joy.
They truly find cause for celebration.
(by Leslie F. Brandt. God is Here, Let’s Celebrate! (c) 1969)
September 3rd, 2010 at 10:20 am
Well Done, Good and Faithful Servant
This is probably my favorite “Doctrine”
Our pastor taught on the deceitful heart.
I talked to him about the New Heart… He didn’t buy it.
I sent him your writing. We’ll see.
✝Love,
HIS Friend
Jack
September 3rd, 2010 at 12:55 pm
John I am thankful for this message! As I looked at the picture of the guy with this hands up toward heaven I was reminded that we are able to give an act of sacrificial praise because of our new hearts. Why are we (so many Christians, self-included)”plagued” with self-pity, self-hatred, etc. etc…. when we have our new heavenly heart? We’ve got to quit looking for the grandiose, earthly things and live as the up-side down people we’ve been called to be–joyous over ALL THE “little” things!! Again, I’m grateful for your post!
September 3rd, 2010 at 2:06 pm
Lynn wrote on FaceBook:
“John, I SO needed to read this today! Thank you for sharing the insight the Holy Spirit gave you regarding the new heart Jesus has given us. I am going to print out your blog (if I can) and keep it as a reminder. “
September 3rd, 2010 at 2:07 pm
AMEN!! Preach it Brotha! xo
Grace Grace Grace all over the place!! xoxo
LD