I long to experience the world that Jesus was in. I want to see the miracles. I want to believe that the words I read in the Bible apply to me. If you are not sure if miracles happen today, just pick up any of Heidi Bakers books and you will hear her incredible modern-day accounts. But the miracles are not the point, and it still takes faith to believe her testimony.
We must understand that living by faith means living with Jesus as Lord, not performing miracles. Jesus kept telling everyone to keep quiet when he was performing miracles. He didn’t want the word to get out, because he knew the hearts of man. Miracles were such an easy thing he did, but the miracles were not the point, miracles were a sign. Jesus was just living beyond the physical boundaries and wanted to help the hurting people because he could, he was demonstrating what happens when we are filled with the Spirit of God. He was showing us our place. Jesus’ ministry was to guide people in their understanding of the Father, and to make a way for us to be received into His Kingdom. Getting obsessed with the miracles would take our focus off of the importance of God’s saving grace, it would be idolatrous. Being caught up in the miracles would allow our selfish, sinful nature to think of all the ways that we can take the easy way out of situations. Having the Spirit of God is a prerequisite that will guide us in living in the Name of the I AM as we pursue the Kingdom with Kingdom eyes and ears.
Many people believe that the point of life is to be healthy, wealthy and live a long life, which is what many if not most miracles would achieve. The point is that we will all die to this physical realm, and He wants us to share eternity with Him. So we must following him with our lives, 100 percent, without being entangled in the sins of the world. We need faith for that, faith that helps us live above the physical boundaries of this world. We need to start serving him here and now with every problem and imperfection that you see in the mirror or bank account.
How is living bound by the physical boundaries of this world keeping us from a life of faith with Jesus? It’s simple, living under the influence of the physical boundaries puts us in a place of “not getting it.” We don’t understand how we cannot be controlled by the physical things around us. It would go against nature. How could Peter believe that when he put his foot on water, his body would weigh less or the water would be more dense and therefore stay on top, or however that happened. Or maybe there is no water! (for you Matrix fans out there) Even as he did it, he doubted. The fact is, we feel controlled by the physical realm. We allow the physical realm to be in control. For example, those who are in major dept and working desperately to be financially free. Or the overweight person who wants to be thin, they think, “if only I can be thin, I will be happy. If only I can have a baby, I will be complete. If only I were not sick or dying.” Even those around us who are not in crisis can get wrapped up in the physical realm. They find their identity in the physical and not in Christ. Doctors, athletes, models, teachers, any profession can go here, even preachers or missionaries. We just cannot understand how to be complete in our spiritual identity. God’s children, created in his image, loved just like we are. Being in connected relationship with Him is what makes us complete as humans.
Just look around at our society, how we eat too much and then spend excessive time in the gym, and work so much that we spend excessive time shopping. What if we didn’t eat so much and work so much that we didn’t have excessive fat to burn off and money to spend, and we just spent that time loving God and loving people. Putting aside the idea that we need to own a house, or car, or have stylish clothing, or eat all organically so we can be healthy and live a long life. What if that was not our focus? Imagine what our world would look like if we all lived by faith--the faith that Jesus taught.