Fatih for your Miracle, Ep 3-16
Welcome Back! I am your host Dawn Simmons, and in this episode of Conquering Our Unseen Enemies we are going to be discussing how our Faith impacts our Miracles. In our discussion we are going to be looking at what Jesus said and did when he performed one of his most well-known miracles. I am going to take you to where this miracle occurred during our time together here. So let’s get going and talk about our faith and how it impacts our ability to receive a miracle.
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I’ve begun to talk more about Faith recently because it is such a crucial part of life as a Christian and I think Christians are anemic in the area of faith. Some of it is our own fault, some of it is a lack of strong spiritual leadership for the last several decades, some if it is just complacency and some of it is downright laziness. The problem with being anemic is you will have difficulty being strong in faith if you are anemic. If we can’t be strong in faith, then we will miss opportunities available to us. So how do we go from being anemic to being faith filled in a way that will foster a lifestyle of miracles?
Most of us are probably familiar with Matthew 17:20, you may not remember it’s Matthew 17:20, but you you may recognize what I am about to quote. This is Jesus speaking, “He replied, “Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” (Show the mustard seed pendant from Israel) Faith as a mustard seed. With this mustard seed, if I planted them, cultivated them and harvested them, I could create vinegars, mustard, mustard oil, eat the mustard greens, use it as a spice, a lot can be done with this plant, but I have to take this seed and put effort and action behind it and allow it to become a plant (picture of mustard plant) and then I can produce several other things. If I leave it in my pendant, then all I will ever have is this pendant, which is fine, I like the pendant, but I should not expect this to be anything more than just a pendant, no matter how hard I pray.
Now let’s take a little trip. What you are seeing is a picture from my trip in Israel, and this location is Tabgha. Notice that plant in the foreground, those are mustard plants.
So what is the significance of Tabgha?
Luke 9: 10-17, this particular miracle is the only one that is recorded in all 4 gospels. Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand10 When the apostles returned, they reported to Jesus what they had done. Then he took them with him and they withdrew by themselves to a town called Bethsaida, 11 but the crowds learned about it and followed him. He welcomed them and spoke to them about the kingdom of God, and healed those who needed healing.12 Late in the afternoon the Twelve came to him and said, “Send the crowd away so they can go to the surrounding villages and countryside and find food and lodging, because we are in a remote place here.”13 He replied, “You give them something to eat.” They answered, “We have only five loaves of bread and two fish—unless we go and buy food for all this crowd.” 14 (About five thousand men were there.) But he said to his disciples, “Have them sit down in groups of about fifty each.” 15 The disciples did so, and everyone sat down. 16 Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke them. Then he gave them to the disciples to distribute to the people. 17 They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over.
Acted in faith in response to His disciples
Motivations were in alignment with Kingdom business
Acted in faith preparing the people for the miracle
Acted in faith physically taking in his hands the bread and the fish
Acted in faith giving thanks for what He did not yet have
Acted in faith breaking the bread and the fish so it could be passed out to the crowd.
Jesus was giving us an example of the faith and action needed on our part for the miracle to occur. The world will tell you it only happened because it was Jesus. The world will tell you a miracle doesn’t happen today. Even Christians will say we don’t need miracles today. Until the Lord returns, we will always need miracles and the enemy loves to hear words of doubt and disbelief come out of the mouths of Christians. Miracles still happen today, but they don’t just fall out of the sky. Miracles are a result of our faith. Miracles are the result of our relationship with the Lord. Miracles are a result of our action in faith for that miracle to occur.
Don’t be afraid to act in faith. If the Lord tells you He will handle a situation, act it out in faith, even if you have nothing in your hands. Act out in faith that you are completing a task with the provision you need. I do mean literally act it out. What we don’t have in the natural realm, we do have available to us in the spirit realm. What I am not talking about here is trying to act out a miracle for our own selfish needs, that won’t work. If we start doing that, we are out of alignment with the Lord and we should expect to receive nothing. When we have a need, the Lord will provide. He won’t let us suffer needlessly. He will allow us to deal with the consequences of acting out of alignment with Him, but He will provide what is needed His way.
The God who created the world and everything in it, also gave us His Son who gave us all that we need to have a life with Him and that life with Him includes the ability to ask for and receive miraculous events. It’s up to us to do what is needed to enable the Lord to provide in miraculous ways.
When you need a miraculous answer what do you do?
1. Open your Bible
a. Find the promises He has given us for all of our needs
b. Read similar situations in the Bible of people who were in need and how the Lord responded both in the Old and the New Testament.
c. Read dissimilar situations of people in need and how He met their needs so build your faith of all the ways He provides
2. Pray in Faith
a. Use your scriptures in your prayer
b. Act in faith first: when my miracle comes, when the Lord provides: Instead of sending the people away, Jesus responded to the Disciples with “You give them something to eat”
3. Thank Him in faith for your miracle
a. Just because you don’t see it yet does not mean you don’t have it: Jesus thanked God before he even broke the bread
4. Act in Faith
a. Ask the Lord what does He need you to do to prepare: He had the people sit in groups of 50 to prepare for what was to come.
b. Start moving in ways that shows your faith is deeply rooted
5. Accept in Faith that your needs will be met and then some.
a. When the meal was over, there was food left over and it was collected so it did not go to waste.
b. Make sure that you are responsible and respectable to God in all that He provides. If we do not act responsibly, then our motivations have shifted and we are impacting our relationship with the Lord.
Miracles still happen today, do not let ANYONE rob you of your faith in believing in yours. Fortunately for us, we did not need a miracle to eat that day, so this is my fish, no bread, fries instead, but that is the same fish they would have had that day that fed thousands.
If you want to see and learn more about Tabgha, check out our YouTube Channel, Life Journey with Dawn Simmons in a week and we will have the full visit available for you to see. There’s a link in the notes. On that channel we travel to Biblical places and share those trips with you so you can visit with us!
I hope this has been time that inspires you to want to learn to grow in your relationship with the Lord and build your desire to partner with Him. We want to grow in Him and learn how to work with Him to build the Kingdom and Conquer Our Unseen Enemies. The more we grow the more our life will change, and you can help change the lives of anyone around you who is willing.
If you are growing through our podcast, consider supporting us each month as we continue to build the Kingdom of God. www.buzzsprout.com/1995558/support. Don’t forget to check us out on the YouTube Channel, Conquering Our Unseen Enemies. https://www.youtube.com/@conqueringourunseenenemies/featured
If you know anyone who might benefit from this, please share.
As always, let’s discuss our Top Show points:
· Discussion of how our faith impacts our ability to receive miracles
· Matthew 17:20, and the discussion of the mustard seed
· We talked about it being our choice what we do with our mustard seed of faith
· Luke 9: 10-17, the Miracle of Feeding the Multitudes
· Discussed the example Jesus gave us of how to develop faith and ourselves for miracles in our life
· Making sure our alignment is correct with the Lord and our motivations are correct
· 5 steps we need to take to cultivate our Faith for a miracle
1. Open your Bible
2. Pray in Faith
3. Thank Him in faith for your miracle
4. Act in Faith
5. Accept in Faith that your needs will be met and then some.
· Don’t let anyone rob of you of your belief and faith in miracles for today.
We encourage you:
· To have an active Bible reading plan, if you want a personal relationship with the Lord, you need to be active about reading His word.
· Take a look at my newest book, Conquering Our Unseen Enemies, available on Amazon or our website, Conqueringourunseenenemies.com
· Follow us in Instagram, @conqueringourunseenenemies and FB.
I have enjoyed our time this week and look forward to spending time with you again next week!