In 2010 I saw a short video of someone sticking a bobby pin to the wall by faith.  Stirred and excited by this miracle, I grabbed a nickel sitting on the desk in front of me, turned to the wall and held it there—and literally FELT it pull away from my fingers and adhere to the wall!  Not only that, but I felt a burst of energy shoot up my arm as I did so.  I immediately called one of my best friends, Hope, to tell her about this miracle.  She picked up a penny and did the same and it stuck!  I called a few other friends as well and suddenly, we were all sticking pennies and other coins to the wall by faith.

I don’t truly know where this idea originally came from, and varying stories exist as to its origin, but sticking things to walls is a stunningly fun miracle.  What can be stuck to the wall?  Coins, playing cards, forks, glass bottles, plates, glass beads, flash drives, and more.  I have a friend who even did it with a sheet of plywood once!  This miracle isn’t limited to walls either, as it works just the same on the ceiling.  Once while having a Gem Party at our house, one of the kids present spelled out his eight-letter name on the ceiling in gemstones!  Some complain that the paint is the reason they stick, but considering I have seen things stuck by faith to glass, wood, and metal, none of which were painted, I have to say that’s some pretty impressive adhesive paint that works on surfaces it isn’t applied to.  All in all, I have found this miracle to be so incredibly amazing because it is a simple, visible demonstration that our faith is able to accomplish the impossible!

I have heard a lot of dissention over the years about this miracle:

“It’s a lying sign.”

“It draws us away from Jesus.”

“It trades the gospel for a cheap parlor trick.”

When I see comments like these I usually just shake my head in amazement at the ignorance some people can dredge up from the depths of their souls.  With the many supernatural signs and wonders I have seen, I still don’t understand why God doing miracles in our midst is so offensive to people, or why they think God’s supernatural grace somehow is cheapened by His supernatural miracles.  With that said, many ask what this miracle, or even the miracles of gemstones, feathers, oil, manna, or gold dust appearing accomplish.

Does it solve world hunger?  No.

Does it get little old ladies out of their wheelchairs?  Not directly.

Does it draw us closer to Jesus?  Not necessarily, but it can.

So if it doesn’t DO anything, what good is it?

First of all, who said it doesn’t do anything?  While this miracle might seem totally silly to some, or fruitless, or pointless, or a deception, or whatever else, it is a great way to exercise and encourage faith.  Shortly after sticking that first nickel to the wall (in addition to spending the weekend bouncing around my apartment sticking coins to the wall, excited at what God was doing), I found that when I prayed for people to be healed, more of them got healed than ever before.  If you recall, I felt a bolt of energy shoot up my arm, and to this day I believe I received an impartation of faith.  I used to pray for the sick before the miracle, but when I did so afterward, my prayers bore more fruit.  Suddenly, this pointless miracle isn’t so pointless anymore.

For all the opposition, just as many people if not more have been highly encouraged by this same miracle!  I know a woman who was in the hospital years ago getting treated for cancer.  I was assigned to be her CNA one day, and we and her husband got to talking about God–whereby I shared this miracle with them and demonstrated it right in their room.  She recently got in contact with me again and it turns out that was a very encouraging sign to her in that period of her life.

One of the fallacies that opponents of signs, wonders, and miracles bring up is that they don’t fix things they aren’t designed to fix.  Well, maybe they don’t say it like that, but that’s basically what it comes down to.  We have to remember that miracles are as varied as snowflakes—they are all different and serve different purposes.  When Jesus turned water into wine (John 2:1-11) it was helpful at a wedding that ran out of wine–but it wouldn’t have helped the disciples get across the lake in a storm like translocation did (John 6:21).  Miracles are not one-size fits all and what will help in one situation is completely useless in another, so complaining that sticking pennies to the wall doesn’t solve world hunger or heal the sick is absolutely absurd.  The next complaint is that this miracle takes time from ministry—although it takes thirty seconds or less to do.  I’m not sure how much time it could actually take away from other things unless someone was trying to wallpaper their entire house with coins.

I think some people forget that not all miracles have to have some sort of deeper “ministry” purpose.  Jesus didn’t preach the gospel to a single person when he turned water into wine.  As for him walking on water?  Not only were his closest disciples the only ones to witness it, but he wasn’t originally planning on stopping for them anyway.  The only reason he did is because they were freaking out and yelled out to him (Mark 6:48-50).

Some people have gotten so used to a powerless gospel that when God shows up in power, they are convinced it must be the devil.  This miracle, as seemingly insignificant as it might be, is still pretty awesome.  I see sticking coins to the wall as a bit like a gateway to other miracles.  One simple thing can open our hearts and minds to other things.  Once I showed a guy this miracle and he was so impressed by it that his next question was, “So can I stick my arm through the wall by faith?”  Yes!!  That’s exactly it!  Let this miracle encourage your faith to do other things!  Jesus said in John 14:12 that we would do greater things because He was going to the father, and it starts with the simple things.  Ephesians 3:20 says, “Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us . . .”  Miracles are quite often according to the power at work within us—the power of faith.  If something simple like this miracle encourages our faith the believe God for more like it did that one man, I cannot think of anything more beneficial—especially for something that takes only a short few moments to do in the first place.

If you want to see other videos and related things on this topic, check out this post on my other website, The Rising Light.

If you are interested in other miracles God is doing, check out the first two books in my God Signs Series, Gemstones from Heaven and Feathers from Heaven.