Recently the Lord has been challenging me and my beliefs about what He will and won’t do, and more specifically what He will and won’t do for me personally.  I watched a video this past week about some friends of mine who have been receiving bread supernaturally from heaven, and who have sealed bottles of water turn into wine.  This has been going on for a few years now, but while I enjoyed the video itself, I found myself getting hungry for my own encounters like this experience.  Recognizing that God has done some amazing this both for and with them, I would like to have that happen too.

For those who are familiar with my writing, this may sound odd, as I have seen gemstones, feathers, and gold dust appear on numerous occasions.  I have written two books on the subjects, Gemstones From Heaven and Feathers From Heaven, and am working on the sequel, Oil From Heaven, which should be completed later this year.  Nevertheless, I have a hunger that is only growing in me to see the miraculous more and more.  In spite of what I have experienced, I have much more that I have yet to experience.  Furthermore, many of those things I have encountered have been temporary in some way.  For example, the last time I recall having a gemstone appear was probably a year or so ago.  While some might be saying “I’d be content with just one”, I’ll be honest, once it happens once you hunger for it again and again because it is just that spectacular.

Well, as I began praying about this, the Lord challenged me, saying “Your problem is that you don’t really believe I want to do it for you.”  Whoa.  That’s rough.

But it’s true.

In spite of the miracles I have seen to date, I have trouble believing it will happen again.  It’s not that I think God doesn’t want to do them for someone—its that I have trouble believing God wants to do them for me.  Why is that?  What singles me out as someone so special that God doesn’t want to perform the same works He performs for others for me too?  After all, the Bible says that God doesn’t show favoritism (Romans 2:11).  If He does something for on person, He will gladly do it for another.  So where is my problem then?

Clearly, deep down, I believe a lie about God’s nature, His love for me, and the good things He has for me.  So how do I change my thinking (ie. repent) and begin to believe what He actually wants to do?  I find that looking at the Scriptures is a good way to begin that process.  What do they actually say?

“Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom” (Luke 12:32).

“He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all–how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?” (Romans 8:32).

The Bible says that it is God’s pleasure to give us the Kingdom.  Are miracles part of the Kingdom?  Certainly!  If so, then God takes pleasure in miracles and delights in giving them to us.  Are miracles “things”?  Certainly!  If so, then the Bible says that God will graciously give us miracles.  The word for “graciously” there is the Greek work charizomai which means:

-to do something pleasant or agreeable (to one), to do a favor to, gratify

-to show one’s self gracious, kind, benevolent

-to grant forgiveness, to pardon

-to give graciously, give freely, bestow

God takes pleasure in miracles.  He won’t just give them to us, but He will show himself kind and benevolent, freely bestowing them upon us!  Lack and limiting thinking must go, and be replaced with a revelation of God’s favor toward us.  In this process of pondering how I need to change my thinking, God brought my attention to his bread-miracles in the Bible.  Think about what God did in the Old Testament—He caused a bread-like substance, manna, to appear six days out of every seven, with a double-portion on the sixth day, in sufficient quantity to feed every single human in an entire nation of people for forty years!  When Jesus was speaking, he caused bread to appear that fed 4,000 to 5,000 men, not including women and children besides.  We call that multiplication, but at some point the “multiplied” bread had to appear supernaturally.  Is it really any different?

God wants us to experience miracles.  He wants me to experience miracles.  And He wants the same for you.  It is time to expand our thinking, raise our expectations, and transition to a deeper belief in the goodness and extravagance of God.  As we do this, I believe that we will move a step closer to experiencing the miraculous on a daily basis.