27.06.10 - Five Steps To Deliver A Miracle

Earlier this year we looked at the book You Were Born For This by Bruce Wilkinson. We didn’t finish it because Easter came along and then we started talking about influence (which actually was the same topic under a different guise). Today I want to return to that book and discuss: Five step to deliver a miracle.

A title like that makes me cringe. I mentioned early on that I was very sceptical of the sub-title of this book: 7 Keys To A Life Of Predictable Miracles. Surely you can’t predict miracles. And surely miracles can’t be simply manufactured by the use of seven keys. Well, I think I was wrong. Wilkinson talks about personal miracles; the miracles the happen in people’s hearts when they know that God has done something for them because He loves them. I now think that God wants to do that often. He wants to be involved in people’s lives at the point of their need – be involved miraculously – and He wants to use us to deliver those miracles. I think God so much wants to, that miracles can be pretty much predictable.

I am still a bit uncomfortable about “Five steps to deliver a miracle” but, when we see them, I think that we will see that they are actually very obvious.

Here are the five steps:
1. Identify the person
2. Isolate the need
3. Open the heart
4. Deliver the miracle
5. Transfer the credit

I want to read a story from the Bible about Jesus’ ministry to one person. As I do, see if you can identify those five steps. READ Luke 8:42b-48.

If the miracle was the physical healing, then Jesus didn’t do any of those things first. The miracle took place without Jesus apparently doing anything. But I think there was a second miracle. If the healing miracle had already taken place, why was Jesus so insistent that this woman identify herself?

She would have been a social outcast, lonely and ashamed. She was ritually unclean, permanently. The second miracle was about restoring her and affirming her as a woman loved by God; a woman of faith.

Jesus identified her for her own good – that others might know what had happened. She told of her physical need. Everyone would have known the consequential emotional and social needs. Purely by insisting she identify herself and talk of her need, Jesus opened her heart. She was broken and in need, and forced to confess that. He delivered the miracle by affirming her.

Of course, Jesus didn’t need to transfer the credit off Himself onto God. He could take the credit but, even so, by mentioning faith he reinforced in her mind that God had touched her that day.

Let me relate another story from Wilkinson’s book. It is quite a long story so just enjoy it and, in fact, we will then just comment on the first two steps. We will, God willing, consider the rest next week.

Some years ago, Bruce Wilkinson was speaking to a group of about 80 men at a retreat centre. No more than five minutes into his talk, he felt an unusually powerful nudge from the Holy Spirit that directed his attention to one particular man. This man was seated four rows back on the left side of the aisle.

Wilkinson decided to go with the nudge. He stopped in the middle of his talk , walked down the aisle and introduced himself to the man whose name was Owen.

“I sense there is something unusual going on in your life. Is there anything I can do for you?” he said.

Alarm was written all over Owen’s face, “No! Not at all. Really, I’m fine.”

What to do? Wilkinson apologised and returned to the stage thinking, “Well Lord, that was unusual.” He also sensed that some other men in the room were looking suspiciously at someone who stops mid-sentence and walks into the audience asking point-blank, personal questions.

He gathered his thoughts and started again on his talk. But, almost immediately, he felt another strong nudge from God; same man. This time he started debating with God. I just did that Lord, and nothing happened! But the nudge was clear: Go again.

It didn’t make sense and he risked looking like an idiot, but what to do? His sentences stumbled then stopped as he battled with this decision. He decided to take a risk.

He picked up a chair from the front, carried it down the aisle and sat down right next to Owen. Very calmly Wilkinson said, “Sir, please don’t be offended but you’re not telling me the truth.”

You could have heard a pin drop.

Owen was again alarmed but when he finally found his voice, he said, “How on earth did you know?”

“I don’t know really, but God does and he has something in store for you tonight. I sense that something is deeply troubling you.”

“The truth is,” Owen said soberly, “I’m quitting the ministry tonight. I called my wife this afternoon and told her my decision. Right after your session tonight, I’m done.”

“Would you mind sharing why you are quitting?”

With everyone listening, Owen haltingly told his story. He had been a successful businessman who had felt God call him to work with men. He had given up his business and poured his heart and soul into his ministry. He said his wife and he loved what they were doing but, to keep the ministry afloat, they had gone broke, lost their saving and retirement, remortgaged their house, maxed out their credit card and were $16,000 in debt. Struggling to talk by now, Owen said, “I’ve had enough. After tonight, I quit.”

Everyone in the room could identify with Owen’s dilemma. If God wanted him in this ministry, why were the circumstances making it impossible? Wilkinson voiced those thoughts to Owen and said that he and his wife had faced similar testing many time. He then said, “I have only one question: When you changed course and launched your ministry, was that a career move on your part, or would you say it was a response to a divine call?”

“God called us,” he said, “I have no doubt.”

“Okay. Would you say that God is now calling you out of this ministry? Is he asking you to leave?”

“No.”

“Are you sure you want to leave?”

“Well, I’m up to my ears in debt. I have to quit. How am I supposed to do this?”

“I understand but has God asked you to leave?”

There was a long pause.

“No.”

Wilkinson asked Owen, “What are you going to do?”

Suddenly there was an awareness of the presence of the Holy Spirit in the room in peace and power. Many of the other men were struggling with their own emotions. Owen’s eyes filled with tears, then, with great effort, he said, “I shouldn’t quit unless He asks me to leave. I won’t quit.”

Wilkinson wanted to test his resolve. “But what about the $16,000 debt?”

“No, I won’t quit.” He had decided.

They shook hands on his decision, then Wilkinson asked some of the audience to gather around and pray for him. Scores of men poured out their hearts in prayer for Owen and they heard him pray an emotional, humble prayer recommitting himself to his calling.

As they were going back to their seats, the man in charge of the meeting (who had earlier been a bit opposed to the idea of letting God do anything and had wanted the meeting strictly limited to half an hour) said, “It’s not right! This man is $16,000 dollars in debt. My wife and I are going to give him a thousand dollars. What are you going to do?”

The men contemplated that challenge and then, without a word, began opening their wallets. One by one they walked over to Owen with their gifts. In no time at all, Owen had sixteen thousand dollars.

He was speechless, awestruck by what God had just done. The rest of the men felt grateful to have been a part of it. It was an unforgettable experience.

Standing beside Owen in the aisle, Wilkinson said, “Do you recognise the order of things that just happened? What did you have to decide before God gave you the money?”

“Unless God calls me to, I’m not leaving.”

“When you made a decision of loyalty to God,” Wilkinson said, “the powerful arm of God was outstretched from heaven. Do you recognise who was behind this test?"

“God was. He was testing my loyalty,” Owen said.

“How did you do in the test?”

“I almost failed it.”

“Yes, but you didn’t,” Wilkinson responded, “Isn’t it interesting that God sent me here on the very night you were going to quit and gave me a supernatural nudge – twice – because He didn’t want you to fail the test? And He prompted all those men to meet your need.”

The first step is identifying the person. It is obvious, is it not, that if we are going to deliver a miracle to someone, we have to identify who the someone is.

Wilkinson’s attention was directed to Owen by a strong impression – what he calls a nudge – God suddenly alerting us to a particular person. Sometimes that might seem to be out of context or to be surprising. If it is unexpected, that strengthens the likelihood that it is from God.

It might happen in many different ways. The person might come up to you and talks about a pressing need. It might be a complete stranger. It might be a friend. It might be in the supermarket or at church. But the point is that people are not just people. They are people with needs that God wants to meet through you today. God wants to alert you to the right person.

Bruce Wilkinson advises that we don’t get hung up wondering if every person we see or talk to is the right person. We don’t have to make the miracle appointment. God will alert us. We just have to be listening and ready to respond when He does. Maybe it is that nudge. Maybe you see or hear the cues that indicate a need. Maybe you ask a question and the response indicates an opportunity that God has created.

In the book, Wilkinson says, “Especially during your early days as a delivery agent, God will make your appointments obvious. Your job is simply to grow into your role as Heaven’s ambassador and to be awake to Heavens agenda for your day.

“In the meantime, you’re not doing anything socially unacceptable if you approach a person and start a conversation. If in doubt, proceed – all you risk is being friendly.”

Once we have identified the person, we need to know what the need is that God wants to meet. A person might have many needs. We need to know what the specific need God wants to meet now is. We are not asked to meet every need or even the person’s greatest need but we are looking for that need that is at the top of God’s agenda for this person right now.

It might be very obvious but maybe we need to be sensitive to the tone of voice, or the body language or the circumstances or the expression of emotion or the words spoken – all of the verbal or non-verbal clues (or what Wilkinson describes as “cues”) that help us see what is happening inside the person.

Sometimes we can ask a question that brings a response from the person. Wilkinson calls these “bumps” i.e. we bump the person to see what response there is. We could just ask, “How can I help you?”

God clearly showed Bruce Wilkinson that he had a plan for Owen that day but finding out what the need was was more difficult. The first question (“Is there something unusual going on in your life?”) didn’t work. He had to take the risk of another bump (“You are not telling me the truth. I sense there is something deeply troubling you.”)

It may be that God can work without you knowing much of the detail. You have possibly experienced doing something, or saying something, and not realising that God was in it until the other person commented on how much it meant. Sometimes we are being used when we don’t even know it.

But often more information helps us know what God wants to do or why He has chosen us for this assignment.

Wilkinson says that when he has isolated the right need, there is often a sense of peace but he will often confirm it by asking something like, “Is this the one area that is bothering you most right now?” Maybe he didn’t have it right and he needs to switch focus.

Maybe you, like me, question there being five steps to deliver a miracle but it is obvious, isn’t it, that, if we are going to be part of what God wants to do miraculously in people’s lives, we need to identify the person and identify the need. In both instances, we need to be open to the voice of God but there are also very practical things we can do: look for the signals; ask questions.

But behind it all is the question: Do we want to? Do you want to be used by God to bring miracles into other people’s lives? Do you want to because you love God and want to be obedient to Him? Do you want to because you love people and want to see them happy? We have to ask ourselves that question first: Do we want to be involved in personal miracles?

If we want to, are we willing to? Are we willing to have our antennae up and listen to God for that nudge that indicates the person? And are we willing to then approach that person and make ourselves available?

Next week we will look at how we open the heart, deliver the miracle and transfer the credit.