When Miracles Happen
Selected Scriptures
Acts 26:8 NIV
“Why should any of you consider it incredible that God raises the dead?”
-Jehovah Jireh: the God who provides
-Jehovah Rapha: the God who heals
-Jehovah Tsidkenu: the Lord our righteousness
-Jehovah Shama: the presence of God with His people
1. Testimony gives praise to God
Psalm 78:2-4 NIV
I will open my mouth in parables, I will utter hidden things, things from of old — what we have heard and known, what our fathers have told us. We will not hide them from their children; we will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord, His power, and the wonders He has done.
2. Testimony gives people hope
Psalm 78:5-7 ESV
He established a testimony in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers to teach to their children, that the next generation might know them, the children yet unborn, and arise and tell them to their children, so that they should set their hope in God...
Hebrews 13:8
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever.
When people hear about what God used to do, one of the things they say is, “Oh, that was a very long while ago.” I thought it was God that did it. Has God changed? Is he not an immutable God, the same yesterday, today and forever? Does not that furnish an argument to prove that what God has done at one time, he can do at another? Nay, I think I may push it a little further and say what he has done once is a prophecy of what he intends to do again.... Whatever God has done...is to be looked upon as a precedent.... [Let us] with earnestness seek that God would restore to us the faith of the men of old, that we may richly enjoy his grace as in the days of old.
~Charles Spurgeon, “The Story of God’s Mighty Acts,” The Spurgeon Archive
3. Testimony keeps us close to God
Psalm 78:7-8 NIV
...and would not forget His deeds but would keep His commands. They would not be like their forefathers — a stubborn and rebellious generation, whose hearts were not loyal to God, whose spirits were not faithful to Him.
4. Testimony gives us supernatural courage
Psalm 78:9-11 MSG
The Ephraimites, armed to the teeth, ran off when the battle began. They were cowards to God's Covenant, refused to walk by his Word. They forgot what He had done — marvels He'd done right before their eyes.
5. Testimony teaches others how to receive from God
Mark 3:9-10 NIV
Because of the crowd he told His disciples to have a small boat ready for Him, to keep the people from crowding Him. For He had healed many, so that those with diseases were pushing forward to touch Him.
Luke 6:19 NIV
and the people all tried to touch Him, because power was coming from Him and healing them all.
Mark 5:25-29 NIV
And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse. When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind Him in the crowd and touched his cloak, because she thought, "If I just touch His clothes, I will be healed." Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering.
Mark 6:53-56 NIV
When they had crossed over, they landed at Gennesaret and anchored there. As soon as they got out of the boat, people recognized Jesus. They ran throughout that whole region and carried the sick on mats to wherever they heard He was. And wherever He went — into villages, towns or countryside — they placed the sick in the marketplaces. They begged Him to let them touch even the edge of his cloak, and all who touched Him were healed.
