A miracle a day keeps Satan at bay?

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Posted by Gareth Matthews | Posted on 20-10-2005

Category : Bible

Ever think that a few miracles a day would make the people around us turn to God? Ever think that a few miracles every Sunday would put bums on seats in our churches?

I was reading Psalm 78 this morning and was reminded of how the great nation of Israel, led by Moses, still turned against God on numerous occasions even though God performed miracles every day by dropping Manna from heaven and putting fire in the sky at night. And they still decided that worshipping things like gold calves was a good plan.

Now this seems crazy to me – but reminds me that it is what Jesus has already done that turns lives around. A miracle or two may woo someone for a second, but the realisation of Jesus’ sacrifice will cause us to fall in love with the saviour of the world – and that change is everlasting.

But then, Jesus’ ministry was pretty much miracle-city. Everywhere He went He healed the sick and cast out demons. However I think there was one difference and that was that Jesus was performing the miracles to meet peoples needs – and through doing that was showing people what the heart of the Father was like. It is kinda challenging to me as it makes me realise that I probably desire to see miracles because I have not seen one in a while – when really I should be desiring to see miracles because they benefit the people around me. Maybe if I had that attitude of compassion that Jesus had I would see more miracles. Maybe I need to take the focus off of seeing miracles and look to have that compassion first and foremost – and then see what God does.

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Acts 12: 6-11 ââ?¬â?? Peters Great Escape

Posted by Rob Borley | Posted on 14-07-2005

Category : Bible, Uncategorized

Reading this passage earlier today astounded me. We read here the story of a quite incredible escape from prison by Peter, with a little help from his angel.

To set the scene, King Herod was persecuting the Church. He had James, the brother of John killed and then Peter arrested. Herod was clearly aware that Peter might attempt an escape or feared that his friends would try and break him out and so he was guarded to the extreme.

Peter was chained to the wall, between two guards in a cell. In front of the cell door were two more guards, and his was all behind the prison gate which lead out to the city.

Peter was sleeping, between the two guards, when the angel appeared. This was not like Paul’s great escape coming up in Acts 16; the angel appeared and disturbed nobody. The angel even had to tap Peter on the shoulder to wake him up. The guards next to him did not wake, not even when Peter’s chains fell off. That’s right, they fell off!

Following the angels instructions Peter put on his belt, his sandals, and his cloak and proceeded to just walk out of the prison. The cell door opened, on its own. They walked past the guards, without being noticed. The prison gate opened, of its own accord. And they walked out into the city! At this point the angel disappeared and Peter, who clearly thought he had been dreaming, realized where he was and made his way to his friend’s house where they had been praying for him.

I think what happened here was somehow, Peter and the angel were not visible to the guards. Nor did they even make a sound. The whole experience clearly felt unworldly to Peter as he thought that he was dreaming, or having a vision.

The spiritual gift of invisibility; you’ve got to like that! :)

Other posts in the Bible Study series.

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Jesus’ Strength in the Wilderness?

Posted by Rob Borley | Posted on 12-07-2005

Category : Bible, Literature

If you are a regular reader you will know that over the past few weeks I have been reading ‘The Spirit of the Disciplines‘ by Dallas Willard. I have mentioned here a few times some of the themes and questions it has raised. Something that the book suggested in my reading yestoday has really made me think.

The famous accounts of Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness can be found in Matthew 4 and Luke 4. Jesus spent 40 days fasting in the wilderness, and Luke tells us that throughout this time He was tempted by the devil. This is an interesting point to start with as we often think of this being a time of Jesus fasting but the temptation not coming until the end.

After 40 days the tempter came to him again and offered Jesus the three famous temptations; turn the stones to bread to feed His hunger, bow before the devil to inherit the world, and put God to the test by throwing Himself off of a tall tower. Of course we know, Jesus claims a great victory in resisting the temptations but this whole period of ‘the wilderness experience’ is often portrayed as a time of great struggle and almost weakness for Jesus. Indeed, that is why the term ‘wilderness experience’ is often used to describe a time of struggle we may be going through in our relationship with God.

Willard is suggesting that this completely the wrong way to be looking at this. He suggests that the time in the wilderness was one of great strength for Jesus. And even a time where Jesus grew in strength. It wasn’t the case that Satan approached Jesus to try and tempt Him when He was at His lowest point. Far from it, it was only when Jesus was at His strongest that the tempter was allowed, given permission, to approach Him. For we know that Satan has to ask permission from the Father to approach us, and the Father only allows as much as we can handle.

It seems that the time of fasting, solitude, and no doubt, much prayer and meditation in the wilderness gave Jesus the strength He needed to overcome the devils evil schemes. We know that Jesus spent much time in the wilderness ( Luke 5:16) and excising the Spiritual Disciplines. If Jesus needed to do this then how much more do we?

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