Continue to Believe

The disciples saw Jesus do many other miraculous signs in addition to the ones recorded in this book. But these are written so that you may continue to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing in him you will have life by the power of his name. ~ John 20:30,31 NLT

Do you believe God still performs miracles? I do. And it is clear that the Apostle John believed that miracles were signs to believers, not unbelievers, so that we continue to believe in his power to hear and answer our prayers. Only by continuing to believe will we reach the fullness of life we were created to live.

My NLT Bible suggests that along with these lines in John 20 (above), we might read what the apostle wrote in 1 John 5:13-15. “I have written this to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know you have eternal life. 14 And we are confident that he hears us whenever we ask for anything that pleases him. 15 And since we know he hears us when we make our requests, we also know that he will give us what we ask for.”

It appears from the 1 John verses that we are to live with confident hope that because our loving Lord hears us, he also wants to answer all of our prayers that “please” him – even though the answers might seem miraculous to us.
 
Many of us are becoming confident that we are in relationship with a God who loves us so much that he would die to restore that relationship. Where does our faith grow from there?

In the last six weeks, I have personally witnessed two miracles of physical healing. The first was for my friend, who after suffering agonizing pain from traumatic brain injury, finally reached out to God to miraculously heal her and stop the pain that had attacked her for several years. He did. She was able to sleep through the night without pain meds for the first time in years and is still pain free.

The second just occurred last week. Another friend’s daughter had her first baby, a boy who was rushed from her arms after a long delivery and placed in neo-natal intensive care in an excellent children’s hospital. An echocardiogram had shown his heart’s aorta was too small to allow adequate blood flow. People prayed. Two days later, a second echocardiogram showed his heart was perfect. No problem at all. There was no doubt that God had miraculously healed him.

So that leads me to question, "Do I have the kind of faith that leads me to live my life 'by the power of Jesus’ name'?" In this “new” time, after the Resurrection, what if all of us, as believers in Jesus, trusted that God hears us when we pray and will answer every prayer that pleases him, even if that means by a miracle? What would prevent us from having that kind of faith? Join me in making time to sit down with the Lord and ask him what he wants us to know about that.
 
Whatever the answer, I sense that the Lord is waiting for us to confidently come to him so he can show us more of his compassion and love.  Perhaps, in getting better at receiving his love, our faith may have no boundaries.

Dear friends, be blessed with continuing joy as you trust you can come to your loving, compassionate Lord to receive answers to your prayers.  May you grow more and more in love with Jesus through the power of his name. Amen.

Mary Sumner ~ April 26, 2022