miracles

the offering

Posted on by Grace Day

How did one boy’s lunch become a feast that fed five thousand men, plus all the women and children that were with them? Simple. He gave all he had, his whole lunch – five small barley loaves and two small fish – these he gave to Jesus. It was not nearly enough to meet the need of feeding the hungry crowd gathered to hear what Jesus had to say. But the boy surrendered his lunch anyway, though it seemed as nothing compared with so great a need.

BUT – “Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish. When they had all had enough to eat, He said to His disciples, ‘Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted.’ So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten.” (John 6:11-13)

They all had “enough to eat” and there were leftovers! That’s what I meant by “a feast.” There was plenty for everyone. A miracle! Could it be miracles happen when we give everything to God? when we hold nothing back? The boy that day gave his whole lunch to Jesus. He held nothing back for himself. Am I brave enough to do likewise?

That young boy didn’t have much to give that day on the hillside. I don’t feel like I do either, most days – have much to give that is. Jesus took that boy’s little and turned it into a lot. He turned it into not just enough, but more than enough. Truly a miracle amid the mundane of the day. Maybe that’s how it works – the offering precedes the miracle? I give myself to God – then He takes the offering of my life and does the impossible – complete transformation – a miracle!

Lord, I don’t have much to offer You. I give You my brokenness. I offer You all of me, all that I am, trusting You to put me back together – to make me whole.

Lord, I give You all my fears, trusting You to make me courageous.

“For God did not give us a spirit of fear, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.” (2 Timothy 1:7)

Lord, I give all my pain and sadness to You, trusting Your presence to be my comfort and my joy.

“The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.” (Psalm 34:10)

“You turned my wailing into dancing; You removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy,” (Psalm 30:11)

Lord, I’ve been burned. I bring You the ashes of my life, knowing only You can make something beautiful out of ugly ashes.

“The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord . . . has sent me . . . to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes,” (Isaiah 61:3)

Lord, I give you my despair, knowing only You can replace it with hope.

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” (Romans 15:13)

Lord, I give you all my doubts, asking You to fill me with faith, for You have said –

“I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” (Matthew 17:20-21)

Lord, it doesn’t seem like I have much to offer to You, besides my sin and my shame. But still, You invite me to offer even this to You, saying –

” ‘Come now, let us reason together,’ says the Lord. ‘Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.’ ” (Isaiah 1:18)

There’s that miraculous transformation that only You can do Lord. Just like the little boy and his lunch – it wasn’t nearly enough but You made it more than enough. Today, I offer you my broken, weary, doubtful, fearful, sinful self – knowing only You, Lord, can make something eternal and good out of what is temporal and sinful. You are the miracle worker, so I bring my offering to You alone. You invite me to do just this with these words –

“Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30)

today I offer you myself, all that I have, all that I am – not nearly enough – trusting You to take what I offer and make it into something beautiful for eternity –

“being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry in on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 1:6)

sincerely, Grace Day

believing God for the unbelievable

Posted on by Grace Day

Abraham did. I want to do that too. But it’s hard – really hard sometimes. My problem is (well, ok I have lots of them, “them” being problems) but pertaining to this issue my problem is that I am walking/living by sight even though God’s word is clear – I am to walk by faith. And my sight isn’t all that great anymore anyhow, so walking by faith makes more sense than it ever has. BUT – walking by faith takes guts. Walking by faith takes unwavering courage when everything around you demands that you doubt what God has told you in His living Word to believe.

Such was the situation for Abraham. God called Abraham and made him a fantastical (is that a word?) promise. God asked Abraham to believe the unbelievable.

the call? –

“The Lord had said to Abram, ‘Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you.’ ” (Genesis 12:1)

the promise? –

“I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” (Genesis 12:2-3)

the problem? –

“But Abram said, ‘O Sovereign Lord, what can You give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?’ And Abram said, ‘You have given me no children; so a servant in my household will be my heir.’ ” (Genesis 15:2-3)

You see the problem now, don’t you, dear readers? Abraham didn’t have any children. He had only one wife, Sarah, (in those days men often had multiple wives) and she was barren, which is to say, infertile. So they had no children and now they were both old, way beyond the childbearing years. And yet God had the audacity to tell Abraham this –

the promise repeated –

“Then the word of the Lord came to him: ‘This man will not be your heir, but a son coming from your own body will be your heir.’ He (God) took him (Abraham) outside and said, ‘Look up at the heavens and count the stars – if indeed you can count them.’ Then He said to him, ‘So shall your offspring be.’ ” (Genesis 15:4-5)

Just imagine it – a childless old man, Abraham, with an old and barren wife, being told that he was going to have a biological child with his wife and not only that (as if one child wouldn’t be miracle enough) BUT – also, his descendants would be as numerous as the stars in the sky, which are too numerous to count! Unlikely? Unrealistic? Unbelievable? And yet Abraham believed God! Abraham believed despite the reality of his current circumstances. Abraham believed God for the unbelievable. How do I know this? I read Abraham’s response to God in Genesis 15:6 –

“Abram believed the Lord, and He credited it to him as righteousness.”

Abraham believed God for the unbelievable! And time went by. Still no children. Abraham was now ninety-nine years old. Things don’t seem to be moving in the right direction if his descendants are to be as numerous as the stars. BUT – God is faithful to fulfill His promises!

God’s covenant confirmed –

“When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to him and said, ‘I am God Almighty, walk before Me and be blameless. I will confirm My covenant between Me and you and will greatly increase your numbers.’ Abram fell facedown, and God said to him, ‘As for Me, this is My covenant with you: You will be the father of many nations. No longer will you be called Abram; your name will be Abraham, for I have made you a father of many nations. I will make you very fruitful; I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you.’ ” (Genesis 17:1-6)

What must Abraham have thought about God’s promise to make him “very fruitful” even though he and Sarah continued to remain childless? It just didn’t seem possible. And yet –

“God also said to Abraham, ‘As for Sarai your wife, you are no longer to call her Sarai; her name will be Sarah. I will bless her and will surely give you a son by her. I will bless her so that she will be the mother of nations; kings of peoples will come from her.’ ” (Genesis 17:15-16)

Abraham doubts –

“Abraham fell facedown; he laughed and said to himself, ‘Will a son be born to a man a hundred years old? Will Sarah bear a child at the age of ninety?’ ” (Genesis 17:17)

God reassures –

“Then God said, ‘Yes, but your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you will call him Isaac. I will establish My covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him.’ ” (Genesis 17:19)

And so it happened just as God had promised –

“Now the Lord was gracious to Sarah as He had said, and the Lord did for Sarah what He had promised. Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the very time God had promised him. Abraham gave the name Isaac to the son Sarah bore him.” (Genesis 21:1-3)

So, mission accomplished, right? Well, their son was a miraculous gift from God. However, one child seems like a long way off from the promise of descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky. Still, Abraham believed God even when his faith was put to another test only a few years later. God asked Abraham to sacrifice his only son, Isaac. God was testing Abraham’s trust and obedience. God’s request made no sense, given that Abraham’s descendants were supposed to be “as numerous as the stars” and Isaac was Abraham’s one and only descendant at this time.

But Abraham obeyed God and headed up the mountain with Isaac and wood for the fire. Abraham believed God in spite of his current situation and obeyed God’s instructions for the sacrifice of his only son, Isaac. It was then that an angel of the Lord intervened saying –

” ‘Do not lay a hand on the boy,’ he said. ‘Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from Me your son, your only son.’ ” (Genesis 22:12)

then God repeats His promise to Abraham –

” ‘I swear by Myself,’ declares the Lord, ‘that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed Me.’ ” (Genesis 22:

Abraham had God’s promise. He believed God for the unbelievable – descendants as numerous as the stars and the grains of sand even though he had only one child with Sarah, Isaac. One would think having many children would predict a better fulfillment of God’s promise, but Abraham trusted God to do the impossible. Fast forward several generations later – Isaac had twin sons, Essau and Jacob. Jacob had twelve sons and they all had families – Abraham’s descendants are increasing. They all ended up in Egypt because of a famine and we read this about them in Exodus –

“The descendants of Jacob numbered seventy in all;” – that’s when they arrived in Egypt. Next we read – “Now Joseph and all his brothers and all that generation died, but the Israelites were fruitful and multiplied greatly and became exceedingly numerous, so that the land was filled with them.” (Genesis 1:5,7)

The increasing numbers of Abraham’s descendants caused the current king of Egypt to fear them and so he enslaved them, oppressing them with forced labor. But Exodus 1:12-13 tells us what happened to the Israelites during the time they were slaves in Egypt.

“But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread; so the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites and worked them ruthlessly.”

It looks like God’s promise to Abraham is coming true. Abraham’s descendants are becoming more numerous, even when conditions are less than good for them under Egyptian rule. The Israelites, Abraham’s descendants, would eventually leave Egypt, only to wander in the desert for forty years, before settling in their homeland. The number of Abraham’s descendants continued to increase through wars, through exile to Babylon, to the time of Christ’s birth and continues to grow to this day. God is still fulfilling His original promise to Abraham today.

Remember that God told Abraham – “all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”? Well, that part of the promise was realized when Jesus, the Messiah, the Savior of the world was born. Jesus was born through Abraham’s line of descendants. That’s what God meant when He told Abraham that all people would be blessed through him. Through Abraham’s descendants, God’s blessing of a Redeemer for all mankind came.

I’m glad a childless old man, with an old and barren wife, believed God for the unbelievable – that his descendants would be too numerous to count and that all nations would be blessed because of him. Abraham not only believed BUT – “So Abram left, as the Lord had told him;” – he left his country, his people, his father’s household and followed God.

I don’t know about you, dear readers, but I want to believe God for the unbelievable things in my life that will happen when I, like Abraham, believe God for the unbelievable and take the action that God calls me to take. God’s call to Abraham was clear.

“Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you.” (Genesis 12:1)

God’s call to me is no less clear today. I just need to turn the volume down on everything else, listen and respond. The number of Abraham’s descendants is continuing to grow larger day by day in fulfillment of God’s original promise to him. You and I have the opportunity to be part of that promise as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the grains of sand on the beach, because we know –

“If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.” (Galatians 3:29)

You and I are God’s heirs! We can believe God for the unbelievable! Like Abraham, I will not believe in my circumstances determining the outcome. I will believe instead in God’s promises, which are always true!

“I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!” (Mark 9:24)

sincerely, Grace Day

out of the ashes

Posted on by Grace Day

I don’t know about you, but I’ve been burned. I’ve been burned more often than I would want to acknowledge and I have the scars to prove it. I’ve flirted with fire, I’ve played with fire, I’ve been in the fire, surrounded by flames and consumed by the fire. I have walked through fire and by God’s grace come through the flames, but not unscathed. It is no wonder that at this point I feel I am more ash than flesh. I am a hot mess for sure!

What hope is there for those of us who have been reduced to ashes by life’s unavoidable fiery trials? Can we ever be whole and productive again? I have nothing to give to God but my scars and my ashes. What can He possibly make of my life from this worthless offering of my scars and my ashes? It is nothing. It is not enough. Ashes are an end result, not raw material for a new beginning. Or are they?

Job knew something about fiery trials, ashes and being covered with unsightly scars. (well in his case they were sores or boils, like that’s any better than burn scars) Job had lost everything. He was literally sitting among the ashes. He had nothing to offer God but his ashy self and his sores. What could God possibly do with such a pitiful offering? Well, Job believed that God could do something very good with his life. In the midst of his suffering, with no end in sight, Job said this about God –

“But He knows the way that I take; when He has tested me, I will come forth as gold.” (Job 23:10)

Can gold come from ashes and sores? That would be a miracle. And a miracle is the only answer for a situation such as Job’s. Fortunately for me, my Heavenly Father is in the miracle business. He is a God of miracles. Nothing is too hard for Him.

“Ah, Sovereign Lord, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for You.” (Jeremiah 32:17)

“Jesus looked at them and said, ‘With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.’ ” (Matthew 19:26)

In the hands of my Heavenly Father, maybe my ashes can be resurrected into something useful and beautiful. If I give Him my ashes, will He give me something better in return? I think Isaiah has something to say about this. In Isaiah 61, I read about what God is able to do, what He wants to do and indeed what He will do for me. (and for you, too, dear readers) God desires –

“to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion – to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair.” (Isaiah 61:2-3)

That seems like a really good trade-in to me. I give God all I have to give, which at this point is mostly just scars and ashes, that’s what’s left after life’s many fires, and in return, He gives me a crown of beauty. Why wouldn’t I take God up on this offer? Do I think it too good to be true? Certainly ashes and scars are not sufficient raw material out of which to fashion something beautiful. And yet I am promised a “crown of beauty.” If I think that what I offer up to God is not enough for Him to be able to do His work, I would be right and I would be wrong simultaneously. My offering is not enough (it never is) BUT that fact does not stop God from doing the impossible and making something beautiful out of my ashes. He alone can do such a miraculous thing!

Reminds me of someone else who didn’t have much to offer, not nearly enough to meet the current need, but he offered up what little he had to Jesus anyway. He trusted Jesus and let go of what he thought would sustain just himself, only to see his offering become enough to feed five thousand plus people, with plenty left over. This shows me that God –

“is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us,” (Ephesians 3:20)

And that is just what Jesus did that day on the mountainside when He fed a multitude of hungry people. They didn’t just receive enough food to tide them over until they could return home, they ate until they were full and there was still food left over – twelve basketfuls to be exact. The people hoped only for a little food to assuage their hunger. But Jesus wanted to fill them up and He did exactly that. It’s like what the Psalmist said about God as our Provider –

“The eyes of all look to You and You give them their food at the proper time. You open Your hand and satisfy the desires of every living thing.” (Psalm 145:15-16)

God always exceeds my meager human expectations. I’m like the paralytic who desired only a physical healing, but received from Jesus forgiveness of his sins and eternal life – much more than he initially asked for or ever thought to ask of Jesus! I think God exceeded Job’s expectations too. Job had nothing left of all his former wealth to offer to God, but look how Job’s story ended. Job said to God –

” ‘My ears had heard of You but now my eyes have seen You. Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes.’ . . . After Job had prayed for his friends, the Lord made him prosperous again and gave him twice as much as he had before. . . . The Lord blessed the latter part of Job’s life more than the first. . . . After this, Job lived a hundred and forty years; he saw his children and their children to the fourth generation. And so he died, old and full of years.” (Job 42:5, 10, 12 & 16-17)

Jesus certainly exceeded expectations that day on the mountainside when He fed a multitude of hungry people with just five small loaves and two small fish. That story had a better than expected, miraculous ending as well.

“Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, spoke up, ‘Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?’ Jesus said, ‘Have the people sit down.’ . . . the men sat down, about five thousand of them. Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish. When they had all had enough to eat, He said to His disciples, ‘Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted.’ So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten.” (John 6:8-13)

Out of five small loaves and two small fish Jesus provided a feast for five thousand men (and who knows how many women and children) and had twelve basketfuls of excess food left over. If I will just offer to Him my scars and my ashes, I’m pretty sure He can make something beautiful out of what I bring to Him, even though it’s not much to work with. In Isaiah He says –

” ‘Come now, let us reason together,’ says the Lord. ‘Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.’ ” (Isaiah 1:18)

Yes, that’s the miracle transformation I am looking for, the miracle that I desire. And my Heavenly Father is the only one that can perform such a miracle. He is in the transformation business. In Isaiah I read these words –

“This is what the Lord says – He who made a way through the sea, a path through the mighty waters, . . . ‘Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland.’ ” (Isaiah 43:16, 18-19)

My Heavenly Father is the only One who can do a new thing in me, with me, for me – He alone can perform the miracle that is needed to turn my ashes into beauty. I can’t do anything with my ashes, but my Creator can and He will if I give every last scar and ash to Him. I am going to take Him up on His offer.

I can trade my scarlet garments for those white as wool. All my righteousness is as filthy rags BUT –

“He has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness,” (Isaiah 61:10)

My Heavenly Father will certainly replace the ashes of my life with His crown of beauty and I will say with Job –

“when He has tested me, I will come forth as gold.”

out of the ashes – gold! something to look forward to with certain hope because God keeps His promises . . .

sincerely, Grace Day