Miracle Needed – Apply Within

  Miracle Needed – Apply Within

Matthew 17: 18-20

18 And Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of him; and the child was cured from that very hour.

19 Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why could we not cast it out?”

20 So Jesus said to them, “Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you. 

   First off, if you don’t believe miracles are for the church today, you are free to stop reading.  You probably will not get anything from this devotional, but I sure would like you to read it anyway.  

   Still with me?  This passage from Matthew and a similar one from Luke 17 compare the level of faith needed to a mustard seed.  Have you ever seen one?  There are small, really small.  The mustard seed is not the smallest of all seeds, but it is the smallest that they would have known of in Israel so Jesus was using what was common to His listeners.  The mustard seed was the smallest they were familiar with.  The point Jesus is making here is the size of your faith and whether you can muster faith at least as big as this tiny seed. 

   He also is using a mountain in this illustration.  A mountain is a huge thing, whether we’re talking about a Himalayan mountain or an Appalachian mountain.  Moving a mountain by myself is logically impossible, but He claims that moving that impossible object is possible if I have faith the size of this tiny seed.  My mind then moves to ask myself what “mountains” I have in my life that needs moving. 

   I don’t have any actual dirt and rock mountains that need to be moved, but I have other quote-unquote “mountains” that do.   February 2013 I was working in the church with my Pastor when we both realized we came from families plagued by diabetes.  My sugar at that time was averaging as much as 200 points higher than what was considered normal by medical science.  So was his.  My mother died from complications of diabetes.  So did his.  He prayed for our mutual conditions and said he was expecting a miracle in our bodies.  Merriam-Webster defines “miracle” as:  an extraordinary event manifesting divine intervention in human affairs.  My doctor, who is a wonderful and caring physician, says that in his experience diabetes can be controlled but never reversed.  This is the truth of life and the result of many years of study by some very smart people.  Never can be reversed.  Never.  My doctor had been telling me many times that I could expect to be taking insulin injections within one or two years from my visit in January 2013. 

   After Pastor Jon prayed for me, I went home and the next morning I was eating breakfast and took out my pill organizer and stopped.  I was looking at the six pills I was scheduled to take that day, and every day, and asked myself if I believed what he had prayed over me.  Did I really have faith the size of a mustard seed to believe diabetes to be plucked up and removed from my life?  I decided I did and dumped the pills in the sink and washed them down the drain.  And I did it again every day until the ones in the organizer were gone.  

   During the remainder of February and the whole of March 2013 my blood sugar levels went even higher, but by April it began to fall.  And by February this year my A1C reading had dropped from 12.8 to 9.3 and I know with certainty it will drop to normal soon.  My doctor said the reading was “an anomaly” and not to get too excited.  Diabetes never reverses in the body. 

   I am here to say, “Yes it does!”  I am living proof it does and each day that goes by when I test my glucose levels I am happy to see this miracle happening right in front of my eyes.  Diabetes is submitting to the power of Jesus’ name.  This mountain was not removed all in one go, but it is being removed and taken out of my life.  I also had begun to try to eat better and prayed for myself saying that this was another mountain and it, too, needed to be removed.  Without any special diet regimen I have lost about ninety pounds.  I was taking between eight and twelve Ibuprofen tablets a day for arthritis pain.  Currently I am taking zero to four a day.  I was suffering asthma attacks on average of once a week.  I have not had one single attack since sometime last fall. 

   I declare that having a little faith really does move mountains.  I have seen several moving out of my life and it’s not just me; my wife has seen many obstacles in her life submit to Jesus’ name as well.    

   How about you?  What mountain is really big and scary that blocks your path?  If you have faith as small as a tiny mustard seed it will move out of your life.  I ask you to try it.  I beg you to try it.  I challenge you to try it.  Stretch your faith muscle and take the risk.  And keep in mind in Jesus’ lesson He does not say, “Speak to this mountain and God will come and move it.”  He says YOUR FAITH will move it.  Why live with mountains that have come into your life?  Speak to that mountain and say, with the authority of Jesus’ name, “Move out of my way!”

Stephen Cram                                                                  March 16, 2014                    

Daniel 1:8

But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king’s delicacies, nor with the wine which he drank; therefore he requested of the chief of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself.

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture is from the New King James Version of the Bible,