Breakthrough Miracle Power: A 3-Day Plan by Passion Sample

MIRACLE

PASSAGE // Luke 5:17-26

Miracles are what happens when our inability meets God’s unlimited power. The beginning of our brokenness is when miracles become possible. The end of our rope is where the miraculous story starts.

Consider the man in Luke 5. Not only spiritually broken, but physically. So broken he couldn’t get to Christ. Jesus had been healing people all morning. He was in the paralytic’s neighborhood. This man’s friends were determined by faith to find a way to get him in front of Jesus, so they devised a plan. In the middle of Jesus’ message, the roof began to give way. Debris was entering the room as this paralyzed man was lowered in before the miracle-working Savior. Every person had their eyes fixed on this man, eagerly expecting to see him healed. For the first time, he was truly hopeful of walking again and was sitting before the only One who could make it happen.

Jesus spoke. “Friend, your sins are forgiven.”

What? That’s not what Jesus was supposed to do. He was supposed to make him walk again. Jesus had been healing people all morning. This isn’t what the man and his friends came for – they came for a miracle! While they may have missed it in the moment, Jesus had just given this man the greatest miracle… forgiveness. Right standing with Almighty God. This man moved from death to life. He came looking for physical healing and left with spiritual cleansing. He came hoping for a better life and left experiencing Life Himself.

While Jesus began with the greatest miracle of giving forgiveness, He didn’t stop there. The man who was carried in on a mat walked out carrying his mat. Jesus healed Him physically too. The physical healing proved the reality of the spiritual cleansing. Jesus may give you the physical miracle you’re hoping for. However, what’s most important to Him is that we don’t miss the greatest miracle. The miracle of moving from death to life.

There’s nothing we can do on our own to merit the forgiveness of God. There’s nothing we can do to give ourselves life. That’s what it means to be spiritually dead, and that’s why only Jesus can bring us to life. May we not miss this in our prayer before God. What we bring to the table is our brokenness, and He brings His power. We bring our sin; He brings His unrelenting love. We offer our mess; He gives us His grace. Jesus is our greatest miracle.