i was talking with a good friend a couple years back about miracles, specifically about praying for the sick. i was halfway thru telling him about someone i prayed for who God healed, & there was a detail i mentioned about what i prayed that really struck him…& it was so insignificant to me i can’t even remember it now. but i do remember his response: “how come nobody teaches us this kind of stuff?”

now i know people get in all kinds of intellectual debates over this kind of thing, but it never occurred to me that most believers probably WOULD step out in faith for miracles if they just had someone showing them how. cuz we all get in situations sooner or later where we absolutely need a miracle. with everything else in life, we’re used to reading the directions on stuff or watching a youtube how-to video or taking a class, & then going for it trial-&-error style until we get it. but obviously, miracles don’t work that way at all. there is no learning curve & no gray areas. either heaven moves on your behalf, or you fall flat on your face.

luke 9.1-6 Then He called His twelve disciples together and gave them power and authority over all demons, and to cure diseases. He sent them to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick. And He said to them, “Take nothing for the journey, neither staffs nor bag nor bread nor money; and do not have two tunics apiece. “Whatever house you enter, stay there, and from there depart. And whoever will not receive you, when you go out of that city, shake off the very dust from your feet as a testimony against them.” So they departed and went through the towns, preaching the gospel and healing everywhere.

so here Jesus was sending his disciples out to minister on their own for the first time ever. & he focused all his how-to instructions on everything BUT healing. where to stay, what to bring, how to enter & leave a city. the healing part was just a simple matter of him giving them authority, & then saying “do it.”

now course they had just had the benefit of watching him heal the sick & drive out demons for about 18 months previous. and you could guess that maybe he gave them a full behind-the-scenes course that never got written about. but…if you stick with only what’s written in the gospels, you really would conclude that Jesus sent them out cold. especially because before this point they had no authority over sickness or disease or demons. they had to go from 0 to 80 in terms of ministering a supernatural gospel – literally overnight. and when they came back, they were unanimously blown away with the success God gave all of them. it worked!

so what was it that actually worked? clearly, the authority Jesus gave them over sickness & over unclean spirits worked. & clearly, they all did what they were told, & prayed for the impossible cases. authority from heaven, & then simple guts & faith & follow-thru on earth. so…what kinds of things would you move out in faith for – if you knew Jesus had personally given you that authority & told you to do it? if you really wanted that authority, i could show you 20-30 passages from the Bible proving it was all yours.

& then, what if you knew there was no HOW-TO manual available, you just had to go for it? >>