Last week I posted about Christmas being about redemption and reconciliation and I want to continue and share how the pain you are going through can be used to become your biggest asset! Any pastor of a church will tell you that the holiday season isn’t all that Merry for most families. In fact, more divorce and bankruptcies are filed in January and February than any other month and usually stem from the final straw that happens over the Holidays. God not only desires for redemption and reconciliation this holiday season but He wants us to know that we are not alone in the pain we are feeling (Romans 5:3-5) and that if given then chance by you, He can work a miracle in and through you. We have all heard about “Christmas Miracles”. I believe that is because there are so any people suffering this time of year and those who believe, receive. I declare that Christmas is also the season of miracles and that I serve a God of Miracles! ( 2 Chronicles 7:14-15)
The God of Miracles
If I am being honest, this is a area that I had little or no faith in the past. I used to read about the miracles that Jesus or the disciples did in the Bible and I would shrug it off as something that didn’t happen. I finally know the reason that I didn’t believe. I firmly believe the reason we don’t see miracles every day is that we are too far removed from Christ that He can’t do anything for us. Think back to the New and the Old Testament. The vast majority of all the families of the land were born and raised in a family that grew up teaching and obeying the law of God and Moses, knowing God and after Jesus came, they were FANATICAL about His teachings. These people lived by and for God daily. I am convinced that if we lived that same way today, not only would more miracles occur daily, the world would be a better place. The evil one seeks to lie, steal and destroy what God has for us and WANTS to give us. With what I have seen this year, no one will ever be able to tell me that miracles cannot and do not happen every day. I’ve seen addicts freed from such bondage that destroyed generations of families until the Holy Spirt showed up! I’ve seen crippling anger turned to joy, so much so that feelings of anger now feel so alien that they are easily turned away! I’ve seen stage 4 cancer disappear over a period of 4 weeks. I’ve seen families restored that have been broken for years because God was finally allowed to work in the hearts of sinners and change the hearts of those that had been hurt. I’ve seen prodigal spouses return after years of denying that they ever would. I’ve seen mental health restored when no medicine in the world worked. And even if I never witnessed any of that, what God as done for me personally and my family, that is enough for me to believe in miracles. I’ve lived a life where most people wouldn’t believe the story if I told them. If God can change the heart of a disgraceful “Christian” like myself, that is enough for me. God heals because He loves. He heals even when we sin directly against Him. With all that I’ve seen and lived through, the miracles are too good to not believe in God. Don’t you ever tell me He can’t do it. The question is, do you believe that He can and will you allow Him to?
Be Pearl-like
We have all heard the saying “pearls of wisdom” but most of us never know how it came to be. One story that I heard recently seem to explain it 100%. Most people think pearls are perfect and made inside an oyster and that is what it was made to do. The reality is, just like us, oysters come under attack and have to stand firm and survive. If you google it, a pearl is actually a healed wound just like a scar for us is after we are cut. Pearls are a product of pain. The result of a foreign or unwanted substance entering the oyster, such as a parasite, infection, or a grain of sand. The pearl then must decide if it wants to give up or fight. To compensate, most oysters release a substance called Nacre. That substance is coated over the sand or the infection day after day to protect the defenseless insides of the oyster until finally the pearl is formed in its glorious and extravagant form. I think this is an amazing metaphor for life. In life we can too choose to fight to change and the finished product can be a thing of beauty that God uses for Good (Ephesians 3:20). What if your greatest ministry or purpose to others comes out of your greatest hurt? God never allows pain without a purpose. I believe the Holy Spirit acts like the chemical inside the oyster and coats us daily with encouragement, joy, love, discernment, and helps us fight battles that no earthly element, person, place, job, check book balance, or relationship can. But we must choose to understand that we are all sinners by nature ((Romans 3:10) and that we need God and His Holy Spirit to save us and help us turn from that sin (John 3:16-17 and Romans 5:8, Romans 1:18-32). The hard things we may be going through now are really nothing in comparison to the glory that will be revealed in us later (Romans 8:17-18). God can make a miracle out of your mess if you let Him.
Summary
Hearing the story of a pearl in a sermon this week once again gives me hope and faith in things that are unseen. God is always working even when we can’t see it just like the chemical in the oyster that makes things beautiful. God turns our sin and shame into glory as He forgives us, refines us through the pain and the “infection”. We are never alone if God is with us. If we can put our trust in God, believe that He is the God of the impossible, then we can truly see miracles happen in our life. Begin your day each morning living for God (Matthew 6:33) and let Him fight your battles and shine your pearls for you! As for me and my house, we will pray for and believe in miracles (Mathew 7:7, Mark 11:24)
