Steps to Your Miracle

A number of years ago, Joyce and I wrote the book, Miracles are Still Happening, in which we recount many of the miracles we have experienced in our daily lives and ministry.

After reading this book, Joyce Meyer wrote: "These inspiring stores recount God’s miraculous intervention in Dr. and Mrs. Gills’ daily lives. Each incident offers an excellent example of God’s love, abundant provision, and perfect timing. As you read and reread Miracles Are Still Happening, you will be encouraged to stand firm on your faith and believe God for your miracle!"

In the chapter on Ingredients to a Miracle, we give twelve steps to a miracle from our own experiences that we would like to share with you.

Understand There Are Causes and Effects

Most things don’t just happen. If we don’t understand the cause of our situation, we need to ask God for supernatural knowledge and understanding. Facing ourselves honestly is important. We need to ask God “Why am I in this situation? Have I been disobedient? How did I miss you? What do I need to learn, repent of, or change in my life?”

Forgive Others and Ourselves

Forgiveness is an act of the will, not an emotion. We choose to forgive, regardless of how hurt we have been, how despicable the other person or persons are, or how tragic the situation is. We must forgive others and ourselves. We may even have to consciously release anger or bitterness that we have been harboring against God and ask His forgiveness for it if we feel He let something happen that He could have prevented. Jesus said, "Whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses" (Mark 11:25-26). We cannot walk in the miraculous power of God and have unforgiveness in our lives. One is contrary to the other.

Meditate on God’s Word Regarding Your Need

To meditate means to spend time thinking about, to ponder, and to contemplate. It means to think about what the Word has said and to ask yourself, “What does this mean to me? How do I apply it to my life?” It means to visualize God’s Word working and becoming a reality in your life. The Lord said to Joshua, "This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success" (Joshua 1:8)

Ask for Direction Expecting to Hear from God

Instead of rushing headlong into a situation, we should first ask God what we are to do. The Word says God hears our request for His help

and that He answers us, so we need to develop an attitude of expecting to hear from God. David wrote, "The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD, and He delights in his way (Psalm 37:23) And the Lord says to us, I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will guide you with My eye" (Psalm 32:8).

Take Time to Listen and Hear God’s Voice

Just as we must stop in the rush of life to hear what another has to say, we must stop and take time to listen to God. We can hear the voice of God through His Word and also when He speaks to our spirit. Isaiah wrote, "Your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, 'This is the way, walk in it'” (Isaiah 30:21).

Faith Comes by Hearing God’s Word

Faith comes by hearing, and hearing the Word of God. True faith isn’t based on what another person says. A person’s testimony brings hope, but faith is based on knowing what God’s Word says about our situation. Abraham is our greatest example of faith. "Not being weak in faith, he did not consider his own body, already dead (since he was about a hundred years old), and the deadness of Sarah’s womb. He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform" (Romans 4:19-21).

Believe What God Has Spoken

What God has written in the Bible is for you, for me, for each individual. Take God’s Word and apply it to your own situation. Meditate on a verse, and reword it to apply to yourself. For example, “Jesus said to me (Kathy or Joe or Alice) ‘If you can believe, all things are possible to you when you believe.’”

Write Down What God Has Spoken

When we take time to write down what God has said through His Word or personally to us, and how it applies to us, it makes that word more a part of our being. The prophet Habakkuk wrote, "Then the LORD answered me and said: “Write the vision and make it plain on tablets, that he may run who reads it” (Habakkuk 2:2).

Boldly Declare What God Has Spoken

When faith comes, it speaks. It tells others. Faith doesn’t keep quiet “in case it doesn’t work.” Paul wrote about faith speaking, "But the righteousness of faith speaks in this way…But what does it say?"

“The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is the word of faith which we preach): that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation" (Romans 10:5,8-10).

Obey! Act! Do It!

We read in Deuteronomy, "It is not in heaven, that you should say, “Who will ascend into heaven for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?” Nor is it beyond the sea, that you should say, “Who will go over the sea for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?” But the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may do it" (Deuteronomy 30:12-14).

Then Samuel said: “Has the L ORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD?

"Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry.” (1 Samuel 15:22-23).

Have Patience

Most of the situations we have gotten ourselves into didn’t happen in a moment of time, and they may take time to change. Many times, this is because it takes us time to change. If we were to receive an instant answer, we might do the same thing again.

God will use the situation to change us before He changes the situation. God has spoken to us often through the following Scriptures. Wait on the LORD; be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart; wait, I say, on the LORD! (Psalm 27:14).

"Therefore do not cast away your confidence, which has great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise: “For yet a little while, and He who is coming will come and will not tarry.” (Hebrews 10:35-37).

Give Thanks!

We should start giving thanks to the Lord at all times, not just when we see miracles. Giving thanks before the answer comes is an act of faith. It helps us see how small our problems are in light of who God is.

The Psalms are full of praise. "It is good to give thanks to the L ORD , and to sing praises to Your name, O Most High" (Psalm 92:1)

Joyce and I are praying for you that you will receive your miracle and that you too will experience miracles in your daily life and ministry.

Read the complete article on Steps to your Miracle

Joyce and A.L. highly recommend that if you haven’t read Miracles are Still Happening , you order your copy and copies for your friends right away.

In the Forward of the book, George Otis wrote: "Thousands of miracles
along Galilee, flowing from the touch of Jesus, heralded the birth
of Christianity. Was this awesome display of God’s power to be just a
one-time phenomena? During Jesus’ final days of earth, He said to us,
“I give you power over all the power of the enemy” and, “Greater things
shall you do than Me, as I go to be with the Father.” The small company
of His disciples and apostles then went forth with miracles and wonders
bursting in their footsteps, and “turned the world upside down.”

This book highlights the truth that God continues to use miracles to show
His love and to ignite revival fires. His presence and His power must
now be acted upon by each of us to bring in this last great harvest.