So thankful God’s Word transcends time and is always relevant through encouragement, instruction, a history of spiritual growth, reminder, or even reproof.
Below is a post from June 27, 2012. I have grown from that time (or at least I want to think so 😊), but there is always room for improvement!
“The Spirit spoke directly in our prayer meetings a few months ago. He said: “…I am teaching you to ask for the miraculous…” I have been meditating on it ever since. I am probably still in first grade in the School of Miraculous Asking, but thankful to be enrolled!
“One thing I have learned about things of the Spirit is the older I get, the less I really know. Life’s experiences have been rich and educational, offering much to draw on, but there is always another facet of Truth that opens a new vista of certainty to explore and learn. Thus, my elementary foundation in learning to ask for the miraculous. It’s called when zero is zero.
“What can be more miraculous than true salvation? Nothing! In a genuine, born-again salvation experience, the weight of sin is gone, and life takes about-face—instantly; old things have passed away, and all things become new (cf. 2 Corinthians 5:17). That is a miracle. And in that miracle, what was the backcloth in asking? Destituteness.
“When I asked for my salvation miracle, I was so lacking, impoverished, and destitute in my spirit that there was nothing left to look to or draw from personally. I was at rock bottom—when zero was zero—and where there was nothing left. No “rainy day” fund, no secret stash, no cookie jar to break—there was nothing left. Now, 31 years later [remember, this is 2012], I understand that feeling as foundational in asking for the miraculous.
“In asking for miracles, there can be no plan B, no hidden coffer to pull from, and no fallback strategy; either the Lord answers the prayer, or it doesn’t happen. It is simply practicing Matthew 5:3, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” The word poor “…is very graphic and appropriate here, as denoting the utter spiritual destitution, the consciousness of which precedes the entrance into the kingdom of God and which cannot be relieved by one's efforts but only by the free mercy of God” (Vincent).
“Therefore, I ask, knowing that zero is zero to my efforts but that my zero is infinite to Him.”
Today, 11 years later, I am grateful for the reminder.
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Photo by Jeremy Perkins on Unsplash