Unspectacular miracles

And when he had taken the five loaves and the two fishes, he looked up to heaven, and blessed, and brake the loaves, and gave them to his disciples to set before them; and the two fishes divided he among them all (Mark 6:41, KJV)

A miracle in simple terms is a natural result or occurrence that is beyond the laws of nature. For example a woman at 91 who was barren and now many years in menopause cannot have children naturally. Sarah, Abraham’s wife, had a child at 91. It was a natural result or occurrence, but it was naturally abnormal. It is a super-natural occurrence. Your life as a believer is meant to be supernatural every day. However, there is a common misconception that hinders many of us from fully acknowledging and walking in the supernatural. It is what I have called “unspectacular miracles” above.

Unconsciously, many of us have a notion that the supernatural or miraculous should be spectacular or dramatic. This misconception is worse amongst charismatics, for obvious reasons! In a heated Spirit-charged meeting, the expectation is usually seeing some drama or spectacle, such as people falling, shouting, shaking, etc. Yes, I believe in all of these things and they do occur many times beyond our control when the Spirit has the freedom to move. However, the truth is that there is a substantial part of the miraculous in our lives which are not dramatic or spectacular. If we fail to recognize God in these things, we will miss a significant portion of the moving of His Spirit.

A case I chose to illustrate this is the feeding of the 5,000. I want you to picture the event. It occurred without any dramatic or spectacular event. Jesus did not even pray a super-spritual prayer. He made the people sit down, took the 5 loaves and two fish, and blessed them and then gave them to His disciples who began distributing. They only realized that the bread and fish were not running out. The miracle was occurring without any drama. The event was the multiplication of bread, but it occurred in a naturally abnormal way, that is, supernatural!

There are miracles like this in our lives. The reason this truth is very important is that we have to learn to recognize God without the loud music of a worship service or the shakings or falling down around us. If we fail to recognize God, we will not cooperate with Him. We will take many things for granted without realizing they were miracles because they occurred so naturally. God works both in the spectacular and dramatic as well as in the unspectacular. Be sensitive enough to recognize Him in any what that He chooses to show up in your life.

MEDITATE

Can you think of another case of an unspectacular manifestation of the supernatural in the Bible? A glaring example is that of Elijah in 1 Ki 19:11-13.

APPLY THE WORD

Did you know that Jesus, who is the very glory of God, did not have some halo or light around Him when He was moving around? There was nothing naturally distinctive about Him. He looked like every other Jewish man except that when He speaks or acts, the results or outcomes clearly demonstrated He was not normal, but supernatural! That is your life! Do not wait to enjoy the presence of God only when the worship leader is up there on stage on Sunday with that soft melodious song that melts your heart. You can be teaching in that class, without an evangelical team or loud speakers, but the words you say to those kids or your actions are piercing their hearts and transforming their lives. Be conscious of who you are. You are called to be supernatural every single minute!