Devotions

The Old Testament is filled with God’s miracle-working power from the parting of the Red Sea, to God speaking to Moses from the burning bush, to Elijah calling down fire from heaven. All these were instantaneous miracles. The people involved could see and feel them happening. They are the kinds of miracles we want to see today, causing awe and wonder. We want God to rend the heavens, come down to our situation and fix things in a burst of heavenly power.

Much of God’s wonder-working power in his people’s lives, though, comes in what are called “progressive miracles.” These are miracles that are hardly discernable to the eye. They’re not accompanied by thunder, lightning or any visible movement. Progressive miracles start quietly, without fanfare and slowly but surely unfold.

Both kinds of miracles, instantaneous and progressive, were witnessed at Christ’s two feedings of the multitudes. The healings he performed were immediate, visible, easily discerned by those present on those days. I think of the crippled man with a gnarled body who suddenly had an outward, physical change so that he could run and leap. Here was a miracle that had to astonish and move all who saw it.

However, the feedings that Christ did were progressive miracles. Jesus offered up a simple prayer of blessing with no fire, thunder or earthquake. He merely broke the bread and the dried fish, never giving a sign or sound that a miracle was taking place. To feed that many people, there had to be thousands of breakings of that bread and those fish, all through the day. Every single piece of bread and fish was a part of the miracle.

This second way is how Jesus performs many of his miracles in his people’s lives today. We pray for instantaneous, visible wonders; but often our Lord is quietly at work, forming a miracle for us piece by piece. We may not be able to hear it or touch it, but he is at work, shaping our deliverance beyond what we can see.

It may be that you are waiting for a miracle. You’re discouraged because things seem to be at a standstill. You do not see any evidence of God’s supernatural work on your behalf. You may be in the middle of a miracle right now and simply not see it.

Jesus prayed for his disciples, “That that they all may be one, as you, Father, are in me, and I in you; that they also may be one in us… And the glory which you gave me I have given them, that they may be one just as we are one: I in them, and you in me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that you have sent me, and have loved them as you have loved me” (John 17:21-23, NKJV).

Jesus said, in essence, “The glory that you gave me, Father, I have given to them.” What is this glory that was given to Christ, and how do our lives reveal that glory? It is not some aura or emotion; it is unimpeded access to the heavenly Father. What an amazing thought!

Jesus made it easy for us to access through the cross to the Father. “He came and preached peace to you who were afar off and to those who were near. For through him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father” (Ephesians 2:17-18). By faith, we’ve come into a place of unimpeded access to God. We’re not like Esther in the Old Testament. She had to wait for a sign from the king before she could approach the throne. Only after he held out his scepter was Esther approved to come forward.

By contrast, you and I are already in the throne room. We have the right and privilege of speaking to the King at any time. Indeed, we’re invited to make any request of him. “Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:16).

Christ said, “I can do nothing on my own. I do only what the Father tells me and shows me” (see John 5:19). Today we have been given the same degree of access to the Father that Christ had. You may say, “Wait a minute. I have the same access to the Father that Jesus did?”

Make no mistake. Like Jesus, we’re to pray often and fervently, waiting on the Lord. In response, the Holy Spirit reveals to us the mind and will of the Father.

It can be confusing at times what role God plays in pain, hardship and suffering versus what is sin or the fall.

We see in scripture that God created a good earth and that everything he’d created in those six days was good. Then sin enters the scene, and much of the good is spoiled. Satan’s evil is part of this. I believe Satan has been given some leeway under the authority of God. God doesn't cause any of the evil that Satan does, but he has given Satan some leeway to have that hostility.

The evil of sin in the world isn’t just because of Satan, though. God specifically said to Adam and by extension all mankind, "…cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life. …By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return” (Genesis 3:17-19, ESV).

Because of Satan's evil and man's sin, God in his sovereignty allowed for an environment where there's going to be danger and chaos. He also made a plan for redeeming us and the world through us. “For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God” (Romans 8:19-21).

When I read this passage, I see God’s lordship and good eternal purposes still being enacted through a fallen world. I believe what happened in Genesis 3 was not an accident or plan B. I see it as a part of God's sovereign plan in order to manifest his fullness to humanity. Why? Because just one verse earlier, Paul wrote, “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us” (Romans 8:18).

When we contemplate suffering in the world, we must never lose sight of the fact that God doesn't exist for us. We exist for God. Because of this, he is glorified as we grow through sorrow and pain to better understand and worship the perfect goodness of who he is.

There was a time when I was pastoring in Canada, and an associate pastor told me that the motor in his car had just blown up. He sat across the desk from me, saying, “I don’t know what I am going to do. I don’t have any savings. I don’t know how I am going to buy groceries.”

“Well, let’s pray,” I so kindly offered. All the while, I was well aware that I had $6,000 in the bank. As I began to pray, this voice in the back of my head said, “You hypocrite! Stop praying. You know very well that you have what this man needs.” To be honest, I tried very hard to fight that thought. I attempted to keep praying, but it was as if my mouth was full of molasses that was getting thicker by the minute. Here was my brother in Christ, a godly man who was in need, and I had exactly what would help him. In my mind, I argued, “But, God, this money is all I have. What if I need it for my children? What about my car? It’s not new. What if it breaks down too?”

Finally, the Lord got a hold of me, and I went to the bank. I ended up withdrawing my savings, and I gave the funds to the associate pastor. I would like to be able to say that I left with joy after I put the money in his hand, but I didn’t. I simply did it by faith and in obedience to what I knew the voice of God had said.

It was soon after this that I left for eastern Canada and came back to find my house burned to the ground. So now I had lost my home, plus I had given my money away. Yet I chose to trust God, and he provided for my family.

You do not have to fear investing in other people. God will supernaturally feed you. He will be your source and your strength. He will always be sufficient no matter what our need is, and he will always give us all that we need to accomplish what he calls us to do. Not only that, he will take the little bit that we have and multiply it, not merely for own sake but for the sake of others.

^{Carter Conlon joined the pastoral staff of Times Square Church in 1994 and was appointed Senior Pastor in 2001. In May of 2020 he transitioned into a continuing role as General Overseer of Times Square Church, Inc.}