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Miracles of Jesus

In Bible Study, Blog, John on
July 31, 2023

The Resurrection and the Life

Perhaps one of the foremost reasons many people who once vaguely believed in God have chosen to turn away from Him is unanswered prayer, particularly prayer for the healing of themselves or a loved one. Some of them may have been taught some version of the prosperity gospel, that if they just prayed enough or had enough faith then they would be healed, only to later discover that the level or strength of their faith seemingly had no effect whatsoever on their circumstances. Others simply have a difficult time reconciling their belief that God is good, loving, gracious, and merciful with the fact that He seems to refuse to heal one of His own. Whatever the particular reason, unanswered prayer for healing has caused many in this day and age to doubt or completely run away from God.

Yet, unanswered prayer is not a modern concept or issue. Even back in biblical times there were people who pleaded to the Lord for healing, and their prayers were not answered, at least not immediately. You can open up God’s Word and find numerous examples: Job, David, Paul—all righteous, God-fearing men who prayed and only received silence in return.

When this happens, when we pray and plead to God and hear only silence, we wonder why. Why would God allow this to happen? Why wouldn’t God do something about this? We know He is all-powerful, sovereign, in control of everything that happens in the universe. Why does He stay silent when His faithful people, His own children suffer?

Though God may often seem silent, the truth is that He is always at work, even when our prayers go unanswered. He is always working for the good of those who love Him and for His own glory. We can see this clearly in John 11.

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In Bible Study, Blog, Luke on
June 20, 2022

Jesus Draws Near to the Hopeless

For many, many years, anxiety has been my nemesis. It looks and feels different from day to day. Sometimes I get this panicky, jittery feeling in my chest or I have difficulty breathing normally. Sometimes I develop stomach aches or become very scatter-brained when I try to think through what needs to get done for the day. Sometimes I’m much more emotional about something than I might normally be. There are some days when I barely feel any anxiety at all, but they are other days when I am absolutely miserable and wish it could all just go away.

I’ve struggled with anxiety for a long time, and I’ve prayed over and over again that the Lord would take it away from me. But He never has. I know there must be a reason that God has allowed me to wrestle with these feelings and symptoms for so long. I know He is no cruel dictator and that He loves me greatly, far greater than anyone else ever could. However, at times, I just feel hopeless, like there’s no hope of ever being free and at peace.

Perhaps you feel the same way—hopeless, like you have no chance of finding any peace or relief from whatever is your greatest struggle. But these people—those who have lost all hope—are exactly the kind of people Jesus draws near to. And we can see this clearly in Jesus’ encounter with a hopeless woman in Luke 8.

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In Bible Study, Blog, Luke on
April 25, 2022

Jesus Draws Near to the Burdened

I do not watch horror movies. I know that some of you are probably flabbergasted that I haven’t and will never watch anything that falls in your favorite movie genre, but I just don’t enjoy horror films. I don’t like the jump scares. I don’t like to be kept up all night worrying that someone or something is going to kill me. And since most horror movies feature some demonic character, I don’t like focusing on these creatures that are very evil and very real.

I think a lot of people can forget that demons are real beings because we don’t typically see obvious examples or evidence of demon possession in today’s world. But they are real, and they have possessed many real people. During His ministry, Jesus encountered many people who were possessed by demons. One of them was a particularly burdened soul who dwelled in the Gentile region of the Gerasenes.

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In Bible Study, Blog, Luke on
February 28, 2022

Jesus Draws Near to the Grieving

“But what is grief, if not love persevering?”

Quoted by Vision in the Disney+ series Wandavision, this question quickly resonated with viewers all over the country and all over the world when episode eight aired. We live in a broken world, and none of us are strangers to grief. We’ve all experienced the deaths of aging parents, close friends, and unborn children. We’ve all dealt with painful break-ups and awful falling-outs with people we loved dearly. We’ve all been betrayed or attacked by someone we once trusted and thought very highly of. And with everything that has happened in our world over the past two years, our levels of grief are higher than they’ve ever been before.

Grief causes us to feel a lot of things. Angry. Confused. Numb. Depressed. Anxious. Devastated. Guilty. Listless. Helpless. Alone. When we’re grieving the loss of someone or something, we may even feel like God is far away from us, ignoring our prayers and pleas. But the truth is that God draws near to us in our grief. And this is made evident to us when we see Jesus encounter a grieving widow in Luke 7.

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In Bible Study, Blog, Luke on
January 31, 2022

Jesus Draws Near to the Powerless

I cannot imagine what it must be like to never be able to walk or run. I cannot fathom what it must feel like to never be able to stand up and stretch and move around. As a person who likes to be in control of her life, I can’t conceive how frustrated I would be and how powerless I would feel that I couldn’t do normal, everyday tasks, like buying groceries, or putting on clothes, or going to the bathroom.

It can be easy for able-bodied people to take these things for granted, to forget how many things we need our legs for. I thank God that He has blessed me with legs that can run, walk, bend, stretch, skip, jump, crouch, and squat. But the unimaginable, the unfathomable, the inconceivable, the frustrating powerlessness is a reality for many people, including the paralyzed man in Luke 5.

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