God is nor a magician. Yet, most Christians insist on thinking, believing, and expecting Him to transform their lives overnight magically.
Usually, they expect to do the minimum amount of effort in exchange for all of God's blessings. They can maintain this illusion for some time, but they become discouraged when the results are not as expected. Hence, many so-called Christians have fallen away, disappointed with God.
Few understand that for a miracle to happen, a joint process must occur between the Creator and the creation.
None of the miracles written in the Bible happened solely because of God's doing. If we look carefully, we can see that each miracle had the participation of man and God.
For example, for Noah and his family to be saved from the flood, he had to obey God's command and build the ark. The same happened with Abraham. To be the father of a great nation, he had first to sacrifice his will and obey God's Word by leaving his land, the home of his parents, and his relatives.
For the Lord Jesus to heal the blind man, he had to cry out to Him. Before Lazarus could be resurrected, the disciples had to remove the stone from the tomb. Now, we can conclude, without a doubt, that the miracle we hope to receive in our lives depends on our action of faith in God.
If you are tired of suffering and want to change your life around, then you must call out to God. This change is only possible if you act by faith. That is, completely surrender your lite by faith to the Lord Jesus.
The miracle we hope to receive in our lives depends on our attitude of faith towards God.
New lite won't spring forth until your life is totally surrendered on the altar. It's impossible to have a new life and try to maintain the old one si-multaneously. Hence, there is an urgent need for a sacrifice of faith. Like the Lord said: "Turn to Me with all your heart..."(Joel 2:12).
The miracle of the new birth or new life takes place in two stages:
First: humankind's attitude toward God - No one can be born of God without first turning from or abandoning their sins. Conversion requires a change in behavior towards Him. Lying, stealing, adultery, prostitution, and all the works of the flesh must be abandoned. Galatians 5.19. That is true conversion.
Second: God's attitude toward man - When the Holy Spirit sees your effort in trying to replace your will with the will of God, He comes down upon you and transforms your life, thus concluding His participation in the miracle of the new birth.
Whatever the miracle, the process remains the same. First, the creation must take action towards the Creator; then, the Creator acts accordingly towards His creation. As you can see, this process has no magic; on the contrary, it results from a personal relationship between humankind and God. May God bless you abundantly.
Bishop Edir Macedo
