Miracles Remembered!

This message was delivered by Sheila Schuller Coleman from the pulpit of the Crystal Cathedral. It was aired during the Hour of Power program on Hong Kong's ATV World Channel on 13 November 2011.

We’ve been talking about miracles the past few weeks, and today I want to encourage you to recognize the miracles, remember the miracles, and recount the miracles. Those are my three points and I hope you’ll remember them. We’re going to recognize the miracles God is doing all around us, remember the miracles He has done, and recount the miracles He has done. God created nature and the laws that are in nature, and as a science major, I learned about those science laws, and all I could think of was God made these laws.

So what happens in a miracle is that sometimes God says I’m going to modify My law a little bit. I’m going to speed it up, or I’m going to alter it. And sometimes He uses the laws that He made, and we look at what happens and we can’t explain how it happened so we say it was a miracle.

Miracles happen and sometimes we don’t even see them. There are children’s books called I Spy, and in those books, you have to locate the hidden objects. Well, I’d like to write a book called I Spy a Miracle, because sometimes if you just open your eyes, you’ll be amazed at how many miracles are happening around you that you didn’t even notice or just took for granted. God wants us to see, He wants us to notice His beautiful, amazing miracles that He does every day, all around us; that He has done and is doing.

A few weeks ago I talked about my son Christopher who at the age of three and a half months had spinal meningitis. And that spinal meningitis actually came hand in hand with a severe asthma attack. When Christopher was born, he weighed a whopping ten pounds, four ounces. He was a big baby. And he had an appetite and was growing. He was the picture of health.

When I brought him in for his well baby check up, I thought Christopher looked amazing but the doctor looked very concerned. So while she was checking him, she asked, ‘Sheila, how long has he been doing this?’ I said, ‘doing what?’

She said, ‘His breathing is so labored and when he breathes, he has to pull.’ Well I had to confess, I hadn’t even noticed. I just thought his breathing was normal. She said, ‘oh no, no, this is very, very serious. I want you to take him to an allergist immediately.’

So we went to the allergist and Christopher was given medication for asthma. It turns out Christopher had really, really bad asthma. Well we soon found that there were side affects when he took his medication. He wasn’t quite as bubbly or as alert and aware as he had been before he went on the medication and it was heartbreaking to watch.

Over time, I noticed that his breathing seemed better, so I began to give him less and less medication. I felt that he didn’t seem to need it as much. Now I’m not advocating not giving medication to your child if your doctor prescribes it. But honestly, Christopher didn’t seem to need it.

By the time he was ten months old, I wasn’t giving him any more of the medication. When I brought him for his well baby checkup at 12 months, and then back to the allergist, the allergist said, ‘wow he’s breathing really great. Is he still on his medication?’

I said, ‘no, actually he hasn’t had any for two months. I thought he outgrew the asthma.’

The allergist looked at me and he said, ‘oh no, they don’t outgrow asthma. Not at this age. It usually gets worse until they’re about five or six years old and then maybe in time it’ll ease up after that.’

Well the doctor looked at me and I looked at him; we couldn’t explain it. I went home and finally it dawned on me, Christopher had been the recipient of a miracle. It had happened slowly, cell by cell, over time, so much so that I hadn’t even realized it. I hadn’t recognized the miracle that was happening right in front of me. But God opened my eyes and He revealed to me, saying, ‘Sheila, this is a miracle’ and it has been. Christopher is 29 years old now. He’s never had another asthma attack and he’s never been on any asthma medication. It was a miracle. And sometimes that’s how God works. Sometimes He works very slowly, cell by cell.

So recognize the miracles. They’re all around us. Then remember the miracles.

It wasn’t too long ago that my mom said to me, ‘Sheila, I don’t know that I ever shared with you the miracle that happened when you were a baby.’ Well I hadn’t heard of any miracle that happened when I was a baby so I said, ‘Tell me about this miracle.’

She said, ‘we were in Chicago at our first church and you were a baby. We had to drive from Chicago to Iowa because your dad was presiding over the wedding of one of his best friends. It was wintertime, and in the Midwest, there can be black ice on the road. It’s disguised with snow over the top of it. Well we hit a patch of black ice, the car spun out of control and we were hurled across the dividing line, right in front of an oncoming semi truck. The truck saw us, but couldn’t stop in time, so he quickly yanked that wheel until the truck went into the ditch and turned over.’ She said, ‘the truck driver emerged fine and miraculously he was okay.’

Now mom was holding me in her arms while dad was driving, because that’s what mom’s did back then. They didn’t have infant seats. The truck driver said, ‘I saw a mother and a baby in the front seat and I was not going to hit this car, no matter what it took.’ So this truck driver risked his life for us and our lives were miraculously spared: dad’s, mom’s and mine. This was almost sixty years ago! And today, how many lives have been saved through dad’s ministry and through this ministry. God’s miracle happened all those years ago and I just learned about it not too long ago. Miracles recognized and miracles remembered.

Psalm 77:11 says this: “I will remember the deeds of the Lord. Yes, I will remember Your miracles of long ago.” The bible tells us over and over again to remember the miracles. Why is that important? Well not all miracles are instantaneous. You hear about some miracles where somebody will be healed instantly. Like Jesus healing the blind man who was healed instantaneously. When Jesus healed a paralytic, he was healed instantaneously. According to the bible, some miracles are instantaneous miracles.

But some miracles God does in His timetable. For instance, Christopher’s miracle took a long time. It was over several months that God was healing him. His was not an instantaneous miracle. When you look at the story of Lazarus that Jim Penner talked about last week, that wasn’t an instantaneous miracle, either, because Jesus waited before He came to heal Lazarus. So what do you do while you’re waiting for the miracle? What if you’re in a place right now where you are waiting for a miracle? How do you keep your faith going while you’re waiting for the miracle?

Some of you have prayed and you thought you would see it by now but you haven’t and your faith has become a little shaky. I know I’m waiting for our miracle. And the way that God has helped me keep my faith rock solid when it starts to feel a little shaky is to remember the miracles. And that’s what God tells us to do. Remember the miracles. Remember the miracles. Remember the miracles. Because when we remember the miracles, we remember that God did do this, God can do this, and then God will do this because God, who did this, hasn’t changed. He didn’t lose His power between the Old Testament and the New Testament, between the New Testament and today. God didn’t lose His power. God can, God has, and therefore God will. God will do His miracle, and that’s why, as we remember what He’s done, as we remember how powerful He is, as we remember the miracles, we are able to have strong faith while we’re waiting for the miracle.

Let’s look at Joshua chapter one. Moses has just died and Joshua is installed as the new leader. “The Lord said to Joshua, now then, you and all these people, get ready to cross the Jordan river into the land I’m about to give them. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will never leave you nor forsake you.” Just as God was with Moses, so He is with you. This is His promise. He will never leave you and He will never forsake you. He is the same God today as He was then. I can imagine Joshua, how hard and how difficult it must have been to try to follow in Moses’ footsteps. I can speak from personal experience how hard it is to follow after a great, great leader.

So God says this to Joshua: “Be strong. Be strong and courageous because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their ancestors to give them.” So this is Joshua. He’s just been installed as the new leader and then God gives him his marching orders. He says it again and again and again. But here’s the second time he says it. Verse 7 says: “Be strong and courageous.” As the new leader of this ministry, I believe my marching orders from God are to be a strong leader. Two years ago, God said, Sheila, you’re to be a strong leader. And I kind of cringed. I didn’t like that because I thought of a strong, mean, dictator type when I hear “strong leader.”

And then the Lord qualified it by saying: you are to love strong, you are to believe strong, and you are to forgive strong. So when I read this passage in Joshua where it says to be strong, I think yes, Sheila, be strong. Continue to love strong. Continue to believe strong. Continue to forgive strong.

God then warns Joshua, “Be careful to obey all the laws My servant Moses gave you. Obey the law. Do not turn from it to the right or the left that you may be successful wherever you go. Keep this book of the law always on your lips. Meditate on it day and night so that you may be careful to do everything written in it.” The bible is your policy manual. Follow it. It’s your guidebook. Follow it. Do you think any of us have a better way than God’s way? You can try it and see where that’ll get you but I personally think I’m going to follow God’s way as close as I possibly can.

Joshua, verse 9 continues, “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous.” Here it is again. Be strong and courageous. “Do not be afraid. Do not be discouraged. Don’t let anything take your courage away from you. Do not be discouraged because the Lord God is with you wherever you go.” So Joshua took his commands from the Lord. He took his marching orders and he gave them to the people. He said get your provisions ready because three days from now you will cross the Jordan River and take possession of the land the Lord your God is giving you for your own.

So Joshua has been obedient to the marching orders that God has given to him. So how do the people respond? After all, he’s a new leader. It’s one thing to follow Moses. They followed him for 40 years. But now this little upstart is saying okay, now I’m giving you some orders and I want you to follow me. How did the people respond? They answered, “Joshua, whatever you have commanded us, we will do. And wherever you send us, we will go. Just as we fully obeyed Moses, so we will obey you.” They believed that Joshua was hearing and following God. And for those of us who are leaders, it is our first and foremost responsibility to listen and follow God. Our first and foremost responsibility is not to lead. Our first and foremost responsibility is to follow God’s word and to follow God’s law.

So here they are. They’ve been in the wilderness for 40 years. That’s a long time. Where were you 40 years ago today? Imagine if you’d been wandering in the wilderness between that time in your life and today. Some of you may not have even been born 40 years ago. And now finally they get to go to the Promised Land, a land of milk and honey. It’s right across the river from them. It’s right there, so close, and yet they have to cross the Jordan River. They’re on this side of the Jordan River and on the other side is the Promised Land. There’s no bridge, no ferry, no boat. So how are they going to get from this side of the river to the other side? Especially because at the time this happened, it was springtime. It was during the grain harvest and the river was swollen, so the river was big. In fact, it rivals the size of the Red Sea, so this is another huge barrier that they have to cross.

God told them to take the ark and step into the water, and this is what happened. “When the people broke camp to cross the Jordan, the priests carrying the ark of the covenant went ahead of them. Now the Jordan is at flood stage all during harvest. Yet as soon as the priests who carried the ark reached the Jordan and their feet touched the waters edge, the water from upstream stopped flowing. Their feet touched the river, the water stopped flowing way upstream so that suddenly there it was, a pathway across, so the people crossed over opposite Jericho.”

The miracle; they crossed. They were able to get to the Promised Land. But this is the important part of the story for today. The miracle was remembered. The miracle was memorialized because God said while you’re crossing, pick up 12 stones and build a memorial so when your children’s, children’s, children see this pile of 12 stones, one for every tribe, and they ask what does that pile of stones mean, you can tell them that was the miracle. God made a way. God broke through a barrier that none of us possibly could. The stones memorialized the miracle.

So while you’re waiting for your miracle, remember the miracles. Miracles in the bible like Sarah who conceived a child at the age of 90. The Red Sea was parted. The Jordan River was parted. Manna and meat were provided for 40 years without fail. Daniel was delivered from a lions den. There are so many miracles. And there are miracles today that are happening in your life. I hear about them. Miracles recounted.

Some of you are sitting there saying I am desperate for my miracle. I am running out of time. I have a death sentence from the doctor. I have a foreclosure on my home. My life has come to an end and I am desperate for a miracle. My very life depends on a miracle. Well, the good news is your miracle has happened! Oh yes it has. The grand miracle has happened. Let us not forget it. Let us remember it. Let us recognize it. Let us recount it. The grand miracle is when God said I will come to earth and I will be as man. I will come as man. I will walk on the earth. I will touch My people. I will heal My people. I will give My life. I will be raised from the dead. I am the grand miracle.

In his book Miracles, C.S. Lewis says this about the grand miracle. Every other miracle prepares for the grand miracle. Every other miracle exhibits this grand miracle for every other miracle results from the grand miracle. The grand miracle has already happened.

Have you ever had anybody come up to you and say, do you have a dime you can spare? What about, got a life you can spare? What if somebody asked you do you have a life you can spare? Romans 8:32 says, “God, who did not spare His own son but gave Him up for us all, will He not also generously give us all things?” If God, the God of the universe has already given us the grand miracle, will He not also give us every other miracle we need? The biggest miracle, the grand miracle, we celebrate that. We recognize it. Remember it and recount it.

Lord God Almighty, thank You for coming to earth and for sending Your son so we would see You and we would know what You look like. We would know what You sound like. We would know You. You came to earth and You descended earth so we could ascend to You. You stooped down to be a man of suffering, acquainted with grief, to lift us up. Thank You for the grand miracle. Help us to never forget it, in Jesus’ name we pray, amen.