During my devotional reading
yesterday, I came upon the story of Jesus' first miracle at the wedding in
Cana. As I read the details of the account I was reminded again of what I
believe is a forgotten truth or factor regarding faith and demonstration of His
kingdom. That is: to see the miraculous, we must take action or a step of faith
FIRST!
In the wedding account, Jesus
tells the servants to fill the water pots with water: so they did. His next
statement was a challenge to action, to demonstrate their faith: "Now draw some out and take it to the master of the feast." (ESV John 2:8)
Think about it, these servants had just put water in the pots, in fact,
it says they filled them to the brim! They could stand there and see the
surface of the water. What a challenging statement! It is a moment of truth; do
they act on what they see or on what Jesus has told them? We are told they took
the water to the master who commented on its excellent quality. It appears
somewhere between dipping the water out and delivery to the master of the
ceremony, the miracle happened. What if the servants would not have taken
action? What if they would have waited till they saw the water changed?
The Forgotten Factor of Faith
The forgotten factor of faith is:
It requires an action step to manifest.
So many times, Jesus challenges
the faith of those in need to act on His word. The man with the withered hand
he said: "stretch out your hand."[1] To the ten lepers, "Go and show yourselves
to the priests."[2] To the lame man that had been lowered into Jesus presence:
"I say to you, rise, pick up your bed, and go home."[3] Then, to the man who
was born blind: "Go...wash in the Pool of Siloam."[4] The faith of these
individuals was challenged with a call to action: only when they took that step
of faith did they received their miracle.
I can imagine, for each of these
individuals, there was a moment of decision: do I act on what appears to be
real, or obey what Jesus said? This is the real proof of faith, taking the step
of action!
Kingdom demonstration is still the
same today: faith requires an action step. It necessitates that we see beyond
the natural appearance, into the Spirit and demonstrate what is revealed to us. Hebrews
11:1 give us this principle, it states: "Now
faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." The word substance references something that imparts
a reality, enabling us to feel and act as if it were real, now! It is our
actions that bring evidence or proof of what is not seen naturally, but by the
eyes of faith. When we take that action step, we are revealing we believe what
we have seen. It is then; we will see the manifestation of the Spiritual
reality!
This principle is true in all
aspects of Kingdom living: including our initial act of faith for salvation,
our attitude of finances to demonstrating the miraculous. All require an action
step of faith!
A Challenge to Action
Let me wrap this up with a couple
of quick stories.
In my personal experience and in
teaching our series, Living In Kingdom
Authority, when prayer is made for healing, we ask for an action step of
faith. For example, on one trip to South Africa a local pastor came to me about
pain and limited motion in his shoulder. After we prayed, I then asked him to
move his shoulder. He cautiously began to lift it, and when he reached the
place where it used to hurt he developed this excited look on his face and
began waving his arm around, declaring, "I doesn't hurt!" It was his actions
that demonstrated his faith and manifested the miracle!
An evangelist told me a story of
God healing a man who was wheelchair bound. This evangelist prayed for him,
then pulled him up from his chair and began walking him across the front of the
building. Now at first the man was virtually being drug back and forth, but
suddenly, one foot stepped forward, then the other and the man began to walk on
his own!
In both of these stories, there
was a challenge to action that revealed their faith and manifested the
miraculous.
Today, Jesus is still challenging
his followers to step out and demonstrate to this world his greatness. When we
see, with the eyes of faith, what he has already accomplished and act on it, we
will see it manifest in the lives of those around us! Today, take that step of faith!
Martin Schmaltz
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