4 Keys to Experiencing the Miraculous Today

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If you grew up in church then you grew up reading the stories of the Bible, story after story of miracle after miracle. Moses parting the Red Sea, David defeating Goliath, Daniel surviving a night in the lion’s den, or what about Peter walking on the water and Jesus healing disease after disease? One thing that’s unmistakable is that the Bible is a book full of miracles.

So do miracles still happen today, and if they do, why aren’t we experiencing more of them in our world? Did God somehow become less interested or less powerful once the Bible was written? Christians don’t believe that. As the Bible itself testifies, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever” (Hebrews 13:8). So if God can do miracles today, why aren’t we experiencing more of them?

For some of us, this is much more than a simple academic question. Perhaps you’re in a financial situation that you can’t seem to get out of. Maybe it’s a doctor that’s given you a grim report. Maybe it’s an addiction that has you by the throat or a broken relationship that seems to have no hope of reconciliation. Or perhaps it’s a child that’s strayed away from God. You raised them the best way you knew how, but now they’re a prodigal, far from you and far from God. If you’re in a desperate situation, you don’t just wonder about the miraculous, you need a miracle.

So how can Christians begin to experience the miraculous today? Here are four keys.

Believe the Miracle

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When you begin to take a closer look at the miracles of Jesus, you’ll discover a common theme: faith. When Jesus healed two blind men, He first asked them “Do you believe I am able to do this?” When they said yes, Jesus’ response was, “According to your faith let it be done to you” (Matthew 9:28-29). What happened when faith wasn’t present? “Jesus did not do many miracles there because of their lack of faith” (Matthew 13:58).

Do you believe that God can still do miracles today? Do you believe He still has the power and might to do something unexplainable yet undeniable in your midst? Your faith is important to God. How important? “Without faith it is impossible to please God” (Hebrews 11:6). God wants us to believe that He can still work wonders because He loves us so much and it’s natural for Him to want His love and affection for us reciprocated through faith. As the most famous verse in the Bible says, “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only son, that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).

Expect the Miracle

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It’s one thing to believe that God can do miracles. It’s quite something else to believe that God actually wants to do miracles on your behalf. For many of us, our skewed view of God impacts what we expect from God. Maybe you view God as a brick wall, distant and removed from your everyday world. Perhaps you view God through the lens of a trash can. You think you’re so broken and damaged that God sees trash when He sees you. Or maybe you see God as an endless staircase. If you can just be good enough, then God will accept you.

When Jesus came to earth, He came not only to die for our sins but to reintroduce mankind to God. And the primary way Jesus taught us to interact with God is as a loving Heavenly Father. As Jesus said, “If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask Him!” (Matthew 7:11). What does a perfect father want from His children? Nothing! A perfect father doesn’t want something from His children, He wants something for His children. God wants something for you. Not only can God do miracles, He wants to do miracles in your world. That should change what we expect from God on a daily basis.

Pray the Miracle

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In God’s divine plan, He does give us a part to play in the miraculous and one of the primary tools we have is prayer: long, devoted, continuous, life-giving, fervent prayer, the type of prayer that most Christians have forgotten centuries ago. When the disciples encountered a demon they could not cast out of a child, when they needed Jesus to come and once again perform the miraculous, Jesus taught His disciples “This kind can only come out by prayer” (Mark 9:29). James teaches that we do not have because we do not ask, and that when we ask we do not receive because we ask with the wrong motives (James 4:2).

Prayer isn’t designed to punish us or to wear down God’s reluctance to perform the miraculous in our midst. Prayer is designed to facilitate a relationship with our Creator. When we develop a habit and posture of prayer, we’ll find that prayer is changing us much more than it’s changing God. We’ll find our heart, our mind and our wills lining up with God’s and we’ll discover that when we start asking for the things that God wants to give us, we’re much more likely to receive them and experience the miraculous.

Be the Miracle

One of the most famous stories in the New Testament is when Peter experienced the miraculous and walked on the water (Matthew 14). What is interesting is that when Peter asked to experience the miraculous, Jesus invited Him to step out of the boat and take a step of faith. If you want to walk on water, you have to be willing to get out of the boat.

A true sign of faith is obedience. Faith does not become faith until you actually have to use it. God is waiting, just outside our boats, just outside the safety of our comfort zones, asking us to take a step of faith. Whatever that step is, whatever that step looks like, that step of faith is a critical key to experiencing the miraculous today. If you want to walk on water, you have to get out of the boat.