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How To Receive A Miracle | Part One | Nancy Dufresne | Jesus the Healer Broadcast
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Hi, I'm Nancy Dufresne. Welcome to our podcast channel. We know you'll be blessed by today's message.
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Welcome to Jesus the Healer. We're so glad you joined us today, and we're going to take some time and we're going to be studying on how to receive a miracle. And the Bible has very definite instructions on how to cooperate with God regarding a miracle. And just know this, there's going to come a time in every life saved or unsaved that they need a miracle. And so we want to give you what the Word says on it. Because when you know what the Word says, you know this. You have faith to receive. And so we invite you, study along with us. Get your Bible, get a notebook and pen and pencil. And while you're watching, release your faith. Believe, expect something. And as you hear things that apply to a need you may be facing, put the Word in place in your life, because I tell you, the Word will set your life on course. And so I want you to follow with me, if you would. Let's turn to John chapter two today. John, Chapter two. And these are principles that you say, well, you know, Pastor Nancy, I don't really need a miracle today, but there's still principles that we find in this, that if we will put these principles in place, they'll help us to rise to the top in every arena in our business, we'll rise to the top. In our families, in our marriages, we'll rise to the top. And so these are very definite steps that we can take. And so I say this, listen to this with the idea of making it your lifestyle, that this isn't just something we do periodically, but the Word is something we put in place as a lifestyle. And we're going to look at John chapter two, start reading in verse one. And we're going to find our formula or principles for receiving a miracle in the very first miracle that was ever worked under Jesus earthly ministry. So that's what we're going to read. John 2:1. And the third day there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee. And the mother of Jesus was there. And both Jesus was called and his disciples to the marriage. And when they wanted wine, the mother of Jesus said unto him, they have no wine. So they had wine, but they evidently had more people than supplies. And so they ran out, they ran short. And so in verse three, they when they wanted wine, the mother of Jesus said unto him, they have no wine. And Jesus said unto her, woman, what have I to do with thee? Mine hour is not yet. Come now. So Mary makes a request of Jesus and he basically answers and says, I'm not going to have any part of this. This doesn't pertain to me. And when he answers her and says, mine hour is not yet come, his mother saith unto the servants, so notice she's talking to Jesus. And then when he doesn't give her the response she's after, she's going, I'm done talking to him. And she turns to the servants and starts talking to him. Only a mama can do things like that, right? So she put a demand on him. He was transitioning from being a carpenter to being a miracle worker, a healer. And so she was helping him in that transition. For 30 years he had been a carpenter. He was not born to be a carpenter, yet he did for 30 years what he wasn't born to do, because that was his training period, that was his preparation time. Know this. I don't care who you are, and I don't care what you're called to or how anointed you are, you still need to be prepared, you still need to be trained. You still have to be a student and have a practice to time in your life. And the practice really never ends. But there has to be a time that you become a student. And the more training and preparation time that you can experience, the better results and the more effective you're going to be in what you're born for. So Jesus is coming out of this period when he's been trained on not to be a carpenter. Yes, he did carpentry work, but God was training him in his spiritual life. And so I love that when Jesus did not give Mary the answer she liked or wanted, she just was done talking to him. And so in verse five, his mother turned and said unto the servants, so there's people serving there at that wedding. So she turns to the servants and she says, it's whatsoever he saith unto you, do it. And so Jesus had them. Of course, we won't take time to run to read the whole passage, but he had them to take the large water pots that were used for hand washing and had them to fill them up with water. And when they drew that water out of the pot after, after it had been filled, they took it to the governor of the feast, or the man who's head of this celebration had him to taste it. And he said, this is the best wine. And so it had been that water had turned into wine because Jesus said something to do. Now the thing that we want to see here is that his mother said to the servants, whatsoever he saith unto you, do it. So we can know this, that Mary knew this instruction to give to the servants because she knew something about her son. She knew this. He only did what he. He only said what he heard his father say. He had been practicing that his whole life. He didn't just practice that at the time that his miracle ministry began, he had been practicing that his whole life. And she knew he did not speak lightly. He did not just make up his own thing. She knew his pattern of living, that he would only say what he heard his father say. And so that's why she knew the instruction to give him. Whatsoever he tells you to do, do it. Because she knew he wouldn't be speaking of himself. She knew that he would be speaking of what he knew from the Father. So the important thing we see that when Jesus turned the water into wine, something to note about a miracle is a miracle is going to bypass every natural process. So when he told the servants to fill up those water pots with water and it turned into wine, that means that there was no grapevine planted. That means there was no grapevine tended to. There was no grapevine watered. There was no grapevine fertilized. No one had to take the weeds away from it. That means that there was no grapevine harvested. There was no harvest because there was no seed planted. Then there was no fermentation process. So all that has to happen for a grape to become wine. All of that was bypassed. And that's what miracles do. They bypass natural processes. And do we have a right to believe for that? Well, we have the Word, and the Word shows that natural processes were bypassed. And so this is why you can't figure out a miracle, because the mind cannot figure out beyond natural processes. And so when God bypasses a natural process, people who don't believe go, I can't believe that. Because they can't calculate what, they can't. What isn't processed. So this is one of the great things that you have to understand about miracles, is that it sets aside the natural laws. It sets it aside. And that process can happen quickly or it can happen over time. It doesn't really matter how long it takes. Just know this. When God gets involved, He. He. He accelerates things. And this was a divine acceleration from that water becoming a wine, bypassing all those natural processes. Sometimes the needs of life that we're going to show up, are going to show up in our life calls for a miracle. Sometimes just along the course of our life, we're just living life. And something beyond our ability that's needed surfaces, and we. We find ourselves in a position for a miracle. But other times, God will lead you to a place where you're going to need a miracle. So needing a miracle doesn't mean you missed it. Sometimes it means you're following God. We know this when God delivered his people from Egypt, and he led them in the route they were taking on their exit out of Egypt. And the route he led them on took them to the Red Sea. Now, the. There was a sea in front of them. There was a mountain range on their right. There was a mountain range on their left. And they didn't realize it at the time when they first got there, but they came to realize it that there was an approaching Egyptian army coming behind them with dead firstborn. They were upset. And so here, God's people looked to be hemmed in. And God led them to that place. God's the one. It says in the Word that God is the one that led them on that path. So God led them to a place where they needed a miracle. And to fulfill what God has for us, we're going to have to follow him to a place that calls for a miracle. Why? Because he wanted to again show himself to be a miracle worker for them. So sometimes just the course of life will lead you to need a miracle, but sometimes God himself will lead you to a place where you need a miracle. And in this phrase that Mary said to the servants, we find the principles and the process that we take for receiving a miracle. And what she said to the servants is this. Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it. I want to take each word of that phrase, and I want us to study it. I want us to dig around in that. Because if that's our instruction, we need to have a full understanding of what's connected with this statement. So notice this. She said, whatsoever he saith unto you, do it so to receive a miracle. It wasn't Jesus just acting all on his own. He employed man. Man played a part in this miracle. He didn't just wave his hand over water. He had the men to go get the water. And really, it was quite an inconvenience. Those water pots were large. From what I understand, they can hold up to 30 gallons of water. And so they're not moving the pot around. They're hauling water from a well or from a source, and they're just coming and they're filling multiple pots. That took time, that took effort. And they could have said, well, why Are we filling pots? We with water, we need wine. Why are we doing that? But notice they still just did what he said. It didn't make sense, but they did what he said. And so we see this, that every miracle that God does for man will involve a man. It won't bypass a man, it will involve a man. God will give the man something to do. God will give the man a command to obey. And that's when you're receiving a miracle. If you need a miracle for your life, God will tell you your part in it. It's not just sit back and him drop something on, on you with you having no role. Do you know, we know this faith on our part must be employed. That's an, that's a work. The work of believing is a real work because you have to set aside the natural thoughts you have aside feelings, you have to set aside emotions, you have to set aside wrong. You have to set aside wrong teaching you've had sometimes to even believe what God is telling you that he wants you to do. So if you're going, if you need a miracle, he's going to give you something to obey. Now in this situation we see a miracle on the behalf of someone else. So someone has to obey. Now really, the bride and groom are the ones who received this miracle, aren't they? They didn't even know what was being worked in their behalf, but the servants obeyed in their stead. So somebody, if you're going to minister to somebody who needs a miracle, sometimes God will give the minister something to do, but he'll give the recipient something to do. Somebody's got to do something to cooperate with God. And you say, well, if God is God, why doesn't he just do it? Because he doesn't do any apart from man, because he won't work without their permission. He will not force his power on anyone. Someone has to invite him. And a work of obedience is an invitation for him to, to manifest his power. Amen. So God has the power to accomplish the miracle, but without our permission, that power will not work for us. So when he gives us something to obey, it's us giving him permission. So it's not him making it hard on us. He's looking to get permission from us to work in our behalf. So it's a kindness when God gives us something to obey. Now listen to that. It is a kindness when God gives us something to obey because it shows us he's looking for a place of entrance into our need. He's looking for a way to get his power into our need. And so when we obey, he says, okay, now I can go through that door of obedience because our obedience opens a door to Him. Our disobedience closes the door to Him. If he tells us to do something and we fail to do it, we close the door. Then we can't go, well, why didn't God help me? Because we didn't leave the door open to Him. God will not kick down a door in your life. He will not force entry into your life. He will only come by permission and invitation. Remember, in the book of Revelation, it says that Jesus stands at the door and knocks and says, whosoever will open unto me, I will come in. So notice this. We are the openers of the doors to God in our life. For God to come in, we have to open the door. Our obedience to what he tells us to do opens the door. And our failure to obey, as I said, closes the door. So our faith is our permission. Really, that's all faith is. You're agreeing with God and say, I give you permission to do what you, what your power can work in my life. Your act of faith is, is his permission. Without your act of faith, he doesn't have permission. And like I said, every miracle that we ever find in the Bible was not God working independent of man. God involved man. Think about Jacob. In a time of famine, it says that he was going to go back to Egypt. And God spoke to him and says, don't go back to Egypt. Because he had led his father, remember Abraham, out of. Out of Egypt. And he had led his. He had led him to a promised land, a place where he was going to give him to inherit. So at a time of famine, Jacob was going to go back to a land that God had already delivered him out of and says, don't go back there. He said, sow here. So it says, jacob sowed in a time of famine and received a hundredfold that year. You don't now see, my dad was a cotton and wheat farmer. You don't receive harvests a hundredfold in a drought. That was a miracle. He received a harvest a hundredfold that year in a time of drought. But notice God had a hundredfold harvest for him. But he still had to get Jacob to obey. You've got to participate with me in this miracle. Jacob had to sow when it didn't make sense. No telling you think about it. Jacob would have not, of course, done it all by himself. He had workers, he had servants that helped him in this endeavor. No telling how many Times they mocked him. What are we doing? Sowing a seed. In drought, there's nothing to water the seed. And he still sowed it because God said to do it. And he did it, even though it didn't make sense. Moses got to the Red Sea with God's people there needing and needing a rescue from this army that's approaching them. And he begins to pray. And God stops him in his prayers and says, why are you praying to me? Stretch forth your rod. In other words, do something. So many times it's right to pray, but not when it's time to obey. Sometimes people pray instead of obey that won't receive a miracle. And Moses was praying at a time that it when it was time to act. There's an enemy army approaching. They've got to get across that sea. There's a time to act. And he starts calling a prayer meeting. God said, not the time for a prayer meeting. It's time to act. Stretch forth your rod. So they had a miracle, but only when the man, he acted, he. He fulfilled the command God gave him, which was just stretch forth your rod. Well, what's that going to do to water? Stretching forth your rod, it's not you doing anything to water. It's your obedience opening the door for his power to do something to the water. Amen. So what God gives you to do will not make any sense. But don't worry, all that does is open the door. Amen. That's not doing the work. That's just opening the door so that the power of God can come through the door and work that miracle. So we see this, that this miracle crossing the Red Sea involved a man. A man had to obey something. And then we see this. There was a time when this, a woman had ministered to Elijah and her home had been blessed because she took care of the prophet of God. She supplied him, she funded him, she fed him. She built a house, really. She built a room onto her house that only the prophet could occupy. And because of that, God blessed her home with a child. She had a child that she had been unable to have a child before. But as that child grew, one day, the child died of a sunstroke. She laid it on the prophet's body bed. Elijah comes back. She goes and she tells Elijah. And Elijah comes and lays himself over that child. And that child comes back to life. God worked a miracle. It wasn't the man laying on the child that brought the child back to life. It was the man's obedience to do what God said that opened the Door for the power of God to raise up the child. So, see, God didn't raise up that child without man doing something. This is what I want you to see. Every miracle for man involves man. It does not bypass man. Amen. And then, remember when Elisha told the woman who was a widow and she was starving, and he said, go collect all the. The. The pots you can, and filled it up with oil. She went and borrowed pots from the neighbors and she filled them up with oil. And the oil kept going and kept going and going and going and going. We had a bottomless pot of oil that kept filling other pots. What was that? As long as she obeyed, the more pots she collected, the more pots got filled. When she stopped collecting, the oil stopped flowing. What was that? She was the one who measured how much of a miracle she got. How long would that miracle work for her? She's the one that measured that, not God. And this is again what I want you to see. Every miracle for. For someone is going to involve someone. What about this? When Jesus was. Every miracle that Jesus worked for healing, every healing miracle that Jesus did under his earthly ministry, he gave the person in need something to obey. Remember the man, he put the mud in his eyes and he said, go wash in the pool of siloam and thou shalt come again seeing. So Jesus put the mud there. Then he told the man, go wash. So what if the man would have just said, I'm just going to go in the house here. This is near. See, he's a blind man. He's now got mud in his eyes and he's got to go find the pool of siloam. Jesus doesn't care about convenience. He cares about obedience. And he gave him something to obey. And when he washed, he could see. So this was a miracle. But every single miracle that we see of healing, that happened under Jesus earthly ministry, he always gave them something to obey. Why you say, well, if I have to, why do I have to do anything? Are you interested in your miracle or not? A lot of people will do something. If nothing's required of them, they'll be glad. But God, God is not. His power doesn't work for people who aren't interested in his power. His power has to be honored. His power has to be valued. And so that's why he wants to. He wants us to show with our faith how interested we are. How interested are we rather in receiving a miracle. Amen. Hallelujah. Now, in First Corinthians, chapter 12, we have listed what is called the nine gifts of the Spirit. There's the gifts of healings, the working of miracles, prophecy, tongues, interpretation of tongues. These nine gifts, or there are nine different ways that the Spirit manifests himself. That's listed in First Corinthians, chapter 12. One of the ways that the Spirit manifests himself is called through the working of miracles. Notice this. It's not called the appearing of miracles, it's called the working of miracles, which shows us that a miracle has to go through a process of being worked. And God has a work in that, but also man has a work in that. So miracles can be instantaneous, but they can also happen over time. And so we have to make sure we don't limit God to only the instantaneous. There are a lot of people who have needed a miracle who they thought, if it's not going to happen instantaneously, it didn't happen. But sometimes a miracle can just begin. Think of when Peter was walking on the water. Jesus told him to come. He walked on the water. That he. That that was him taking one step at a time and going further into that miracle. It happened one step at a time. It was not an instantaneous thing that he was out of the boat and all of a sudden he was standing where Jesus was. No, it was a process as he took every step of faith, then he would move ahead, walking on that water. Now, when he stopped doing what Jesus said, which was come, when he stopped coming to Jesus on that water, and he stopped and started looking at the storm and putting his attention on the storm, then what happened was that he began to sink. So notice this. We have to start with a miracle, but we have to continue also, because we don't want to lose what we have already received. People will say, well, if God has a miracle for me, I'll always have it. Not if you don't keep going. Not if you don't keep believing. Not if you don't keep obeying. And so we see this, that God does a miracle, but they're not always instantaneous. Sometimes they're over time. So don't limit God to the instantaneous. And miss out on the spectacular and miss out on your miracle. Amen. Hallelujah. Because miracles belong to us. I said miracles belong to us. But we have to cooperate with God in this flow of miracles. Hallelujah. Praise the Lord. Hallelujah.
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