One Year With Jesus

Luke 23:8 "And when Herod saw Jesus, he was exceeding glad: for he was desirous to see him of a long season, because he had heard many things of him; and he hoped to have seen some miracle done by him."

LUKE 23:8

Herod desired to see Jesus perform some kind of miracle, and some of the questions he asked Jesus made this desire obvious. However, Jesus did not use His faith to do any miracles for Herod.

Miracles are God's way of meeting the needs of those who seek Him in faith. Miracles will sometimes be used to demonstrate God's ability so that people may believe (Mk. 2:10-11), but they will not happen to skeptics who are tempting God (Lk. 4:9-12).

A miracle is a supernatural intervention of God's power over natural law.

Healings occur within the boundaries of natural law while miracles are not limited to natural law. A person with a high fever who receives prayer and then begins to recover is experiencing a healing. The Lord intervened but in natural ways. The virus, infection, or whatever was rebuked left the body (Lk. 4:39) and then the natural healing process that the Lord built into all of us took over. When something totally supernatural happens, that's a miracle. When Jesus reattached the servant's ear and it was instantly whole after Peter cut it off (Lk. 22:51), demonstrated a miracle. It was also a healing, but it was a miraculous healing.

Feeding the five thousand (Mt. 14:19-20), walking on the water (Mt. 14:25), translating a ship and all aboard to the other side of the sea (Jn. 6:21) - all these are miracles. Miracles are usually instantaneous whereas healings are sometimes gradual.

The Lord has never had anyone who was qualified working for Him. It's by God's grace that He uses any of us. Anyone who claims to be used of God because of his great holiness is either deceived or a deceiver. It's our faith in the grace of God that allows miracles to flow through us.