This poor soul sought out Jesus with one hope, the hope that
Jesus could remove his leprosy and make him clean again. He came worshipping
and with a single prayer he got his wish; note the prayer, "if it is
Your will, You can make me clean." The Lord's response was marvelous: "It
is My will; be thou clean". How splendid and how amazing that God did
will to make this poor man clean. This illustrates to us one of the secrets of
prayers and miracles; this should be our focus in prayer. First of all, what is
the need and secondly what does God will to do about it? In this instance He
wanted to remove it.
To further illustraate this point let's consider again the
miracle of Peter walking on the water in Matt 14:28 (we focus, at times, too
much on his sinking but the man walked on water!) Peter who said, "Lord
if it be you [implied, Lord, if it be your will] then bid me to come"
and Jesus said only one word; He said "come [implied, Peter, It is my
will so come]." Peter found the expressed will of God and walked into
his miracle by faith; so too this poor leper was able to find the
expressed will of God when Jesus said "I will, be thou clean".
Within those words "I will" or "come" is
contained such power (through faith which comes by hearing the Word of God; Romans 10:17); it
is something that if embraced with tenacity will compel one into the miracle they need. It does not matter if it is an issue of blood, leprosy, walking on
the water, calming the sea or one a of a thousand different scenarios. Once God
has given a word that reveals His will you reach out and take it!
And so it was that Peter walked on water and so it was that
this man was made clean by knowing and believing the words of Christ; they had
a one on one meeting with God and His word made everything different. We have
struggles and cares, dont we? What is it really that we need? Do we need
counseling? Do we need phone calls of encouragement? Perhaps, these things have
their place but what we really need is a one on one encouter with the risen
Christ where we ask Him one very focused question and He answers us in a word
such as "I will" or "come". And so what
happened to this man? He was made clean of his death sentance of leaprosy. "...Jesus
put forth his hand, and touched him, saying, I will; be thou clean And immediately
his leprosy was cleansed..."
Where are you at today, my friend? We are coming into a time
in the history of the church where God is about to release His power as never
before. Having you been like the man at the pool of Bethesda waiting thirty eight
years for a miracle? Have you been like the woman with the issue of blood who
inspite of her efforts in twelve years grew worse and not better? Are you like
this poor man who was gripped with a leprosy that threatened his very
existance? Well, let me say this, take heart because God is about to move and
when He does He is going to speak into areas that have been bound for years,
areas that have kept people in bondage for years and when He does the prison
doors are going to swing open and the captives will be set free. Don't faint,
keep your ears and you heart open because God is about to move!!
Let me conclude with the following old chorus:
"Got any rivers you think are uncrossable?
Got any mountains you cannot tunnel through?
God speciaizes in things thought impossible
And He can do what no other power can do..."
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