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Andrew Wommack
“It’s always better to avoid problems, which is the result
of living in blessing, than it is to be delivered out of them, which requires a
miracle.”
It’s true that we
serve a God of miracles.
But brace yourself, because what I am going to say about that
will come as a total shock to some of you. The Lord’s preference is
not to meet your needs through a miracle.
Now before you think I’ve lost all my faith, hear me out.
I
define a miracle as the suspension or superseding of natural laws, and
personally, I’ve received many.
There
is no doubt in my mind that the Lord performs miracles and uses them like a
bell to draw people unto Himself.
But let me ask you, would you rather receive a miracle of
healing or live with the blessing of good health?
Would
you rather have the Lord perform a miracle to pull you out of bankruptcy or be
so blessed financially that He wouldn’t have to?
I
think the logical answer to both of those questions is obvious.
It’s always
better to avoid problems, which is the result of living in blessing, than it is
to be delivered out of them, which requires a miracle.
There are three important reasons for receiving from God
through blessings rather than miracles.
First, blessings prevent crises, while miracles deliver
from crises.
Second, a blessing is always a more abundant supply than a
miracle.
And third, miracles are a temporary fix, while blessings
are permanent solutions.
Therefore, if you’re living from miracle to miracle, it
probably means you’re living from crisis to crisis.
God’s original intent for His creation was to function
under His blessing instead of a miracle.
If
sin hadn’t corrupted God’s creation, there would be no need for miracles.
Everyone would be healthy, everyone would be prosperous, and strife, the cause
of broken relationships and wars, wouldn’t even exist.
Unfortunately, there is corruption in the earth, and there
will always be a place for miracles.
However,
Jesus not only forgave us of our sins, He redeemed us from the curse and placed
blessings on His followers.
Galatians
3:13 says, “Christ hath redeemed us from
the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is
every one that hangeth on a tree.”
If we will
believe we are blessed and act accordingly, we can avoid many of the problems
that make us candidates for miracles.
Let me illustrate. Some believers pray for financial
miracles but aren’t practicing the principle of giving and will not work.
They
know God loves them, so they’re counting on and believing for a miracle. And
that’s just what it will take.
They
aren’t obeying God’s Word in faith, so they can’t receive the blessing God has
spoken over them.
The Lord told us to work so that He would bless the work
of our hands and that if we would give, it would be given unto us.
We
read in 2 Thessalonians 3:10, “For even
when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work,
neither should he eat.”
Deuteronomy
28:12 reads, “The LORD shall open unto thee
his good treasure, the heaven to give the rain unto thy land in his season, and
to bless all the work of thine hand: and thou shalt lend unto many nations, and
thou shalt not borrow.”
Luke
6:38 says, “Give, and it shall be given
unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over,
shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal
it shall be measured to you again.
If we don’t obey Him in these commands, it’s either
because of ignorance or we don’t fully trust His promises.
That
doesn’t mean the Lord hates us, but it means our
unbelief is stopping the blessing He has spoken from coming to pass in our
lives.
So, lack of faith in God’s blessing causes us to enter
into crisis, and right before disaster, if we continue steadfast in our belief
for a miracle, we receive just enough to get us over the hump.
Then
next month we need another miracle. I know this drill from experience.
One of the greatest mistakes of my life was believing that
to be a full-time minister, I had to quit working a secular job.
It
wasn’t that I minded working; I’ve been a hard worker all my life and I enjoy
it. I honestly thought I had to make a choice, that I couldn’t do both.
It took years for the Lord to get through my stubbornness
and teach me I could work to supplement my income until the ministry grew.
In
the meantime, Jamie and I suffered a lot of financial crises, unnecessarily.
Because
the Lord loved us, He kept us alive with a lot of miracles.
I
remember the week before our first son was born. We didn’t have the money to
pay the expenses.
Miraculously,
a Bible study group from nearly 100 miles away sent us all we needed to pay for
the birth, just in time.
The day of Joshua’s birth, I ran out of gas and pulled
into a service station.
Without
any money and not knowing what to do, I started filling my tank believing God
would perform a miracle. (Please don’t do this — I’m not recommending it; it’s
just what I did.)
I didn’t know it when I pulled in, but while I was filling
my tank, the owner came out, and as it turns out, he was a Christian friend.
He asked how I was doing. I told him about Joshua just
being born, and he said, “Well, let this tank of gas be on me in celebration
of his birth.”
Thank
You, Jesus!
On another occasion, we went to the grocery store with $7
and came home with three large grocery sacks of meat and other food.
Another
miracle. Once, our car ran for a week without gas. The block even cracked because
we didn’t have enough antifreeze, and yet it didn’t leak water.
On
and on, I could go. We experienced miracles all the time.
Many years later I was thinking about all those miracles,
and I began to be a little concerned.
It
had been years since I’d seen miracles like that in our finances.
As I pondered this, the Lord spoke to me and said, “Would you like to go back to living by miracles,
or would you rather live in the blessings you now enjoy?”
That
was a no-brainer. I’d rather be
blessed than in need of a miracle. When I need gas now, I just pull in, fill
up, and buy it. Thank You, Jesus!
Because miracles are “unnatural,” they are never
permanent. The Lord created laws that govern the operation of His creation.
He
sometimes, temporarily, supersedes them, but always returns the situation back
to the natural operation of those laws.
For instance, if we abuse our bodies, we can receive a
miracle of healing. But if the root of the problem isn’t dealt with, the
sickness or infirmity will return, and we’ll need another miracle.
But when we believe God’s Word and follow its
instructions, it will teach us how to eat, exercise, and enjoy emotional health
that works like a medicine (Proverbs
17:22).
The
Lord would rather keep you healthy through His blessing than to heal you by a
miracle.
And, unlike miracles, once a blessing is received, no
outside force can stop it:
“Behold, I have received commandment to bless: and he hath
blessed; and I cannot reverse it” (Numbers
23:20).
The only thing that can stop the blessing of God in our
lives is our unbelief. What a powerful truth.
Balaam’s
curse couldn’t stop the blessing that was on the nation of Israel. The blessing
received in faith will always trump the curse.
So, what is the blessing of God, and how do we receive it?
To
begin with, the blessing of God isn’t things. The blessing of God will produce
things, but the blessing isn’t things.
Galatians
3:14 says, “That the blessing of Abraham
might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the
promise of the Spirit through faith.”
Abraham’s blessing has come upon us through faith in
Christ, and the blessing isn’t the things that Abraham possessed.
Would
you want Abraham’s animals that have been dead for four thousand years? Do you
want his tents and clothes? I don’t think so.
What
you want is the favor of God that was spoken over him, which produced his
physical and spiritual abundance.
That’s what the
blessing of God is; it’s His divine spoken favor. And that blessing, if mixed with faith, will produce
abundance in spirit, soul, and body.
There is much more to the contrast of blessings and miracles
than what I have been able to present here.
I
consider this to be one of the most foundational and beneficial truths the Lord
has ever taught me.
If
you can make the adjustment from a miracle mentality to a blessed mentality,
you will begin to prosper as never before.
The good news
is, you are already blessed.
The
bad news is, most don’t know the power of that blessing. They would rather have a miracle.
If
you receive this teaching in your heart, you will come to a place where you
will pray, “Lord, help me to never need a miracle from You again. I want
to live in the blessing.”
When
it comes to personal needs, miracles should be for people who don’t have the
revelation of God’s blessing. Don’t let that be you.
Andrew
wanted to minister the Word and healing to more people directly. He wanted the
opportunity to talk with more people about their needs and how the ministry was
meeting them. And, he wanted to personally thank all those who had entered into
partnership with him to help fulfill this vision. To accomplish that, it
required venues that could serve large numbers of people at neutral locations
where all would feel welcome. It required more than a single Sunday morning or
evening service to teach a message effectively. So, in 2003 the first three-day
Gospel Truth Seminar was held in Kansas City at the Marriott Hotel.
That was
the beginning of the Gospel Truth Seminars that are now held in major cities
across America. Andrew and Jamie cordially invite you to attend a GTS in your
area. Check out Andrew’s event
schedule for listings.
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