Believe in Miracles

“Amen I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it shall be done for him.” (Mark 11:23)

The Lord’s number one priority in healing is creating miracles that are an aid to our spiritual health. We know this from the Bible’s healing stories, particularly the story of the paralytic’s miraculous cure, found in the Gospels of Matthew (9:1-8), Mark (2:1-12) and Luke (5:17-26). In these narratives, Jesus first tells the stricken young man, “Your sins are forgiven.” Only then does Jesus heal him of his paralysis. 

So many people live in spiritual darkness. They may go to church, but they struggle to believe in God or God’s love. Our first task as Christ’s ambassadors is to love them fervently and tell them they are loved unconditionally. As the Letter of James tell us “Fervent prayer of a righteous person is very powerful.” (James 5:16) Praying fervently for spiritual healing is greatly enhanced by living the fourth Beatitude. “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness / for they will be satisfied.” (Matthew 5:6)

What does hunger and thirst mean? That we pray with all our hearts, all our souls and all our minds, praying fervently for miracles, especially spiritual miracles. What does righteousness mean? That we pray for the will of the Father.

The rosary is an important spiritual weapon, particularly when we have challenges with our family members. Pray by using the rosary in defense against evil and as a critical tool of healing. Whenever we call on the Blessed Mother to participate in the process, great healings can occur. I pray a decade of the rosary daily for each member of my family for spiritual healing. When we pray in obedience for spiritual breakthroughs, we will see spiritual miracles. We also remember miracles occur in God’s timing.

One of the most incredible spiritual miracles I’ve experienced occurred on my first trip to the Philippines. Our team visited the prison in Cebu where Michael Jackson filmed the music video ‘Thriller.” As an aid to their rehabilitation, the inmates are taught to dance together to rock songs. They work in unison on their dance steps. One evening when we were there, seven camera crews filmed the inmates’ dances. After a while, I was asked to pray with the inmates as I stood above the yard in a second-story area. The camera crews took a break, and a prison leader asked me to preach directly to the inmates in the yard. I was excited and couldn’t wait to get out there! However, just as I was walking down the stairs to enter the yard, a typhoon hit! 

If you know anything about the Philippines and rain, you know the downpours are incredible. They are completely drenching, obscuring everything. I couldn’t see my hand in front of my face. The warden looked at me and said, “I guess you can’t go out there.” At that point, the miracle really got started. I had travelled 10,000 miles to see God’s people in the Philippines. I had a dream in which I was commanded to go. I was even going to quit my job because my boss had refused five times to allow my trip. I went to see the vice president of human resources, a devout Christian, and asked his opinion. He went to see his pastor who told him to pray. That night he had a dream and God told him, “You don’t know what I have in store for Steve; let him go on the trip.” Back at the office, he found a way to help me go on the trip without resigning.

I had prayed and prayed for a miracle.

After all that had happened to allow this trip, I found myself looking at a typhoon just when I had an opportunity to share the love of Jesus with more than 1,000 people. I prayed fervently. “Lord,” I said, “You wanted me to go to this country to love your people. Now when I have this great opportunity, the weather is stopping me. I believe in you. I believe in your miracles. Tell me what to do.” I truly expected God to act and tell me something incredible. I wasn’t disappointed. He told me to ask the warden, “Wait two minutes.” I looked the warden in the eye and said, “Can we wait two minutes?” I could see the look in his eyes and sensed his obvious thoughts. “Two minutes. Who are you kidding? Have you seen the storm? A category-five typhoon?” He stuttered, “Well, okay.”

My brothers and sisters, what happened next I will never forget. In exactly two minutes, this category-five typhoon stopped. The warden looked at me and said, “I guess you can go out there.” I was so fired up, I burst outside. I was in the yard preaching for 30 minutes without a single drop of rain or gust of wind.

I began loving the inmates gathered there passionately with the love of Jesus, explaining Chapter 8 of Paul’s Letter to the Romans. These imprisoned men were not condemned by Jesus. All things work for good if they love Jesus and are called according to His purpose. Nothing will separate them from the love of Christ. They are adopted children of God. On and on. Pouring love out to them. I could see the spiritual healing in their eyes. I could see how much they hungered to be healed and to give their lives to Jesus. I asked them each to totally surrender their lives to Jesus. To surrender their hearts, souls, minds, pasts, presents and futures. Eight hundred men in the yard and hundreds more looking through windows above listened intently.

Every single one, and I mean every one, repeated the Sinners Prayer and gave their hearts and souls—their lives—to Jesus! They raised their arms in the air praising God. Incredible! Alleluia!

A year later, I learned that a delegation from the prison had gone to the worldwide Eucharistic Congress in Cebu the following January and proclaimed to the assembly that they each had given their lives to Jesus. What a miracle! God’s love is incredible. The more we bask in it and draw upon it, the more miracles occur!

God’s supernatural intervention in our lives extends into our spiritual needs in order to bring us closer to Him.