expecting miracles.

I was able to go to Encounter (AFUMC's Sunday youth stuff)  tonight for the first time in what honestly felt like forever!  It seems I'm always writing some paper, reading some article, or generally gearing up for the week ahead, and am rarely able to attend on Sunday nights.  It's always so sweet when I can go, though, because I genuinely and truly love these students as if they are my own.  Tonight, Eric (youth pastor extraordinaire) taught on miracles.  He spoke out of John 14:13, one of my all-time favorite verses out of easily my favorite Gospel (if, I'm allowed favorites... John will always take the cake.), which is Jesus speaking to His disciples- promising them equal, if not greater works than even He did on Earth.  The reason that this passage has such a special place in my heart is that John 14:13 speaks to our inheritance.  We have been given the Kingdom, the Fullness, a gracious Father and a faithful witness Jesus Christ, we have been given all things that God gave to Jesus through our faith in Him.  How insane is that??  Who gives an equal share to their neighbor's kid as to their own child in their will?  Certainly, no one I know.  Yet, this is what Jesus does for us:  He gives freely of Himself so that we might have the boldness to walk in His path eternally.  Whatever we ask in accordance with God's will, He will hear us (1 John 5:14).  I don't know about you, but I say heck yes to that inheritance!

Anyway, tonight Eric spoke about how miracles are a basic, foundational aspect of our faith.  We have built an entire tradition on the fact that Jesus Christ was dead.  Flat-line dead, wrapped in cloth and laid in a tomb; yet we believe- and know to be true- that God raised His Son from the dead.  Eric explained to the students that not only do we believe that Jesus was raised, but we believe that He raised others:  Jesus healed the blind, the paralytic, the sick, the unbelieving... and then He promised us that we could do it too.  It is our inheritance.  It is a beautiful message because Jesus is raising us up and saying:  you are enough! If you have willing hands and faith in your heart- You can be like me.  Wow.  That is simply incredible.  

Eric ended by sharing with the students our higher calling:  to be different. We are called to be believers who live uniquely with the boldness that we have been given.  We are called to pray for each other, and we can live expectantly that big things are going to happen.  It also means that we are called to have great faith, because miracles don't always happen the way we see fit- in our timing or in our way- but they do happen.  So we are called to be a people confident in our inheritance, believing in a big way that our prayers are powerful and effect change, and always be giving the Glory to God- who makes all things work together for the good of those who love Him (Romans 8:28).  I hope that I live my life expecting miracles... and I hope that my witness invites others to do the same.