Bill Johnson - How to Embrace the Miracle Process
There is a potential downfall to living in a miracle culture. Come back tomorrow, and I'll tell you what it is. I'm sure there’s a possible downfall, and that downfall is this: people will sometimes avoid the process God has created because they’re hoping for a dramatic, immediate rescue. Yes, build a man, that’s absolutely right. It’s what we call the lottery mentality. I’m facing a real trial, but one of these days, a big breakthrough is going to come.
Now, here’s the deal: we believe in the big breakthroughs. We do. We believe the cancer disappears. I’ve seen it happen. I’ve seen the blind eyes opened. I’ve seen the impossible situations reversed. I’ve seen the wheelchair empty. We’ve seen these things. We’ve witnessed marriages on the rocks get healed sovereignly in a visitation of God. We’ve seen businesses that were going under turn around by the miracle of God. But the problem is, oh boy, the problem is that we look for immediate breakthroughs instead of the moments where God is trying to engage us in a lifestyle where process brings us to a deliverance that makes sense. The best way, maybe, to illustrate it is with Israel again.
In the wilderness, they were sustained by miracles. The Promised Land was where they had to work; where God was taking them was where God would bless their labor. They would be connected to a process that was supernaturally blessed and inspired. Where’s God taking you? There are two kinds of miracle realms in the nation of Israel. Wilderness miracles sustained them; the Promised Land miracles advanced them. The miracles were no longer to keep them alive. In other words, it wasn’t manna on the ground every day just so they could eat something. It was now God breathing on the crops so that they could become a prosperous nation and actually influence the nations around them. Process.