By Judy Jacobs
Now glory be to God, who by his mighty power at work within us is able to do far more than we would ever dare to ask or even dream of — infinitely beyond our highest prayers, desires, thoughts, or hopes.
Ephesians 3:20
World renowned healing evangelist Oral Roberts coined the phrase, “I expect a miracle.” As he, being unctioned by the Holy Spirit to pronounce and to declare that statement many years ago, here we are decades later, still saying it. I believe the Holy Spirit is once again prompting us to declare it again incessantly, very strongly, and confidently with boldness, over our lives, our families, our communities, our Nation, and the Nations of the Earth, “Expect A Miracle!”
The way the Holy Spirit is revealing it to me is to, Expect the Unexpected! Expect…that unexpectedly, your miracle is going to show up at your front door, at your desk, in your church, in your body, in your house, and things will never be the same again.
There was a certain lame man that had been lame all of his life, 40 years to be exact, and one day as was his ritual every day, he had some friends carry him to the gate of the temple to ask for money. Here is his story of, “The Unexpected.” [Acts 3: 1-11 (NLT)]
Peter and John went to the Temple one afternoon to take part in the three o’clock prayer service. 2As they approached the Temple, a man lame from birth was being carried in. Each day he was put beside the Temple gate, the one called the Beautiful Gate, so he could beg from the people going into the Temple. 3When he saw Peter and John about to enter, he asked them for some money.
4Peter and John looked at him intently, and Peter said, “Look at us!” 5The lame man looked at them eagerly, expecting a gift. 6But Peter said, “I don’t have any money for you. But I’ll give you what I have. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, get up and walk!” 7Then Peter took the lame man by the right hand and helped him up. And as he did, the man’s feet and anklebones were healed and strengthened. 8He jumped up, stood on his feet, and began to walk! Then, walking, leaping, and praising God, he went into the Temple with them.
9All the people saw him walking and heard him praising God. 10When they realized he was the lame beggar they had seen so often at the Beautiful Gate, they were absolutely astounded! 11They all rushed out to Solomon’s Colonnade, where he was holding tightly to Peter and John. Everyone stood there in awe of the wonderful thing that had happened.
This is a miraculous testimony of how one man went to church expecting one thing, but totally unexpectedly, received something else, he received a miracle, THE UNEXPECTED! Someone very wittingly has said, “He went expecting alms, and got legs.”
DECLARE AND DECREE
I believe there are some key principles for you to exercise, in faith, in seeing, “the unexpected” come to your life. First of all you’ve got to “declare and decree” it with your mouth that things are changing right now. The Word says, Thou shalt also decree a thing, and it shall be established unto thee: and the light shall shine upon thy ways. [Job 22:28]
Are we expecting God to do greater things than He has ever done before? Is there a freshness and a vitality in your spiritual outlook that says, “this is how it has been in the past, in the natural it doesn’t look good, but in the supernatural, things are getting ready to change.”
The Bible says, that the power of life and death is in the tongue. When you speak life to your situation, life will come, likewise, when you speak death, death is sure to follow. It is a choice to say that today I am going to let only those things that are of edification to my situation come out of my mouth and nothing more.
I was moved by a testimony that I heard recently of a young mother of two boys who had learned that she had Lou Gehrigs disease. As we know, this terrible disease can absolutely annihilate your muscles and ultimately bring death to your life. As the testimony continued she became discouraged listening to the doctor’s report week after week, so she enrolled into a School of Ministry at her home church, where the Word was taught every week, and her and her husband started to say what the Word said about her.
She practically threw away most of all the instructions that the doctors were telling her to do, and instead, she got her focus on the Word of God and began to declare what God has declared over her body. They took some tape and literally taped the Word of God all over their house. There was not one room that she couldn’t walk in where the Word of God was not being displayed. So outloud, and on purpose, she would quote those scriptures over and over again. The first thing that she started noticing was that she wasn’t falling anymore, and then she noticed that she could hold on to things better and more tightly. After several weeks of going through all of these faith walks and Bible studies, her doctors became very curious as to why the disease wasn’t progressing, so they decided to do another CAT scan. The final result of the scan showed that the disease was no longer there. They knew that it had been there because of some nerve damage, but other than that, there was not a single trace of Lou Gehrigs disease. Praise God, the Word works! Expect the Unexpected!
I love what Oswald Chambers says in his Utmost For His Highest devotional; he said, “If a person is ever going to do anything worthwhile, there will be times when he must risk everything by his leap in the dark.”
I am certainly not indicating that we should throw all of our medicines away, and tell your doctor that you don’t need her any more, but what I am saying is, we must start trusting God again to do the unexpected. It is amazing to me, how God will go beyond our faith. He will go beyond what we are expecting Him to do. He said it this way, I am able to do exceeding abundantly above all you ask or think according to the power that works within you. [Eph. 3:20]
DON’T DOUBT
The next principle that the Spirit is speaking is…Don’t Doubt Him! There is a story in the Bible that is so amazing to me and every time I read this passage in the Bible I am still shocked at what I read and can hardly believe my eyes, see if you can understand where I am coming from:
When Jesus had finished giving these instructions to his twelve disciples, he went off preaching in the cities where they were scheduled to go. 2John the Baptist, who was now in prison, heard about all the miracles the Messiah was doing, so he sent his disciples to ask Jesus, 3 “Are you really the one we are waiting for, or shall we keep on looking?”
You feel like saying, “What? Wait just one minute! Stop! What did he tell them to ask? Did he just say what we thought he said? I can hardly believe that John stooped so low as to even think it, much less, say it.”
This is the same John who declared, Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand…
This is the same John who said, I indeed baptize with water but the one who is coming after me I am not worthy to even tie his shoes. He will baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire.
This is the same John… who baptized Jesus and literally saw the heavens open up and the Spirit of God descending upon Jesus like a dove. He even heard the Father say, This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. Ladies and Gentlemen: This is the same John.
4Jesus told them, “Go back to John and tell him about the miracles you’ve seen me do — 5the blind people I’ve healed, and the lame people now walking without help, and the cured lepers, and the deaf who hear, and the dead raised to life; and tell him about my preaching the Good News to the poor. 6Then give him this message, “Blessed are those who don’t doubt me.” Matthew 11: 1-6 (LB)
Now before you start picking up stones to start throwing at John, let me ask you is there something that you are doubting right now that God has said. Is there a prophecy that has been spoken over your life, a dream that you haven’t realized yet, or a prayer that you have prayed for a while, and yet you have not seen it answered? Jesus told Thomas, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed. [John 20:29]
Paul said, I would that men everywhere would lift up holy hands without wrath and doubting. [I Tim. 2:8]
If there is some unconfessed sin in your heart that you have not brought before the Lord, get that thing under the blood, lift up those holy hands and don’t doubt the Word of the Lord. The Word declares that, You have need of patience that after you have done the will of God you might receive the promise. [Hebrews 10:35]
If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. 6But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. 7For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; 8he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways. (Jam.1: 5-8)
One thing you must understand, that the aim of your adversary for your life is focused on one single thing, and that is to move you away from standing in your faith before God. He wants you to doubt everything that has been declared over your life.
Doubt your faith in God…
Doubt the Word of God…
Doubt your call…
Doubt your children are going to be saved…
Doubt your body is going to be healed…
Doubt your marriage is going to be restored…
Doubt that you will ever get out of debt…
He wants you to live in fear, doubt and unbelief.
Doubt says, “it may not happen.”
Unbelief screams, “it will never happen.”
But you have got to scream back, “I believe God.” So when you start to declare what God has said, and when you start to say what God has said, then you can expect God to do everything that you are believing for and even more. It is at this time that you can expect the unexpected. He will show up in places you never expected and do things that are unexpected.
ASK AND KEEP ON ASKING…
This is a really simple concept that we need to practice everyday and that is to remember what Jesus told us…
Ask, and keep on asking. Seek, and keep on seeking. Knock, and keep on knocking. For everyone who asks, receives and everyone who seeks, finds, and to him who knocks, the door will be open. [Matthew 7:7amp]
I believe that when we come before our heavenly Father in faith and have met all the conditions to getting our prayers heard and answered, it is then that we can expect Him to be, A rewarder of them that diligently seek after Him. [Heb 11:6]
What are those conditions? Confess your sins.
David said in Psalms 66:18, If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me: and Jesus said, 3Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee; 24Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift. [Matt. 5:24]
Unconfessed sin will always block your prayers to the Father. So as I stated earlier, get it under the blood.
Pray in faith. Paul said in Romans 1:17, The just shall live by faith. You can’t even get to God, much less please Him, unless you pray in faith. The Word declares, Without faith it is impossible to please Him for He that cometh to Him must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him. [Heb 11:6]
James tells us the exact kind of prayer that God hears…The prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up…The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. [James 5:15a-16b]
I remember as a child and a youngster seeing my Mom go into her prayer chamber. Sometimes the weight of the load that she was carrying was very evident. Her head would be bowed, her shoulders drooped and you could hear the moanings and the groanings that Paul talked about in Romans 8:26, Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.
But when she came out of there, sometimes hours later, her head was up, her shoulders were back, her hands were lifted and her mouth was filled with praise, she didn’t have anything to base any of her actions on except, she had prayed the prayer of faith, she had gotten a word, and she was trusting God to come through, so therefore she had the victory.
Pray in conformity with the will of God. [I John 5:14]
4And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: 15And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him.
One thing that I have heard repeatedly over and over again is that not only does,”Prayer change things, but prayer also changes the “pray-er’.” When we come into the presence of God and begin to be enveloped by the glory of who He is, what He has done in our lives, and the grace and mercy that He has bestowed upon us, something begins to happen. All of a sudden our lists are not even important anymore. I know from my own personal experiences it has been, as His presence has been abiding and I have been enraptured with just who He is, and what He has done in my life, and as I feel Him beginning to withdraw Himself, its as if I can hear Him say, Now what is it that you wanted to talk to me about? It’s then that I realize, that nothing is more important than just being in His face and feeling His embrace and knowing that He is working all things together for my good and so therefore I can say, ‘Not my will but thine be done.’
Pray persistently. [Luke 18:1-8]
And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint; 2Saying, There was in a city a judge, which feared not God, neither regarded man: 3And there was a widow in that city; and she came unto him, saying, Avenge me of mine adversary. 4And he would not for a while: but afterward he said within himself, Though I fear not God, nor regard man; 5Yet because this widow troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me. 6And the Lord said, Hear what the unjust judge saith. 7And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them? 8I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?
This woman refused to give up until she got the justice that she deserved. The Bible declares in Isaiah 62:7, Take no rest those who pray, and give God no rest. That means pray unceasingly and as this woman who would not give up before the unjust judge, how much more will our heavenly Father give us good things, if we ask.
Pray sincerely. [Hebrews 10:22-23]
22let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. 23Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.
There is a call that is going out into the Spirit and it is an invitation for us to come near to Him in consecration. It is the call of the Lord. He is wooing us back to Him in holiness and righteous living. Old Testament priests were consecrated once a year to go into the Holy of Holies on behalf of an entire nation. I believe that God is calling the Body of Christ to a place of His presence and a place of consecration and abandonment so that when we come into His presence, There is fullness of joy.
It is a choice to say “yes” to His purposes, His desires, and His will for our lives. God asked the priests to distinguish between that which was holy and unholy. When we make a choice we will find out that He is everything that He said He would be, and that He will do everything that we need for Him to do. We choose to Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, because we are fully persuaded, that He will add all the things that we are believing for, and more. Unexpectedly!
Judy Jacobs is an ordained Minister of the Gospel, inspired and anointed woman of God who through word and song presents the Good News of Jesus Christ. In addition to her ministry work, Minister Jacobs has also been involved with many powerful global ministries including: T.D. Jakes and The Potters House, Mega Fest, Benny Hinn Crusades, Dominion Camp Meetings with Rod Parsley, Bishop Eddie Long and New Birth, Pastor Paula White Ministries, Christian Conferences in the USA and overseas, Trinity Broadcasting Network, Daystar, Inspirational Network and many other renown ministries. She has also authored a variety of Christian publications and one book, Take It By Force! (2006: Charisma House Publishing). currently available in English and Spanish and sold at fine bookstores everywhere.
