A Nugget from New Life Network
Scripture for the Day (July 27, 2017)
Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father. (John 14:12)
One of the things that I have learned after years of reading and studying the Bible is that sometimes it helps to go back to the beginning to understand God’s purposes. As an example, the Book of Genesis has just a wealth of revelation that helps us understand God’s original intent concerning creation, the Fall of Man, the tactics of the enemy, etc. Using that same line of thinking, let’s look at the beginning of the ministry of Jesus to see if His original actions can give us any insight into His purposes, and thus our own purposes.
The first miracle that Jesus did in His ministry was turn water into wine at a wedding in Cana of Galilee (John 2). John the Baptist said that he baptized with water but Jesus, who John was not worthy to even untie His shoe laces, would baptize with the Holy Ghost (John 1:33).
I personally think the wine miracle was a prophetic picture of one of the key purposes of Jesus. As John the Baptist baptized in water, and was assigned to introduce and herald the coming of Jesus as the Lamb of God, so Jesus was assigned to introduce and herald to all of us the coming of the Holy Ghost. Jesus was already full of the Holy Ghost (John 3:34), but our time was coming.
When the ruler of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and knew not whence it was: (but the servants which drew the water knew;) the governor of the feast called the bridegroom, And saith unto him, Every man at the beginning doth set forth good wine; and when men have well drunk, then that which is worse: but thou hast kept the good wine until now. (John 2:9-10)
The second miracle that Jesus did when He returned to Cana of Galilee was to heal the son of one of the King’s officers (John 4:49-50). Healings were a major part of the ministry of Jesus throughout His time on earth. Let’s not forget that this man’s whole household was saved because of this miracle (John 4:53). Those healing miracles continued with His disciples and they should be continuing today with His disciples today. That’s us!!!
How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him. (Acts 10:38)
The third miracle that is listed in Luke 4:31-36 and Mark 1:21-27 involves Jesus casting out an evil spirit from a man in Capernaum. This is a picture of the power that a Holy Ghost believer has over the demonic.
Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you. (Luke 10:19)
To me, these are clear pictures of what we are to be doing as born-again believers in Jesus Christ. We are to be filled with the Spirit, healing the sick, and casting out demons. Sounds like Mark 16 to me!!!
And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover. So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God. And they went forth, and preached every where, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following. Amen. (Mark 16:17-20)
