I’ve been decreeing and declaring—and witnessing—more miracles in the past year than I’ve seen in the past 10 years. We saw stage 4 cancer healed at Awakening Healing Rooms, and I saw legally blind eyes opened in my recent California meetings.
Indeed, we’ve entered into a season of astounding miracles in America—and this is just the first fruits of a new healing movement emerging even now. I am convinced only two things are holding back a mass outbreak of God’s miracle-working power: unbelief and a works mentality. The unbelief will fade away as the number of undeniable miracles increases, because faith not only comes by hearing but also by seeing. The works issue is a different story.
Even after we’ve witnessed miracles, many times we try to work our way into kingdom manifestations due to teachings that insist we must confess our way to breakthrough. I believe in declaring the Word, but the Lord declares, “Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit” (Zech. 4:6). On the other end of the spectrum, we have religious spirits that deny the gifts of the Spirit still operate today (2 Tim. 3:5). Paul said we are to turn away from religion that denies the power of God.
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Your Faith Does the Work
The book of Mark is action-packed with miracles. In Mark 1 we see Jesus’ baptism, temptation in the wilderness, the beginning of His ministry in Galilee and the calling of the first disciples—then the miracle ministry began. Here’s a list from the first six chapters:
- Jesus cast a devil out of a man in the synagogue (Mark 1:25).
- Jesus healed Simon’s mother (Mark 1:31).
- Jesus healed many who were sick with various diseases and cast out many demons (Mark 1:34).
- Jesus preached in the synagogues and cast out demons (Mark 1:39).
- Jesus cleansed a leper (Mark 1:41).
- Jesus healed a paralytic (Mark 2:11).
- Jesus healed a man with a withered hand (Mark 3:5).
- Jesus calmed the storm (Mark 4: 39).
- Jesus cast out a legion of devils from the demoniac (Mark 5:8).
- Jesus healed the woman with the issue of blood (Mark 5:29).
- Jesus raised Jairus’ daughter from the dead (Mark 5:41).
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When you read those accounts, you’ll notice two things: (1) Jesus didn’t strive and struggle to do these miracles. He relied on the power of the Holy Spirit, and (2) those receiving miracles didn’t struggle unto breakthrough. They didn’t get into works. They believed that Jesus was willing and able to heal them and they let their faith do the work.
Remember, Jesus told the woman with the issue of blood her faith made her whole, not her works. Still, sometimes it’s hard to believe. That’s why the man with the epileptic boy in Mark 9:24 cried out to Jesus with tears, “Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief!” All things are possible with God, as I discuss in my book Developing Faith for the Working of Miracles.
Works Mentality Combats Faith
Even after Christ’s disciples had seen many astonishing miracles of healing and deliverance—and even after they used His authority to do those same works with great success—the works mentality crept back in when it came time to feed the 5,000 as recorded in Mark 6.
Here’s the scene: The disciples told Jesus to send the hungry crowd home to eat. “But He answered, ‘You give them something to eat. They said to Him, ‘Shall we go and buy two hundred denarii worth of bread and give it to them to eat?'” (Mark 6:37).
What happened? Suddenly, they are faced with a situation they hadn’t seen before and they knee-jerked back into works. That’s what we do. Some of us can believe for finances because we’ve received financial miracles. Others stay poor because they don’t have the faith for it so they get into works. Some can believe for healing miracles because God has healed them in the past. Others stay sick because they don’t have faith for healing and they get into works.
Flip to Mark 8, and the disciples are faced with another feeding miracle—and their faith failed them again. That’s what we do sometimes. God comes through with a miracle in a hard situation but the next time we face that same circumstance, our faith falters because we think we don’t deserve His grace. That’s true, we don’t deserve His grace or His mercy, but He pours it out on us anyway.
How to Receive Your Miracle
Always remember this: The way we received salvation is the same we receive miracles—or tap into the gift of the working of miracles. We discover this reality Ephesians 2:8-10 (AMP):
“For it is by free grace (God’s unmerited favor) that you are saved (delivered from judgment and made partakers of Christ’s salvation) through [your] faith. And this [salvation] is not of yourselves [of your own doing, it came not through your own striving], but it is the gift of God; Not because of works [not the fulfillment of the Law’s demands], lest any man should boast. [It is not the result of what anyone can possibly do, so no one can pride himself in it or take glory to himself.]”
God is willing and able to break into your situation and bring deliverance, healing, provision or whatever else you need. If you are going to strive, strive to enter His rest (Heb. 4:11) instead of striving in works that wear you out and rob your faith. As Jesus said, “Only believe” (Mark 5:36). {eoa}
Stephen Strang 
Charisma Media Staff 
Charisma Staff 
