Family

    Both Jesus and Peter whom Jesus carefully discipled took special measures to create an atmosphere of faith in which a mighty miracle could occur. ( see Mark 5 v 40 and Acts 9 v 40) Both of them put out of the immediate area influences that were contrary to the faith that was needed to perform or receive the great work that God wanted to do.  Some of those undermining  influences  included hysteria, noisy commotion, sorrow, despair and ridicule when a better alternative and interpretation had been presented.  So too in this new year a challenge is being presented us of expelling certain undermining influences and distracting  associations from our lives in order to prepare for and accommodate the great work that God wants to do in the weeks and months ahead.
It may involve cutting off or cutting back certain relationships that are not like minded or cultivating ones that are.  It may result in misunderstanding and ridicule like Jesus experienced when he announced that the girl was only sleeping, but notice how undaunted he was  by it.  In fact it seemed to spur him on even more!  It may be met with contradictory reports and cold facts that discourage as Jairus endured but he kept his eyes on Jesus and kept listening to Him anyway when others who had been eyewitnesses informed him that his daughter was already dead.  It may require patience in what seems like a costly interruption and delay but note that Jairus didn’t complain but continued trusting Jesus as He paused to heal the woman with the flow of blood.  It may draw criticism as Jairus faced when he was told not to bother the Master anymore with seemingly less important or unimportant matters. It will require that we meet people precisely where they are to apply what we have been taught to a pressing desperate need, that we return a yield and a benefit to all that has so patiently been invested in us over time.  All of this so that we can see life brought forth from death or from what seemed at the point of dying, even if it was a dream of ours or someone that was on its deathbed!  We may have to stand alone as Peter did when he raised Dorcas from the dead.  Or we may be able to bring someone along during at least part of the process so that they might learn how to create a similar environment, one where wonders can occur, the kind that bring with them the hope that our world so urgently needs.
Finally we must be willing, if God wills it, to receive no recognition for it or see another get the recognition, as long as the wonder occurs and the crying need is met which is the main thing.  Did not Jesus tell them sternly that they must tell no one about it?  Recognition was clearly not his motivation for the Father’s works, but rather his Father’s glory in His Father’s time.

  There is yet another example that comes to mind regarding establishing environments for God to work.  It concerns Joseph when his brothers had come to Egypt in search of food in a time of severe famine in Israel.  Joseph had prospered and been promoted to a position of responsibility and now possessed the authority to release food and other resources for the good of his brothers.  But before he revealed himself to his brothers, the same ones who had sold him into slavery years before, Joseph sent the servants and attendants out of the room so that he could more freely be himself (literally). (Genesis 45)  In doing so not only was he protecting the reputation of his brothers, but he was setting the stage for an intimate and moving reconciliation with them that would last for the rest of their lives.  Those who were removed from the room would not have understood what was about to occur and may have even have misinterpreted it.  Joseph too was about to be raised from the dead in a sense, because his father Jacob who was still living at the time had long ago given Joseph up for dead, and his brothers who knew better had let their father believe a lie.  That lie was about to be rectified and many family relationships restored because the atmosphere for such a wondrous work was finally right,  after so many patient years of patient and faithful waiting on Joseph’s part.  Where miracles are to flow, it is often true that forgiveness must also.