Insignificant, Inconsequential Places Birth Miracles

There are no GPS coordinates for the places in our lives that are seemingly insignificant and/or inconsequential. You can’t navigate to the place where you’re lonely, spent, frustrated or disappointed. And just because these oft-visited places are not on a map, they’re still destinations we travel to with some manner of frequency. It is in these places where miracles (yeah the supernatural, you-can’t-explain-that miracles) are most likely to happen.

Now before you think I’m talking about walking on water (I’ve done that, but it was just frozen over!), let me be sure to set this up qualitatively: Yes, miracles do happen that are big and supernatural and have zero possibility of scientific explanation, but the miracles that happen with such regularity and miss notice are the ones that you’ve no doubt experienced and just didn’t know it.

Have you ever been in a place where your options were limited (or nil) and yet, somehow things “just happened” out of nowhere that you couldn’t explain but, nonetheless, were glad to have happen? Or things you thought you could explain away through “weird timing”? Most of us call these “happy coincidences”.

Remember that time you were going to be short on cash flow yet, “somehow” that payment you’d long forgotten or the rebate check that you’d submitted months ago suddenly came through? That’s God, in his sovereignty, revealing His character to you through a miracle.

I think the main reason most people would refute those moments as miraculous is because they don’t really believe God is actively in complete control of everything. When hard situations happen that are unjust, painful and tramatic, we’re prone to hold God accountable for NOT showing up as we would see fit. Yet when good things and blessings and miracles happen, we’re equally as quick to keep God from being accountable as our provider.

Luke 18:27 “The things impossible with men are possible with God.”
John 3:27 “A man can receive nothing unless it has been given him from heaven.”
Philippians 1:6 “For I am confident of this very thing, that He Who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.”
1 Thessalonians 5:24 “Faithful is He who calls you, and He also will bring it to pass.”
Proverbs 16:9 “The mind of man plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps.”

If love, “bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things” (1 Corinthians 13:7), then God, who is love (see 1 John 4:8), simply showers us with His love through his ability to bring about perfect timing to meet (or even exceed) our needs. In this, we must see “everyday miracles” as the love of God manifesting in simple ways right in the midst of our insignificant, inconsequential places.

This revelation came through understanding Matthew 2:6, which is quoted scripture from Micah 5:2:

“But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,
though you are small among the clans of Judah,
out of you will come for me
one who will be ruler over Israel,
whose origins are from of old,
from ancient times.”

By the way, the term “Bethlehem Ephrathath” is a noun denoting a spatial position. In this case, the small town of Bethlehem outside of the big city of Jerusalem. (Hat-tip to Pastor Robert Morris, Gateway Church, Southlake, TX for this understanding and the message around Matthew 2).

Giving credit where credit is due is what most people want – especially when the credit is due to them! We need to give God that same credit and thanks for birthing miracles in our own insignificant, inconsequential places and thank Him for our “everyday miracles.”

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Tough Conversations

The more I understand what it means to serve, the better I understand leadership. Having been a part of several churches and organizations, I can testify that the best leaders serve others around them which, in turn, inspires them to follow. The difference between inspiring and directing is significant.

This past week at WFX I spent dozens of hours listening and talking with people from churches of all sizes and denominations who were struggling with either being a leader or following a leader. I, too, know exactly what this is like. That’s why I felt conviction when I heard this from a friend:

We can’t serve well when we have our own agenda.

One of the toughest conversations we can have is when we have to ask forgiveness from our leaders for trying to prop up our own agendas instead of aligning with the vision of the house. This doesn’t mean you hide your passions, give up your identity or never push back against ideas. It simply means finding ways to match the goals of your leadership with the courage of your convictions, gracefully.

Before your team, organization or church can move forward, pause and exhibit the servant-like humility of Jesus through a tough conversation that aligns your heart and mind with the vision of the house. The vision of the house is more important than your personal vision for your area.

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