His Name shall be called Miracle

by Mark Brazee

"For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government

shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful,

Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace"

(Isaiah 9:6). As I was meditating on this verse, I kept hearing this one

word-wonderful. I thought wonderful just meant-wonderful. But when I

looked in the concordance, I found the word wonderful meant more than just

a marvelous thing or a wonder. The word wonderful meant miracle. "...And

His Name shall be called-Miracle...."

From the very beginning, everything about Jesus was a miracle. In the

Garden when God breathed life into Adam and then formed Eve, God told them

they could eat from any tree in the Garden except the tree of knowledge of

good and evil. If they ate from that tree, they would die. When Adam and

Eve disobeyed, they lost their relationship with God, lost their fellowship

with God, and lost all the blessings of God. But God said, "I have a

plan-Miracle is coming." In Genesis 3:15, God announced, "And I will put

enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; (He)

shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel." God set the plan

of redemption in motion.

For 4000 years, God kept speaking out every aspect concerning Jesus: His

birth, His life, His ministry, His death, burial and resurrection. Isaiah

53, the Gospel in the Old Testament, stated, "Surely he hath borne our

griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of

God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was

bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and

with his stripes we are healed" (Verses 4-5). God, through the prophets,

told how Jesus would redeem mankind-spirit, soul and body, and revealed a

healing ministry that would last through the ages.

Then-suddenly-everything God had said "...was made flesh, and dwelt among

us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the

Father,) full of grace and truth" (John 1:14). Jesus was born of a

virgin-a miracle. Everything was a miracle, down to the exact time, and

the exact place. Micah 5:2 revealed "But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though

thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come

forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been

from of old, from everlasting." Someone said Jesus had to be born in

Bethlehem because that was where the Passover lambs were born.

When Jesus was 30 years old, He went to the Jordan River and was baptized.

He came up out of the water praying, and the heavens opened (Luke 3:21).

Suddenly-He began to walk in the miraculous. The Holy Ghost came upon

Jesus, and He "...went about doing good, and healing all that were

oppressed of the devil; for God was with him" (Acts 10:38). Everything

about Jesus' ministry was miraculous.

Jesus' death on the cross was a miracle. Jesus' life wasn't taken from

Him, He laid it down. Jesus' blood wasn't spilled, He shed it-it was

intentional! The third day, God raised Jesus from the dead-another

miracle. When Jesus ascended, the cloud received Him out of the disciples'

sight, and He went to sit at the Father's right hand where He ever lives to

make intercession for us.

The first coming of Jesus was marked by a continual flow of the

miraculous with three main ingredients or keys. In order for Jesus to come

the first time, the Holy Ghost had to come on humanity. In the first

chapter of Luke, the angel Gabriel appeared to Mary, a young maiden, and

told her she would have a child, whose name would be Jesus. Mary said,

"How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?" And the angel said, "...The

Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall

overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee

shall be called the Son of God" (Luke 1:35). The Holy Ghost came on

mankind to facilitate the first coming of Jesus.

Another ingredient or key concerning the first coming of Jesus was angelic

activity. Suddenly around the time when Jesus was to be born, there was a

great flurry of angelic activity with angels manifesting on a regular

basis. The angel Gabriel informed Mary about the child Jesus (Luke

1:26-38). When Joseph realized his wife Mary was pregnant, he "...being a

just man, and not willing to make her a publick example, was minded to put

her away privily" (Matthew 1:19). But an angel appeared to Joseph in a

dream, saying "...Fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife; for that which

is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost" (Verse 20). When the wise men

told Herod about the child that was born, Herod ordered that all the

children in that region who were under two years old were to be killed.

Again, an angel appeared to Joseph in a dream and told him "...Arise, and

take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there

until I bring thee word: for Herod will seek the young child to destroy

him" (Matthew 2:13). There was supernatural protection through angelic

intervention.

When Jesus came the first time, not only did the Holy Ghost come on

humanity along with great angelic activity, but the glory of God came into

manifestation. Shepherds were tending their flocks in the fields around

Bethlehem. Luke 2:9-11 says, "And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon

them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore

afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you

good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is

born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord."

The shepherds hastily went to Bethlehem to find the child, and they

"...made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child"

(Verse 17).

Jesus' Name was Miracle. Everything He did was miraculous. It took a

miracle to get Him in the earth, it took a miracle to sustain Him while on

earth, it took a miracle to take Him from the earth, and He walked in the

miraculous all through His life and ministry. He not only was Miracle, but

He did miracles. He healed the sick, He raised the dead, the maimed were

made whole, thousands were fed from a boy's lunch, and storms were stilled.

There was no disease, no circumstance, no problem too great for Jesus,

because He was-Miracle.

As Jesus walked in the miraculous, so should we the Church-the Body of

Christ walk in the miraculous! We are hooked up to the Head of the Church,

and because His Name is Miracle, our name is Miracle. Jesus' ministry

started out with the miraculous, and it will end up with the miraculous-the

miraculous Church!

If what took place before Jesus came the first time will take place before

He comes again, then what can we expect to see? First of all, the Holy

Ghost is coming on humanity so that everything born of the Church will be

called born of God! "And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith

God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh..." (Acts 2:17). The angel

said, "The Holy Ghost shall come upon you, the power of the Highest shall

overshadow you." People won't just say, "Look at the ministry of the man."

They'll say, "This is too big to have been done by a man or woman. This

was born of God!" We're going to see the dead raised, sick healed, devils

cast out, body parts replaced, miraculous finances coming into believers'

hands, divine protection-miracles, miracles, miracles!

What else is coming? There will be flurries of angels bringing the

miraculous. They will bring messages, break people out of prison, and help

us bring in the harvest. Finally, the Church will see the glory of God-the

glory of the Lord shining around us. The house of God will be filled with

His glory. Whatever it took to get Jesus into the earth the first time, it

will take to get Jesus into the earth the last time. Only this time it

will not just be in one location, it will be all over the world! It will

not just be on one person, it will be on the whole Church!

Grace That Opens Doors

by Janet Brazee

Grace-that supernatural ability to endure any circumstance with joy-is

something very tangible. We know when we are walking in it, and we know

when we have stepped out of it. But we are not the only ones who can

recognize when the grace of God is upon us, others can see it too.

Notice Galatians 2:9, "And when James, Cephas, and John, who seemed to be

pillars, perceived the grace that was given unto me, they gave to me and

Barnabas the right hands of fellowship; that we should go to unto the

heathen, and they unto the circumcision." The apostle Paul said men

perceived the grace of God that was given unto him. The word perceived

means: acknowledged, saw, or recognized. Men acknowledged, saw or

recognized the grace of God on Paul. That means men will see or recognize

the grace of God on us. That does not mean people will automatically know

it is the grace of God they are seeing on us, but it does mean, however,

they will see and recognize something. They'll say, "There is something

about you that makes me want to help you. I can't put my finger on it, but

you are different." What happened as a result of the grace that was

perceived on Paul? Verse 9 continues, "...they gave to me and Barnabas the

right hands of fellowship...." In other words, the grace on Paul and

Barnabas opened doors for them.

The grace of God will go before us and cause supernatural favor to make a

way for us. We have seen this time and time again. One particular

missionary couple needed visas in Romania. They had only been able to

obtain three-month visas which meant they had to leave the country for a

few days every three months in order to have their visas renewed. After a

while, the husband got it in his heart to go to the embassy in Romania and

ask for an extended visa which was good for one whole year. Before going

to the embassy he spoke with some other missionary friends about it. "You

won't get it," they said, "no one ever gets a one-year visa."

We need to be careful what our ears hear. Don't listen to negative talk;

if it doesn't line up with what God says, throw it out. We are faith

people, and cannot be moved by what we see, hear, or feel. If God said

something can be done, it can be done! So this missionary thought, I am

not moved by what they say, I know what I have in my heart. He made an

appointment with one of the head men at the embassy, and said, "I have come

to ask for one-year visas for me and my family." The man said,

"Impossible." But our friend did not back down. "I know you are a good

man," he continued, "and I know you will do this for us because we need

it." Suddenly, the man at the embassy changed. He gave our friend exactly

what he needed. Why? Because our friend was such a nice guy? No. That

man probably doesn't know to this day why he gave an entire American family

one-year visas to Romania. But we know why he did it-it was because of the

grace of God that was on our friends to be on the mission field in Romania.

The grace of God supernaturally opens doors for us. We acknowledge that

grace by saying, "Thank You Father for the grace that is on me. Thank You

that grace is opening doors for me. Others see and recognize the grace of

God on me. Grace is going before me and preparing the way concerning

everything I need."

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Ultimo aggiornamento: 03-08-06