You Have to Position Yourself for a Miracle

There's a version of the Christian life that never requires God to do anything supernatural.

You play it safe. You manage your risks. You lean on your own understanding and call it wisdom. And because you never put yourself in a position where you need a miracle, you never get one.

That pattern shows up everywhere. In finances, in health, in calling. People want the provision of God, but they won't plant a seed. They want the healing power of God, but they won't lay hands on someone. They want direction, but they won't take the step that feels uncertain.

Andrew Wommack calls it "shooting at nothing and hitting it every time."

The Disciples Had to Go Against Their Own Judgment

In Matthew 14:22 (NKJV), it says that Jesus "constrained His disciples to get into a ship and to go before Him unto the other side." That word "constrained" means he had to compel them. There was resistance.

At least four of these men were professional fishermen. They had worked the Sea of Galilee their entire lives. They could read the sky, and they knew a storm was forming. Getting into a boat at nightfall with bad weather rolling in went against everything they knew.

Proverbs 3:5 (NKJV) says, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding."

That is exactly what they had to do. Their experience said stay. God said go. And to their credit, they went.

If they had leaned on their own understanding and stayed on shore, they would have missed Jesus walking on the water. Peter would have missed walking on the water. The miracle that we are still talking about two thousand years later would not have happened for them.

First-Time Prayers, First-Time Miracles

This isn't just a principle buried in a Bible story. It shows up every time someone steps past what feels comfortable.

At a recent Healing Is Here conference, the speakers asked, "Who has never prayed for another person?" Twenty or thirty people raised their hands. Instead of giving them a pass, the speakers had those people come to the front, turn around, and face the crowd. Then they told anyone with pain or sickness to come down and let those first-timers pray for them.

People who had never prayed for anyone in their lives laid hands on the sick. One person was instantly healed and took off a brace. Another had a shoulder that wouldn't raise, and they were swinging their arm around with no problem.

Nobody would have seen those healings if someone hadn't constrained those first-timers to step out and try.

"If you are so afraid that you're going to make a mistake that you never put yourself in a position where you could fail, you will not see the miraculous power of God." — Andrew Wommack

His Will, His Bill

Here's the part that changes how you think about risk.

Jesus sent the disciples into the storm. He constrained them. That means he was responsible for them. He wasn't asleep in a house somewhere, unaware of what was happening. Matthew 14:23 tells us he went up into a mountain. He was in the same storm they were in. He could see them struggling. And he was already on his way to them.

When you are doing what God told you to do, the assignment is his responsibility. That's the principle Carrie Pickett at Charis sums up as "His will, His bill."

Second Corinthians 9:8 (NKJV) puts it this way: "And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work."

God doesn't hand you a calling and then leave you to fund it, resource it, and figure it out alone. When God asked Mary to carry and raise His Son, the wise men showed up with gold, frankincense, and myrrh. The assignment came with provision attached.

A Week Without Food and a Word from God

Andrew tells a story from the early days of his marriage. He had quit his concrete-pouring job to go full-time in ministry before the ministry could support it. He and Jamie were broke. They had gone over a week with no food. They had seventy-five cents left.

While Jamie was at the laundromat, Andrew was praying. But he admits it was more like complaining. He said, "God, I'd give my right arm to feed Jamie," as if God didn't care as much as he did.

In that moment, the Lord spoke to him from Luke 12:32 (NKJV): "Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom."

It was a loving correction. Andrew repented, rose up in faith, and told Jamie, "We are going to eat today."

Lunch came. Nothing. Dinner came. Nothing.

They went to church that night. A man invited them over afterward. They sat and visited for nearly an hour. No one offered them anything. As they were about to leave, the man said, "Oh, I've got something for you. I came by earlier today but your car was gone." He handed them ten or twenty pounds of fresh-caught fish with all the trimmings.

Jamie cooked it. Just minutes before midnight, they ate. The next day, a woman from their church brought Andrew an entire box of porterhouse steaks for his birthday.

Famine to feast. Because Andrew stopped accusing God of not caring and started standing on the word God had given him.

The Word Has to Be Mixed with Faith

Hebrews 4:2 (NKJV) says the word was preached to the Israelites "but the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it."

The disciples had a word from God. Jesus said, "Go to the other side." Not "go halfway and drown." The same God who created the water, the wind, and everything else spoke a destination over them. That word carried the power to get them there. But they had to mix it with faith.

You have promises in front of you right now. Promises about your health, your provision, your calling. First John 5:4 (NKJV) says, "This is the victory that has overcome the world - our faith." The word is not lacking power. The question is whether you will act on it or keep waiting until the conditions feel safer.

The miracle is on the other side of the obedience that scares you. The provision is attached to the assignment you haven't stepped into yet. God is not unaware of your situation, and he is not going to send you somewhere without making sure you have what you need to get there.

You just have to get in the boat.

This post draws from How to Be a Water Walker by Andrew Wommack. Watch the full teaching series on YouTube.