Jesus said to him, “Shall I come and heal him?” The centurion replied, “Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed. Jesus was amazed and said, “Truly I tell you, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith.” Matthew 8:7-10

I read the words of Jesus in Matthew 8:10 and have so often pondered what kind of faith Jesus would call great. In my lifetime I have seen so many declare with conviction that they have faith that all things are possible, yet I somehow sensed there was a hesitancy to their words. That if they were placed on the witness stand before a great litigator their faith would fold like a cheap tent in a stiff breeze. I for one am guilty as charged. Yes I believe that with Christ all things are possible, but there have been times in my life when I wondered why would He do it for me? Who am I! I’m not worthy of such a miracle from the King of kings and Lord of lords. Early in my faith I remember going through a stage of reasoning that went something like this: Christ healed the sick, raised the dead, caused the lame to walk and the blind to see, but those are just the few who won the holy lottery. Miracles like that just don’t happen today, or if they do, they certainly would not happen for me. Can you relate? Then I began to witness miracle after miracle happening around me.

Miracles Can’t Be Ignored.

Great stories of cancer’s disappearing after prayer with no medical explanation. Sight returning to a man after leaving a church service. A clinically dead man coming back to life while lying in a body bag in a morgue just as his mother was praying for him long distance several states away. With each new story my thoughts would drift back to the soldier in Matthew 8:10. What kind of faith did he have? By the way Christ reacted to him, his was not a shallow faith, or a questioning faith, or a fence walking faith. His was a faith of deep conviction. There was no question in his mind that all Christ had to do was say the word and it would be done. Yet what convicted me the most was that the soldier was a stranger to Christ, someone Jesus had never met before. And yet this soldier came to Jesus with a no holds barred, no doubt whatsoever kind of faith that this miracle worker he’d heard stories of had the power to heal his servant. From Christ reaction we learn that this soldier, a perfect stranger, had more faith in him than even Christ’s own disciples! Now we come to you and I. Let this story of the solider be a wake up call to your faith! Jesus Christ performs miracles, yesterday, today and tomorrow! The key is faith. If you need a miracle in your life, approach Jesus like the soldier did in Matthew 8. Don’t take my word for it. Open your bible and go read the story for yourself. It will take you five minutes, but there is a miracle waiting for you at the end of that five minutes! For when you ask of your Lord, in faith, believing, miracles happen, and they will happen for you!