Are you feeling grief so deep you’re desperate for divine intervention, but you’re unsure of how to ask God for a miracle? If you’ve turned to this piece for support in a time of great need: Welcome, and take solace in the fact that you are not alone.
The current state of the world has left many of us feeling frightened, confused, and lost. Allow me to prepare and guide your way; God will do the rest. For now, take a deep breath in through the nose and let it out slowly through the mouth. Trust that you’re in the right place.
Perhaps you’ve come in search of knowledge or as an act of preventative care. “Miracle” may seem like a simple word on the surface, but a few minutes thought on the matter will reveal that there is a lot to unpack within it. What constitutes a miracle? Which conditions, if any, promote miracles? Which, if any, repel them? What does the Bible say about miracles? What are people currently saying about miracles?
We’ll get to the bottom of these questions, plus a few more, as we explore how to ask God for a miracle.
What Is a Miracle – And What Is It Not?
Language is a powerful thing, primarily when being used in prayer. One must be as transparent as possible in their intentions when turning to the Lord for a miracle. To that end, it’s helpful to understand exactly what a miracle is, and what it is not.
What Does the Bible Say About Miracles?
Biblical miracles are reasonably straightforward. In the Bible, a miracle is an unquestionable act of God’s will that has no natural or “scientific” basis, enacted by any of the Holy Trinity (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit), and there are scores of examples of them.
The Bible opens with a miracle: “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1). In this act, God created the foundation for all that would eventually become life as we know it. He did this from nothing in an indisputably miraculous way. Over the next week, God continued to perform miracle after miracle as he created light, the animals, and finally – man and woman.
Many years later, Moses watched a bush burn, unconsumed by the flame. This act was God employing a miracle to communicate directly with Moses His plans for him. The story of Moses goes on to be strewn with miracles, from the transformation of Aaron’s staff into a snake to the parting of the red sea. None of these incidents have any sort of natural explanation but were divine acts of God: miracles.
The Lord Himself was very proactive in many of those examples, taking it upon Himself to step in and use His omnipotence to adjust the circumstances for the good of His people. There are also many examples of people in the Bible, asking God for miracles. These stories have much to be learned from, even from a modern-day miracle seeker.
In Matthew 9:27-31, Matthew tells the story of two blind men who came to Jesus in the hopes that He would heal them by restoring their sight. Before Jesus did so, He asked the two men a straightforward question: Did they believe He had the power to heal them? Without a trace of uncertainty, they answered: yes. Then Jesus laid His hands upon them, and by their faith, they could see. What a powerful example of the strength of faith those men possessed. It is precisely that strength required when you’re asking how God for a miracle.
Now that we understand miracles from a biblical perspective, let’s take a look at how most Westerners perceive and experience miracles in the modern age. Has our idea of what counts as a miracle changed over time? We’ll examine a few examples of “modern-day miracles”, before we move on to how to prepare to ask God for one.
What’s Different About Modern Day Miracles?
Keeping all we’ve learned so far in mind, it’s easy to see that “miracle” is one of those words that contemporary people tend to misuse. An obvious example: if Stacy were to exclaim, “Oh my GOD, it’s a MIRACLE!” when she finds her lost car keys at the bottom of her purse, that’s almost definitely not a work of God. More probably, Stacy carelessly threw her keys in her purse, and there is nothing phenomenal or spiritual about the fact that she found them there.
The current dictionary definition of the word “miracle” states that it’s “an effect or extraordinary event in the physical world that surpasses all known human or natural powers and is ascribed to a supernatural cause. It includes a second entry that states “such an effect or event manifesting or considered a work of God.” It’s clear from the definition that there still is a little more to miracles than recovering misplaced items.
So what, if anything, has changed about miracles since Jesus walked among us? And does anybody else feel like there are less of them?
The first and most obvious reason there appear to be fewer miracles now than there were in biblical times is: Jesus no longer walks among us (in the same way as he did then). Jesus performed 37 miracles over the course of the New Testament. That’s a lot of recorded miracles! We don’t have the same access to the Son as our Jewish ancestors did. But that does not mean we should give up all hope and begin to despair. We simply have to ask God for miracles in different ways.
It also bears observing that the world has grown quite a bit since biblical times. It would be impossible to gather all the accounts of miraculous healings or other life-changing seemingly divine intervention from across the globe. So let’s start with a few (I’ll link to even more), to reaffirm our faith and put us in the proper frame of mind to begin asking for the miracles we need in our lives.
Thanks to many different variables, the miracles of today might not appear in the same ways like the ones that took place in the Bible. Modern medicine and advances in technology have rendered things that may once have been considered miraculous as commonplace. But really, they are sturdy and essential reminders of God’s force in our lives every day.
Miracles of the Modern Day
Curious about miracles? Here are some modern miracles that might make you believe.
Lareece Butler
Oprah, a woman of profound faith, is continuously searching to showcase the miracles of the Lord in the day to day lives of ordinary people. She recently told the story of a woman named Lareece Butler, who had decided to try her hand at skydiving. Her nightmare became a reality when she realized her parachute was faulty. She was plunging over 3,000 feet with no parachute or real chance to survive.
But she did survive. Butler told reporters that as the ropes of her chute twisted around her, she prayed: “Please God, save me, I have a son!” She remembers nothing until she woke safely in the hospital among her family. These events certainly strike me as extraordinary and surpassing all physical explanations. In short, a miracle.
David Jefferey
David Jefferey, an Australian native, didn’t always believe in God. He came to the Lord 25 years ago and was never more grateful for his choice than when bushfires struck his home of Mallacoota. Jefferey and two others “prayer warriors,” as he called them, prayed in the face of the 60-foot wall of fire. As they prayed, they felt the east wind swell up around them, impossibly pushing the flames back.
Jeffery’s property and the surrounding residences on Vista Drive remained unscathed by the terrible fire. Many people avoided having their lives upended that day. And all involved, including Jefferey’s non-Christian neighbors, believe that it was a miracle from God and credit it to the power of prayer.
Grayson Kirby
Grayson Kirby sustained what would have usually been fatal injuries when he was thrown from his demolition derby car. Kirby was in a deep coma, struggling to breathe with crushed lungs, and he had broken nearly all the bones in his body. However, the Kirby family rallied their community around Grayson: thousands of voices all pleading with the Lord for the same miracle: for Grayson to wake up.
After an experimental procedure went very right, Grayson opened his eyes after ten days. He wholeheartedly believes that his recovery was a miracle, one he was blessed with due entirely to the power of prayer.
The Unifying Factor of All Miracles, New and Old
You might have noticed the common denominator among all the miraculous stories we’ve heard so far on our exploration: faith. Each of the people we’ve met so far was facing challenging circumstances and grim odds. At the end of the day, their faith is what brought them to seek help from God. I hope these stories served as an inspiration to an unwavering sense of faith. As we’ll discuss, a faithful frame of mind is one of the most crucial components to ask God for a miracle.
Now that we have a better idea of how miracles manifest themselves in the modern age, it’s time to turn our attention to the act of asking God for a miracle.
How Should I Prepare to Ask God for a Miracle?
Prayer is an infinitely, beautiful, deeply personal way to communicate with God. When a grateful heart takes to worship to exalt the Lord, amazing things can happen. That is why prayer is the most effective way to ask God for a miracle.
Because the act of prayer is such a personal one, it can look at many different ways to many different people. Some people take pains to prepare the perfect space in which to pray: lighting candles, laying out a prayer rug, even washing their hands and feet before they kneel to begin praying.
To some, location is of the utmost importance when engaging in prayer and when asking God for a miracle. This could be a particular pew in which this person worships in church every Sunday. It could be near a specific grave in a cemetery. It could even mean taking a pilgrimage to a holy site, like the famous Western Wall (also known as the Wailing Wall) in Jerusalem.
Finding your perfect prayer ritual is going to take some trial and error on your part. It’s essential to be truly honest with yourself as you experience your prayer because you want to be confident you find the most steadfast way to communicate with the Lord when you need a miracle the most.
One thing to be wary of when you’re approaching prayer is the tendency to overthink things. Frequently, we get in our own ways while preparing to pray or, indeed, while praying, by overdramatizing or over-spiritualizing the act. We forget that the most important thing is our gratitude for and our connection with God. Regardless of the ritual you choose, this will be the most important thing to remember. I’ll come back to this a little later.
For now, I can offer a few examples of prayer rituals from Christians all over the world. Hopefully, these will serve to inspire you as you embark on the journey to create one for yourself.
Prayer Rituals from Around the World
All over the world, at this very moment, Christians are preparing themselves to praise the Lord and seek His comfort through prayer. Many of whom are undoubtedly asking God for miracles of their very own. Perhaps you’re new to the art of worship, or maybe you just wish to strengthen your prayer practice as you prepare to ask God for your miracle. Whatever your intention, you’re sure to find the perfect starting point to your unique journey to find a prayer ritual in the ideas below.
Preparing to Pray in the Modern Age
We live in a world that never seems to stop. Unfortunately, that means it’s often hard to find a quiet break in your day to speak with the Lord and ask Him for the miracle you need in your life. But of course, we understand, accept, and even welcome the fact that walking a steadfast life with God means facing challenging circumstances.
This is precisely where intentional prayer comes in. It might seem counterintuitive to add another thing to your daily planner. But when you think about it, what more excellent gift of self-love can you be giving yourself than a purposeful effort to tend to the most crucial relationship in your life: the one you share with the Lord.
So make sure you pencil in time in your schedule for prayer every day. This is step one of your modern-day prayer ritual. Step two comes when the time you lovingly set aside finally arrives, and it’s time to pray.
In a world riddled with distractions, you want to take care to ensure you’re well removed from anything that could disturb you during your time of prayer. If the thought of being away from your smartphone is already giving you anxiety, perhaps you need this more than you might have thought.
When it’s time to pray, do your best to enter a state of solitude. If that’s impossible to imagine for you, maybe you’re a working mom raising three children, I understand. Just remember that a state of solitude could mean closing your eyes for a few moments, taking deep breaths and focusing your attention as best you can on the sensation of God’s love.
If you can enter a separate quiet space, beautiful. Do so. Make sure that your devices are silenced or off, and you’re ready to enter a meditative space with the Lord.
Adorn yourself or this space, even temporarily, however, you desire: incense or essential oils are fantastic ways to center the mind, and prayer shawls can make you feel like you’re wrapped in the arms of the Lord. Get creative, and remember to listen to your heart as you pray – you will know when it’s working.
A Prayer Ritual for the Active Mind
For some, the act of clearing their mind and removing themselves completely will be a task too difficult to accomplish. You don’t want your efforts to find the perfect prayer ritual to detract from the prayer itself. So some people have developed more active approaches to prayer and have found that they can communicate more clearly with God through these less traditional methods.
I like to go for a run while I’m praying. I’ve developed a moving meditation, in which I connect my breath with the experience of the prayer. It helps me to be among nature when I’m in prayer because there is never a shortage of inspiration to be grateful for when I’m outside. The sun shining, or the colors of the leaves as they change and fall, even the enjoyment I get watching a playful pair of squirrels chase each other up and down a tree is a reason to praise the Lord.
Betsy De Cruz has taken to journaling while she prays, and as an avid writer myself, I can see the appeal in that method. She says that she will write down her prayers, stopping to meditate over each one as they come to her. Another approach she takes to her prayer-journaling is to write her prayer as if they were letters to God. Taking the act of communication and grounding it in a real, human experience is an ingenious way to connect to the divine.
Hopefully, so far in the journey, you’ll have found a few different things you’d like to experiment with as you set about forming or strengthening your prayer ritual.
Of course, when we are in the direst need of a miracle, we might not have access to the things we prefer to have as a part of our prayer ritual. That is why the most essential component of any prayer ritual must be the correct frame of mind. We must consider all other factors of our prayer rituals as helpful additions when possible, not as necessities.
Let’s explore further what the ideal prayer frame of mind should look like, and then we’ll discuss ways to get there, no matter your physical surroundings.
How Can I Get Into a Prayer State of Mind?
As I’ve been slyly mentioning here and there during this entire exploration, the most important component of any prayer ritual and subsequently, the process of asking God for a miracle is to enter into the right frame of mind. That is to say: a clear mind focused, at the start, solely on your gratitude for the incalculable number of blessings you’ve received from the Lord.
Of course, that’s easier said than done. Luckily, the Lord has provided us all with a tool to use when we need to get into the “prayer state of mind”: the Bible. Colin Smith says the best way he knows to prepare to pray is to “fill your mind with the goodness of God” by reading the Bible, in particular the passage beginning in Isaiah 63:7.
That scripture is unique because it serves as a kind of “warm-up” to the act of prayer. First, by reading the passage, you’ll be rejoicing in the gifts that He has given you as Isaiah recounts them verse by verse. You’ll be slowly building up a sense of overwhelming gratitude in your mind as you prepare to ask God for your miracle; by doing so, you’ll be in a much clearer state to communicate with Him.
Since we now better understand what to do during prayer and when asking God for a miracle, there are a few things to be aware of and to avoid during times of prayer.
What Are Some Things to Avoid While Praying?
Of course, as with any process that we humans take on, there are many different ways in which creating a prayer ritual (and even the act of prayer itself) can go wrong. But with this knowledge, if you’re mindful and honest with yourself, you should avoid any of these poor prayer habits.
One thing that’s sure to get in the way of honest communication with God is a dishonest soul. Part of the act of praying should be devoted to confessing anything that has been weighing on you. Once you’ve established a sense of gratitude in your prayer, then it’s best to enter into a state of confession. You’ll be more likely to feel the grace of God if you proceed in that way.
Another possible roadblock to your connection to the Lord is unclear (and possibly impure) motives. Make sure you fully understand why you’re asking for what you’re asking for. This will involve some introspection pre-prayer. Particularly when you’re in the market for a miracle, be sure that your reasoning is clear and virtuous.
Heed any grudges you might be holding onto, and then release them. Forgiveness of others is the surest way to forgive ourselves. Once we’ve done that, we are much more able to openly pray to the Lord and request of Him the miracle we need in our lives. Scan your thoughts before you settle into prayer to make sure you are clear of any negative feelings towards anyone.
We mustn’t restrict our prayers to ourselves. Before you pray and indeed, during times of worship, be thinking of where and to whom you can be directing your thoughts. Be generous with your prayers; there is no limit. The Lord will recognize your generosity and reward it in kind, in His time.
You can always be preparing for your prayers in the way you treat others. If you lose track of yourself and your prayer rituals, you might notice you behave unkindly towards others. But if you keep your prayers as a mindful part of your daily life, your behavior towards your fellow woman is likely to change for the better. When you pray differently, you begin to live differently, and vice versa. May your treatment of others be reflected in the prayers you make as you ask God for your miracle.
More Than Miracles: A Summary of What We’ve Learned
What a fantastic journey we’ve taken together so far! Who knew the question of how to ask God for a miracle could have such interesting and informative answers? We not only learned about what miracles are now; we learned about from where they’ve come. We’ve even gotten to hear about some modern-day miracles (if you want more, as promised, follow this link!)
Most importantly, we’ve learned about how we can best prepare ourselves to ask the Lord for a miracle when we need it most. We learned about the rituals of prayer, some likely pitfalls you might face while praying, and the most important lesson of all: prayer as a state of mind.
So how do you ask God for a miracle? Be grateful, be kind, be clear: and pray.