Tattoo It on Your Heart: God Has You on His Mind
Dr RJ Sing, 28 min
Originally preached as “Your Miracle Is in Motion! Believe Today”
Sermon outline
God is thinking about you constantly and is always working a miracle toward you, so keep a thankful, believing attitude and receive it by faith.
Main text
- 1 Thessalonians 5:23
- Psalm 139:17-18
Opening
After a short television opening, he welcomes viewers to Faith Center International in Greenwood Park, Durban, with Romans 10:17. The edit then picks up his Miracle in Motion message: God is bigger than both the giver and the receiver and connects them, so keep believing your miracle is in motion, because spiritual renewal is always followed by economic revitalisation.
God wants you sound and complete
From the Amplified reading of 1 Thessalonians 5:23, God desires you preserved, sound and complete in body, soul and spirit. If there is still some deficiency in your life, you are a candidate for a miracle, because God, the potter, is still working on you. A series of small miracles adds up to one big wow, and a thankful heart for little miracles brings bigger ones.
Illustration: God as the potter and you as the clay, still being shaped and completed.
“A spirit of thankfulness for small miracles will bring you bigger ones.”
- Matthew 6:33
- 1 Thessalonians 5:23
- Isaiah 64:8
God has you on His mind
We rightly emphasise loving, serving and giving to God, but the other side of the coin is that God loves you and thinks about you constantly. He is moving miracles toward you and looking for a receiver, but people are often too busy to hear His still, small voice. A pastor also carries his people on his heart, as the high priest carried the twelve tribes on his breastplate.
Illustration: He was up until two in the morning wrestling with God for clarity about why some people are blessed while others suffer, sensed that someone was praying for him, and received his answer.
“As you kind of got up this morning, God had you in his mind.”
- Psalm 139:17-18
- 1 Kings 19:12
- Exodus 28:29
Your attitude makes you the recipient of a miracle
When we become morbid, disgruntled and unthankful, God cannot work a miracle for us, but a right heart attitude positions us for a sudden change: a call, a new job, a house or a car. Don't become cynical like religious people who think fasting earns God's attention. God is interested in your believing, and you are already the righteousness of God in Christ.
Illustration: People who fast all day and then overeat at night, which he calls starving yourself rather than fasting.
“God's not interested in your fasting. God is interested in your believing.”
- 2 Corinthians 5:21
You are registered in heaven, and God works in His time frame
God has recorded you in His book, just as a newborn's birth is registered and a certificate issued, and your name is in the Lamb's book of life. He does not work in your time frame, so ask for grace to keep believing while you cannot yet see it. With God all things are possible, and it is by His grace that any of us are here.
Illustration: We were all wrecks until God panel-beat us, fitted new parts and renovated us. He adds that he himself ran from the call of God and told the Lord to keep His people.
“God doesn't work in your time frame. He works in His time frame.”
- Psalm 139:14-16
- Revelation 21:27
- Matthew 19:26
Faith: the first element of the miracle in motion
He says there are three elements to the miracle in motion and names the first as faith, promising to expound it on Sunday. You cannot help someone who does not want to be helped, and pastors are not magicians, so show interest and open your heart to the Word. The news may be bad, but God preserved Daniel in the lions' den and Joseph in the pit and prison, and He is working behind the scenes for you.
Illustration: God can give an unsaved manager a dream about you on the drive to work, so that he cannot sleep until he promotes you.
“I don't know what your pit is, but God is preserving you.”
- Daniel 6:16-23
- Genesis 37:24
- Genesis 39:20-23
- Mark 5:34
Putting it into practice
- Celebrate and give thanks for the small miracles.
- Keep a right heart attitude and refuse cynicism.
- Expect a miracle this month and keep believing while you cannot yet see it.
- Open your heart to the Word instead of waiting for the pastor to fix everything.
Closing
He has the church tell one another "a miracle in motion" and says to tattoo it on their hearts, reminding them that Jesus said again and again, "your faith has made you whole", and that faith is a foundation stone of the ministry. He leads a short prayer of confession, says he will complete the message on Sunday, and jokes that they should write a book called Miracles in Motion.
Declarations he led
- Dear Lord Jesus, I thank you tonight that you're a wonderful working God. You have me on your mind.
- I thank you for miracles. I see miracles coming my way from the east, the west, the north, the south, above me, beneath me.
- Lord, I'm protected with a bubble of blessing. Lord, I know that you love me so. And I know that you're working a miracle. I receive my miracle in motion.
- Now I speak to the atmosphere. Miracles begin to come my way. I command that in Jesus' name.
- Everything I touch will multiply. Everything I touch will prosper in Jesus' name. Anybody attached to me is blessed because of me.
- My miracle's in motion.
In his words
- “God is bigger than the receiver and God is bigger than the giver.”
- “Because it's your attitude that makes you the recipient of a miracle.”
- “God doesn't work in your time frame. He works in His time frame.”
- “I watch the news too. But that's bad news. But we are the carriers of good news.”
- “Tattoo that in your heart. A miracle in motion.”
Every scripture in this message
- 1 Corinthians 2:4
- Mark 16:17
- Isaiah 60:1
- Romans 10:17
- Matthew 6:33
- 1 Thessalonians 5:23
- Isaiah 64:8
- Psalm 139:17-18
- 1 Kings 19:12
- Exodus 28:29
- 2 Corinthians 5:21
- Psalm 139:14-16
- Revelation 21:27
- Matthew 19:26
- Daniel 6:16-23
- Genesis 37:24
- Genesis 39:20-23
- Mark 5:34