Miracles! God, Why Not Me?: Why We Need Them..., How to Get Them..., Why We Fail to Get Them...

By Stephen Sarago

"WHAT YOU HOLD IN YOUR HAND IS AN INVITATION TO PERFORM MIRACLES."

MICKEY ROBINSON, CO-FOUNDER OF PROPHETIC DESTINY INTERNATIONAL

There is no greater experience in this life than God manifesting His love through the power of the Holy Spirit. As a person receives a miracle, their spirit begins to open to the reality of God's plan and

• Language: English
• Publisher: Trilogy Christian Publishing
• Release date: Dec 15, 2023
• ISBN: 9798890415189

Stephen Sarago

Stephen Sarago and wife, Naomi, have four daughters and eight grandchildren all currently residing in Huntersville, NC. He is a retired insurance executive with multi-state agencies throughout the USA. He is also a pastor, author, music producer and business leader. He produced a kids worship album in 2017, "Watching Over Me", under the label "Hearts of Wonder Music." Stephen is a public speaker with an emphasis on equipping prophetic intercession and awakening in the churches in America.

Book preview

Preface

What is a miracle? Can you define it? Advertisers, marketers, and of course, white-suited televangelists say that they have a miracle for you. Defining a miracle comes with its challenges but I think you will appreciate the logic of the next sentence. I propose that a miracle is something dead that comes to life, something that was absent that suddenly appears, a law of nature that is reversed, or an event that can only be explained as God’s hand. Most of the ten chapters are miracles that I experienced that are defined above; the others are consider as miracles since they can only be explained as being God’s power. The word miracle is used so flippantly in our culture from finding a parking space, getting a bargain, to receiving a larger tax refund than expected. It is good, to start with a definition of a miracle so that it cannot be explained in any other way except on God.

The overriding encouragement of this book is to concentrate on getting you off the bench and into the game. Spiritual leaders have provided a venue to inspire us onward in God, but only you can walk out the specific path God designed for you. The game I am calling you into is your supernatural calling, compliments of the Holy Spirit. I expect some push back for some of my readers saying God has everything for me in the Word, but doesn’t the Word say these signs shall follow them that believe. If you believe, signs should follow. Signs lead somewhere, they lead people to Jesus.

Throughout my walk with God I had dual passions, the Kingdom of God and business. Since I owned my own business to be successful requires a similar level of passion, however everything was filtered through the Kingdom first. I considered full time ministry, but business as my career seemed to get the nod. When it came to doing the stuff in ministry like my pastor friends, I had to come off the bench like the sixth man on a basketball team, weighing all my responsibilities. They built ministries, notoriety, and influence; however, never did I feel that their passion for Christ eclipsed mine. We may not preach it like they do but we can certainly feel it like they do. Different path same destination. Some may call me a second teamer since I am not in full time ministry. Like me, this book is for common believers who might have a pew assignment on Sunday but live like a spiritual rockstar throughout the week.

Throughout my life I had some exceptional miraculous interventions, so I decided to increase the circulation of these experiences into book form. When we think of miracles, they seem almost unattainable, only for a select few, however they are for whosoever, regardless of status. There are several reasons why we don’t see more of them they are; faulty religious training, internal perceived inadequacies and we simply don’t ask for them. Jesus said you have not because you ask not. Our negative perceptions of ourselves can stifle moving of God’s power, since it is activated by faith. A remedy for this common hindrance is to get your eyes off yourself and onto the finished work of Christ. Listen, I fall down every day like a toddler staggering into the arms of their father. What father wouldn’t be blessed to see his child putting their trust in the walk towards love?

Throughout these chapters I will do my best to inspire you, stir your faith, and shamelessly try to recruit you to step into a supernatural lifestyle that is waiting for you, initiated by asking one question; God, if you do it for others, why not me? Miracles and the supernatural lifestyle are not just for Christian superstars but for everyone. Church culture can lend itself to creating a peck order of second teamers, but it is time to clear the bench and get into the fight. God is asking you to suit up because the Jesus in you doesn’t sit on the bench. This is a critical juncture in time when light and darkness are in an epic battle, just like the days when Jesus walked on earth. In the gospels, Jesus sent out the seventy to do miracles, cast out demons, and to preach. As they returned victoriously, He said, I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Jesus indicated that miracles dispossess the realm of darkness, like turning on a light as you enter a room. When Phillip the evangelist preached with signs and wonders the whole town repented by burning their occult books being transformed by the saving power of Christ. Miracles cause people to be awakened to the reality of their darkened soul and their need for a Savior. As you step into the supernatural lifestyle your faith will grow exponentially and so will the depth of your relationship with Him. The scriptures tell us to keep growing. You can’t drink from a stagnant pool, but water needs to keep moving for it to be drinkable.

Miracles are incredibly important establishing God’s kingdom on earth.

The supernatural is the atmosphere that God lives in every moment, we access it by faith and by pressing into Him.

You will find each chapter is about life in the Spirit and how miracles can shape your walk with God as you grow up in Him, in all things. If you haven’t experienced Christ yet as your Savior, keep reading about these real miracles; because every supernatural event in each chapter I personally experienced. Some of the vernacular may be strange to you, but I tried to write in a language that has less churchy.

There is something that your spirit craves for, hungers for, that is the supernatural, whether you want to believe it or not.

That God-ordained spiritual lust is a fascination to relate to your Creator, who is Supernatural. It is this innate drive that acts like a tractor beam bringing us to our true home. It’s okay, He gives you permission to hunger for it and to boldly ask to manifest His power in your life. I have walked with God for over forty years and have seen amazing things, dead raised, cancers healed, deaf ears opened, but the greatest miracle is found in John Chapter 3 what Jesus called the new birth. When someone is saved, they are transformed into a new creation in Christ, where their old life passes away, and a whole new adventure begins.

My adventure began in April of 1976 when Jesus came into my heart in my dorm room in college. The Voice that spoke to my heart that wonderful night didn’t ask me to kneel reciting the sinner’s prayer but simply, Do you want this? There was no altar call, no recounting of my sins, just Do you want this? My response to the Voice that night was yes. I lay there in a sweet presence, which I can only describe as an all-encompassing and romantic encounter. He changed everything in a moment. The next morning the first thing I noticed was He cleaned up my filthy mouth, and my thought life and everything in His creation were alive, including me. I didn’t even know what it meant to be born again, but there I was, changed. He truly showed Himself as the lover of my soul. My hope is that you will encounter Him in a way that can only be explained by God, and after you do, you will live a life of adventure with Him.

Enjoy the book and the wonderful stories that can only be explained by a loving Creator who wants you to know His Son, Jesus, as your Savior and as an intimate friend. I believe that these miracle stories contained in this book will inspire faith in your journey with a supernatural God. Each chapter that you read will give an insight on how I positioned myself to receive a miracle. God is not a vending machine, there is an attitude of heart that will precede a miracle; each chapter outlines how He worked with me. How He works with you will be your own unique adventure. Every journey starts somewhere, that somewhere may start in Chapter One for you. You were born for miracles.

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As a man thinks so is he.  Proverbs 23:7 (NKJV)

Forward

by Mickey Robinson

What you are holding in your hand is an invitation to perform miracles. The author describes miracles quite accurately from observation, association with others, and more importantly the things that he was able to do.

You will walk with Steve from the earliest days of being a somewhat insecure insurance salesman who wondered what was harder, closing a sale or trying to grow a mustache so that he would look older than his youthful appearance!

One of the things that I can say about Steve quite accurately is that he is very persistent.

The insurance business has been Steve’s lifelong vocation but serving the Lord in the power of the Spirit is his advocation and that is not a hobby. It resonates from a strong desire to be effective, actively declaring and demonstrating the kingdom of God.

What I like most about this book is that it is real! Not some hyped up homiletic (the art of preaching or teaching). But a journal of past miraculous events that you’re familiar with from the Bible… His own personal life of associating with real miracle workers and his learning came from the miraculous happening to him, more amazingly how they have happened through him.

Steve shares that would constitutes a miracle is something that no natural possibility could cause it to occur and yet it does…

Like David from the Bible, who may be most famous for his taking on the giant Goliath. Steve relates to you how he started by taking on the giant of insurance sales and he took that bad boy Goliath down and motivated him to qualify for going on cruises all around the world with his wife.

You will find that the challenges and conquests that Steve experienced in the insurance business was preparing him with a similar resolve to see the display of God’s power over the powers of darkness on ministry trips abroad and life at home.

Excuse me, God enjoys taking the ridiculous and turning it into the miraculous… Me myself being the greatest example. A survivor of an airplane crash with life destroying injuries followed by miraculous healings being blind for five and half years and seeing legs crippled and paralyzed miracle power given me the ability to walk, run and travel all over the world. How ridiculous is that? But this is not about me, it’s a message from my friend Steve, who like David has a heart after the Lord’s own heart. This manuscript is like a sports playbook of examples of things that did happen in the past. It’s like looking at past films of former games and being instructed on how to play the next one yourself. If you dare to do it let it become an offense of playbook to win the battle and