All will be well!

'Say to the righteous that it shall be well with them' (Is 3:10)

Time with God is so important. If only you and I knew the time that God has chosen, it would make so much difference to us! When Jesus was walking on the water towards the disciples in Matthew 14, it was the fourth watch of the night. This is the most dangerous and most difficult hour in the night - the time when most people die, when the body temperature is at its lowest. It's the time when some of the biggest fears and the biggest problems come, just before the new day dawns. It is so significant that when Jesus is walking towards the disciples in that storm-tossed ship, the time He chooses is the darkest hour, when the storm is at its highest. But Jesus is there! In your life and mine there are many times when we need the power of God to deliver us, but God's timing is perfect, coming at the darkest hour, when the storm is at its fiercest and our need is the greatest.

I have learnt after more than 60 years of ministry that God always answers prayer. And I want to encourage you. God never fails - He cannot fail. But to get the answer at the right hour we have to be ready, we have to be obedient, and God will answer - at the last minute. In my life God so often answers one minute before midnight. One minute before the crisis erupts. We have many kinds of problems, many different needs, but I believe in miracles. Do you?

You can't have a miracle without first having a problem. If the boat had not been in a storm on the sea, there would have been no miracle with Jesus walking on the water. If you want to see miracles, God is going to use your problem, your difficulty, your crisis in order to work the miracle. That crisis you have - that sickness, that cancer, that arthritis, that financial problem - God will use this to create a miracle. When I had lung cancer in 2003, my daughter said, 'unless the doctors prove you have cancer, you'll never be able to prove that God healed you!'

Every one of us can be in a storm, just like these disciples in the boat. When the disciples saw Him walking on the water their first reaction was fear. They thought they'd seen a ghost - they didn't realise it was Jesus. They were so afraid because they were convinced their boat was going to sink and they didn't believe they would last the night. In the darkest hour of your night, when your financial problems are the greatest, when your sickness is getting worse, when you're crippled with pain, in that dark hour, there is one person who will always be there - Jesus. And He chooses the darkest, the hardest, moment to come and walk towards in order to work your miracle.

I know many of you reading this face difficulties and sicknesses, those problems will soon come to an end. I want to show how in your trials there is an answer, but sometimes that answer comes through hardship. In Mark 5 a ruler of the synagogue came to Jesus because his daughter was dying. He pleaded with Jesus to come to his house, saying, "Come and lay Your hands on her, that she may be healed, and she will live." What a tremendous statement! Today, in your tragedy, in your battle to survive, reach out and find Jesus. He will answer. He has all power!

Make this your declaration of faith, as Vinesong sing: 'All will be well, the Son of God is on my side, all will be well!'

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