Chapter 4: How to Receive a Miracle
Written by: Apostle Delmar
I've laid hands on thousands of people. Cancers healed. Autism cured. The dead raised. AIDS vanished. Tumors dissolved.
But here's what I need you to understand: I didn't heal anybody.
Jesus healed them. The power of God healed them. And their faith released that power.
I'm just the vessel. God is the source.
Let me tell you something that might surprise you.
Not everybody who comes to my altar gets healed.
I've had people walk away the same way they came. Same sickness. Same bondage. Same problem. And it wasn't because God wasn't willing. It wasn't because the power wasn't present. It wasn't because I didn't pray hard enough.
It was because they didn't receive.
See, there's a difference between God offering something and you taking it. God has already provided your miracle. Jesus purchased it at the cross two thousand years ago. The question isn't whether God wants to heal you. The question is whether you're going to receive what He's already made available.
That's what this chapter is about. Not how to beg God for a miracle. Not how to convince God to help you. But how to receive what's already yours.
There are five keys. Let me walk you through each one.
The First Key: Go Where the Fire Is
Before anything else, I need to tell you something most preachers won't say.
Yes, your faith matters. Your faith is what receives from God. Without faith, nothing happens. But here's what most people don't understand:
Most people need hands laid on them by someone walking in anointed authority to receive their miracle.
I'm not saying God can't heal you in your living room. He's God. He can do whatever He wants. But here's the pattern I've seen over 42 years of ministry: people who position themselves where the anointing is flowing are the ones who receive.
Why? Because there's a difference between the Holy Spirit IN you and the Holy Spirit UPON someone else for ministry.
When you got saved, the Holy Spirit came to dwell IN you. That's your transformation. That's your relationship with God. But when God calls someone to operate in healing and miracles, the Spirit comes UPON them. That's when supernatural acts happen. That's when cancer disappears. That's when the dead are raised.
Think about it like electricity. The power plant generates the electricity. The wires carry it. The switch releases it. God is the source of all healing power. But He uses vessels—anointed men and women—to carry and release that power.
"And God wrought special miracles by the hands of Paul: So that from his body were brought unto the sick handkerchiefs or aprons, and the diseases departed from them, and the evil spirits went out of them." — Acts 19:11-12
Notice that. By the hands of Paul. Not by Paul's faith alone. Not by the sick people's faith alone. The power flowed through Paul's hands. Through physical contact. Through laying on of hands.
James and the 21-Centimeter Tumor
Let me tell you about James.
This man had just come back from Japan to MD Anderson Cancer Center. Stage 4 kidney cancer. They removed a tumor the size of a small melon—21 centimeters. Took his whole kidney with it. Then they sent him home to die.
"Your body is riddled with cancer," they told him. "Go home and be comfortable."
Now, James could have gone home and accepted that verdict. Most people would have. The facts were the facts. Stage 4. Riddled with cancer. Terminal.
But James had a friend named T. Anderson, one of our elders. And T. told him something that changed everything: "Don't just go home and die. Go where the man of God can lay hands on you."
James was in pain. The journey from San Antonio to Liberty County wasn't easy. But he pressed through. He came to our Wednesday night service—we call it "Extra Oil."
I laid hands on him. The power of God hit him so hard he went straight to the floor. Just laid out under the glory.
When he got back to the doctors in San Antonio, they ran their tests. Scanned him up and down. Couldn't find a single trace of cancer. Not one cell. Gone.
The doctors called it a medical mystery.
I call it Jesus.
James didn't stay home and pray. He positioned himself. He went where the fire was. And he received.
You Have to Position Yourself
The woman with the oxygen tank didn't just believe from her couch. Her husband brought her to our service. She took off that oxygen that same day.
Austin's grandmother didn't just pray over him at home. She brought him to where the anointing was flowing.
You have to position yourself to receive.
Now, does this mean you should never pray for your own healing? Of course not. Pray. Believe. Confess the Word. But if you've been doing that and the breakthrough hasn't come, maybe it's time to go where the fire is. Find a ministry where the power of God is actually moving. Get in line. Let someone with the anointing lay hands on you.
Your faith plus their anointing equals breakthrough.
The Second Key: Know It's Already Yours
Now that you know you need to position yourself where the fire is, here's the next thing you need to understand:
God isn't deciding whether to heal you. He already decided. He decided at Calvary.
"Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed." — 1 Peter 2:24
Notice the tense. Not "ye shall be healed someday if God feels like it." Not "ye might be healed if you're good enough."
Ye were healed.
Past tense. Done deal. Finished work.
When Jesus hung on that cross, He wasn't just paying for your sins. He was purchasing your healing. Your deliverance. Your breakthrough. Everything you need was bought and paid for with His blood.
So stop trying to get God to do something He's already done. Stop begging for what's already yours. The miracle isn't in heaven waiting for God to release it. The miracle is right here, right now, waiting for you to receive it.
The great Kenneth Hagin used to say it this way: "Stop trying to get healed and accept that you were healed 2,000 years ago."
God Is Both Able AND Willing
Most Christians have no problem believing God is able. "Oh yes, God can do anything. He's all-powerful. He created the universe."
That's nice. That's true. But that's not faith.
Faith isn't just believing God is able. Faith is believing God is willing—for you, right now, today.
This is where people get stuck. They'll say, "I know God can heal. I've seen Him heal other people. But I don't know if it's His will to heal me."
Let me ask you something: Was it God's will for Jesus to bear your sickness on the cross? If the answer is yes—and Isaiah 53 says it was—then it's God's will for you to be free from that sickness now.
"Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows... and with his stripes we are healed." — Isaiah 53:4-5
God isn't playing favorites. He didn't heal that woman but not you. He didn't cure James's cancer but not yours. What He did for them, He'll do for you.
But you have to move past "I know God can" to "I know God will—for me."
The Third Key: Receive It—Believe, Speak, Act
Here's where the rubber meets the road. You've positioned yourself. You know it's already yours. Now you have to actually receive it.
This happens three ways: believing, speaking, and acting.
Believe You Receive When You Pray
Jesus gave us very specific instructions:
"Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them." — Mark 11:24
Read that again slowly. When you pray, believe that you receive them.
Not after you see the healing. Not after the symptoms disappear. Not after the doctor confirms it. When you pray.
The moment of receiving—in God's eyes—is the moment you believe. There might be a gap between "I have it in my heart" and "I see it with my eyes." But faith doesn't waver during that gap. Faith says, "It's mine. I have it now."
Speak the Word
What you say after you pray is just as important as the prayer itself.
You can go to the altar, receive prayer, believe you receive—and then walk out the door and talk yourself right out of your miracle.
"Well, I don't feel any different."
"I guess we'll see if it worked."
"I hope something happens."
Those words turn off the switch of faith.
"Death and life are in the power of the tongue." — Proverbs 18:21
Faith believes and then speaks. Not speaks and then believes. You believe in your heart, and then your mouth confirms what your heart has received.
After you pray, your confession should be: "It's mine. I have it now. By His stripes I was healed. I believe I receive. Thank You, Jesus."
See The Power of Declaration for more on this principle.
My Mother's Double Brain Stroke
Let me tell you what happened when my mother had her stroke.
It wasn't just a stroke. It was a double brain bleed. Both sides. The doctor pulled me aside and gave me the facts: "No one survives this condition. You need to prepare yourself."
Now here's the moment that mattered.
When that doctor spoke those words over my mother, I had a choice. I could agree with the facts. Or I could speak the truth.
I paused. I needed to make sure my first words were right. Because what you say matters. Your words carry power. Life and death are in the tongue.
Then I opened my mouth: "My mother will not die. She will live and not die and declare the goodness of the Lord!"
The doctor looked at me like I was crazy. He pointed to the scans. "Sir, look at this. Look at the bleed. Both sides of the brain."
I said, "Yeah, and I'm speaking truth. And truth always trumps facts."
My mother lived another 12 years.
Act on What You Believe
Faith without works is dead. That's not my opinion—that's Scripture.
"Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone." — James 2:17
Faith must have corresponding actions. If you believe you're healed, at some point you need to act like you're healed. That might mean doing something you couldn't do before. That might mean getting up out of that wheelchair. That might mean throwing away those pills.
Remember blind Bartimaeus in Mark chapter 10? When Jesus called for him, the Bible says he cast away his garment. In that culture, beggars wore specific clothing that identified their status. Bartimaeus threw his beggar's garment in the dirt and left it there.
Why? Because he wasn't going to need it anymore. He was acting on his faith before he could see.
The Fourth Key: Forgive
I need to give this its own section because it's that important.
There are things that block miracles. And the biggest one is unforgiveness.
If you're holding bitterness against someone, your faith is crippled. Jesus was crystal clear about this:
"And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses." — Mark 11:25
Did you catch that? When ye stand praying. Before you even ask for your miracle, you better make sure you've forgiven everybody who's wronged you.
This isn't optional. This isn't extra credit. This is a direct command from Jesus tied directly to receiving from God.
I've seen people come to the altar with genuine faith, genuine need, genuine desperation—and walk away empty. When I ask the Holy Spirit why, He often shows me unforgiveness. Bitterness toward an ex-spouse. Resentment toward a parent. Anger at someone who hurt them years ago.
That bitterness clogs the pipe. The power can't flow.
Before you come to the altar, do a heart check. Is there anyone you're holding something against? Anyone you've been refusing to forgive? Anyone you've been nursing bitterness toward?
Let it go. Release them. Forgive them.
Then come get your miracle.
The Fifth Key: Persist Until Manifestation
Finally, you have to understand that sometimes there's a gap between receiving in your spirit and seeing in the natural.
This isn't doubt. This is just how it works.
Some people receive prayer, believe they receive, and the manifestation is immediate. Cancer gone the same day. Vision restored instantly. That happens.
But sometimes, you believe you receive, and the symptoms don't change right away. The pain is still there. The test results haven't shifted yet. The circumstances look the same.
This is where most people give up. They decide the prayer didn't work. They go back to doubt.
Don't do that.
Keep thanking God. Keep confessing. Keep the switch of faith turned on.
"Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompence of reward. For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise." — Hebrews 10:35-36
Kenneth Hagin used to teach about this all the time. He'd share testimonies where nothing seemed to change for weeks, but the person refused to back off their stance. "I have it now. I received it when I prayed. I'm not moving from this position."
And then the breakthrough came.
The Five Keys
Let me give you the simple sequence. This is how miracles work:
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Go where the fire is. Position yourself under anointed ministry. Get hands laid on you.
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Know it's already yours. Stop begging. Jesus already paid for it. God is willing.
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Receive it—believe, speak, act. Believe you receive when you pray. Confess with your mouth. Act on what you believe. Praise before you see it.
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Forgive. Clear the channel. Let go of every offense.
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Persist until manifestation. Keep the switch of faith on. Don't waver.
Your Miracle Is Waiting
Here's what I want you to understand: God is not the obstacle to your miracle. You are the only obstacle to your miracle.
The power is present. The provision is made. Jesus paid the price. The Holy Spirit is ready to move.
The question is: Will you receive?
Will you cast away your doubt like Bartimaeus cast away his beggar's garment?
Will you speak to your mountain like Jesus commanded?
Will you grab hold of the promise in your spirit and refuse to let go until you see it in the natural?
Your miracle is waiting.
It's not waiting in heaven for God to send it down. It's right here, right now, purchased by the blood of Jesus, available to everyone who will reach out in faith and take it.
So take it.
Don't let the Miracle pass you by. Don't let the crowd silence your cry. Don't let the facts overrule the truth.
And if you've been believing and praying and confessing and the breakthrough still hasn't come—go where the fire is. Find a ministry where the power of God is actually moving. Get in that line. Let someone walking in the anointing lay hands on you.
Your faith matters. But so does positioning yourself under the flow.
James didn't stay home. The woman on oxygen didn't stay home. Austin's grandmother didn't stay home. They went to where the anointing was. And they received.
Do the same.
Reach out. Call on Him. Position yourself. Believe you receive.
Remember: the same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead lives in you. Let Him quicken your mortal body as you step out in faith.
And watch what God does.
"But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you." — Romans 8:11
"Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen." — Ephesians 3:20-21