This Is Living: 5 Days of Inspiration to Live Your FaithSýnishorn

MIRACLE COUNTRY

One of the most memorable experiences on my trip to the Holy Land was sitting on the shore of the Sea of Galilee. We had just toured Capernaum, where Jesus had based His ministry, and then we went to the shoreline together.

We had a powerful time of praying for each other. I felt the presence of God in a way I have rarely known. I was certain that the significant need I was praying about would be answered by God—even though it would take a miracle.

However, this was miracle country. At least thirty-three of Jesus’ miracles were performed in the region of Galilee. If there was ever a place to believe God for a miracle, it would be where more miracles per square mile had happened than any other place on Earth. I left there feeling as if a burden had been lifted. I was thankful for partners in prayer and full of faith in God’s miracle-working power.

What is strange—even funny—about the Galilee is how it was viewed in Jesus’ time versus how I viewed it that day. Jesus was from the lower Galilee, an area densely populated—partly because Herod the Great had resettled Jews from Judea there. Also, the region was prosperous with fertile lands, it was a crossroads of trade between Egypt and Damascus via the King’s Highway, and it had a strong fishing industry.

Galilee was on the fringe of traditional Jewish life. It was a frontier between Hebraic and Greco-Roman worlds, and as a result, it was scorned by Judeans. They used the term “Galilean” as a synonym for fool, heathen, or sinner.

It was in Galilee that Jesus announced His ministry, recruited eleven of His disciples, and preached nineteen of His parables. The Galilee was the main area of Jesus’ public ministry. He demonstrated that the gospel was for everyone, not just for the elite. Jesus chose to spend the bulk of His time in ministry with those living in the Galilee.

Unfortunately, there is little evidence that Jesus’ message was established after He left. Matthew 11:20 tells us, In the towns where Jesus had worked most of his miracles, the people refused to turn to God. Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum were all in the Galilee, and Jesus judged them for not responding to His message, even after they had witnessed His miracles.

I have not yet witnessed my miracle, although I am confident I will. I believe in the message of Jesus; and now more than ever after having been to the Galilee myself, I am certain that He is the truth.

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