Miracles don’t come in one single package but several packages. I think this is well buttressed by one of the statements of Archbishop Kirby Clement: “There are faith-dependent miracles and faith-independent miracles”. In other words some miracles are tied to the faith of the beneficiary. On occasions, we have where Jesus asked the people if they believed He could do what they expected. When they replied “yes”, the miracle was theirs to enjoy. When He saw the man by the pool, He did not ask if he had faith to be healed. He simply asked if he wanted healing. While the man started his pity party, complaining of having no man, Jesus asked him to take his bed and walk. That could go for a faith-independent miracle.

Choose to serve God to the best of your ability; He will figure out the reward that will suit you perfectly.

The story of the woman of Shunem can help us understand another set of miracles. I think it will be right to say that there are hospitality-dependent miracles. If you like, we can tag that generally as work-dependent miracles. It is not exactly clear how long this woman entertained the prophet before a reward was proclaimed. But the important thing was that she kept at it; perhaps just doing it for the love of it and not because she knew something would come out of her service. When God was ready to reward her, it was with something that all the money in her world could not buy. She was given a male child at a time when her husband was already old. The significance of this reward was that God raised up someone who would carry on with the family name. God decided to let this wonderful family have a successor and a legacy. Choose to serve God to the best of your ability; He will figure out the reward that will suit you perfectly.