Seeing is believing, they say, but not with miracles. There are people who see miracles who deny it. Just ask Jesus! And if people denied it when Jesus, who they could see, did a miracle, how are people going to react when God, who we cannot see, does a miracle?
We have to have the eyes to see it and not everyone does.
There was a time I didn’t believe God still did miracles. If something seemed like a miracle, I was eager to find ten reasons why it wasn’t. What a shame!
God is doing miracles all the time, whether we agree that he does them or not…whether we acknowledge him in what happened or not…it is what he does.
One thing I have learned, the more I trust that to be true the more miracles I see. And I don’t know if God is doing more of them because I am more open to them or if he is doing the same amount but they just become more obvious.
What is your experience with this?
We need a generation who expects miracles…who prays for miracles. We need a generation who expects them and leans into them. This generation will replace business strategy with fasting and prayer. The power that drives the church into the next 100 years will be God’s power rather than the power we ran on the last 100 years…our power.
So buckle up. Humble up. Fast and pray up. And then pay attention!
3 Responses
Matt, the reason many believers have a problem with the fact of modern day miracles is because they were taught that. To this day many who are in the Reformed Tradition have embraced cessationism, in other words, the Holy Spirit is no longer active as in the Apostolic age, and therefore divine healing, prophecy and other supernatural works of the Spirit are no longer happening. Unfortunately this understanding was carried over into the Restoration Movement via its founders who were both Presbyterian clergy. Although I’m not a member of a RM congregation, I have been fellowshiping with a group of RM elders and deacons for several years at a Wednesday night Bible study. They will readily admit that in their the past, the Holy Spirit was rarely discussed and that they were taught that miracles had ceased. Fortunately these attitudes are changing.
That is important history and spot on! Funny how we think we are free from denominational influence.
seems to me we need a correct definition of what exactly a miracle is. “a surprising and welcome event that is not explicable by natural or scientific laws and is therefore considered to be the work of a divine agency.” That is the definition which fits with the usage in the Bible. “Let there be light… is not explicable by natural or scientific laws. “Male and female He made them…” fits the same. “Go forth and multiply…” is a natural consequence of that miracle.
The blind man could see… a natural consequence of that miracle of restoration of sight; the lame could walk again…
Too often we get stuck with calling a “a highly improbable or extraordinary event, development, or accomplishment that brings very welcome consequences” a miracle. Or when a specific outcome is unexpected, we will say, “it was a miracle that more people hadn’t been killed or injured.”
So when I read what Matt wrote, I wonder about which of these ‘definitions’ we have in mind.
an amazing product or achievement, or an outstanding example of something.
As I read through Scripture, I see miracles used at specific times and for specific purposes. In the New Testament signs, miracles, and wonders were present to support the proclamation of the Risen Savior. Also, I do not see miracles as denied, but the accusing of the source of the miracles: Beelzebub rather than God.
I just finished reading five books on the power of prayer stakes against evil. “But Israel used them… so we should too. Are we really looking for miracles because “they were there in the early church…,” so we should have them, too?
Reports of miracles came from Francis Chan after a mission trip to Asia. A Dutch mission group who had been in-country for years followed up on those reports. And it turned out that the ‘claims’ were unwitnessed, and actually made up. Brought more and more Western visitors, who brought more and more outside money – Western money.
An interesting book to read, “https://www.rarebookcellar.com/pages/books/96615/william-a-nolen/healing-a-doctor-in-search-of-a-miracle”