Working miracles

In the Family, we are told that we have all power through God to do any kind of miracle. As long as we are faithful and trusting, as long as we do not harbour sin in our heart, as long as we are full of the Word, we are told that God will do anything for us.

Luke 1:37 “For with God nothing will be impossible.”

Phil 4:13 I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

So how can we work miracles? How much is enough faith? Can we claim the Bible promises for supernatural strength?

God has unlimited power and nothing is impossible to Him. As Christ dwells in us, He may use His power through us, but as discussed in the page on ‘Commanding God’, He is our Lord, we are the servants and we must not presume to think that we have been given control over what God does. The point here is not that God doesn’t do miracles anymore, nor even that we shouldn’t ask Him to help us in miraculous ways according to His will. Rather, He is the One Who is in control.

We are to trust in Him, not in our talents, not in our faith, not in the ‘new weapons’, only in Him.

Just before His ascension into heaven, Jesus told us who was in charge:

Matt 28:18 And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.

Jesus’ words were not His, but His Father’s. The miracles came from the Father, in fact everything that Jesus did, He learned from His Father.

John 5:19-24

19 Then Jesus answered and said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner.

20 “For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself does; and He will show Him greater works than these, that you may marvel.

21 “For as the Father raises the dead and gives life to them, even so the Son gives life to whom He will.

22 “For the Father judges no one, but has committed all judgment to the Son,

23 “that all should honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him.

24 “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life.

We are in the same relationship now, as servants of our Lord. He has sent us out in the same way that He was sent out by His Father.

John 20:21 So Jesus said to them again, “Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.”

But didn’t Jesus say that we were His friends, not servants? As His friends, wouldn’t we be able to get Him to do things for us?

John 15:15 “No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you.

Jesus did call us friends, but it is not some kind of ‘buddy-buddy’ friendship. Jesus defined our friendship with Him in the preceding verse:

John 15:14 “You are My friends if you do whatever I command you.

We are to take commands from Jesus, He is under no obligation to take our commands! If we look at John 15, we see that He cautioned us to obey His commands in verse 10, 12, 14 and 17. We may be friends, but we are to obey His commands. Jesus did not give us ‘super powers’ but the instruction to look to Him to see what He is doing. We have not been sent out to rule the world (that may come in the future) but for the present we are but servants of the most high God.

Matt 20:25-28

25 But Jesus called them to Himself and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those who are great exercise authority over them.

26 “Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant.

27 “And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave--

28 “just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”

We have not been given authority to demand miracles. We may beg for miracles, plead for God to work in miraculous ways, we may petition Him to show His mighty power, but we may not command Him.

In the name of Jesus Christ…

Acts 3:6 Then Peter said, “Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.”

The early disciples appeared to have a lot more miracle-working power available to them than we do today, judging by the accounts in the Bible of the apparent confidence with which they could tell cripples to stand or the dead to live etc. Does God still have this power today? Of course He does. Can He still use this power through people today? Absolutely, and there are many testimonies to this published in places like the ‘guideposts’ magazine.

Doesn’t this mean that we can also walk in power as the apostles did, as long as we have enough faith and stand on the promises in the Bible?

Note that in the book of Acts the Holy Spirit was poured out in great force as God did mighty miracle after mighty miracle. Nowhere, however, does it say that the apostles themselves displayed this power as though they themselves were in control. Rather it was God Who was working, God Who did the miracles and God Who was in control. God wanted to do mighty works and so HE did them. If a particular apostle had not been yielded to what God was doing, it would not have mattered so much to God’s plan for God would have been easily able to get someone else to do His will.

In Acts chapter two, the apostles were speaking in languages they had never learned ‘as the Spirit gave them utterance.’ They did not plan what they were to say in advance nor think that they had to command the Lord to do this miracle. They did not initiate this miracle, and it is the same with other miracles. When God wants to do a miracle, He will do it. He does expect us to respond to His call, as Peter did in the above example of the lame man’s healing. Peter did not walk out that morning with any more faith than on the days when no miracles occurred. Rather, the Holy Spirit impressed on him at the moment what he should say. Jesus promised that that would be one of the functions of the Holy Spirit.

Matt 10:19-20

19 “But when they deliver you up, do not worry about how or what you should speak. For it will be given to you in that hour what you should speak;

20 “for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you.

Likewise, the Holy Spirit will lead us when He wants us to say or do something out of the ordinary. The Bible presents a consistent picture of Christians being weak, but depending on a strong Lord. (2 Cor 12:10) We are sent out as God the Father sent out Jesus Christ, to look to Him for everything, including the power to act in each and every situation, and the initiative, when to act in each and every situation.

The Holy Spirit is given, not so that we may walk around like gods filled with power to work miracles, but so that God may live through us. The Holy Spirit is God’s presence in us but we only exalt ourselves when we claim that ‘we have the power (through faith, of course!).’

Why do we not seem to have the ability to work more miracles? This question has plagued Christians for centuries, and this web site will not presume to conclusively solve the dilemma. However, it does seem obvious that there are a number of wrong attitudes arising from people’s attempts to get an answer to this question.

Some people say, “We do have the ability, we just need to realise it.” Others insist that the ability is ours if we have enough faith. Or if we have the right kind of faith. Or if we are victorious over our sins. Or if (as in the Family) we use the ‘new weapons’.

However it seems that these kind of responses have the wrong focus. In each of them, we are looking at ourselves, thinking about ourselves, and ultimately glorifying ourselves, not God. When it comes to miracles, it must be God Who gets the glory… actually, when it comes to anything, it is God Who must get the glory. Therefore it is the epitome of pride to desire the ability to work miracles on demand. We may beg and plead and call on God, but if He does not wish a miracle at that time, then nothing will occur. Contrariwise, if God wants to manifest His power, He will do it, regardless of what we do or neglect to do.

An example of this may be found in the story of Balaam, who decided to curse Israel after God had told him not to do this.

Num 22:12 And God said to Balaam, “You shall not go with them; you shall not curse the people, for they are blessed.”

Num 22:38 And Balaam said to Balak, “Look, I have come to you! Now, have I any power at all to say anything? The word that God puts in my mouth, that I must speak.”

Num 23:20 Behold, I have received a command to bless; he has blessed, and I cannot reverse it.

In this situation it was God’s will for Israel to be blessed and that is what happened, regardless of the intention of the people involved. In Acts chapter two, God wanted a miracle to happen so that is what happened.

Acts 3:1-8

1 Now Peter and John went up together to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour.

2 And a certain man lame from his mother's womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, to ask alms from those who entered the temple;

3 who, seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, asked for alms.

4 And fixing his eyes on him, with John, Peter said, “Look at us.”

5 So he gave them his attention, expecting to receive something from them.

6 Then Peter said, “Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.”

7 And he took him by the right hand and lifted him up, and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength.

8 So he, leaping up, stood and walked and entered the temple with them-- walking, leaping, and praising God.

A few verses later, Peter explained that neither he nor John had the power to heal this man, neither was he healed because Peter and John were exceptionally godly people: it was nothing they had done.

Acts 3:12 So when Peter saw it, he responded to the people: “Men of Israel, why do you marvel at this? Or why look so intently at us, as though by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk?

The next day, when they were called to account for the disturbance they had created in Jerusalem, Peter testified that the miracle was purely a work of Jesus Christ.

Acts 4:10 “let it be known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by Him this man stands here before you whole.

So when we ask ourselves how we can perform miracles it seems that the first answer is that we can’t. Jesus said that He was given all authority (Matthew 28:18), so it is He Who chooses when and where and how and why to perform a miracle, and it is the Holy Spirit Who will do the miracle, whether through us or someone else. God will get His will accomplished, whether He uses us or someone else. What is our role? Not to attempt to force God to perform a miracle through us, but to be yielded instruments in His hand, filled with the Holy Spirit. How do we get filled with the Holy Spirit? Peter explained that just before the lame man was healed by the Holy Spirit through him.

Acts 2:38 Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit is a gift that we may receive. What is our part? Is it walking up to God demanding our rightful power due to our faith in His Son Jesus Christ? No one should be that presumptuous. Our part, as Peter said, is to repent of our sins and be baptised in the name of Jesus Christ. The rest is up to God.

The importunate woman.

Doesn’t the story of the importunate woman indicate that we should demand that God answer our prayer? She asked and begged and demanded response until she wore out the judge who then gave her what she wanted. Doesn’t this give us authority to insist on our needs?

Luke 18:1-8

1 Then He spoke a parable to them, that men always ought to pray and not lose heart,

2 saying: “There was in a certain city a judge who did not fear God nor regard man.

3 “Now there was a widow in that city; and she came to him, saying, ‘Get justice for me from my adversary.’

4 “And he would not for a while; but afterward he said within himself, ‘Though I do not fear God nor regard man,

5 ‘yet because this widow troubles me I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me.’”

6 Then the Lord said, “Hear what the unjust judge said.

7 “And shall God not avenge His own elect who cry out day and night to Him, though He bears long with them?

8 “I tell you that He will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?”

Note that the purpose of the parable is given in verse one, that we should engage in constant prayer without ever losing heart. The parable was by no means a lesson on what to say when praying, any more than it was a lesson on the nature of God. In other words, claiming that this parable authorises us to demand things from God in the same way that the widow did (“Get justice for me!”) implies that we look at God as though He were an unjust judge Who does not care about us and Who must be browbeaten into submission. The Bible, however, shows God as just and righteous, merciful and caring. Jesus here was contrasting God with the judge, not comparing the two. God is neither unjust nor uncaring and perhaps the reason why Jesus said that God ‘bears long with His own elect’ is because God’s own people treat Him as though they have to bully Him into answering their prayers. What does this parable show us? First, that we should pray constantly, never losing heart, regardless of whether we get the things we want or not, regardless of the length of time it takes for the answer to come. It may well be that the only reason that the answer to our prayer is a long time in coming is because we are stubbornly insisting on something that might not be God’s will. Second, we cry out to God day and night. It does not say we are to yell at God or try to push Him around in order to get our desires, we cry out to Him, depending on His love and righteousness and justice. It is not depending on Him if we think He won’t act without our insistence. Third, as verse eight implies, we are to pray in faith. Will Jesus really find faith on the earth, or will He find a congregation of screaming, blustering, untrusting Christians who can’t trust God to do anything for them unless they command Him to do it for them?

Miracles don’t inspire real faith.

There is another story of someone who was refused a miracle. This time the reasoning behind the request was a selfless desire for the eternal souls of people who would end up in hell if they continued their present path. Surely that would be a legitimate reason to request or even demand a miracle? Jesus didn’t seem to think so.

Luke 16:27-31

27 “Then he said, ‘I beg you therefore, father, that you would send him to my father’s house,

28 ‘for I have five brothers, that he may testify to them, lest they also come to this place of torment.’

29 “Abraham said to him, ‘They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.’

30 “And he said, ‘No, father Abraham; but if one goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’

31 “But he said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead.’”

Salvation lies in believing the words of the Bible. Nobody was ever saved through seeing a miracle. People may have been attracted by the miracle, but salvation only came as they believed the words of God. Jesus Himself performed many miracles, yet these miracles did not move people to believe.

John 12:37 But though he had done so many miracles before them, yet they believed not on him: (KJV)

Our only hope of salvation lies in the words of the Bible. Could it be that in the Family we are so eager to work miracles because we have lost faith in the Bible?

Sign-seekers.

People love to see miracles. However the desire for a miracle is no sign of their faith or love for the Lord.

Matt 12:38-39

38 Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered, saying, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from You.”

39 But He answered and said to them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.

Matt 16:4 “A wicked and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign shall be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.” And He left them and departed.

Luke 23:8 Now when Herod saw Jesus, he was exceedingly glad; for he had desired for a long time to see Him, because he had heard many things about Him, and he hoped to see some miracle done by Him.

Miracles do not all come from God.

Even if you see someone doing a miracle, that is no sign that God is with them. Note that in the following verses, the miracles are even done in Jesus’ name.

Matt 7:22-23

22 “Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’

23 “And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’

People will indeed do miracles in the end-time. However, not all of those people will be of God.

II Thess 2:8-9

8 And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming.

9 The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders

Matt 24:24 “For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.

Christians who eagerly accept the miraculous as proof that the miracle-worker or the doctrine is of God lay themselves wide open to being deceived, even by the Antichrist.

Faith and formulae.

Prayer does not operate according to formulae and rules. In other words, tacking the phrase, ‘in Jesus’ name, amen’ to the end of a prayer does not make it any more likely to obtain the desired results. The fact is that we cannot make God do anything. We are to trust Him, trust the word that He said, but we do not have authority to force God to give us what we want through the judicious use of Bible promises. We cannot manipulate God in any way.

We sometimes imagine that if we have ‘enough faith’ we’ll be able to do the miracles that the Bible speaks of, but faith is not a kind of magic power that releases the power of God. That kind of faith is faith in the power, faith in the miracles, or faith in faith itself, but not faith in God. Faith in faith is imagining that faith is a power in itself that makes God do our bidding. This kind of faith is trusting in a power directed at God, not trusting in God Himself. It may be that those who have this kind of result-oriented faith are in fact lacking genuine faith that God is wise enough to care for us without our demanding Him to act on our behalf.

The Bible says that signs and miracles will follow those who believe. Notice the order: the miracles follow the believers, the believers do not follow the signs!

Mark 16:15-18

15 And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.

16 “He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.

17 “And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues;

18 “they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”

What can we do to make God do miracles? Obviously, the answer is nothing. Our part is to believe. Believe what? Believe that we can do miracles? Believe that God will obey His own promises? Believe that we have been given supernatural power? Believe that we have the faith for it? No, the passage above refers to believing the Gospel of salvation, committing our souls to God, repenting for the forgiveness of sin. All we do is believe. God does the miracles, according to His wisdom, in His time.

Conclusion.

God works the miracles, not us. When miracles occur, the Bible says it is the Holy Spirit manifesting Himself, not us claiming the power for ourselves.

1 Cor 12:6-7

6 And there are diversities of activities, but it is the same God who works all in all.

7 But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all:

Here is real faith: Trust God. He promised that He will supply our needs, and care for us with His infinite wisdom. He is not dependant on our insisting that He act, He doesn’t need us to command Him before He moves on our behalf. He promised, so we may rest on that promise, but resting on the promise does not mean shaking it in God’s face, demanding that He give us what we want. Resting on the promise means trusting that God knows best, regardless of how it looks at the time.

Prayer changes us, not God. Prayer submits us to the divine will, it has nothing to do with engineering the divine will to submit to us.

We’ll close with a couple of biblical prayers:

The first is from a man who knew He was a sinner. Jesus commended him for his humility, not his proud grip on the word of God.

Luke 18:13 “And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me a sinner!’

The second is from the only man who was not a sinner. If anyone had the right to access God’s power, Jesus did. Did He stand on the promises? Did He command God His Father to answer Him? Did He call for a miracle?

Matt 26:39 He went a little farther and fell on His face, and prayed, saying, “O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will.”

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