Transcript: Expecting Miracles

Expecting Miracles
By David Feddes

Our focus in our readings is on our Lord Jesus Christ himself, on getting acquainted with him, who he is, all that he did during his time here on earth, and who he still is. One of the striking things about Jesus is the mighty miracles he performed, and today, we want to focus on those miracles and what they mean for us now.

Jesus went throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every disease and affliction among the people. His fame spread throughout all Syria, and they brought him all the sick—those afflicted with various diseases and pains, those oppressed by demons, those having seizures, and paralytics—and he healed them. Great crowds followed him from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea, and from beyond the Jordan.

Jesus went around healing every disease and affliction among the people. When you read that, it’s very striking. But it also raises the question: what about today? Should we expect the kinds of miracles from Jesus today that he performed during the time we read about in the Bible?

When we ask that question, a lot is at stake. If we look at the question, “Should we expect the kind of miracles Jesus did in our own time?” we might say, “Yes, I’ve seen people who were super sick, almost beyond hope, and they got better again. I’ve seen times when things looked grim, but people prayed, and God answered.”

However, I’m not really asking if God answers prayer—he does. And I’m not asking whether there are amazing reversals that can ultimately be credited to God—there are. The question is: does God perform miracles today in the same way Jesus did during his time on earth?

When we examine the miracles Jesus performed, we notice a few key things. First, he healed everyone who asked him. In the gospel accounts, do you know of anyone who went to Jesus with a terrible illness or problem, asked for help, and was turned away? He healed them all. Every single person who asked.

When Jesus healed, it happened immediately. There was no need to recruit 50 friends to “storm the gates of heaven” through long, intense prayer. The healing occurred on the spot, without further delay. Nearly all of Jesus' miracles were instant, not gradual. There is only one exception—a blind man who, after Jesus put mud on his eyes and washed it off, said, “I see people, but they look like trees walking around.” Jesus then healed him fully a few moments later. I think that two-stage miracle is an acted parable because right after it, Jesus asks his disciples, “Who do you say that I am?” Peter confesses that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, but it becomes clear Peter doesn’t fully understand. He objects to the idea of Jesus suffering, and Jesus has to say, “Get behind me, Satan.” The disciples were going through their own two-stage process: they recognized Jesus as the Christ but were still seeing things vaguely. Jesus would need to lead them the rest of the way.

Aside from that unique case, every other miracle Jesus performed was instant. It wasn’t a matter of gradual improvement; it was complete restoration. Sight was fully restored, hearing was fully restored, speech was fully restored, and the dead were fully raised to life. These miracles weren’t just partial improvements—they were complete. And all of these healings were performed without medical means. Jesus didn’t use medications or the assistance of doctors; his miracles went beyond human intervention.

Jesus' healings were characterized by a few key elements: everyone who asked was healed; the healings were immediate, complete, and done without medical intervention.

Now, if we ask the question again—do miracles happen today?—many of the things we consider miracles and answers to prayer don’t quite match the way Jesus performed his healings.

Consider these examples from the gospels:

• Peter's mother-in-law was sick with a terrible fever. Jesus bent over her, rebuked the fever, and it left her. She got up at once and began to serve them.
• A man with leprosy came and knelt before Jesus, saying, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.” Jesus reached out his hand, touched the man, and said, “I am willing. Be clean!” Immediately, the man was cleansed of his leprosy.
• There was such a crowd around Jesus that a paralyzed man couldn’t reach him. His friends carried him, climbed onto the roof, made an opening, and lowered the man in front of Jesus. Jesus said to him, “Get up, take your mat, and go home.” Immediately, the man stood up, took what he had been lying on, and went home, praising God.
• A woman who had been bleeding for years and spent all her money on doctors without improvement thought, “If I just touch the hem of his garment, I’ll be healed.” She made her way through the crowd, touched his garment, and immediately her bleeding stopped. She knew in her body that she had been freed from her suffering.
• Right after healing that woman, Jesus was on his way to see a dead girl. When he arrived, he took her by the hand and said, “My child, get up.” Her spirit returned, and immediately she stood up.
• Another time, a woman who had been crippled by a spirit for 18 years and couldn’t straighten up was healed. Jesus called her forward, said, “You are set free from your infirmity,” and put his hands on her. Immediately, she straightened up and praised God.
• A blind man came to Jesus. Jesus said, “Receive your sight; your faith has healed you.” Immediately, the man received his sight and followed Jesus, praising God.

Over and over, we see the word “immediately.” When someone came to Jesus and he spoke a word, there was instant, complete healing.

So, when we ask whether we should expect that kind of healing today, it’s a challenging question. Do such miracles still happen? If they do, should we seek them? Or should we adjust our expectations to match what we observe in reality?

Some say we should expect 100 percent success—100 percent miracles—whenever someone has enough faith. If complete healing doesn’t happen, they say, it’s because the person didn’t have enough faith.

There are many different ways people answer the question of whether miracles happen today. Some believe we shouldn’t expect such miracles at all. Others think we should expect them occasionally. Still others argue we should always expect miracles if only we have enough faith, because Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever. If he did it then, they say, he will do it now.

Well, whatever our answer to these questions may be, there is quite a lot at stake. Before exploring further how to answer the question, I want to give some examples of what’s at stake if we are wrong on one side or the other.

Let’s say we are wrong in not expecting miracles and lack the desire and confidence that God will do mighty and amazing miracles. What’s at stake when we expect too little?

First, we might rob ourselves of healings that could have happened if only we had believed and asked. We might rob others of healing they could have received if we had been open to God’s mighty miracles, rather than proceeding as if such things never happen. We might also rob God of the glory that would have been his if we had been open to the mighty things he was prepared to do—if only we were prepared to believe. The Holy Spirit gives gifts of healings and miracles, but are we quenching the Spirit if we no longer believe in miracles or healing gifts?

We might also deprive the church of some of its power and potential for witness. The gospel witness may become weaker when it isn’t accompanied by signs and wonders, as it was in the ministries of Jesus and the apostles. In a secular age, where many people don’t believe in the supernatural, God’s intervention through the supernatural would accomplish much more than intellectual arguments for the existence of God. What if God showed up and did something undeniable, right under people's noses?

These are some of the things at stake if God were prepared to do such miracles and we weren’t open to them. Another consequence of failing to expect miracles is that it seems to widen the gap between our present experience and what we read about in the Bible. It feels strange to say, “That was then; this is now,” because, intuitively, the Bible is most meaningful if now feels a lot like then, rather than vastly different. If God intended greater things in the realm of miracles than we are open to or expecting, we would miss out significantly.

On the other hand, there are serious dangers in over-expecting miracles. What if we are expecting miracles when God hasn’t promised them or when the miracle doesn’t happen? If we believe that God always performs miracles if we have enough faith, what happens when healing doesn’t come?

One possible outcome is blaming God. When someone doesn’t get better, they may conclude that God didn’t come through, leading them to question whether God exists at all. Some people’s faith has been shaken, even shattered, because they believed that God always intervenes—and when he didn’t, they felt betrayed.

If people don’t blame God, they might blame themselves. They may conclude that the healing didn’t happen because they didn’t have enough faith—or that someone close to them lacked sufficient faith. I know a person who was paralyzed in a terrible accident. Her son was convinced they needed to keep praying for her to walk again. As months went by without improvement, the son decided his mother didn’t have enough faith. He struggled with serious mental health issues as a result, and his mother remained paralyzed. This belief—that God always intervenes if we have enough faith—often results in blaming God, blaming oneself, or blaming others.

Another potential danger is shunning medical treatment because of a firm belief that God will heal apart from any medical intervention. I’ve seen people refuse treatment, expecting a miracle, when God might have intended to use ordinary means for their restoration. Expecting miraculous healing when practical medical solutions are available can have serious consequences.

There’s also the issue of irresponsible behavior. For example, someone might say, “I’ve smoked for 40 years, but I’m counting on a miracle to heal my emphysema or lung cancer.” Or, “I expect a miracle to fix my high blood pressure and stroke risk caused by obesity.” Now, I’m not saying God never heals people whose problems result from their own choices—he does. But counting on miracles to patch up the consequences of poor decisions is problematic.

This kind of mindset can extend beyond health issues. Imagine someone saying, “I’m not buying groceries this week because Jesus will provide, just like he fed the 5,000.” They buy one bun and expect it to multiply. This approach is like refusing to take measures for your own well-being, expecting a miracle to solve everything.

Another danger arises when people are at the verge of death. Sometimes, individuals or their loved ones refuse to accept the reality of death, believing that expecting a miracle is a matter of faith. Important decisions might be postponed or avoided altogether. A terminally ill person, convinced that a miracle will come, may see it as a betrayal of faith to even discuss the possibility of death. Similarly, families may refuse to remove life support from a loved one, believing that doing so would mean giving up on God’s power to heal.

These examples show how misplaced confidence in miracles can prevent us from making wise decisions. There is much at stake when our expectations are either too low or too high. If our expectations fall short of what God has promised, we make a serious mistake. But if we expect more than God has promised in this life, we risk making equally serious errors.

Let’s just back up, take a deep breath, and ask: what is involved when God is in action? Sometimes, we tend to think of God being in action only when there is an undeniable, supernatural, instant intervention—a miracle. But what about God’s action more broadly?

One area where God is always in action is everywhere. He governs all things according to the purpose of his will. God has a hidden plan that governs all created patterns and second causes. By "second causes," I mean things that happen through human actions or natural patterns—when people do something that causes an effect or when creation unfolds in a particular way. In these cases, God is not acting directly but works in a more hidden way through various agents or means.

The Bible teaches that God works all things for the good of those who love him and are called according to his purpose. He works everything for the good of his people and for his glory. It would be a great mistake to think that God is only at work when an obvious miracle happens. We need eyes to see God at work in all areas of life because every heartbeat, every sunrise, is from God. It isn’t only when a heart stops and Jesus says, “Lazarus, come forth,” that God is doing something. When your heart keeps beating, that is God at work too.

We need to understand that God is active in all things—in all the provisions of the world, in the way our bodies function, and in every way he cares for his people.

Another area in which God acts is in personal interaction with us. We talk to him as persons, directing our personal requests to him, and he answers. God answers prayers, and the world is different because of those answered prayers. The Bible says the prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.

Sometimes, God's answers to prayer may be obvious. We may witness things happening that we are fairly certain wouldn’t have occurred if we hadn’t prayed. You might find that “God moments” occur far more often when you are praying than when you are not. What others dismiss as coincidences might seem to you like answers to prayer.

God works in response to our prayers, and these answers may sometimes take on the appearance of miracles, or they may happen through ordinary means—but they came because we asked.

Then there are the kinds of things we’ve read about Jesus doing—those direct divine actions and interventions. There are three ways, perhaps more, that we can categorize how God acts. I just want to highlight these three different manners of God’s actions, using an example: pregnancy.

The Virgin Mary became pregnant by the Holy Spirit through a direct miracle, without any father being involved—a tremendous miracle. Sarah was in her 90s when she became pregnant, and Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptist, also conceived long after her childbearing years were over. These two elderly women became pregnant by a miracle of God.

The Virgin birth, the conception of Isaac by Sarah, or the birth of John the Baptist to Elizabeth were all miraculous events. However, take Rebecca, the mother of Jacob and Esau—she struggled with infertility. Her husband, Isaac, prayed for her, and the Bible says the Lord opened her womb. This wasn’t quite the same level of miracle as the Virgin birth or even the pregnancies of Sarah and Elizabeth. Rebecca was still of childbearing age; it was simply that nothing was happening until Isaac prayed, and then she conceived.

So we see these different types of situations: the miraculous, the difficult circumstance responded to in prayer, and then, far more often, the ordinary providence of God. These ordinary means include children conceived through natural processes, sometimes without anyone even praying. What does the Bible say about that? Psalm 139 tells us, “You knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made.”

Which babies did God create? He created baby Jesus in Mary’s womb, of course. He also made it possible for elderly women beyond childbearing years to conceive. He answered Isaac’s prayer for Rebecca, and twins were born. But every other baby, born through ordinary means, is also created by God in his image. That’s what the Bible teaches us. It would be a mistake to think that only those born of a virgin or of someone past childbearing age are created by God. All babies are made by him.

I could give other examples of how God’s action sometimes takes the form of a miracle, but even when there’s no miracle, it is still God’s action. The Westminster Confession of Faith summarizes this well: "God, in his ordinary providence, maketh use of means, yet is free to work without, above, or against them, at his pleasure."

We often talk about the laws of nature, but we should avoid using that phrase. It can mislead us. It’s not necessarily sinful to use it, but it influences the way we think. Instead of talking about laws of nature, we might refer to “patterns of providence” or “structures of creation.” There are patterns of providence that we can observe—God’s usual way of doing things through the structures of the world he created. These are not rigid laws that bind God.

If we call them laws of nature, we might fall into thinking that God has to obey these laws. But God doesn’t follow laws; he created the patterns we observe. The moment we start saying “laws of nature,” we risk thinking, “God can’t do this because he’s bound by these laws.” Instead, think of them as patterns. God, in his ordinary providence, typically uses these means, but he is free to act without them, above them, or even against them. God can stack up the waters of the Red Sea, turn a few loaves into enough to feed 5,000, or do whatever he wants.

The Westminster Confession of Faith has a brief but insightful statement on this: "God, in his ordinary providence, maketh use of means, yet is free to work without, above, or against them, at his pleasure."

We often talk about the "laws of nature," but we should consider avoiding that phrase because it can mislead us. It tricks us into thinking in ways that aren't fully accurate. While it may not be sinful to use the term if we understand what we mean, it carries unintended consequences for how we perceive God's actions. Instead of calling them laws of nature, we might refer to them as "patterns of providence" or "structures of creation." These are patterns that we can observe and that tend to hold most of the time. It’s God's usual way of governing the things he has made.

However, these patterns are not laws. The moment we start talking about laws of nature, we may begin to think, "God can’t do this because he has to obey the laws of nature." But that’s not how it works. The patterns we observe are standing patterns God created. In his ordinary providence, he uses these means, but he remains free to act without them, above them, or against them. He can stack up the waters of the Red Sea, turn a few loaves into enough to feed 5,000, or do whatever he pleases. That’s what the Westminster Confession is saying: God normally works through providential means, but he is not bound by them. There are no "laws of nature" to limit him. God is free.

What are the implications when we think about miracles and what to expect from them? First, all of God’s acts deserve our praise—not just the startling ones that happen suddenly as miraculous interventions. It would be a mistake to praise God only when he feeds 5,000 people with a few loaves of bread. After all, he also fed you this morning.

Psalm 104 tells us that God makes plants grow for the cattle, provides food for them, and gives wine to gladden the heart of man and bread to sustain his heart. God does this for billions of people all over the world, every single day. If you had been present at the wedding in Cana when Jesus turned water into wine, you would have praised God—and rightly so. But do you also pause to thank him for the vineyards around the world that produce grapes to feed billions? Similarly, we might marvel at Jesus feeding the 5,000 with a few loaves of bread. But do we also thank him for the grain that multiplies and provides bread for people everywhere, and for the orchards that grow abundantly?

We should certainly praise God for miracles, but we should also praise him for all he does in creation. It’s easy to marvel when Jesus speaks to the storm and says, “Be still,” and it stops. But how do you think every storm stops? Why do rainbows appear in the sky? Because God promised that he would stop every storm before it destroys the earth again with a flood. Today, the rainbow is misused by some people, but it should remind us that God is the one who stops every storm before it wipes us out.

We can reflect on God’s blessings, both in the storms he brings and the ones he stops. Everything around us is a marvel. But because these things happen so often, we tend to take them for granted or grow bored with them. If they only happened once, we’d be amazed. The real difference between God’s ordinary providence and miracles is that miracles happen less frequently, while God’s ongoing providence is just as astonishing—but we often miss it because it’s so common.

I’ve mentioned before a conversation I had with a man driving me around in Nigeria. As we talked, I explained that in my part of the world, when it gets cold in the winter, water freezes on top, and you can walk across it. He had never seen frozen water in his life, but his response wasn’t disbelief. He simply said, “God is wonderful.” That’s the right response, recognizing God's work in everything—even things we take for granted.

When we think about babies, we should praise God for the Virgin birth and the miraculous birth of Jesus. But we should also thank him for every baby he gives. We can praise God for the miraculous healings Jesus performed and the wonderful answers to prayer we experience today. But we should also thank him for our health—not only when he heals the blind, but for the fact that we can see, hear, talk, and walk.

All these abilities are gifts from God, and not everyone receives them. Not everyone has the ability to have children or the gift of sight. But if you have these blessings, thank God. And if you don’t, thank him for the other blessings he has given you.

The normal path to immortality is through death. Elijah was spared from it, and so was Enoch. At Jesus' second coming, Christians who are alive on earth will also be spared. But for most of us, we will walk through the valley of the shadow of death and receive immortality by passing through death, just as Jesus did. So, we should praise God not only for the healings that postpone death but also for the great healing he has planned—one that will bring us victory over death.

We should give God praise for all his acts. One purpose of miracles is to open our eyes to the reality that God has been at work all along. Miracles serve many purposes, but one of them is this: when God performs a miracle with bread, he’s showing, “I, Jesus, am the one who gives all bread, all food.” When he provides wine, he’s saying, “I am the one who gives all wine.” When he heals in a striking and miraculous way, he is reminding us, “I am the one who heals all your diseases.” Miracles draw our attention to what God is constantly doing in ways we might regard as less miraculous.

Another fact we must recognize is that biblical miracles were special. As we’ve seen from our survey of Jesus' miracles, Jesus is unique. There is no one with a 100% success rate in performing miracles except Jesus. Even the apostles, though they performed mighty miracles, did not always succeed when people asked them for help. Jesus, however, did.

The Bible tells us that the church is built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Jesus Christ as the chief cornerstone. It should not surprise us that Jesus and the apostles performed miracles that we don’t often see today. These miracles revealed Jesus as God among us. They also supported the proclamation of the gospel, authenticating the message of Jesus and the apostles. It is appropriate to recognize the miracles for what they were: testimonies to Jesus' identity and written by people with supernatural giftings from God, proving their message was genuine and that Jesus is the true and living God.

However, just because those miracles were unique does not mean that miracles never happen today. We need to give Jesus' uniqueness its due—he did things no one else could do, and he spoke with an authority that no one else had.

We must also remember that we live between Jesus' two comings. When Jesus was on earth during his first coming, he performed miracles for everyone who asked—except for those who demanded a miracle to prove who he was. But if someone came to him with a need and said, “Lord, help me,” he helped them every time.

That age has passed. Jesus is no longer here on earth in his body. There will come a time when every tear will be wiped away, every disability removed, every eye will see perfectly, every ear will hear clearly, and the lame will leap for joy. But that day is not yet here. We live between the first and second comings of Jesus, and this in-between period shapes our expectations. We must recognize the uniqueness of his first coming and that we are not yet living in the fullness of his second coming.

Jesus' arrival ushered in a new age, releasing a new power into the world. Yet, the Bible says that creation still groans and we groan, longing for the day when our bodies will be fully redeemed. Until then, we live in this tension, knowing that not everything will be made right immediately. That’s why we pray, “Come quickly, Lord Jesus.” It’s tempting to pray, “Lord, make everything perfect in my life right now,” but we are taught to pray, “Thy kingdom come.” We look forward to the day when he will make all things new.

The Bible teaches that we have the Spirit as a down payment, which means two things. First, we have the Spirit, who gives power and gifts to God’s people in greater measure than before Jesus came. Therefore, we should expect displays of God’s power today, possibly even more than in the time before Jesus, though miracles occurred then too. Second, the Spirit is a down payment, not the full gift. The fullness will come when Christ returns, but the down payment we have now is substantial.

It’s worth noting that miracles in the New Testament weren’t limited to Jesus or the apostles. Stephen and Philip, neither of whom were apostles, performed miraculous signs. The church in Corinth saw miracles happen among them, even though no apostles were present. Paul also mentions miracles among the Galatian believers, even when he wasn’t with them. This evidence suggests that miracles were not confined to the apostles alone—ordinary believers experienced them too.

Even though we groan with creation and have not yet received the full gift of the Spirit, we do have the down payment. This means we should expect more than nothing. When the Bible speaks of gifts of healing and miracles, we shouldn’t be surprised if God performs extraordinary healings and miracles beyond his ordinary providence. These acts might astonish people and advance his kingdom.

In summary, mighty miracles are still possible today, though they are not guaranteed in every circumstance. It is a serious mistake to say that miracles will always happen if only we have enough faith. That is not faithful to what the Bible teaches.

Consider the story from the book of Acts, when the apostle Peter was miraculously rescued from prison. He didn’t have a jailbreak plan, and no group of apostles devised a scheme to free him. Peter was awaiting execution, chained to guards, when an angel entered the cell, caused the chains to fall off, and led Peter out through open doors. It wasn’t until Peter felt the cold night air on his face that he realized this wasn’t a dream—the Lord had delivered him.

When Peter arrived at the house where believers were praying for him, they didn’t believe he was really there. Even though they had been praying, they assumed it must be Peter’s ghost or angel at the door. Why didn’t they believe it was Peter?

It may have been because another apostle, James, had recently been arrested and executed. Surely, they had prayed for James just as fervently as they prayed for Peter, but God didn’t rescue James.

In this story, God performed a miracle for Peter but not for James. From our perspective, it seems Peter received the miracle and James did not. However, if we could interview the two apostles now, we might find that James received the easier path—he was taken to be with the Lord, while Peter had to endure more years of challenges and persecution. Nonetheless, from our point of view, Peter got the miracle, and James did not.

Paul performed many miracles. However, as we’ve recently reflected, Paul prayed for the removal of a thorn—some affliction caused by Satan—and God responded, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” God did not grant the healing Paul asked for, even though Paul was a miracle worker.

Paul also had companions, like Trophimus and Timothy, who faced ongoing health problems. Despite Paul’s ability to perform miracles, these health issues were not removed through his miraculous interventions. So, even in the New Testament, it is clear that while miracles were possible, they did not occur all the time, even for people in difficult situations.

This raises questions about what we should expect today. You may say, “I’ve been listening for a while, and now I feel confused.” That’s okay. Even the apostle Paul admitted confusion about how to pray at times. In Romans 8, after talking about creation groaning and believers groaning, Paul says, “We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will.” Paul assures us that, even in confusion, we know this: in all things, God works for the good of those who love him and are called according to his purpose, and nothing—neither life nor death nor anything else in creation—can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus.

So, we don’t need to have perfect clarity in our prayers. We don’t always need to know exactly what to ask. Sometimes, God gives supernatural knowledge of what he’s going to do. The Bible refers to that as the "prayer of faith." But more often, we won’t know exactly how to pray. So, we bring our confusion, desires, and faith to God, trusting that he knows what is best.

God may answer through ordinary providence or in ways that seem extraordinary to us. But if we understood the full scope of God's providence, we would already be amazed. Have you ever tried running a universe? Imagine if you only received the things you prayed for. Or, worse, what if you had to pray for every single need in your life? Did you remember to pray for the billions of cells in your body to function correctly? Did you ask God for every heartbeat and brainwave? If our lives depended entirely on our prayers, we would be in trouble. Thankfully, God gives us far more than we ask through his providence. He runs the world and sustains our bodies without needing constant input from us.

It’s wonderful that God listens to our prayers, but it’s also a tremendous blessing that he runs everything—even without our requests. We can trust God to do what is best, to work all things for the good of those who love him. And if a miracle is appropriate, we should remain open to the possibility that God may do something far beyond what we could imagine.

At the same time, we should seek God expectantly. He is still a God of miracles. Psalm 77, written by Asaph, reflects on this truth. Asaph lived during a discouraging time when miracles were scarce, yet he chose to focus on God’s past wonders. He said, “I will remember your wonders of old.” Even when everything looked grim, Asaph reminded himself of the times God parted the Red Sea, provided manna, and performed other mighty acts. And then he affirmed, “You are the God who works wonders.” Notice, he didn’t say, “You were the God who worked wonders.” God is eternally the one who works wonders—Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

The apostles in the book of Acts provide another example. When they were persecuted, they didn’t pray for God to strike down their enemies. Instead, they prayed, “Lord, consider their threats,” leaving the outcome in God’s hands. Then they prayed, “Now make us bold and stretch out your hand to heal and perform signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus.” Their focus was on glorifying Jesus through signs and wonders, so that those in need of him might pay attention to God's message.

Today, God is still God. Jesus is still Jesus—the same yesterday, today, and forever. Nothing is impossible for God. So, while we pray realistically, acknowledging the realities of our world, we also pray expectantly. We ask God to intervene in all the ways we need him to, remaining open to whatever he chooses to do.

We live in a time when, in certain places and among some people, there are tremendous outpourings of God's miraculous power. God is free to distribute these miracles as he sees fit. But let’s not miss out on them simply because of a lack of belief, desire, or expectation—or because we hold rigid ideas about what God can or cannot do. Sometimes, we’re almost as restrictive as those who believe in the “laws of nature,” assuming God won’t intervene outside of those rules. Some Christians may not bind God by natural laws, but they try to limit him with theological systems, insisting they know exactly what God will and won’t do.

We need to remain open to whatever God may choose to do in our time and place.

Prayer

Lord Jesus, we do praise you for the wonders of your incarnation and for your walking among us. We praise you, Lord, that you did things no mere man could ever do. By the power of the Holy Spirit and by your own divine nature, you worked wonders and performed miracles.

We pray, Lord, that in our own time we may be open to all that you would do through the gifts of the Spirit and the down payment of the Spirit in our lives. We ask that we, as individuals, will glorify you for all your works in creation and providence. We thank you for the wonderful answers to prayer—the things that cannot be dismissed as coincidences, and even the things that might be dismissed as coincidences but that we know were your hand.

We also thank you for the ways you have already intervened in our lives beyond what we could have expected, in supernatural and miraculous ways. Lord, help us not to crave the supernatural just for its own sake, but for your glory, for the growth and advancement of your church, and for your power to be displayed among us in whatever ways you determine. May our faith and the message we preach not be just a matter of words, but of power.

So, Lord, we ask for the miracle-working power to bring healing and to perform other amazing things, if it will bring about your purposes. Above all, we pray for the greatest miracle of all: new birth. Lord, we ask that more people may be saved, and we ask that our witness may become more mighty and effective than it is now.

We also pray, Lord, for your church in our time. Too often, it seems powerless against the attacks of the evil one and the trends of our age. May we not become discouraged or downhearted. Instead, Lord, replenish us each day through faith in your power.

We pray all of this in Jesus’ name. Amen.