In the western church we’ve been sold a bill of goods; that somehow miracles are only for the select few who are unbearably righteous and only then in a life or death situation preferably of a small, innocent child. In the mainstream church most people don’t even believe that miracles can happen now. Even in those churches that supposedly believe in miracles today, if it doesn’t happen immediately - whether you’re praying or being prayed for – the church tells you that you didn’t have enough faith and they point to this verse:
Mat 21:21 Jesus answered and said unto them, Verily I say unto you, If ye have faith, and doubt not, ye shall not only do this [which is done] to the fig tree, but also if ye shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; it shall be done.
At first blush that seems pretty conclusive. But what about this?
John 14:12 / Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater [works] than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.John 14:13 / And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
John 14:14 / If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do [it].
What is the difference in these two verses? In the verse in Matthew Jesus is telling His disciples that if they had faith they could do everything they were seeing him do. In the verses in John Jesus is going unto the Father. That makes all the difference in the world. Now it’s an entirely different ball game. Now the key is believing in Jesus and asking in His name. The only “faith” issue here is believing in Jesus. Every Christian can ask for a miracle in Jesus’ name and He will do it. It is no longer about our level of faith, but about the name of Jesus and who He is.
The first miracle Jesus did in the presence of the disciples was turning water into wine. This bears looking at.
John 2:1 / And the third day there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee; and the mother of Jesus was there:John 2:2 / And both Jesus was called, and his disciples, to the marriage.
John 2:3 / And when they wanted wine, the mother of Jesus saith unto him, They have no wine.
John 2:4 / Jesus saith unto her, Woman, what have I to do with thee? mine hour is not yet come.
John 2:5 / His mother saith unto the servants, Whatsoever he saith unto you, do [it].
John 2:6 / And there were set there six waterpots of stone, after the manner of the purifying of the Jews, containing two or three firkins apiece.
John 2:7 / Jesus saith unto them, Fill the waterpots with water. And they filled them up to the brim.
John 2:8 / And he saith unto them, Draw out now, and bear unto the governor of the feast. And they bare [it].
John 2:9 / When the ruler of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and knew not whence it was: (but the servants which drew the water knew;) the governor of the feast called the bridegroom,
John 2:10 / And saith unto him, Every man at the beginning doth set forth good wine; and when men have well drunk, then that which is worse: [but] thou hast kept the good wine until now.
John 2:11 / This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and manifested forth his glory; and his disciples believed on him.
So the first public miracle Jesus did was to keep some of his friends from being embarrassed at a party they were giving. This is not a desperate situation, not life threatening. [An interesting sidenote: Symbolically, the number 6 is the number of man. The stone (some translations say “earthen”) pots represent mankind. The “servants” poured water, i.e. the word, into the pots and Jesus turned it into wine (the spirit). So, the first thing He did was turn the word that is in man into spirit.]
In the working of miracles, it is critical to our spiritual walk that we follow the leading of the Holy Spirit and not our own inclinations, the instructions of church leadership, the demands or pleadings of our fellow Christians or the world.
Mat 7:21 / Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.Mat 7:22 / Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?
Mat 7:23 / And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
The Lord did not deny that they prophesied in His name or that they had cast out devils or done many wonderful works (other translations say “worked miracles”). They did all these things. However, He calls them workers of iniquity because none of these things they did were by the leading of the Holy Spirit.
Once we begin to walk in the working of miracles, others will ask us to pray for miracles in their lives rather than pray for these things themselves. We have to learn to say “no” if the Holy Spirit does not call us or release us to pray for these things. It is likely we will be called everything but a Christian if we refuse what we’ve been asked to do. We have to decide whether we value most good standing with God or good standing with men. We also have to be prepared to live with the consequences. [Luke 10:19 would be a good scripture to have firmly anchored in the spirit.]
John 5:1 / After this there was a feast of the Jews; and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.John 5:2 / Now there is at Jerusalem by the sheep [market] a pool, which is called in the Hebrew tongue Bethesda, having five porches.
John 5:3 / In these lay a great multitude of impotent folk, of blind, halt, withered, waiting for the moving of the water.
John 5:4 / For an angel went down at a certain season into the pool, and troubled the water: whosoever then first after the troubling of the water stepped in was made whole of whatsoever disease he had.
John 5:5 / And a certain man was there, which had an infirmity thirty and eight years.
John 5:6 / When Jesus saw him lie, and knew that he had been now a long time [in that case], he saith unto him, Wilt thou be made whole?
John 5:7 / The impotent man answered him, Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool: but while I am coming, another steppeth down before me.
John 5:8 / Jesus saith unto him, Rise, take up thy bed, and walk.
John 5:9 / And immediately the man was made whole, and took up his bed, and walked: and on the same day was the sabbath.
John 5:10 / The Jews therefore said unto him that was cured, It is the sabbath day: it is not lawful for thee to carry [thy] bed.
John 5:11 / He answered them, He that made me whole, the same said unto me, Take up thy bed, and walk.
John 5:12 / Then asked they him, What man is that which said unto thee, Take up thy bed, and walk?
John 5:13 / And he that was healed wist not who it was: for Jesus had conveyed himself away, a multitude being in [that] place.
John 5:14 / Afterward Jesus findeth him in the temple, and said unto him, Behold, thou art made whole: sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee.
John 5:15 / The man departed, and told the Jews that it was Jesus, which had made him whole.
John 5:16 / And therefore did the Jews persecute Jesus, and sought to slay him, because he had done these things on the sabbath day.
John 5:17 / But Jesus answered them, My Father worketh hitherto, and I work.
John 5:18 / Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only had broken the sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God.
John 5:19 / Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise.
John 5:20 / For the Father loveth the Son, and sheweth him all things that himself doeth: and he will shew him greater works than these, that ye may marvel.
I have heard many sermons on why it is only this one man was healed. Most of the time it has something to do with his being the only one with “enough faith.” But Jesus tells us immediately after he walks out, why He did what He did. He did it because that is what the Father told Him to do. Nothing more and nothing less. [Note too how impressed the people were that Jesus was doing miracles and helping people. No one should expect to be universally loved or applauded for doing miracles and helping people.]
Just because you can doesn’t mean you should.
Mat 13:1 / The same day went Jesus out of the house, and sat by the sea side.Mat 13:2 / And great multitudes were gathered together unto him, so that he went into a ship, and sat; and the whole multitude stood on the shore.
Mat 13:3 / And he spake many things unto them in parables, saying, Behold, a sower went forth to sow;
Why did Jesus get into the boat? Could He have walked on the water? So why did He get into the boat? Because the Father told him to.
We will be tempted to touch the glory of God. It is essential to remember at all times that it is not by our faith, by our power, by or for our glory that any of these things happen. It is possible because of who Jesus is and what He did. It’s all about Him.
We will be tempted to do that which God has not ordained.
We will not always understand why God does not allow us to do things which seem to us to be good. We just have to trust in the essential goodness of God and lean not to our own understanding. That’s one of those things that is a lot easier to say than to do. But it is vital that we come to this level of trust in God. We won’t always have explanations or understanding.
The church has to move past doing good things into doing God things.
Jesus has given us His name and the power of that name. The power springs from the name of Jesus.
Mar 16:17 / And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues;Mar 16:18 / They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.
Jhn 16:21 / A woman when she is in travail hath sorrow, because her hour is come: but as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembereth no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world.
Jhn 16:22 / And ye now therefore have sorrow: but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you.
Jhn 16:23 / And in that day ye shall ask me nothing. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give [it] you.
Jhn 16:24 / Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.
Jhn 16:25 / These things have I spoken unto you in proverbs: but the time cometh, when I shall no more speak unto you in proverbs, but I shall shew you plainly of the Father.
Jhn 16:26 / At that day ye shall ask in my name: and I say not unto you, that I will pray the Father for you:
Jhn 16:27 / For the Father himself loveth you, because ye have loved me, and have believed that I came out from God.
Act 4:10 Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, [even] by him doth this man stand here before you whole.
Phl 2:9 / Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name:Phl 2:10 / That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of [things] in heaven, and [things] in earth, and [things] under the earth;
Phl 2:11 / And [that] every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ [is] Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Jam 5:14 Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord:
1Jo 3:23 And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment.
There is power intrinsic in the name of Jesus. Even non-believers can appropriate it in some measure.
Act 19:13 / Then certain of the vagabond Jews, exorcists, took upon them to call over them which had evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, We adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preacheth.Act 19:14 / And there were seven sons of [one] Sceva, a Jew, [and] chief of the priests, which did so.
Act 19:15 / And the evil spirit answered and said, Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are ye?
Act 19:16 / And the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, and overcame them, and prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.
Until the one cheeky spirit confronted them, these non-believers were using the name of Jesus successfully. The power is in the name. Scripture tells us that in the last days there will be those doing miracles that are not of God. How much more successful will Christians be – even if they’re not following the leading of the Holy Spirit. But anything not lead of God is considered evil by God.
The church has long devalued the church. That is, leadership has devalued everyone else. But what does God say of us all?
Jhn 15:16 / Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and [that] your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.There seems to be an order to this: He chose us, ordained us, we should go, bring forth fruit then ask of the Father.
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