The Gifts Part 28
Miracles
During the past few days I’ve been getting a few of the ‘God doesn’t do that anymore’ comments directed toward the blog, and an anonymous individual even went so far as to say that I was teaching heresy because I still believed the Holy Spirit and the gifts of the Holy Spirit were for today, and that they operate among believers.
I’ve been trying to find some way to open the eyes of such individuals to the reality of what it is they are saying, and how utterly powerless we would be if in truth the Holy Spirit were no longer present and the gifts of the Holy Spirit no longer operated, and as I pondered these things I came to the realization that if indeed the gifts were no longer among us, then this would mean that the enemy has more power than the children of God do.
The Word is clear that there are false prophets, false signs, false wonders, and it is likewise clear that the time will come when these impostors will show such great signs as to deceive if possible even the elect. For the life of me I cannot understand how someone would choose to believe that though the enemy has the power to perform signs and wonders, though the enemy has the power to prophesy falsely, the children of God no longer have access to the true gifts, to true miracles, to true signs and to true wonders.
If we were to believe this, it would be like believing that God predestined His children to fail, to be victims, to be vanquished, to be utterly decimated by the enemy’s onslaught, or taken prisoner through deception and various other means the enemy employs in attempting to turn the hearts of the people away from God. I believe in the power and presence of the Holy Spirit not only because I have received Him, and felt Him, and seen the gifts of the Holy Spirit at work, but because the alternative would be believing that a loving God sent His children out on the battlefield weaponless, powerless, without strength and absent direction.
Sure, we still read the scriptures about being more than conquerors, about being given the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, about being given authority over demons, or power to cure diseases, even the one about being given power when the Holy Spirit has come, but we either refuse to believe them, or they ring hollow in our hearts.
There is a self-perpetuating cycle that many people have been caught up in, wherein because they do not believe they do not ask, and because they do not ask they do not receive, and not having received that which they never asked for because they did not believe, they discount the Word of God, the person of the Holy Spirit, and the gifts of the Holy Spirit altogether.
The day is fast approaching when we will need to walk in the authority of God and to operate in the gifts of the Holy Spirit, just to stand, just to remain tethered in truth, just to continue walking the narrow path of faith. We will need all the gifts of the Holy Spirit operating within the church, because within these gifts we discover the power to which we are entitled, and the authority in which we ought to walk as redeemed and sanctified saints, and it is a power and an authority which we will need to possess if we hope to stand in the coming days. This at least is my understanding of the words of Christ when He said, “For false christs and false prophets will arise and show great signs and wonders, so as to deceive if possible even the elect.”
We are at war, and the war is only going to intensify. In order for us to overcome, in order for us to be conquerors, in order for us to be victorious rather than vanquished, we must possess and wield all the weapons we have access to through the Holy Spirit, among which is also that of the discerning of spirits, which will go a long way in keeping us from being deceived. Although I would love to jump right into the gift of discerning of spirits because it will be vital in the days to come, next on the list of the gifts of the Holy Spirit is the gift of the working of miracles, and it is this gift that we will be discussing today.
Once again, when discussing the gift of the working of miracles, there is a tendency to lump this gift together with the gifts of healings, but as Paul points out, and definitively so, they are two distinct, unique, and individual gifts.
The gift of the working of miracles is unlike the gifts of healings in that it is usually an event that appears inexplicable by the laws of nature, rather than the restoration of one’s physical body. There are countless examples of miracles, both in the Old and the New Testament, beginning with the great flood through which only Noah and his family were spared, to Lot’s wife being turned into a pillar of salt, onto Moses who cast his rod to the ground only to see it transform into a serpent, to the ten plagues, which were events inexplicable by the laws of nature, to Elisha’s floating axe head, to the overly used widow of Zarephath’s meal being multiplied, there are well over sixty events that can be classified as miracles just in the Old Testament alone.
Proceeding further into the New Testament, we bear witness to Christ’s first miracle, that of turning water into wine during the wedding feast in Cana of Galilee, and from that point forward we see the gift of the working of miracles operating often in the life and ministry of Christ Jesus.
Miracles have always existed, as the Word of God bears out, but the gift of the working of miracles was something made available to the children of God upon the advent of the Holy Spirit and the individual distribution of the gifts as He saw fit.
With love in Christ,
Michael Boldea Jr.
Glad to see you are carrying on with the lessons and not stopping because some refuse to believe. They will be held accountable in the end for leading others off the narrow path. I am with you all the way in truth and deed.
ReplyDeleteYou are a blessing to me and the Lord. Amen and Amen.
Susan
Ohatchee, AL
Michael, I am not disagreeing with you because I think you must be correct but I have always been taught that the last 5 or 6 verses of 1 Corinthians told us that the miracle workings of the holy spirit would stop when we had the Bible. What do those verses say to you?
ReplyDeletePaul wasn't saying that the Holy Spirit would be removed from the church, or that the gifts would no longer be available, because if he was there would be no need for him to continue into the 14th chapter of 1 Corinthians and begin to encourage us to desire spiritual gifts, but especially to prophecy.
ReplyDeleteThe 13th chapter of 1 Corinthians was a rebuke to the church of corinth, because they operated in the gifts, absent of love, and began to abuse the gifts that God had bestowed upon the church.
With love in Christ,
Michael Boldea Jr.
You will never be able to say anything to these kind of people that say the gifts don't operate. They are of the deepest kind of bondage there is. They are like the Pharisees of Jesus' day, except even a LOT WOSRE. They talk like they are christians, they even attend a church, but they are not christians.
ReplyDeleteThis is the reason all of us should be on the Internet, for this very reason, to learn why these people are the way they are. It's important to know why they are the way they are and how we, as real true christians need to deal with them.
The churches fell away and these people from the churches where the gifts don't function are the churches that are fallen away the farthest. They are in the greatest deception of all. These churches are horrible. They are filled with demons now (masses of demons so awful, it was hard for me to see it), I know I saw what these churches are like 30 years ago. I was in one, I attended one, I was a person that didn't believe in the gifts. I do now. I even operated in gifts of the Holy Spirit before I believed in them, God is so merciful! God had to do a lot in my life to get me to see the truth. Very rarely will you get a person like this to see the truth just by talking to them, really all you achieve in doing is making them say more things against the Holy Spirit that they should not be saying. So for that reason I don't even try and talk to them.
None of my family believed the gifts functioned. I was almost betrayed unto death by my own family members. It's been 30 years and still many of them don't believe any different than they did 30 years ago.
We are in the falling away. Different churches are in varying levels of deception, but at this point all churches have some amount of deception now. That is why we should leave them and try and find groups outside the church, like homechurches. But even these we need to keep an eye one and not let any man deceive us by any means now.
Many people will go into the tribulation and get saved there. It is not for us to try and "get" to them now, that is about impossible to do. We should be looking for the true believers and getting together with them. Unfortunately I've been looking for 30 years for my real brothers and sisters and they are very hard to find. There is so much arguing about doctrines going on now. The famine for the Word of God is here now, no one can find the truth unless you've beeen shown it by God.
If you truly have a heart to do something for these people, all you can do is fast for them. Whatever you do, don't argue with them. It is very bad for you, their demons will come at you, and it is bad for them cause it causes them to say even worse things about the Holy Spirit. Just leave them alone when they leave comments on your blog. Don't respond to them at all.
They are of the false church, I am of the true church. I am the woman in Rev. 12 and I do know what I am saying. All of this is the truth and I've known it for 30 years now. We are getting close to going into the tribulation now. Could be any time now, even days or hours, I don't know when it will start only God does, but it will be soon.
Sister Kim
1Cor14:1 says, "Follow after charity, and desire spiritual gifts, but rather that ye may prophesy." Isn't prophecy a miracle then? Then end of the book says nothing about miracles ending either.
ReplyDelete