Why Don’t We See Miracles Like the Apostles Did?
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funbelief 
Jas 4:2 Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not.
Jas 4:3 Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.
Jas 4:4 Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.
Jas 4:5 Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy?
Jas 4:6 But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.
Jas 4:3 Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.
Jas 4:4 Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.
Jas 4:5 Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy?
Jas 4:6 But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.
No, I disagree with your first part here. I think you were judging God by the world and that's why you were saying: come on people, use your common sense - you can look around you at the world and clearly see that there aren't many miracles. (This is my paraphrasing of what you said and what you intended, to my mind). And don't think I haven't been there too, by the way. The world wears me down and tempts me toward despairs of such a nature I can't even describe them.
As to your next part, I detest what you describe here. I once heard a famous woman teach about the man at the pool of water the angel stirred every day. She said it was his own fault he was there because he was guilty of "stinkin' thinkin." She said if it were her, she would pull herself to the edge, dump herself in and say, Lord, I'm either going to drown or you're going to save me because I refuse to go on this way any longer.
So this famous teacher and leader who speaks to thousands upon thousands daily blamed this man for being born crippled? Or at least for REMAINING that way. Even though this: This man was not born blind because of the parents sin or his own sin, but so that...
While I detest what you describe, this is what I was saying earlier - their shenanigans and prancing around on stage for gain have robbed me long enough. THEY are not going to have ONE SINGLE DAMN THING to do with how I see God any longer.
As to your last sentence, this has no effect on me and I refuse to speak this way to you.(Though you are free to do it). You are my brother, with the same and similar struggles to believe Him instead of the world, the flesh and the devil. You experience the same struggle and the same temptations to despair and mistrust what God has said at times. You face the same problems of hearing two extremes and wanting to rush toward one or the other because it sounds right even though neither extreme takes the whole counsel of God into consideration and even though both extremes try to rob me and harm me. You experience similar heartbreaks and offenses to the eternity He has set in your heart as I do. And I haven't plumbed even the first first six inches of you and your struggle, but I know our plight is similar.
I love you and want the best for you just as I want it for myself. So I can't possibly label your philosophy after a few short interactions with you. You are too deep for that. You are too complex in your workmanship for that.
And I myself can't even make a complete determination on healing when I am so hypocritical at times, saying I have great faith in God, but proving myself a liar when I worry about money and provision. If I can't trust and obey in that simple temporal thing, I can't really tackle the whole healing thing with sufficiency and firmness. Finding out I have areas of mistrust and deafness toward my Lord, I see that if I won't or can't obey Him concerning a simple temporal command, He says He can't tell me of heavenly things.
Thank you for your kindness,. My complaint was that those who boast most loudly about what God can do go quiet when I ask them to actually DO something.
My wife is seriously ill with Parkinsons disease and clinical depression. She is regularly chairbound, and has to be lifted up for the toilet, for bed and so on. It breaks my heart to see her.
Now I have serious back problems and a hernia.
I have brought both before the Lord earnestly, but He has not healed.
I would like someone with the gift of healing to intervene on our behalf.
My faith is strong, but apparently not strong enough,
Regarding the question in the Title........because many folks have become blinded to the wondrous works of God that occur each and every day.........I personally have seen more than a few miracles.......soooooooo
(my thoughts)
(my thoughts)
Ah, PD is awful. My father has it. Nothing more heartbreaking than seeing what has happened to him has ever touched my life yet. I even prayed that God give it to me instead of him because dad just...had struggles with idols in his life even though he loved God in a very childlike way. And when his decline began, his faith wasn't strong enough to keep him firm through his suffering. He never once denied Jesus but he was not prepared for this testing of his faith. Now he can barely talk and I've had some moments of anger at God because I see no purpose and don't know why He won't take him out of this world and this suffering. It's like...I can suffer my own physical problems but I can't stand to see him suffer. It tempts me to despair instead of trust, because I understand that this is all temporary and my heart is not here. I WANT to leave here and be where there aren't tears and suffering ever again. I am not attached to this place and don't see how anyone even can be. And I understand that without any suffering of any sort, He would not be able to detach our hearts from here and attach them instead on perfection with Him. But sometimes He seems to have gone far overboard, like with PD and the dragging out of suffering for so long for those with it. And for the suffering of those who have to watch it happen to their loved ones.
I understand that He tests our faith. I even understand that it's for my good, to grow it until it's unshakeable. And that this would be impossible without the tests of it. But it can so wear you down that you don't even know WHAT to pray except one thing over and over - have mercy on me, Lord, have mercy, hear my plea and have mercy and come to my aid somehow, whether it's stopping this or it's giving me understanding and peace with it and the power and strength to bear it, but I need something here and I need it now because I have no more strength and need SOME kind of mercy. Don't heal me, don't heal dad, fine. I'm okay with that and I trust You that You know what You're doing, I really DO trust You, but I need SOME kind of help and strength because I am exhausted and angry and bitter and empty and will remain that way until you have SOME kind of mercy on me.
I prayed for you and your wife yesterday. I'll pray again and continue. If you wait on Him, He might not answer in the way you want, but He will answer in the way that is best to prepare you to bear the weight of His glory in eternity. Lynn has asked me to pm her immediately if you come back in, so we have a cord here of three strands, brother - you, lynn and me. And a three-stranded cord is not easily broken and I'm not a pretty prayer but I know how to street brawl pray and I will not stop until you say you have received mercy and strength in this in some way, whichever way He sees fit to bring it. Okay, I'm going to let lynn know you came back because we were both very anxious to speak with you and then go to our prayer closets until He answers in some way for you. Let's caterwaul and carry on until He is pleased to bring what you need, brother. Because we know He is always pleased to answer our need.
Absolutely Brother. The margin for error is so small but we are all still breathing and posting away. The mere fact that we are alive is a miracle
Heavenly Father, I thank you because I know You hear us, & that you're touched by the feelings of our infirmities. I thank you for healing, which is the children's bread.
I pray with those who are agreeing together for valiant's wife who is very sick & needs emotional comfort & uplifting as she does healing in her body. I pray for her deliverance from her ailments & for her emotional healing that You would do a complete work that would bring glory to Jesus Your Son.
I also pray for valiant, that You would touch him & heal him of his back injury & of this hernia that causes him much distress. I pray that he would be able to eat whatever he wants without any heartburn whatsoever. I ask this in Jesus' name, giving you thanks & glory for it, Amen.
Great testimony of the manifestation of the Spirit as He wills. There were different manifestations - including a word of knowledge, working of miracles, gifts of healings. There was a lot going on with that child.
if we truly Love our Heavenly Father, then it becomes obvious to us that our lives will
continue to be filled with trials and tests until the very end, and for those of us who do
continue to believe and hope and pray, this precious Faith that we have been blessed with,
we know this is a miracle in itself and will lift us above everything that is allowed to come before us...
we will 'over-come and be victorious through our Love and Holy connection with Him...
after all, He took His journey to set us all free...
continue to be filled with trials and tests until the very end, and for those of us who do
continue to believe and hope and pray, this precious Faith that we have been blessed with,
we know this is a miracle in itself and will lift us above everything that is allowed to come before us...
we will 'over-come and be victorious through our Love and Holy connection with Him...
after all, He took His journey to set us all free...
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BUT somebody has to have belief there -- either way. If the unbeliever doesn't, the believer does.
I can believe all I want that there is $100 in my checking account, but it does no good if I never reach out to get it. The $100 sits there.
With miracles we can believe all we want that God does them, but if we don't reach out we never get it. It just sits there. And, in the case of miracles we're not sure that $100 is for us or for something else. It's community property.
If Walla Walla Washington Christian reaches for that miracle, and gets it, there is more of God in that account, but Venice Italy Christian never sees that account used. Venice Italy may well believe, theoretically, that God does miracles, but the account remains dusty nearby. Somebody has to believe enough to act on that belief.
And from what I've been reading on that thread it's a 50/50 split on who really does. Theoretically, we all believe God is capable of doing miracles. Practically speaking, quite a lot aren't reaching into that checking account to use that theoretical miracle. Which, very much IS unbelief! (Even if it's wrapped around biblical theoretics.)
Believe isn't merely a mind thing. It's a heart thing. It's an action thing!
And it's not limited to the recipient. A miracle from God is given to whomever God wants to give it to. No belief required. But he does prefer to use his people for their growth. Certainly not for his growth.
Look how many are saying there are no miracles simply because they never had the trust to dip into God's checking account. That is unbelief!
And, honestly, even when we do dip into the account, it's not a guarantee God plans on creating the miracle for that situation. Sometimes his answer is "trust me even in this. Even when it gets worse. Even to death... for this isn't about here and now. It is about eternity with me."
I suspect that's why few dare to dip. "No" is something we also fear.
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Dangit! I guess God just slipped when he healed me, the guy with gout, and hubby. Must have slipped out, because no one ever needs to not hurt. Why would God ever fix a booboo on one of his kids? They're already his kids. Reserve the fatted calf for the first century alone.
You tell me.
While sharing the Word with any who would listen in and around where I camped summers in the Rocky Mountains, something I would call a miracle occurred.
I had been sharing the Word as best given me to do with a skeptic who just kept coming back to me to be skeptical some more.
One weekend he was going to walk up the easy side of Long's Peak, while I was about fifty miles away at my camp. I was sleeping when the Holy ¨Spirit came on to me and I slept feeling the Love of God all that night. Frankly it was wonderful.
While I was in my sleeping bag sleeping away, my friend was walking up Long's Peak witha lot of other hikers doing the same when it began to rain, so everyone who remained set to continue pitched their tents and wound up sleeping on the trail. According to my skeptic friend, just before sun up he heard my voice sepaking of the Holy Spirit and God's love. He got out of his tent and asked around if people had seen a guy with "yellow" hair and a blue book; my Bible at that time wass a light blue one. Many answered him that yes, he went up the mountain, one way up and one way down. My friend went up looking for me all of the way to the summit without finding a trace of anyone. To continue down the other way was a great drop, so no one had cone that way.
When he came back to see me He asked me about that night and if I had been there, and I replied no. I now that God did this.
This person was separated from his wife. After being involved with them as socially as I could be in those days, they were reconciled.
Before they were reconciled there had also been what you would call a miracle for her, his wife that is, also. That is anoterh long story.
This couple ended up helping to set up a gospel radio station directed at much of the Carribean. I was pleased as punch with them. They later separated again, and this time for good, so you be the judge of that one.
I did nothing, but God did much. Yes, miracles happen, all kinds, but we are scattered, and already we are helped with little help (Daniel.) God bless you, and avail yourselves to God and He will avail Himslf to you be it His will.
God bless all in Jesus Christ and all who will be, amen.
While sharing the Word with any who would listen in and around where I camped summers in the Rocky Mountains, something I would call a miracle occurred.
I had been sharing the Word as best given me to do with a skeptic who just kept coming back to me to be skeptical some more.
One weekend he was going to walk up the easy side of Long's Peak, while I was about fifty miles away at my camp. I was sleeping when the Holy ¨Spirit came on to me and I slept feeling the Love of God all that night. Frankly it was wonderful.
While I was in my sleeping bag sleeping away, my friend was walking up Long's Peak witha lot of other hikers doing the same when it began to rain, so everyone who remained set to continue pitched their tents and wound up sleeping on the trail. According to my skeptic friend, just before sun up he heard my voice sepaking of the Holy Spirit and God's love. He got out of his tent and asked around if people had seen a guy with "yellow" hair and a blue book; my Bible at that time wass a light blue one. Many answered him that yes, he went up the mountain, one way up and one way down. My friend went up looking for me all of the way to the summit without finding a trace of anyone. To continue down the other way was a great drop, so no one had cone that way.
When he came back to see me He asked me about that night and if I had been there, and I replied no. I now that God did this.
This person was separated from his wife. After being involved with them as socially as I could be in those days, they were reconciled.
Before they were reconciled there had also been what you would call a miracle for her, his wife that is, also. That is anoterh long story.
This couple ended up helping to set up a gospel radio station directed at much of the Carribean. I was pleased as punch with them. They later separated again, and this time for good, so you be the judge of that one.
I did nothing, but God did much. Yes, miracles happen, all kinds, but we are scattered, and already we are helped with little help (Daniel.) God bless you, and avail yourselves to God and He will avail Himslf to you be it His will.
God bless all in Jesus Christ and all who will be, amen.
This is not true & cannot be proven by scripture.
This scripture has been twisted. It means the completion of the Sons of God when we reach Heaven & see Jesus face to face, not the completion of the cannon. Notice it does not say anything of the completion of the NT. No scripture does.
This is utterly ridiculous. Every salvation of every soul is a miracle. My daughter was miraculously healed of a major infection where she was allergic to cats. My wife was miraculously healed from the final stages of glaucoma when she was a teenager. Several have walked out of hospitals due to prayer after the doctors gave up on them.
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I do understand it hurts more to see someone we love hurting than hurting ourselves. We'd do just about anything to stop our spouse from hurting.
"Just about." You're faith is strong. Know how I know that? Because you cannot deny God even for her. Nor should you.
And I seriously mean it is a "cannot," because I know we'd consider it, if we could just make our spouse be better, but we know God is and he is who he says he is, just too well to give that up. And that is the strong faith I'm talking about. And that IS a gift from God.
So do not think you aren't strong enough. You've got God giving you the strength to keep going, to keep loving, and to keep hurting for her, despite how much it hurts you too.
Never take that for granted. 80% of marriages dissolve when a spouse becomes disabled. Yours did not because God is in you solidifying love that deeply.
I can, (and will), pray for you and her. But, if God is going to do that miracle, it won't be through me. Call the elders of your church. Buy the oil, if you have to. And have them come and pray for both of you. (You need it too. Caregiver is as hard as care-receiver.) If they will not, you've got a funky church. Go down the list until you find a church (a real Christian church, not a cult, of course), who will.
It really may well be a miracle, but not one that will happen without people there physically praying over both of you. (Belief has to be seen for this one.)
And then again, you know as well as I do that it may not be your standard-issue miracle. It could be the thorn-in-the-side. Something we have to live through despite hating every second of it.
BUT that is another reason to get elders from your church to come and pray. I have the same problem you have, although mine has been postponed by a miracle. With all the white noise going on in this thread, I don't know if you caught on. The first time you and I met on this site we were arguing over how God got the Israelites out of Egypt in a thread started by Old Hermit. (Remember those days? lol) I disappeared for a while after that.
I disappeared because in November 2015, my husband had a massive heart attack, and I was where you were -- alone doing my best to care for him. He was in the hospital and then short-term-care at a nursing home until June 23, 2016. He really was miraculously healed, but it was over a long period of time.
The first time they were calling me with information of what I'd need to take care of him from home was a year ago. (A year ago next week, I'm just realizing.) He lost mobility so much that the only thing he could do was lift his arms in such a way it looked like they were weighed down by 100 pound weights. He could move two fingers too. His pointing finger, (to tell the nurse to get him back into the bed, but the nurse ignored him), and his middle finger, (which he used at that nurse as the nurse walked away. lol) He had a feeding tube in his stomach and two "exit tubes." (If you get my drift, which I suspect you do.) He lost 90 pounds, so he "only" weighed 240. I've lost weight, so I "only" weighed 175. He's 6'1". I'm 5'9" and shrinking because my back is so bad I'm disabled.
And the freaking case worker called me at home to tell me they will be delivering a bed, since he can't walk up the steps to his bedroom. (Can't walk up the steps? He couldn't even turn himself to the side!
) And because he couldn't move, she'd also send a commode, (HUH?), the feeding tubes, the foley, the ventilation equipment, (someone would teach me how to gather mucus from his trach -- oh peachy keen! I already learned enough to know that when I did that for him, he choked), and the ever-so-lovely poop tube. BUT, don't worry about it, because all that stuff is free.(I worried about it, and told his doctor he CANNOT come home, because he was still bleeding out, I'm no nurse and have no idea how to see if he needed blood once more could give it to him WHEN he needed it. The doctor laughed and guessed who called, then called her "over enthusiastic." But, even when hubby came home, neither one of us were quite ready enough. We just count on the VA so had to be let go then.)
No one is here for us. Our church, once again, let us down. We've been disabled for years, so our friends moved on. And our family isn't nearby.
So, I'd like you to have what we do not. If you are in a church where elders will come and pray, you might well get that miracle. You won't know, unless you reach out for it.
BUT if that miracle doesn't happen, another one may. If they'll come to lay hands on her, hopefully they'll also notice you really need help. God's people coming together to help a brother and sister is another form of miracle.
I will pray for God's will. I will hope for the first (THE miracle) and pray harder for the second. (HELP!)
But never think you lack faith. God has already miraculously given that to you, along with a deep case of deep love for the love of your life.
I wish I could physically help you. I would if I could. ButI hope I gave you where to go for that help. (And pray for the miracle that it works -- because that would be as big as healing both of you.)
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Helpful hint to all arguing on this thread, just to argue:
A brother is in serious pain! Can't, just once in a while, someone notice and think that is more important than arguing?
A brother is in serious pain! Can't, just once in a while, someone notice and think that is more important than arguing?
Sometimes, it is not a problem of belief and trust. (It is a lot of the time.)
Sometimes, it is a problem of will.
It is very frustrating to pray for a certain thing to happen and it never does happen.
This is why we like to know the problem before we pray, because God will usually show us what to pray according to His will.
And that is not always what the one asking us to pray wills.
But to be shown what to pray puts our praying in align with His will and that is where the sparks fly because we know that whatever we pray according to His will we will receive it.
So if someones will is for me to pray a specific thing, but God is wanting the thing to remain to make His child more like His Son, to grow him in faith or in virtue, I am wasting my time, frankly. He will not drop what is very best for that person to fulfill my own will or the persons will that I am praying for.
I talk too much - just that sometimes it is not a problem of faith but of an unaligned will.
We have a good example in our Lords' praying in the garden about His cup of suffering.
Sometimes, it is a problem of will.
It is very frustrating to pray for a certain thing to happen and it never does happen.
This is why we like to know the problem before we pray, because God will usually show us what to pray according to His will.
And that is not always what the one asking us to pray wills.
But to be shown what to pray puts our praying in align with His will and that is where the sparks fly because we know that whatever we pray according to His will we will receive it.
So if someones will is for me to pray a specific thing, but God is wanting the thing to remain to make His child more like His Son, to grow him in faith or in virtue, I am wasting my time, frankly. He will not drop what is very best for that person to fulfill my own will or the persons will that I am praying for.
I talk too much - just that sometimes it is not a problem of faith but of an unaligned will.
We have a good example in our Lords' praying in the garden about His cup of suffering.
Sometimes when we are asking for a yes, the response is no......here is where our wisdom is put to the test and we must accept the reply.
My own experience has been to thank God for all things, even things seemingly bad.good always comes from everything. It does for those who believe..
My own experience has been to thank God for all things, even things seemingly bad.good always comes from everything. It does for those who believe..
Yes!
This doesn't come immediately. It takes time for Him to get us there, but there is nothing more astounding than to realize suddenly that we are thanking Him for the person who did something very awful to us because He used them to actually bless us and grow us! We cannot hate them anymore because they were the instrument to bring such good to us! How amazing is THAT??