Why Don’t We See Miracles Like the Apostles Did?
- Thread starter Awakened
- Start date
-
Christian Chat is a moderated online Christian community allowing Christians around the world to fellowship with each other in real time chat via webcam, voice, and text, with the Christian Chat app. You can also start or participate in a Bible-based discussion here in the Christian Chat Forums, where members can also share with each other their own videos, pictures, or favorite Christian music.
If you are a Christian and need encouragement and fellowship, we're here for you! If you are not a Christian but interested in knowing more about Jesus our Lord, you're also welcome! Want to know what the Bible says, and how you can apply it to your life? Join us!
To make new Christian friends now around the world, click here to join Christian Chat.
R
renewed_hope
Guest
My question for you is, what do you define a miracle to be?
Miracles are everywhere...we just have to choose to see it
Miracles are everywhere...we just have to choose to see it
Acts 19:2King James Version (KJV)
2*He said unto them, Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed? And they said unto him, We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost.
I would think by Paul asking this question, receiving the Holy Spirit should be something we should know without a doubt whether we have received or not.
2*He said unto them, Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed? And they said unto him, We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost.
I would think by Paul asking this question, receiving the Holy Spirit should be something we should know without a doubt whether we have received or not.
I guess, I'm referring to healing, mostly. ☺My question for you is, what do you define a miracle to be?
Miracles are everywhere...we just have to choose to see it
I firmly believe that miraculous healings do occur today. There is a lot of hype too... so the real ones can be a little harder to find. I also believe that healing is something reserved within God's sovereign will; praying for it may not avail. A recent thread touched on the idea that healing is not part of the Atonement (except as a by-product of the resurrection).
God may choose when, how and whom He heals, but that shouldn't discourage us from asking. Rather it should inspire us to do as the disciples did... ask God for it. When God does choose to heal, He will get the glory.
As for other miracles, I also believe that they are for today... and that God displays His power for His own glory, not for the glory of man. We don't get to dictate, but if we keep our eyes open, we are more likely to see them when He does act.
God may choose when, how and whom He heals, but that shouldn't discourage us from asking. Rather it should inspire us to do as the disciples did... ask God for it. When God does choose to heal, He will get the glory.
As for other miracles, I also believe that they are for today... and that God displays His power for His own glory, not for the glory of man. We don't get to dictate, but if we keep our eyes open, we are more likely to see them when He does act.
R
renewed_hope
Guest
Okay, I appreciate your honesty. There are miracles of healing every day. My mom is epileptic and has been since she was twelve years old. She went many years without a seizure, but that changed in 2008 where they came back in full force. She would have them about four times a week and we couldn't leave the house without the chance of having a seizure. We had two churches and the community and our family praying for her for several years. God placed the knowledge of some new medication in the hands of her doctor that put her seizures under control. She has now gone 2 years without a seizure, is able to work part time, and even got her drivers license back. Stories like this are all around you, just open your eyes and heart to see them
M
MattTooFor
Guest
Obviously, these Jesus-style miracles are not going on today. The age-old answer given by us who view the Charismatic beliefs as false doctrines (with all due respect) is...that these 'over-the-top' miracles were used during the transition phase in the first years of the Christian era...as a means of Christianity getting its foot in the door (so to speak).
For example, if the "Charismatic" gifts were still in operation today...then we should be able to see wave after wave of hundreds and thousands of Charismatic missionaries going off to all the lands of the world and BEING ABLE TO INSTANTLY SPEAK ALL THE LANGUAGES without going to any language institute. That isn't happening.
In dramatic contrast to all these pseudo-miracles we can see on our Sunday morning cable channel TV church shows, Jesus' miracles had a number of distinctive features not being seen on BennyHinn TV (or several dozen others like him);
Jesus would walk into a community and (read carefully) choose someone to heal WHO WAS PREVIOUSLY KNOWN TO THE ENTIRE COMMUNITY. And NOT necessarily a 'believer'.
That would mean...someone claiming a gift of healing would need to select a well-known handicapped person -- Stevie Wonder, Joni Eareckson-Tada, famous wounded war veterans...who have missing eyeballs, severed spinal cords, etc..
THAT...is a Jesus-style miracle. Not this nonsense you see on a Benny Hinn show or other televised "healing" church services...where they find some guy completely unknown to the audience, pay him $20 to hobble into the sanctuary with a walker, he then gets his 'healing touch', and proceeds to dramatically toss the walker across the stage as though there has been a healing.
For example, if the "Charismatic" gifts were still in operation today...then we should be able to see wave after wave of hundreds and thousands of Charismatic missionaries going off to all the lands of the world and BEING ABLE TO INSTANTLY SPEAK ALL THE LANGUAGES without going to any language institute. That isn't happening.
In dramatic contrast to all these pseudo-miracles we can see on our Sunday morning cable channel TV church shows, Jesus' miracles had a number of distinctive features not being seen on BennyHinn TV (or several dozen others like him);
Jesus would walk into a community and (read carefully) choose someone to heal WHO WAS PREVIOUSLY KNOWN TO THE ENTIRE COMMUNITY. And NOT necessarily a 'believer'.
That would mean...someone claiming a gift of healing would need to select a well-known handicapped person -- Stevie Wonder, Joni Eareckson-Tada, famous wounded war veterans...who have missing eyeballs, severed spinal cords, etc..
THAT...is a Jesus-style miracle. Not this nonsense you see on a Benny Hinn show or other televised "healing" church services...where they find some guy completely unknown to the audience, pay him $20 to hobble into the sanctuary with a walker, he then gets his 'healing touch', and proceeds to dramatically toss the walker across the stage as though there has been a healing.
A
Ariel82
Guest
I guess the, "Jesus-style miracles" are the miracles I was referring to not seeing. ☺
Excellent question!
There is a verse that seems to give a clue...And He could not perform many miracles there because of their unbelief.
And another one may help too...Lord, I DO believe! Please help my UNbelief!
I think a vague conclusion could be drawn from these two verses. The problem IS somewhere in our faith. Where do we go from there? There was the man who said, but examine yourselves to determine whether you really ARE in the faith.
I think we all believe Him for eternal life. So where might the holes be? And how would we do as the man said and examine this?
The reality is that no one can walk up to any sick person in their own mind and will - and heal them. All the gifts of the Spirit are as He wills - not us - so, the challenge for others to go and heal Joni or Stevie Wonder is foolishness and not based on anything real. It is as the Spirit wills. We don't "dictate" the manifestation of the gifts of the Spirit.
Faith also comes from hearing. if you were told there are no more miracles anymore - there would be no faith. Jesus went to His home town and He could do no mighty miracles there and He marveled at their unbelief.
Actually on youtube there are many examples of real healings. God is still in the miracle working business. It's His nature to heal and restore people.
Faith also comes from hearing. if you were told there are no more miracles anymore - there would be no faith. Jesus went to His home town and He could do no mighty miracles there and He marveled at their unbelief.
Actually on youtube there are many examples of real healings. God is still in the miracle working business. It's His nature to heal and restore people.
Last edited:
M
MattTooFor
Guest
It certainly is still 100% valid to have the elders anoint with oil and pray over someone who has an illness or malady (James 5:14). But that's quite a bit removed from the dramatic over-the-top miracles performed by Jesus and some of the disciples in the earliest days of the Christian era.
Y
yaright
Guest
Hmm, the beginning of understanding is often times far from intuitive; Have you come across the blind man who cried out to Jesus, knowing Jesus would heal him? When Jesus was done, there were many who did not want to believe.
Have you seen where Light had come and Dawned on the Gentiles who groped in darkness. Who will believe?
Have you seen where Light had come and Dawned on the Gentiles who groped in darkness. Who will believe?
It's due to the lack of renewing the mind, knowing Gods will, and agreeing with/ working with the Holy Spirit, and also by having an identity in Christ... I am no expert though, and i am still learning, but i have been apart of some healings, and have seen a lot of random miracles. What i see that usually holds a person back is their old way of thinking though, and not completely agreeing with what God says about their new identity, and how he sees them.
I saw a miracle in 1990 when my wife said she was wrong about something.
No more miracles since then...
No more miracles since then...
Because the Holy Spirit confirms inside of me that I am a child of God.
Have you experienced this yet?
If you accepted Christ then you did, you may not have felt it, but you did, and you have to walk with that truth in faith.
The more you walk in God's will the easier it gets to notice it.
By faith and also we have a witness of the Spirit in our hearts. Not necessarily in our heads. Many times we need to have our minds renewed to the truths of the kingdom of God that is within us. It is with our heart that we believe. Romans 10:10
We receive the Holy Spirit when we believed in the message of Christ.
The process is:
1) we hear the message of Christ
2) we believe the message of Christ
3) we become in manifestation what Christ is now because we see Him for who He really is. We are transformed to reflect in our outward behavior the life of Christ Himself by beholding the glory/goodness of the Lord by the Holy Spirit. 2 Cor. 3:17-18
We can see this being done in Eph. 1:13 when we first received Christ. The whole of our Christian life from start to finish operates in this same exact truth.
It is all by grace through faith in what Christ has already done for us.
Ephesians 1:13 (NASB)
[SUP]13 [/SUP] In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, ( 1)the gospel of your salvation—having also believed, ( 2) you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise,( 3)
Last edited: