I’m going to say some things here that will likely shock some of you. At the same time, I believe there are others on here who will find confirmation in it. Earlier this evening I had a thought put on my mind. I felt the Spirit was very insistent that I put this out here, and I’ve been trying to listen more to what the Spirit leads me in.
There are a multitude of people in this world who see Christianity as little more than a religion dead in its claims; one option among many; one path no different than the rest. They say why does the Bible speak of miracles yet we see nothing? Even many churches no longer believe in the capabilities of God. Doubt plagues the mind of even some believers. The Bible speaks of great things which many don’t expect to see today. Why is this?
Is it because God no longer does these things? Is He less capable today than He was then? No . . . He is just as capable as He has ever been. The problem is many of His people have forgotten. The Bible speaks of great things that would be demonstrated in the lives of believers. Jesus said that they would go on to perform exploits even greater than He did. The early church was on fire! The book of Acts shows many great things performed by the Spirit through the believers in Christ. Did these things pass away?
Would it surprise you if I told you many great things were occurring today in the Church in other areas of the world? The underground church in China has seen miracles on par with the book of Acts. This is only one such example. Why? Why do they see these things and those of us in the West, for the most part, have not? Because they have believed. They took Jesus at His word. When the Bible speaks of such things being possible, they believed it! Therefore they have seen it. These areas in the world have seen great revival because the believers know the Spirit is alive and active in this world. They know the Bible is true to its word, even in the areas that can prove hardest for people to believe. And they know if they do what the Bible teaches then God will come through.
The western Church tends to have trouble in some of these areas. Many try to find ways to make their faith fit with what the world expects. Many have been taught a watered down Gospel lacking the power of the Spirit. When they are told these things are not for today, they believe it. My suggestion is this. Stop listening to what you are being told. I don’t care who tells you. Stop listening. Pick up your Bible and read it for yourself. You might find yourself truly amazed at how different the teachings you have been hearing are from what you can find in the written Word of God. You will find Jesus teaches you to live a life quite different from what many churches practice. You will see a great importance placed on faith, prayer and fasting. And you will discover a variety of possible giftings of the Holy Spirit freely given to the believers in Christ to build up the spiritual lives of the believers; and to build up the Church.
We have not been utilizing these spiritual giftings. It’s because we lack the faith that they are there. For the most part churches have even stopped teaching them, or they have not been teaching them in their entirety. Now if this has surprised you so far, then I’m about to surprise you again.
When I say much of the western Church has been lacking in these ways, I’m not speaking about everyone. I say this not as a guess or assumption. I say this because of experience. I know the Spirit is still greatly active in this world because I have seen the results first hand. And I also know there are still many others even right here in the western church that has as well. I believe a number of you have as well, but we’ve not been talking about it. We’ve been afraid to share these things. We figure who will believe us, and so we keep quiet. I believe we should stop remaining quiet and start declaring the ways in which God has worked in our lives. Fully, not holding back because the world is skeptical. Part of the reason some are skeptical is because they have not learned of just how God has been moving still.
So I’m going to take my own advice here and put some things out there. I’ve had dreams, which I’ve recently mentioned on here once before, that I have no doubt were God given. It was such dreams that drew me to Christ to begin with. On one occasion my life and the life of my sister was spared when others insisted a car we were in should have burst into flames. Twice I’ve known first hand of miraculous instantaneous healings from those who were dying. One was a lady from a church I attended for years. She had cancer. Her stomach was eaten up by it and it was continuing to get worse. One day the pastor went up to her and her husband and told her she had been healed. They were in shock and didn’t quite understand what he was saying. So he said, “God has healed you. You no longer need your treatments.” This was confirmed when the doctor could no longer find her tumors. The second, and I know some of you will find this silly. Though it was something that was important to me and I believe if things are important to His children then it's important to God. A few years back I received this little puppy that after a little while became sick. I had been reading about Jesus talking about the importance of faith and how even faith the size of mustard seed could move mountains. So I decided to apply this lesson to my prayer and pray in full faith for the health of this pup. The very next day he was in perfect health. His sister however became sick and went down fast. We didn’t even have the chance to get her to the vet because we hadn’t realized she was so sick. The two slept in the same house and ate from the same food. After she died and the next started showing signs of this same illness we took him to a vet. This one was diagnosed with parvo and was treated. My puppy, the first to show symptoms, (and as it turns out were the later stage symptoms) was still doing well. When we described to them at the vets office how close he lived with the one which died and his age, they said there was no way he wouldn’t get sick and it was unlikely he would even survive it because he was so young. Yet he was in perfect health without even receiving veterinary assistance. All this time later I still have him, and he never did fall back into ill health. I call him my miracle dog.
Another instance of God at work is that a number of times God has provided for my family when we found ourselves in need at the exact time this help was needed. There was no previous indication that any form of help was coming and if it had not we would have been in trouble.
Another time I was in the room with my maternal grandmother as she passed away. Minutes before it happened the little dog which had been too afraid to come into this room for the whole week prior came running in with excitement. It stared at the space above my grandmother's bed, wagging its tale making happy puppy noises, and looking as if it wanted to approach before deciding to leave the room again. I believe it was watching something occur that the people in there could not see. These are only a few of the instances in which I’ve experienced something beyond what people tend to expect these days.
The interesting thing is, since coming online I have discovered that there are a number of others who are having these same types of experiences. I believe there are a lot more as well.
For so long I wouldn’t talk about these things unless I really trusted the person I was telling. I knew people wouldn’t believe me. Even members of the church wouldn’t believe me. I suspect that many of the people out there who have witnessed these things have had the same thoughts. “Why share? They’ll just think I’m lying or crazy.” But here is the thing. As long as we remain silent on these things then people are going to continue believing them impossible. The Bible mentions there will be certain attributes that will be seen in the lives of believers. Not for us to take pride in. But to serve as confirmation of the Gospel being preached. Will people disbelieve if you tell them these things? There are those who will. However the more willing we are to talk about the full extent of the things God is doing in our lives the more you may find others admitting these same things. Beloved don’t be afraid to share. Don’t be afraid to admit that your God still has power in this world. He is just as capable today as He was yesterday. The greater the faith of His people, the greater He will move among us. When God is moving, true revival follows. When Elijah stood before the prophets of Baal it was the God of Abraham that had the true power. And today when His people are faced with preaching the gospel in a disbelieving generation; a generation who believes that Jesus is no different than any other, it will again be our God that has the true power. His people just need to believe again and those who have witnessed it first hand need to be honest about what they have encountered.
The Church needs to come alive. Deception is taking hold of those around you. To those of you who have experienced the miraculous start talking about it. The Church needs to remember who their God is. He is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. People should know there is still real spiritual power in the name of Christ. So beloved I urge you, if God has done something in your life beyond what people believe is possible, don’t hide it. If you’ve had a prayer answered, known someone healed or been healed yourself, been given a prophecy, spoken in tongues or any number of possibilities don’t be afraid to talk about it. Share it! Let people know this was done by your God and you serve a risen King.
