“Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father. And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.” John 14:12-14 NKJV
Throughout the span of my life, I have personally witnessed healing miracles take place. I have a brother who contracted bacterial spinal meningitis as a baby. The probability of him surviving was so slim that a priest came and read him his death rights. If somehow he defied all odds and survived, he would have severe permanent brain damage and would lose his hearing and vision. My brother who was given a death sentence thirty four years ago by doctors today is alive and well and has no physical defects! This is just one of many miracles that I have first hand knowledge of. I have seen many people healed through the power of prayer. I have enough proof to know beyond a shadow of a doubt that God is still a miracle performing God; however, one thing is evident about said signs and miracles today – they have become increasingly rare.
I have often wondered and asked the Lord, “why aren’t we seeing signs and miracles to the magnitude of times past?” We are still a needy people and our bodies are failing. Has the church become lukewarm or corrupt? Are we lacking faith? Jesus did say to his disciples,
“Assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but also if you say to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ it will be done. And whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.” Matthew 21:21-22 NKJV
If all it takes is faith, miracles should still be happening today, right? Well, yes and no. Signs and wonders do in fact require an element of faith; however, bizarre teachings and pop-culture Christianity has warped many Christian beliefs concerning miracles. In the last decade, there has been an increase in strange teachings about authority, belief, and the power of the tongue. Word of Faith and NAR teachings make the erroneous claim that Christians possess the power to speak things into existence and have the authority to bind and loose anything by just simply speaking. For example, a sister in the church just got a bad report from the doctors that she has cancer. You want to see her healed of cancer? No problem. Don’t receive the bad report and just speak to that cancer and decree that it be removed. As long as you have faith, the cancer has no other choice but to obey you because you have authority.
In 2019, a viral movement known as “Wake Up Olive” exposed the falsehood of these teachings for what they truly are. In 2019, a two year old daughter of a Bethel Church worship leader unexpectedly died. The family of this little girl and the leaders of Bethel Church started to – if you will – “decree” and “declare” that this little girl could be raised from the dead so the entire church started to pray. The movement gained such national attention that other Charismatic believers around the world joined them in prayer (Full Article Here). Tens of thousands of people were praying for this little girl to come back to life. A lot of decreeing and declaring was taking place. If their faith that this little girl could be raised from the dead could be measured, surely their faith was larger than the mountain itself. Despite their intense prayer and unwavering belief that this little girl would be resurrected, it never happened (Full Article Here).
When miracles fail to happen, the blame is often placed on the person seeking the miracle and the answer is usually the same, “it was because of your unbelief.” The other day, I saw a YouTube Short of a popular televangelist with Word of Faith and NAR leanings teach out of Matthew 13:58. This televangelist said that unbelief was more powerful than Jesus because it kept Jesus from performing miracles. No pun intended but I couldn’t believe what I was hearing! These teachings essentially say that miracles occur because of your belief and when miracles don’t happen, it’s because of your unbelief. In other words, your belief and unbelief supersedes the will and sovereignty of God. These teachings are completely false and couldn’t be further from the truth!
In order for us to get to the real truth about miracles and why they happen, we must go to the scriptures and gain context. We must first understand that God is actively engaged in seeking and saving the lost. We know that when Jesus was here in flesh, he performed many miracles. But performing miracles wasn’t his mission. Jesus told us what his mission was:
“For the Son of Man has come to seek and save that which was lost.” Luke 19:10 NKJV
The signs and wonders that Jesus performed were a means to save people; not from physical death but from hell. People can only be saved by belief and faith in Jesus Christ alone. Miracles performed by Jesus or by the apostles were done to get sinners to believe in Christ. In some instances, miracles were performed to get the one seeking the miracle to believe, but in most cases, miracles were performed to get eye witnesses to believe.
When Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, the miracle wasn’t possible because of Mary and Martha’s belief. In fact, Martha’s unbelief is quite evident in her statement after Jesus order the stone to be rolled away:
“But, Lord” said Martha, the sister of the dead man, “by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days.” John 11:39 NKJV
The miracle of raising Lazarus from the dead wasn’t a result of belief but rather the miracle occurred so that they and the bystanders would witness the miracle and believe in Jesus. Notice what Jesus prayed before the miracle took place,
“Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead man was lying. And Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. And I know that You always hear Me, but because of the people who are standing by I said this, that they may believe that You sent Me.” John 11:41-42 NKJV
When Jesus healed a paralytic, there were plenty of doubters in his midst because they thought to themselves that Jesus was a blasphemer for forgiving the sins of the paralytic. But notice what Jesus tells them and what happens after the miracle occurs,
“But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins”—then He said to the paralytic, “Arise, take up your bed, and go to your house.” And he arose and departed to his house. Now when the multitudes saw it, they marveled and glorified God, who had given such power to men.” Matthew 9:6-8 NKJV
When Jesus healed a blind man in Jericho, the miracle had the following effect,
“And immediately he received his sight, and followed Him, glorifying God. And all the people, when they saw it, gave praise to God.” Luke 18:43 NKJV
I could go on-and-on but the scriptures indicate this one truth about miracles – Belief doesn’t produce miracles; but rather miracles produce belief.
Several years ago, I was helping out with youth ministries for a church in Midland, TX. I found out a father of a brother and sister who attended youth services at this church was deathly ill. I had never met the father before but I knew he wasn’t a Christian despite his kids being actively involved in the church. The Lord laid it upon my heart to go visit him in the hospital in Lubbock. He was on a ventilator and had been unconscious for several days but when I arrived to his room, he was awake. He couldn’t speak at all nor could barely move. I asked him, “can I pray for you?” He looked at me and with what little strength he had, he nodded. I didn’t know what to pray but I grabbed his hand and prayed a simple prayer. I prayed “Lord, you know all things and created all things. I ask if you be willing, demonstrate your healing power in this man’s body that he would know beyond a shadow of a doubt that You are God and you have a plan and a purpose for him. Amen.” My visit was short but the next day I got a phone call from the pastor and he informed me the man was off the ventilator, fully awake and was speaking. Shortly after this healing miracle, the man and his wife gave their lives to the Lord and were baptized.
You see, the Lord performed a miracle; not because of my belief or my faith, but because the miracle was what the man needed to believe in the God that his children were following. This is what God does. God is in constant pursuit of the lost and uses miracles to save them. This is why my brother whom I mentioned at the introduction of this article was miraculously healed of spinal meningitis. God performed that miracle to get my mother who was a nonbeliever at the time to believe. If it wasn’t for that miracle, my mother wouldn’t be a Christian and wouldn’t have raised my siblings and I in the ways of the Lord.
Now that we know why miracles happen, this begs the question, why are miracles seldom seen anymore? The answer is actually simpler than we think. Signs and miracles follow those who are actively engaged in the Great Commission.
“And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.” Mark 16:15-18 NKJV
The reason why we don’t see miracles take place in the church today is because the church wants the signs but they don’t want the mission. But the truth is the two are inseparable. God cares more about saving souls that are eternal than saving bodies that are temporal. Churches who get further and further away from the Great Commission will always see a decline in signs and miracles. I once was a member of a church that had a rich history of being actively engaged in the Great Commission and many miracles were seen; however, the church got away from being mission-minded and shifted gears towards following the signs instead of the letting the signs naturally follow the church. When the signs stopped, the elders began to complain and placed the blame on everything but themselves. The pastor was eventually forced out of the church and the church underwent two splits. The church never recovered.
I used to be troubled over the fact that signs are seldom seen in many American churches today but the Lord has given me a clearer perspective in the last two years and His heart on the issue. The thing that makes me weep is a church who isn’t actively engaged in the Great Commission. God wants you and I to prioritize saving lost souls over experiencing a church service where the Spirit moves. We need to get to a place where we’d rather have a church service where a sinner receives salvation over a church service where we sing a bunch of good songs and have a tongue and interpretation. It’s all about fulfilling the mission. Get in the mission and these signs will follow those who believe.
“And they went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word through the accompanying signs. Amen.” Mark 16:20 NKJV
Joshua Hawk 