Dr Reverend Sandra Moses

 

Gift of Miracles

 

Posted: 20th December

 

GIFT OF MIRACLES (Part 1) The spiritual gift of miracles in Scripture much like the gift of healing. It is found in 1 Corinthians 12:10 and the Greek phrase energemata dynameon literally translates “workings of powers.” The double plural most likely means that these gifts were diverse and were not permanently available at the will of the gifted believer, but instead were bestowed at various times and circumstances.
The gifts are subject to the divine will of God and His purposes and are not decided by the one who performs the miraculous works. (various compilation of authors Chuck Smith, Spiritual Gift Tests)
A miracle is something that is humanly impossible but divinely simple. Difficulty always has to be measured by the capacity of the agent that is doing the work. When God is the agent doing the work, talk of difficulty is absurd. Miracles are supernatural events that occur outside the bounds of what is natural. By definition, they are rare and out of the ordinary. The apostles certainly had the gift of miracles as they laid the foundation of the church (Ephesians 2:20) and bore witness to the veracity of their message.
We know that Jesus performed many miracles in His earthly ministry, even more than those recorded in Scripture (John 20:30-31, Acts 2:22). The Apostles regularly performed miracles of all kinds including casting out demons, healings, raising people from the dead, striking people dead, causing blindness, and much more (Acts 2:43; 3:1-10; 5:1-16; 9:36-43; 13:4-12; 19:11-12). Other believers performed miracles as well, including Stephen (Acts 6:8) and Phillip (Acts 8:4-8).
There were many miracles in the life of Moses and the gift of the working of miracles surely was something that Moses possessed. With the Egyptians in Exodus 7, as we mentioned, there was the turning of the river into blood, the flies the boils upon the Egyptians, and then the frogs.There was the miracle in Numbers 17 of God showing His approval upon Aaron as the high priest and his family. There was the water that came out of the rock when it was smitten by Moses. And of course the great miracle, that the nation always looked back to acknowledge as the sign that God was with them and that they were God's people, was the miracle of the parting of the Red Sea so that the children of Israel were able to pass through on dry land; the Egyptians, attempting to do so themselves, were drowned.
The prophet Elijah seemed to possess this gift of working of miracles. You remember he prayed and it did not rain for the space of three years. This brought the great drought into the country. He prayed again and it rained. During this period of drought, he came to a widow and asked her give him something to eat. And she said that she and her son had only enough oil and enough meal to make some bread for themselves. They were going to eat it and then just die-starve to death. In 1 Kings 17, Elijah said, "Make some for me first." And she did and during the entire period of drought the meal in the barrel and the oil was never empty. It miraculously lasted through the whole period of the drought.
Through the prayers of Elijah, a child was restored back to life. And of course we remember the story of the challenge of the prophets of Baal there on Mount Carmel in 1 Kings 18, where they were to build their altars but they were not to kindle a fire on the altar. And the prophets of Baal were to pray to their god to kindle their fire and consume their sacrifice. And having prayed futilely all day long, with a little chiding and prodding, Elijah said, "Maybe your god's asleep. Maybe he is on vacation. Maybe you should cry a little longer." And Elijah was really watching them whip themselves into a frenzy. And when still there was no response, then just to rub it in he commanded that they dig a trench around his altar. Elijah commanded them to pour water all over the sacrifice and pour more water on it until the sacrifice was soaked and the water filled the trench. And then he prayed and God answered by fire, consuming the sacrifice and the altar itself, licking up the water round about. And the people were falling on their faces acknowledging that Jehovah was God. This was quite a miracle.
There was the miracle of the captains that were sent by the king with their fifty men to bring him into custody. And how they came out and said, "Oh thou man of God, the king has commanded that we bring you into custody." Elijah said, "If I am a man of God let fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty men." And fire came down and consumed them. And so, this happened to three of the captains. The fourth had a little better sense. He came out and said, "Look I am a family man. Have mercy on me! I am only doing my duty. And would you mind, please, to come with me." These are the miracles that accompanied Elijah.
And of course, just before his death as he was being pursued and followed by Elisha, who had asked him for a double portion of the Spirit, Elijah said, "You have asked a difficult thing but if you are with me at the time of my departure you will receive it." When Elijah came to the Jordan River going over into the area of Moab in 2 Kings 2, he took his mantle and smote the river and it parted and he walked through with Elisha following him. And then Elijah was translated into heaven and the mantle fell upon Elisha.It is interesting he asked for a double portion and there are twice as many miracles recorded in the life of Elisha as there was Elijah. It seemed that he did get the double portion. As he came back to the Jordan River he took the mantle and said, "Where is the God of Elijah?" and the river parted and he came across.
There was the multiplying of the oil in 1 Kings 17 with the woman who was poor. And the prophet said, "Well, how much do you have here?" And she said, "Just a little oil." And he said, "Well go around to all your neighbors and borrow all of the pots that you can get. And then take from your little oil and fill up all the pots." And she took the little oil she had and she filled all the pots and sold it and was able to survive on it.
Other miracles occurred when the spring in Jericho was healed in 2 Kings 2. The water was actually bitter and the people complained to Elisha and he asked for some salt. He threw it in and the water was healed. A child was raised to life. Naaman was cleansed of his leprosy. And of course the prophets were building a house down by the Jordan River and as one of the fellows was cutting down a tree with an ax, in 2 Kings 6, the ax head fell off into the Jordan River. And he came and he said to Elisha, "Alas, I borrowed it, you know." And he said, "Where did it go in?" And he threw in a stick and the ax head made of iron did swim. And so these are marvelous miracles accompanying the life of Elisha.
Then as you move on in the Old Testament, through Isaiah there was that marvelous miracle of the healing of Hezekiah in Isaiah 38 when the sundial went backwards as a testimony that God was going to heal Hezekiah.

 

GIFT OF MIRACLES (Part 2)
But then of course moving to the New Testament and the life of Jesus we have so many miracles. They began at the feast of Cana in Galilee when Jesus turned the water into wine. He healed the nobleman's son from a distance. He raised the dead son of the widow of Nain. He raised the dead daughter of Jairus. And then finally, He raised Lazarus, who had been buried for four days, from the dead. He fed multitudes with the five loaves and the two fish. And then He walked on the water. These are marvelous miracles.
Now this gift of the working of miracles, it would seem, is one of the requirements for apostleship. When Paul was writing to the Corinthians defending the title of apostle, he said to them in 2 Corinthians 12:12, "Truly the signs of an apostle were wrought among you in all patience, in signs and wonders and mighty deeds." So Paul is pointing to the miracles that were done through his ministry while he was there in Corinth. And he used those as a badge to attest to the fact that he was an apostle. And thus, it seems that it was one of the requirements of apostleship in the early church to have this gift of working of miracles.
But the gift of the working of miracles did not seem, in the early church, to be limited to the apostles. When Paul the Apostle was on the way to Damascus to imprison those who were calling upon the name of Jesus, he had his encounter with the Lord. The Lord spoke to him and called him into the ministry-into following Jesus Christ. And as a result of this encounter with Jesus, he was blinded and had to be led into Damascus.
Now there was a certain disciple of Jesus in Damascus whose name was Ananias. He was not an apostle but just a disciple. In Acts 9, the Lord spoke to him and told him to go to the street called Straight, to inquire at the house of Simon for this fellow Saul. "Because," the Lord said, "he is praying." And Ananias said, "Lord, I have heard about this fellow, how he has really wrecked havoc in the church in Jerusalem. And actually he has been sent here to Damascus to imprison those who call on Your name." In other words, "Are You sure, Lord?" And the Lord said, "He is a chosen vessel unto Me. I have shown him the things he is going to suffer for My name."
So Ananias came to Paul and said, "Brother Saul, the Lord has sent me unto you that you might receive your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit." And so he laid hands on Paul and Paul received his sight and was filled with the Holy Spirit. And so here is a disciple exercising the gift of miracles.
Philip, one of those who was chosen to wait on the tables, went to Samaria to preach Christ and many believed and were baptized when they saw the miracles that he did. And then also Stephen was one of the other of the seven men who were chosen to wait tables in the early church. We are told concerning Stephen in Acts 6:8, that he was full of faith and power. And as we said, the gift of faith seems to be related to the gift of working of miracles. I think you have sort of a "triunity" of gifts: faith, the gifts of healing, and the working of miracles. I think they are all three tied together. Stephen was full of faith and power and he did great wonders and miracles among the people. So, although it was necessary to have this gift if you were to take the title of apostle, there were others who had the gift who obviously were not considered apostles in the early church.
Now I believe that there are incumbent dangers to one who would possess the gift of working of miracles. And I think the first danger would be the using of the gift for your own personal benefit. And this is pretty much what Satan suggested to Jesus in the temptation. In Luke 4, Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness and there He fasted for forty days. And afterwards He was hungry. Satan came unto Him and he said, "Since You are the Son of God..." The King James says, "If you are the son of God," but the case is not in the indicative but rather in the subjunctive case, and so it properly translates as "Since You are the Son of God, command these stones to be made bread." In other words, use Your miraculous powers to satisfy Your own physical needs. Use Your powers in order to just satisfy the flesh. And you remember Jesus refused to do so. He said, "It is written, man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Father" (Matthew 4:4).
We note in the Old Testament when Naaman the leper was cleansed and realized that he was cleansed and saw the miracle, he returned to the prophet Elisha and sought to give him rewards and gifts because of the miracle of his healing. But we note that Elisha refused to accept any remuneration or any of the rewards or benefits from Naaman for the miracle that he experienced.
I think there is a danger in having the gift of the working of miracles. The danger is in taking personal glory unto yourself for what God has done. Because if a person sees a miracle and you seem to be the instrument through which that miracle was accomplished, people are very ready to put you on some kind of pedestal. They look up to you in awe as some kind of mighty man of God. And there is a danger in accepting that adulation aWhen Peter was going into the temple there was a man who was born lame who was seeking alms. And Peter said, "I do not have silver and gold, but what I have I will give to you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise to your feet and walk" (Acts 3:6). And he took him by the right hand and lifted him to his feet. Immediately he received strength and he began to walk. He began to run-running through the temple. And the people said, "Look, is that the lame man who has been out there all these years? It sure looked like him. How is it that he is walking?" "We do not know. Let us find out."
And they followed him out to Solomon's Porch where Peter was still standing. And he grabbed hold of Peter and began to hug him-probably even kiss him. So as all the people gathered because of the lame man's response towards Peter, they related the miracle of this man walking to him. And Peter looks up and all of a sudden all these people are looking at him, saying, "Wow! What is this?"
And Peter said, "Ye men of Israel, why marvel you at this?" This was sort of a rebuke. "You see, you are the men of Israel. You are the men who worship the God of Israel, who is a God of miracles. So why should you marvel that God should work a miracle? I mean after all, He is the God who created the universe. Why should you marvel at this? Why should you look on us as though we, through our own righteousness, have done this good deed to this lame man? Why are you looking at me like I am so holy or righteous?" And he pointed them immediately to Jesus Christ. "This was done through the name of Jesus Christ, whom your rulers crucified. And it is through the faith of Him that this man stands here before you whole." So the people were ready to exalt Peter for the miracle. Peter had enough wisdom not to take the glory from the people. Modern day evangelists would have passed the offering plate.
In Acts 14 when Paul was in Lystra, there was a lame man about forty years old who had never been able to walk. And as Paul was preaching-and we will get to this gift of discernment-Paul discerned that the man had enough faith to be healed. And he said, "Brother, Jesus Christ maketh thee whole. Stand up and walk!" And the man stood up and walked. And all of the people there in Lystra said, "The gods have come down!" And they ran up the street to the temple of Jupiter. And they got hold of the priest and they said, "Man, what are you doing here? Jupiter is down the street! He brought Mercury with him." And so the priest came dragging an ox down the street. He was going to sacrifice to Paul and Barnabas right there.
Now the whole human rationale would say, "Alright! We have them in the palm of our hand. We will let them think that we are gods and we will sort of manipulate them. We will ultimately get them around to the Lord. But in the meantime we can live a pretty good life."
There is a danger any time God uses you as His instrument to do His work of love and grace in another person's heart and life. People want to respond to the instrument, many times, rather than to God. They are so grateful for what God has done, they want to reward the instrument that God used. And thus, unless a person had really come to the place in their own life where they do not have personal ambition or personal desires for glory, one of the worst things in the world would be for God to give to them the gift of working of miracles. It could absolutely destroy them. It is not an easy gift to have.
Now does God work miracles today or did all of the miracles cease with the last of the apostles? That seems to be an argument that has occupied the theologians for many years. But it is my firm conviction in answer to the question, "Does God work miracles today?"-the answer is an unqualified, yes! Salvation is a miracle.
In Mark 10 when the rich young ruler came to Jesus seeking the way of salvation and when he finally went away sorrowful, Jesus then turned to His disciples and He said, "How hard it is for those who trust in riches to enter the kingdom of heaven. Really it is easier for a camel to go through an eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven." Peter, in astonishment said, "Lord, who then can be saved?" And the answer of Jesus was, "With man it is impossible."
So if a miracle is something that is humanly impossible, then salvation is a miracle because it is humanly impossible for any man to save himself. So to say that the days of miracles are over would be to deny that people could be saved today. No, the days of miracles, thank God, are not over. God is still working miracles today. Chuck Smith
Miracles were given by God to the church to reveal the presence and glory of God among His people and to create a sense of awe and wonder and Godly fear. Though there were many enemies of the church, often the result of miracles being performed was more people coming to faith in Jesus and glorifying God, as well as greater faith and boldness within the church (Acts 4:29-31; 9:35, 42).
Those with the spiritual gift of miracles often have a heightened sensitivity to the presence and power of God through His Holy Spirit. They have a special measure of faith and desire for God to reveal Himself and draw many to faith in His Son Jesus Christ. They take care not to draw attention to themselves or have a following of people, but are constantly pointing others to Jesus. Those with this gift understand that God is Sovereign and He can work when and how He desires, but they make sure they are available and listening to the prompting of the Holy Spirit. This gift is often accompanied by prayer and strong petition by these individuals for God to reveal His glory to people. They do not claim power themselves, but always give credit and glory to God for His mighty works. Often God will deliberately humble them to keep them relying on His grace and pointing to His Son, rather than miracles. See also 1 Corinthians 12:10, 28-29; Acts 1:8; Galatians 3:5.
Christ lives in us to manifest His life through us. Christ in us accomplishes His own purposes. Part of His purpose is intimacy with us, but His plan encompasses more than that. He is working toward His own ends, and we are the vessels through which He works. We are the visible manifestation of what God is doing, with Himself as the ultimate