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Tuesday, 29 March 2016

"Does God still perform miracles?"

Question: "Does God still perform miracles?"

Answer: 
Many people desire miracles from God. They want God to perform miracles to “prove” Himself to them. “If only God would perform a miracle, sign, or wonder, then I would believe!” This idea, though, is contradicted by Scripture. When God performed amazing and powerful miracles for the Israelites, did that cause them to obey Him? No, the Israelites constantly disobeyed and rebelled against God even though they saw all the miracles. The same people who saw God part the Red Sea later doubted whether God was able to conquer the inhabitants of the Promised Land. This truth is explained in Luke 16:19-31. In the story, a man in hell asks Abraham to send Lazarus back from the dead to warn his brothers. Abraham informed the man, “If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead” (Luke 16:31).

Jesus performed countless miracles, yet the vast majority of people did not believe in Him. If God performed miracles today as He did in the past, the result would be the same. People would be amazed and would believe in God for a short time. That faith would be shallow and would disappear the moment something unexpected or frightening occurred. A faith based on miracles is not a mature faith. God performed the greatest “God miracle” of all time in coming to earth as the Man Jesus Christ to die on the cross for our sins (Romans 5:8) so that we could be saved (John 3:16). God does still perform miracles—many of them simply go unnoticed or are denied. However, we do not need more miracles. What we need is to believe in the miracle of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ.

The purpose of miracles was to authenticate the performer of the miracles. Acts 2:22 declares, “Men of Israel, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know.” The same is said of the apostles, “The things that mark an apostle—signs, wonders and miracles—were done among you with great perseverance” (2 Corinthians 12:12). Speaking of the gospel, Hebrews 2:4 proclaims, “God also testified to it by signs, wonders and various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to His will.” We now have the truth of Jesus recorded in Scripture. We now have the writings of the apostles recorded in Scripture. Jesus and His apostles, as recorded in Scripture, are the cornerstone and foundation of our faith (Ephesians 2:20). In this sense, miracles are no longer necessary, as the message of Jesus and His apostles has already been attested to and accurately recorded in the Scriptures. Yes, God still performs miracles. At the same time, we should not necessarily expect miracles to occur today just as they did in Bible times.

Source:http://www.gotquestions.org/miracles-Bible.html

Only God Can Do Miracles – True, But So Can We

We all know that only God can do miracles. How then did Jesus accomplish His miracles in the Gospels? Yes, Jesus was and is God, but it is clear from scripture that when He was born of a virgin (in His Incarnation) He emptied Himself of His inherent divine outward powers, and surrendered His divine will to that of the Father. He was still fully God, but now He was also fully man. He ministered by the working of the Holy Spirit (Philippians 2:567891011). The scriptures are clear that He, thus acting as a man, could do no miracles.
Therefore Jesus answered and was saying to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner.” John 5:19
If only God can do miracles, Jesus would have had to momentarily transcend His humanity to accomplish them, and the above verse would not be true. If Jesus remained human during the miraculous, then there is a way for other humans to do the miraculous. Either this is true or the humanity of Jesus was somehow different from our humanity. In the Incarnation, He took on everything but our sin, and that He took on at the cross. He is both our example and our substitute, and as our example, He showed us how to walk in the supernatural. This is exactly what Jesus meant when he said:
“Truly, truly, 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 the Father.” John 14:12
God is pleased to work through non-divine individuals, and He does this through the work of the Holy Spirit. Jesus actually told His disciples that it was more advantageous for the Holy Spirit to be in them than for Him, Jesus, to be with them and next to them.
“But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper (Holy Spirit) will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you. John 16:7


This empowerment started on the Day of Pentecost and continued on through the rest of the New Testament. A believer’s work in the miraculous is the work of the Holy Spirit within them. We can now say what Jesus said during His walk on earth – “We can do nothing of ourselves, it is the Holy Spirit at work within us, He does the miracles.” Our walk of faith is intended to reproduce His walk of faith. Yes, only God can do miracles, but God does them through us.
Source; https://hopefaithprayer.com/only-god-miracles/