Miracles, Signs, & Wonders

Miracles and All That Sort of Thing

A child was once asked if he had ever seen a bona fide miracle. The child, looking puzzled, turn to his daddy and asked, “Daddy, what’s a bony fried miracle?” An Apocryphal story to show that, when we ask kids something and slip a ‘big’ word into the question, they won’t always understand. That’s also a problem with adults too. If we use all kinds of words outside what would be the normal vocabulary we could easily lose our audience. This is why William Booth, founder of the Salvation Army advised his trainees, “When speaking to Mary and her mother, talk to Mary. Otherwise you are likely to miss both of them.” Sound advice then and sound advice today.

So when, recently, the preacher asked, “Name me three churches in your region or area where. On a regular basis, the lame walk, the deaf hear, the blind see, and prisoners are freed.”, I was dismayed to find that I actually could name maybe one or two but no more. Sadly, I know of many areas where the count would be zero. You see, there was no mistaking the question – it was plain and simple with no long words thrown in. That didn’t make the answer any easier to make – just hard to acknowledge the truth of it.

So let me ask you, when was the last time you saw a bona fide, or real, miracle in your church. When was the last time you saw a real healing or even a partial one? When did you last see any kind of healing at all? When did you last see a stranger walk in off the street and receive salvation that day? When was the last time the Gospel was preached in your church? These are vital questions the Church must ask itself in these days. The world is asking, “What has the church to offer me?” How is the Church answering that question? More to the point, what is the Church doing to show what our faith has to offer the man or woman in the street?

I cannot say that the world is waiting with bated breath for the answer because for many years, far too long, the church has spoken many empty words that mean nothing to the unsaved. Meaningless platitudes mostly. It is surely time to take the Church outside of our buildings and show the world with “a demonstration of God’s power” what Jesus Christ should be to the world. Instead of this, however, the church is fighting amongst itself. Fighting over words, mostly – doctrine and theology, instead of bringing the reality of miracles to the world’s attention. How did Jesus minister? He met the people, healed the sick, ALL of them, then having got their attention, He preached and taught them.

Is this not the cue for the church? Should we not at least try to do something like this? Zechariah 10:1 “Ask the Lord for rain. In the time of the latter rain, the Lord will make flashing clouds; He will give them showers of rain, Grass in the field for everyone.” This is a promise we can all claim.

Let’s go – Just Do It.