The following idea is not originally my own; I read up on it in Dallas Willard's The Spirit of the Disciplines, yet mayhaps I will adopt it as one of my own. Why are we to believe that there can no longer be any miracles through the hands of believers? Or for that matter, why not demon exorcisms (yes, demons are still around) and healing of the sick? Why are we to believe it is no longer possible to speak in tongues, and why dont we have anymore 'laying of the hands on the sick' as found in the New Testament? Jesus did all this; Acts is littered with reports of it; the early Christians did it; Paul did a lot of this himself. The entire New Testament is scattered with ordinary run-of-the-mill Christians using such 'divine power.' Maybe the reason such miracles seem - seem, mind you - absent is not because of absence of possibility, but absence of faith? I believe Christians can, with real, genuine faith, and with communion with God, do all of the above. When we become new creations - children of God! - we are not just washed, but also changed and filled. We always associate this changing in terms of spirituality - but what if something in our bodies regarding natural power changed to, we just have to hone it (I don't mean superhuman strength, I mean working hand-in-hand with the Spirit). I believe we are given through faith the power to act through the Spirit deeds our old selves aren't capable of. It is the modern 'legal' thing to deny this power, but to deny it is to deny the new life (2 Timothy 3:5)
I would appreciate any comments.
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2 comments:
I really like the third paragraph - Jeff and I were talking about speaking in tongues, and I said, "I think it is completely possible, but for those who are seeking, right now it would do more harm than good." What are seekers going to think when they walk into a church with everybody blabbing away unintelligable words?
I still think it has to do much more with faith. After all, is it not the same Jesus, the same Holy Spirit, the same God? I think that because the majority of us have lost faith that such things are possible today, has in effect made them impossible: Jesus was not able to do miracles in his hometown because of the lack of faith.
Faith is the bottom line. Most everytime Jesus healed someone he told them "your faith has healed you".
I believe Christians today limit God's power by:
a) Not "believing" in gifts that don't match the church they attend, or what they were taught growing up. It makes them uncomfortable.
b) We may be scared of what God would do, or better yet, what He may ask us to do.
I know I struggle with asking God to humble me because part of me is scared about how He may choose to humble me. It is tough to keep focused on the long-term when the short-term is here and now.
We hear often of "miracles" today and believe they are the result of God's power, but we tend to doubt whether they will happen to us personally.
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