The other day I watched a documentary called “Finger of God”
and it was eye opening. Darren Wilson, the filmmaker, travels around the world
documenting various miracles, signs and wonders in a quest to see evidence of
God’s presence in today’s world. He starts this journey after his aunt and
uncle tell him that God gave them gold teeth during a service. It made him uncomfortable and he wanted to see if there was more that God was doing. He ends up
seeing healings, signs and wonders and is forced to re-evaluate who God is in
his own life. The film had its desired effect on me because it left me with a
question that I want to pose to you. Do you believe God beyond the Bible?
As I watched the film, there were some points where I sat up
straighter and thought to myself…”Hmmmm…I don’t know about that.” But then my
next thought would be…”Well why not?” Throughout the Bible, we see God
performing miracles, signs and wonders. Hebrews
13:8 tells us that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever” so
if He did it back then, He can do it now. Right? Well…why are we not seeing the
signs and wonders anymore on a large scale? What are we missing? A large part
of the issue is that we have been conditioned by the world to want to
investigate everything. We question, analyze, and research until we find an
explanation for what we see but in doing that aren’t we missing the blessing?
When Jesus sent the disciples off with the Great Commission,
He said, “These
miraculous signs will accompany those who believe: They will cast out demons in
my name, and they will speak in new languages.
They will be able to handle snakes with safety,
and if they drink anything poisonous, it won’t hurt them. They will be able to
place their hands on the sick, and they will be healed.” (Mark 16:17,18 NLT)
We should be seeing healings whenever we pray. But we don’t. It brings me back to the question I posed at
the beginning. How many of us have limited God to what we see in the Bible? You
know…believe that He can heal the sick but not instantaneously. Believe that He could raise Jesus from the
dead but not your grandmother. Believe
that He could feed the Israelites with manna for 40 years in the desert but not
supply your needs. It’s an interesting
question and I think requires us to really examine who God is to us as
individuals.
Don’t you want to see and perform miracles
for the Kingdom?! I do and Jesus said that I could. “I tell you the truth, anyone who believes in me will do the same works
I have done, and even greater works, because I am going to be with the Father. You can ask for anything in my name, and I will do it, so that the
Son can bring glory to the Father. Yes, ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it!”
(John 14: 12-14, NLT) I want the faith of my 3 year
old, who told me this morning, when I asked her to pray for my neck that was
hurting, “It’s already better, Mommy” and it was. I want to be like the Chinese
and the Africans who experience miracles all the time because they believe God
at His Word. They will risk their lives to hear a Word. They will travel for miles
in the heat to get healing.
This entry is not for everyone because it’s
not the normal encouraging word. It might require you to be inconvenienced or
uncomfortable for God. Trust me, I understand. I tried to not even write this
one. I wanted God to give me something more uplifting but I had to come back to this. It’s not
even so much about instant healings or gold teeth, it’s about really believing
in an all-powerful God. God wants to do so much more with us but we don’t have
time. In order for us to go to the next
level in God, we have to take God out of our comfortable Sunday at 11:00
box. We have to want more. I challenge
you to dive deeper in your personal relationship. You might be surprised where
God takes you…
No comments:
Post a Comment