Ok, my Bible searching skills are clearly a little rusty today. I very much wanted to write about the time when Jesus tells his disciples that they will do all the works that he did--and more.
But I clearly do not remember the phrase used in the NIV because I just tried a whole lotta searches and... nuthin.
I know it's in there... but I can't take any more time to search, so please take my word for it (or comment with the exact passage if you know it!)
But it is true... Jesus told his disciples that they would do the miracles he did... and then some. Why the "and then some?" He's not saying the disciples are better than him, is he? Nope, not at all. But I believe Jesus knows, to some extent at least by this time, that he will be leaving the earth and returning to the Father, and so the only people who will remain to do the miracles are... the disciples. So of course God will use them to do His good works of breaking through with the Kingdom (ie miracles).
Now, here's the important question... do you think that Jesus spoke those words only to the disciples? Or do you think that he spoke those words to all peoples who followed him?
Did you answer yes? I answered yes. Do you know what that means? That means that God expects us to do miracles (with His power, not ours) right now! Today! He has given us the authority given to Jesus to cast out evil spirits, to heal the sick, to restore sight to the blind... in Jesus' name, with God's power, through the Holy Spirit.
Chew on that one for a minute.
I wrote yesterday at my other blog about a miracle that happened in my life. This was an instance when God kinda swooped in and did the work without human help--although I know prayer was involved. But have there been times when miracles have happened through the hands of other people? Yes! I haven't seen many limbs regrown or people back from the dead (ok I haven't seen any) but God gave us the ability to do this!
If you google "Miracles" you will find stories of contemporary people who have experienced life-altering moves of God. And yet, in my life I don't hear too many first-hand stories of this. Why not??? What is holding us back??
I think this post is just the first of many, because I am very interested in the Power of God and how He wants us to tap into it, in order to do miracles, so that He may be praised. So perhaps it's ok that I feel disjointed today, because I think as a culture we're a little disjointed when it comes to an awareness of the ability we have to ask God for amazing things. I hope this changes. I hope to develop the faith that we need to move mountains. I hope you do, too. Then we can all blog about the miracles that God is doing in our lives, each and every day.
July 28, 2010
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Ok, many thanks to my secret follower, Teresa, who supplied me with the verse:
ReplyDeleteI tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. --John 14:12
I answer yes. I remember seeing an episode of Grey's Anatomy where a sick woman came into the hospital and healed Bailey's son through her faith in God. It was pretty awesome. There are also these two homes not too far from each other down this highway I always take going to the beach - they're almost identical, both have Jesus statues in front of their house, both call themselves spiritual healers, and both have the same message written on their bulletins sitting outside of their homes. It's very weird, because it makes you wonder if they're sisters or just competitors. Also, if you go to my blog, there's a post I maybe last year about these people who debated whether or not someone could heal another person through their faith in God. Their viewpoints are discouraging, but the conversation was interesting. I'll leave the link:
ReplyDeletehttp://hersilentmusings.blogspot.com/2010/01/power-of-healing-on-conversations-in.html