No, I know from both Scripture and personal experience that miracles have not ceased. The Lord has done so many miraculous things in my life...many of which I strive to avoid boasting of (because these things are from the Lord, by the Lord for His glory).
At the same time, I feel a very real need to test any claims or words that are attributed to God or the supernatural. I also know that we are not to become engrossed in such things but to seek the One who does them. I think that any believer wouldn't care about such a "test" or scrutiny that is done in truthfulness of heart and good faith.
I do not find any passage in Scripture that indicates that miracles -- which are only "miraculous" from our perspective -- were only for a certain time period. I have heard messages regarding cessation, but I cannot find any scriptural basis for their claims. And, of course, we see the Lord moving all around us...each and every day.
If the Lord answers prayers, there are no varying stages of "miracle." If the Lord provides food, clothing, house or a job, there is no variation in whether or not it was "miraculous" or not. If a person has a dream, vision or mere "wooing" of the Holy Spirit as God leads, it is all the same God "miraculously" moving the heart.
We cannot afford to place God in a box. I remember hearing a believer who attended a church where cessation was taught almost as a fundamental view (and was a required belief of active members). Yet, this believer would pray for the sick and for other miracles. He told me that, even though he was skeptical, it doesn't hurt to sincerely ask the Lord to move on the behalf of His creation.
When I was a teenager, I visited a church that my oldest sister attended a church in the Dallas area. A man in the church shared a testimony about his teenage daughters (well, they were teenagers when this event happened). They were at a function with their youth group. When everyone was leaving that night, they were chatting with the youth pastor and his wife. The youth pastor and his wife watched them get into their car and then drove off.
However, the girls' car wouldn't start. The girl sitting in the driver's seat would turn the key and not hear anything. This happened before cell phones became so common. Then, they noticed two men approaching them in the dark, empty parking lot. They were afraid, locked the doors and kept trying to start it. One girl started praying aloud. When the men were nearly to the car, the car finally started. The girls quickly peeled out of the parking lot and drove home.
When they were home, they were in tears. They told their parents what happened. The parents prayed with their daughters and thanked God for his protection.
The next morning, the dad wanted to know what was wrong. It was an old car, so he was worried about the girls driving it. So, he went out into their garage (where their car was parked) and popped the hood. He was shocked to notice that there was no battery.
They felt that the men in the parking lot may have seen the girls, stole the battery after they went inside and waited around for them to leave. Regardless, it was quite miraculous that God had started their car when it didn't have a battery.
Quote:
Acts 2:17-21
And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams:
And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy:
And I will shew wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke:
The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come:
And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.
_________________
Christopher
|
