The Wonders of the Holy Spirt

The more I read about the Holy Spirit's work, the more in awe I am.

Should we be expecting the same miraculous confirmations of our witnessing in evangelism today as we saw in the early church? My answer is yes, because the Scriptures show God's power is available to the beleiver. The reason I say yes is that I don’t see any compelling reason given in the New Testament that God has declared a moratorium on miracles. But I do see lists of miraculous gifts for the church (not just apostles) in 1 Corinthians 12:8-10. So I think God intends to bless his Word and his people with miracles in our day — extraordinary works of divine power that go beyond the laws of nature. And I hve seen some of them in answers to prayer.

When the Lord Jesus returns to heaven and the apostles have laid the foundation of the church in the New Testament and are taken off the scene, I think what we have is not a de-supernatualized religion. Not at all! The Holy Spirit has been poured out, and he is still fully capable of doing signs and wonders. Rather, we have a centralized focus on the Word of God, the gospel, because all the central acts of salvation are now in history and it is the Word that connects us with these saving acts of God in the past.

As long as we keep the word of God in its properly central place, I think it would please the Lord for us to pray the way the early church did in Acts 4:29-30. Here’s what they said, “And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness, while you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus.”

One of the things that amazes me is how the Spirit helps me to preach and teach. Preaching should be always under the Spirit – His power and control – and you do not know what is going to happen. So we always need to stay open to the Spirit. It may sound contradictory to say, ‘prepare, and prepare carefully,’ and yet ‘be free.’ But there is no contradiction. You will find that the Spirit Who has helped you in your preparation may now help you, while you are speaking, in an entirely new way, and open things out to you which you had not seen while you were preparing your sermon.

PRAISE GOD FROM WHOM ALL BLESSINGS FLOW!