It has always been strange to me that as Christians we build our entire faith on a single great miracle, but at the same time we are very skeptical of the miraculous happening today. I know that often I’m doubtful when I hear of miraculous healings or any such things. A good understanding of miracles is sorely lacking in the Western Church today. So I would like to start to think about how the miraculous plays into missionality and the spreading of the Kingdom. I don’t even pretend to think I have the all the answers to this (especially not in 350 words) but I would like to posit a few ideas.
I think that the miraculous aspect of the Holy Spirit’s power must be rediscovered in order for the Kingdom of God to be spread in all its glory. In Matthew 11:4-6 Jesus tells John the Baptist that he is indeed the Messiah by pointing to both the preaching of the Gospel as well as the healings that were happening. If we are to continue Jesus’ ministry on earth then we also need to step out in healing the sick as well as proclaiming the Good News. Throughout scripture Jesus points to the miracles performed as witness to him being sent by God. We too are sent by God and therefore we also have access to this witness. This may seem a little strange and I don’t want to say that a ministry that isn’t seeing miracles is not from God. But I do think that miracles should be expected. I think C.S. Lewis says that miracles are the heavenly realm invading the earthly realm at a certain time and place. This is exactly what happens when the Kingdom of God is spread on earth. We are bringing more and more of the earthly realm under the dominion of and into contact with the heavenly. Therefore as we go spreading the Gospel and expanding the Kingdom we should not fear or be surprised by miracles but rather embrace them as God’s confirmation of our ministry and sending.
-Jeremiah
It is crazy how cynical people (including myself) are about miraculous events or happenings within faith. It is deemed freaky and weird. However, I do see in almost all successful missions miracles. Looking broader, can it not be deemed a miracle when someone comes to the Lord or even God giving us a nudge to speak to someone? I believe that those are events in which God is the main actor and therefore miraculous when they happen!
It’s hard to have faith. We want to believe with our eyes and with our senses, but sometimes that isn’t enough. I think you have a good point about allowing ourselves to believe. If we believed that God DID perform miracles why can he not STILL be performing miracles?
That is much of what the book of Acts is…signs of the coming Kingdom of God in the present.