In recent weeks we have seen God miraculously heal a number of people. The issues relieved include painful, damaged knees (that doctors said needed operations), residual symptoms from a stroke, multiple back and neck pains, a baby with a retarded growth rate, tooth aches and various other maladies. Jesus said that signs would follow the believer. (Mark 16:17-18) Christianity can’t exist without a power that is beyond the normal. When we reduce it to what we understand and what we can manipulate, we eliminate God from our lives. Everything about following Jesus Christ is supernatural. Paul said that the Kingdom of God was not in word but in power. (I Corinthians 4:20)

The story of Christianity is supernatural throughout.  It began when Jesus was born of a virgin. (Luke 1:26-37) Then God demonstrated that He sent Jesus through the miracles He performed. (Acts 2:22) Jesus sent His disciples out to perform the miraculous in His name. (Luke 10:1-12) The death and resurrection of Jesus is a miracle given to mankind to indicate that God sent Him. (Matthew 12:39) After His ascension, He sent the Holy Spirit to empower his followers with Supernatural gifts. (Acts 2) The believers performed miracles throughout the history of the church recorded in the bible. Not just the Apostles but even people chosen to wait on tables like Philip worked miracles. (Acts 6:1-6)(Acts 8:4-8)

The very foundations of the faith are supernatural. A person being born into a new life is a miraculous event. It is not just symbolic but manifests in a completely changed person beginning from the inside and manifesting in outward action. (John 3:3-18) The Spirit of God living in humans and providing communication and fellowship with the creator is a miracle. (Romans 8:9-10) Living eternally is a miracle difficult to comprehend but given to all who follow Jesus Christ. (John 3:15)

 There are many people today who want to remove all these miracles from Christianity. They want to reduce it to a philosophy like any other belief system. The reason is they want control. When God is exerting his influence in people’s lives, they can’t be controlled by anyone but God. When God is choosing people by demonstration of His power, people can’t manipulate their own positions and power. The Pharisee’s motives, to control the people rather than give Christ control, are still in evidence today. (Matthew 21:33-46) This is not to indicate that the power of God working through someone means we should automatically put them in leadership. God can use even a child to demonstrate His power, but there should be evidence of God’s power in anyone in leadership.

Without the power of God working in His people, we are weak and pitiful. Christianity is reduced to an unbelievable fable. It will be a philosophy of the weak that will be over powered by the aggressive strategies of the world. If we abandon the supernatural context of the faith we will be controlled by the power of the age, which is money. This is evident through much of the religion today. We have been warned that we can’t serve God and money. (Matthew 6:24) It’s time to give control of our lives back to God and accept His power operating in and through us. Cessation of the miraculous is not God’s choice. It is ours!