Do you believe in miracles?
I think most people would answer YES to that question, but what I’m interested in is what you really believe in your heart…in practice. This is one of those areas where we often have quite a big gap between what we SAY we believe and what we in fact REALLY believe in practice. Don’t get what I’m saying? It is the difference between saying God could heal your loved one of cancer and praying audibly while laying your hands on your relative for God to heal them. Without action behind our beliefs the Bible makes it clear its hard to make the case we actually believe something.
Why you may be inclined to believe in miracles:
- You experienced one personally
- Someone close to you experienced one
- You were in the room when someone claimed to have received a miracle
- You have been part of a faith tradition that taught you to believe in them regardless of your experience
- You have a need for one
Why you might not believe in miracles:
- You have prayed frequently for many years and have not received one
- You have not known anyone personally who has experienced a miracle
- You were taught that they no longer happen and only happened in biblical times or never at all
Maybe you are in yet another group, maybe you don’t really care either way if miracles still happen (or ever did for that matter). For you life is all what you can see with your eyes, hear with your ears, touch with your hands…you tend to stay from thoughts of the supernatural or extraordinary.
So I invite you on this journey as I process through this thought of Miracles….stay tuned for more posts on the topic, meanwhile I would love your thoughts on this: do you believe in miracles? Ever experience one yourself? If so please share it….
Michael Groth
February 26, 2011 at 2:01 pm
Heya Kurt, this is Michael Groth. I know we haven’t talked in quite a while, but I don’t think it’s an accident that I came across this post of yours.
Dang man, I don’t even know where to begin . . . God’s been doing so much work in me and around me this last year. Let me preface this by saying two things:
Firstly, until last year, I didn’t believe God really performed miracles as much now as in Biblical times, or at least not in the USA as much as 3rd world countries.
Secondly, I do not say this as anyone more upright or godly than the next person . . . the truth is I am completely inadequate to be used by God; but He’s been using me anyways.
I often let pride and selfishness get in the way, and God’s constantly having to humble me. I often forget how much God loves me and I try again and again to earn His love. I ask God to be filled with love for other people, only to be reminded that I first need to realize how much He loves me . . . that’s where the overflow comes from. And it comes out of understanding those cliché words of overflowing love and faith, making them real again, that God uses His children to do His work. Miracles most definitely included.
At the start of my second semester, sophomore year in college (a little over a year ago), I was introduced to someone who would later become one of my best friends.
When I met him, I immediately felt as though God was telling me that he was supposed to be my roommate the following semester. This was strange to me, because, prior to that point, I had never felt as though God had spoken to me that clearly. Honestly, until that point, I had never felt confident in discerning what God was actually saying to me.
Later, I found out that he was transferring to Azusa, which was, I believe, a confirmation. In speaking with him, he remarked that he felt as though God had told him the same thing regarding me. Consequentially, we began hanging out.
He invited me to attend an event over Easter at his church in San Diego. The event was put on in part by a traveling revivalist by the name of Sean Smith who was, for lack of better words, putting on a workshop concerning the act of healing in the Church.
Honestly, I was very skeptical and put off by the word “revivalist,” and I didn’t know what to expect.
At the event, a protruding tumor disappeared on a person’s stomach, a broken hand was restructured, I saw people who had only known depression for years break out into uncontrollable laughter. A person’s leg was extended by inches to allow them to walk in conjunction with their opposite leg, and people who had cancer prior to the event were tested as cancer-free days later.
I felt as though the wind had been knocked out of me. I felt like I no longer knew a thing about Christianity. I could not once remember being asked to have the kind of faith that these people had, let alone expect the results that they got.
Growing up in Portland, I think I heard people in church only reference the Holy Spirit in passing . . . The Holy Spirit for the majority of my life has seemed like the equivalent to a new-agey interpretation of God . . . a mystery not even worth attempting to understand because we know so little about the Holy Spirit.
For the first real time though, last year, I witnessed the God I have been aiming to serve for so long . . . Holy Spirit included. For so long I have believed that Jesus called us to live like him . . . for some reason it just never dawned on me that that might include miracles. When Jesus went to his hometown, it was said that he could only perform a “few” miracles, because of lack of faith there. If we see a “few” miracles today we jump out of our socks. The same Holy Spirit who was active through him is active today . . . and he said we would do even greater things than him.
I guess in America, as with most 1st world countries, we have come to a place where we do not really need faith . . . someone gets sick we have medications. An engine breaks down we take it to get repaired, we don’t pray about it . . . and often if we do we doubt it will happen. But God’s definitely been stirring up stuff in California and its moving out. This generation is going to be seeing a lot more stuff like this.
That Easter has functioned as the largest paradigm shift in my life. It felt almost as though I became a Christian then . . . what had been stuck in my mind for so long was moving from my mind to my heart and out my hands.
Since that time, I began serving in a new way that I had previously been too afraid to pursue. I have taken to walking the streets of the city of Azusa in search of people needing conversation. It is amazing how alone people can feel in big cities. I have made it my mission to help reduce that feeling of exclusion by whatever margin I can manage. Thankfully, I have now had the reassurance that God was at my side as I did so.
Sometimes, these endeavors have consisted of what a few of my friends have deemed “treasure hunts.” On these ventures, we asked God for visions or words, He gave them to us, and we sought out those visions, to do whatever it was that God wanted.
For instance, one of my friends asked God for a sign. She was given a picture of an African American guy wearing a purple shirt who had a problem with his hand. Ten minutes later, we came across that man, we prayed with him, and pain in his hand left him completely.
As I say this, I need to emphasize again that I am by no means anyone special; if anything, many times I feel hypocritical and inadequate. I still have many struggles gathering faith. But God is not limited by who I am; He will use anyone if they are willing. Any adequacy I have is due to Him and not what I have done.
Take into account my friend. He only recently became a believer, and yet God has performed more miracles through him than anyone I have seen. What he had done and who he had been before didn’t matter. He had faith and loved the people he was praying for with a heart that was not his own, and because he made the people he prayed for more important than his own reputation, (he was not afraid to look bad if nothing happened) big things happened. All he wanted was to provide God with opportunities to work through him.
Many times I found my own pride getting in the way; I still have to be completely sure that any time I ask God to act, it is for His glory and not my own. I still have a long way to go. But it is certainly something to look forward to.
I have seen enough to be reassured that the road I am currently on is promising, and that there is still much to come. I have seen more miracles in a year than I could have ever expected to see in a lifetime. The person that I have become over the course of a year is wholly different from the person I had been.
I can rest in knowing that, even though there are undoubtedly many more difficult things headed my way, I don’t ever have to worry about this adventure getting boring. I would be more than satisfied with an opportunity to be used like this for the rest of my life.
If you get a chance, in Redding California there is a church called Bethel. I don’t know why but that just kinda popped in my mind . . . visit it if you are ever in the area. This is specifically regarding healings.
godsidekurt
February 26, 2011 at 5:34 pm
Michael,
Thanks so much for sharing your experiences with modern-day healings, this is precisely what I was hoping my post would draw out. I will continue to think on what you shared, and with your permission I will let it form some of the stuff I discuss in future posts in this series.
On a side-note, I have heard of Bethel…that’s the “Jesus Culture” church. Not sure if you heard but Im currently attending City Bible Church which is doing a series right now on the Supernatural which in no doubt got me pondering what I really believe with this sortof stuff.
Thanks again, looking forward to seeing where this all goes.
Kurt
Michael Groth
March 1, 2011 at 12:09 am
I’m glad! Seriously, God’s doing big stuff, there’s so much to talk about. I’ll be glad to provide more info, and by all means use this in future posts!
And yes, I believe it is the “Jesus Culture” church. I haven’t actually visited it, but I do know a lot of the more “charismatic” churches I have been to in So Cal consider it a sort of “role model” for what a church that is truly pursuing the gifts of God looks like. I hope to visit it this spring. I have heard so many stories of people just walking into the place and getting healed, and other big miracles. Many of the people who have been mentoring me in my gifts have connections with it as well. Not that the place itself is anything special, it’s simply full of people who are HUNGRY for God.
God bless, Kurt!
Scott
March 1, 2011 at 10:55 am
Kurt,
Awesome topic and some great stuff from your friend, Michael.
God has also been taking me through a process over the past 5 years or more where I have begun to embrace the Gifts of the Holy Spirit and more importantly the Holy Spirit Himself!
A few weeks ago, I actually attended a conference here is Ohio where some of the Healing Room people from Bethel (Redding, CA) were teaching. It was amazing! You are so close to Redding compared to me, you should check it out. I would also encourage you to listen to some of their teaching (Podcasts on iTunes) and hear what Bill Johnson is all about… just a hint, he’s all about Jesus!
My prayer is that God would continue to awaken people like you, Michael, myself and anyone who is seeking His face, to the amazing things He has for us when it comes to healing and deliverance.
I have seen many healings in the past year. Specifically a man at our church who nearly cut his hand off with a saw blade. He was told that he would lose at leas one of his fingers, if not more. We went to his house and laid hands on him and prayed for miraculous healing. When he went in for his operation, the doctor said the finger that was “dead” had life in it and he postponed the surgery. This man’s hand was healed and he is already working again… with a hand that he was told would never be the same, much less be able to be used.
I have also seen people being delivered from bondage to sins that have plagued them for many years, all by asking Jesus to heal them from their struggle.
God is just waiting for us to walk in healing. There is a great book by John Wimber, called “Power Evangelism” that I think you might enjoy. The basic idea is that by listening and following the leading of the Holy Spirit, we can pray for total strangers for healing and deliverance and they will have an encounter with Jesus. Kind of sounds like what our Savior, Jesus Christ did. Michael and his friends are doing the same thing.
I continue to press into my Father for more in this area. I know that He is who He says He is and He says He is the Great Physician. He is the Healer.
I’ll be praying that God reveals what He needs to in this area of the Supernatural and that He will heal you as well. I have been praying for that for a while.
God Bless.
Scott