Miracles

But the apostles [Paul and Barnabas] stayed there a long time, preaching boldly about the grace of the Lord. And the Lord proved their message was true by giving them power to do miraculous signs and wonders. [Acts 14.3]

What is Kingdom work? The answer is highly dependent on what one thinks the Kingdom is.

If the Kingdom is God's domain (and it is), then the Kingdom is about people because God is love. 

Many ideas exist today about what love is, but true love - God's love - is about people. It is not about food or pets or the weather. 

God's love is about people, so, God's Kingdom is about people. If we fail to understand this, we will miss the relevance of miracles.

Miracles are neither for personal show nor gain. To have God's heart about miracles, we should be pursuing them for others, not for ourselves. Does that mean we will not reap the benefit of miracles? No, it just means that to be Kingdom minded is to be like Jesus, Who, "thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation..." Jesus gave His life so others might live.

I am going to make a wild statement here: As far as the New Testament goes, it seems to me that most of the miracles on record there were performed by men who gave their lives for the cause. So, even though we need miracles today, we first need people who are so tuned to Kingdom thinking that their own lives are of no importance whatsoever to themselves. We must understand that while Jesus declared He had "all authority" and performed mighty miracles, He gave His life for the cause - people. There is simply no room in God's Kingdom for "me-first" kind of people.

I want the Father to prove my message is true (remember Jesus said He was the Truth, and He was God, and God is love) by giving me the power to do miraculous signs and wonders ...for others.

Oh wow. So, how do "I get mine"? Perhaps that depends on who is praying for me! Or, perhaps by even asking this question I have proven that I do not understand the Kingdom: Jesus said, "Seek first the Kingdom of God..."

Is it any wonder that a self-serving, self-indulging society sees very few actual irrefutable miracles?

Just food for thought today...

Father, it makes Kingdom sense that I need not focus on miracles for myself but for others.