I stumbled across this website and in particular this question today, which got me thinking.
http://www.gotquestions.org/miraculous-gifts.html
They're right on most points, and in particular it's very important to underscore the purpose of the miraculous signs and wonders performed both in the Old and New Testament, as well as to whom they were given.
What I disagree with:
1. God speaking directly to people today. The article in fact provides the reason why I don't believe this happens: Because the Word of God was finished in Revelation. Everything we need - all the information He chose to reveal to us this side of the grave - is contained in the Bible. Now I have heard of conversion experiences and powerful feelings and a sense of God directly speaking to you. However, being suddenly quite sure of what you're called to do or say vs. God speaking into your heart is an important distinction. Understand: God DID speak to you in that you have a heart beating, lungs breathing, and a brain thinking. God IS speaking to you in that the decisions you face in your life are guided by the Word He spoke into existence which He gave to us for guidance. God does speak to us so that we are here, alive, with choices and the wisdom to make them. But God does not whisper into your mind, "Marry that woman." I pick on the worst examples, yes...but the point is solid.
2. God still performing miracles through a Christian. Nope. Does God perform miraculous healing? Yes (more on that later). Does God do it through a charismatic and lively fellow dancing about and with a vigorous cadence proclaiming the power he's brought upon your diabetes? Nope. Again, for the same reason the article provides for the prevailing lack of miracles- that there is no purpose for them now.
Ok, so moving on to the important points.
Miraculous happenings in the world today: Yes, they happen.
But let's define that.
When you cut yourself on a piece of rusty metal, and you would otherwise get tetanus, become paralyzed, and die- God heals your body. In fact, through the science God gave us and the world He created He's given our doctors the ability to prepare your body to fight tetanus ahead of time, so 7 or 8 years later, you can still fight that disease! Your body remembers how, and it effectively battles the disease, bringing you back to health again.
I could go on- what about how your body fights a common cold, or how your hearing adapts to loud and soft music, or how you experience the awesomeness of the seasons and the temperatures and all creation like it's the brand new show in town because you pass from one place to another so you forget what the last was like. Who hasn't experienced the awesomeness of that first fall smell and, knowing that it has happened many times before, yet rejoiced at the beauty of it. God made your body that way. We were made to never run out of wonder.
And what of one of the most amazing acts of God - the birth of a child! Could you pray that two people together could create a microscopic life that could, over the process of mere months and years, grow into a man, 6'1 and 250 pounds, full of individual thoughts and feelings and living, breathing, smelling, tasting, and enjoying the world around him? Tell me that isn't miraculous.
Let alone the existence of the rest of Creation. Look at butterflies and galaxies and hundreds of thousands of species of animals and tell me that's not miraculous.
Ah, but we sigh. We yawn. All that's just been there forever.
The problem is, we take all that for granted because science has decreed the laws and so, as cool as some of these things are, they're run by our demi-god chance. God set the watch for those, maybe, but they're not miraculous. They're "normal."
Excuse me? Trees turning into diamonds and caterpillars turning into butterflies and the cry of a newborn are normal?
The point is this: God is active in the world always, constantly, amazingly, beautifully, and thoroughly. If He weren't, we wouldn't be having this discussion. I wouldn't be laying by the doorway feeling a cool autumn breeze filtering through the screen, smelling the death of millions of leaves who head for the ground while others wait stored in their parent, awaiting birth next spring.
And on top of all that, God DOES sometimes take away terminal cancer in a night, or spare a man's leg, or see the doctor's prognosis on your lifespan and raise him an extra couple of years to live and love family and friends.
But you want to perform miracles? What is this, God's magic dispensary? Is the Holy Spirit your PEZ dispenser?
I say nothing (or not much, anyway) of the constant work of the Holy Spirit Himself- is it NOT miraculous and wonderful that He intercedes for our prayers since we do not know how to pray? Is it NOT miraculous and wonderful that we are SAVED in spite of ourselves, and indeed are made able to turn to God in spite of our utter sinfulness by the Spirit? Is the miracle of your wretched self predestined, called, justified, and glorified before the Father NOT an unparalleled wonder?
We need to understand- God is at work in the world, and He is at work in you, but through the use of the abilities He gave you to further His kingdom. He does not perform miracles or speak in tongues through you. He does not need to. He has given His Bible to the world and filled the earth to the brim with the knowledge of His existence, whether they admit it or not. The time for those signs is past. Glory in the present, in His Word, and in what you can do by His grace. Love Him for Salvation and your life. Serve Him. Truthfully.
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