Where Are His Miracles?

"And Gideon said unto him, Oh my Lord, if the LORD be with us, why then is all this befallen us? and where be all his miracles which our fathers told us of, saying, Did not the LORD bring us up from Egypt? but now the LORD hath forsaken us, and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites." (Judges 6:13)

Perhaps Gideon should rather have asked - "where be the the faith of our fathers"? Perhaps instead of querying "why there is an absence or cessation of divine activity, of God working miraculously," he should have rather queried - "why is there an absence or cessation of the kind of faith activity our fathers exercised"? Or perhaps, "Why do we not have the kind of faith that produces these miracles?" Why does Gideon indict God rather than indict himself?

Perhaps we are in the same condition today as was Gideon? We blame God for the absence of his miracles today, the absence of prophets and miracle workers, of charismatic people, believing that it belongs to a past generation of Christians, but not to our own. Is the church today saying, like Gideon, "where are all his miracles"? Are they saying - "Where are the miraculous gifts that the early church possessed"? Are we not asking ourselves - "Do we not have the same need of them today"?

I think the church ought to be saying - "where is my faith"? And - "Why do I not have faith greater than a "mustard seed"? And - "Why is the Lord not giving the supernatural gift of "faith," the kind that can work miracle?" These are not "foolish and unlearned questions" that ought to be "avoided." It is rather a question to be confronted and seriously addressed.

"And now, Lord, behold their threatenings: and grant unto thy servants, that with all boldness they may speak thy word, By stretching forth thine hand to heal; and that signs and wonders may be done by the name of thy holy child Jesus. And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness." (Acts 4: 29-31)

Perhaps we do not see such power and faith in the church today because we have ceased praying as they did? Perhaps we have been led to believe that the church today no longer needs to heed the apostolic command to "earnestly desire the spiritual gifts"? (I Corinthians 14:1)

What authority does anyone have to tell Christians today that it is wrong to pray as did the early church, in Acts 4, and wrong to earnestly desire the charismata?

Can we no longer pray as James exhorted us to do in James 5? Can we no longer ask the Lord to increase our faith to the level of miracle working? If our aims are right and our doctrine too?

Can we not legitimately ask - where is the "prayer of faith"?

"Is any among you afflicted? let him pray. Is any merry? let him sing psalms. Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him. Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit." (James 5:13-18)

This same writer also said, about prayer: "But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord. A double minded man is unstable in all his ways." (1: 6-8)

"Whatever is not of faith," wrote Paul, "is sin." (Rom. 14:23)

Do you pray in faith, my friend, or do you pray in doubt? Do you come to God without faith?

"But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him." (Hebrews 11:6)

Do you lack faith? Then look to Jesus the "author and finisher of our faith." (Heb. 12:2) Pray as did the disciple who said - "Lord I believe, help my unbelief." (Mark 9:24)

Praying with strong faith will truly "move mountains."