I believe in miracles. The Bible is full of them, but I’m not holding my breathe for one.
I know the work of God in the present dispensation of grace is not defined by miracles and revelations.
The charismatic majority denies this description of God’s work because they claim it describes a deistic impotent God absent from our lives. But is this true?
Does the presence of miracles mean that God is closer to us?
Does the absence of miracles mean that God is uninvolved, distant, and cold?
Not only do many Christians think so, but this also describes the natural man with no eyes for spiritual reality (1 Cor 2:14). They all require God intervene with visible miracles and personal revelations before they claim God’s presence (or existence).
If miracles and revelations determine God’s presence and work, then where is your miracle? Where is God when they don’t come?
God’s Work Under Grace
Just because God is not parting waters for us, does not mean God fails to work in this dispensation of his grace.
Grace is defined as the work God did on our behalf.
Grace gives us access to God even in tribulation; it is not what separates us from him when the miracle does not come (Rom 5:2-4; 2 Cor 12:7-10).
Grace gives us a complete position in Christ; it does not leave us incomplete, always needing another miracle (Col 2:10).
Grace commends the love of God toward us; it does not leave us cold while waiting for another miracle (Rom 5:8; Gal 6:14).
Grace gives us all spiritual blessings far more valuable than all physical possessions in the world (Eph 1:3; 1 Tim 6:6; Rom 8:37).
How do we access these riches of God’s finished work?
Walk with God Under Grace
This dispensation of grace is characterized by the instruction to “walk by faith, not by sight” (2 Cor 5:7; Rom 5:2).
This principle keeps our attention on what the scriptures say about Christ and his death, burial, and resurrection as the object of our faith, instead of blind faith in the next unknown miracle (1 Cor 2:2).
Grace teaches us to walk in the Spirit, prioritizing the spiritual things (defined by scripture as things we can’t see with our eyes) rather than the physical things (defined by our senses as things we can see, taste, and touch – Col 2:21; Gal 5:16; Rom 8:5).
Miracles are God’s interventions with physical natural things.
Miracles and new revelations in this dispensation would diminish the work God has already done, make his grace less sufficient, and distract us from walking in the Spirit by faith (2 Cor 12:9).
Where is God Under Grace
Is God closer to us when he performs miracles? Is he farther away when heaven is silent?
God is never distant from those who have the Spirit and walk by faith.
Everyone in Christ today is the temple of God who received the Spirit when they first believed the gospel (Eph 1:13).
“Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?” – 1 Cor 3:16
If the Spirit dwells in us, then he does not need to be sent again every week in a miraculous display like at the baptism of Christ in the Jordan.
Knowing that the Spirit dwells in you daily by grace through faith is superior to determining God’s presence by the presence of miracles.
By miracles God comes only as close to us as the last miracle. By grace God dwells in you every moment and every day since you first believed.
Whether or not your circumstances change, Christ is in you to strengthen you by grace (Phil 4:12-13).
When you walk after this knowledge, then you are walking by faith and walking after the Spirit.
Looking for Miracles = Looking for God
Looking for miracles is really about people looking for God. They want him to work in their lives. The truth is that God works in the lives of every believer by grace through faith not miracles.
The only way anyone would think that the absence of miracles means that God is distant and cold is if they do not know how God works under grace, how to walk after the Spirit, or where God dwells today.
Do not be distant from God. Trust God’s grace completely, and stop waiting for your miracle.
Article Index Published: March 16, 2019
Last Modified: December 12, 2019