Witnessing the Miraculous: Embracing God's Unfamiliar Ways
Luke 5:26 And they were all amazed, and they glorified God, and were filled with fear, saying, We have seen strange things to day.
When Jesus steps on the scene, things take on a strange new look to most people! Something that is strange is something that is different from the norm, or something that is unfamiliar to its surroundings. When Jesus came in healing the sick, casting out devils, and preaching with Holy Ghost power, he had the whole city standing in amazement.
Yet, why is it today that the average church would be just as amazed, should the Spirit of God begin such a revival of this nature? We who have been given the full canon of Scripture ought not to be so surprised when God works a miracle, and yet we are still amazed. It ought not to be such a surprise to us when God does what is only His nature to do!
Howbeit, many who are skeptical of the supernatural do not believe in miracles, and thereby nullify their eligibility of receiving the same. After all, if the only requirement for a miracle is faith itself, then how can those who don’t believe ever experience a miracle of their own, seeing how they don’t believe. I say to the unbeliever, “How should you know? The very fact that you don’t believe disqualifies you from receiving the benefits of faith in Christ!” You have to believe to receive!
Perhaps if we had greater faith, we wouldn’t be so surprised to hear that God still can and does work miracles in the world today. Question: When God moves mightily, does it look like a strange thing to you? I’m afraid that more Christians than not would barely recognize a true move of God even when they did see it, simply because of unbelief.
Often, people do not understand what they have never seen or experienced, and therefore criticize what they do not understand. God forbid that we see Him moving in “strange” ways and automatically reject what we see simply because we’ve never seen it done that way before. We must realize that God works in ways too numerous for us to count.
Perhaps God’s greatest works in the world today are those which have gone ignored, unrecognized, and even criticized by organized religion and traditions of men. Perhaps the most powerful ministries are those considered by main stream Christianity as “strange” or “different”. Think about it!
~ Pastor Gary Caudill
When Jesus steps on the scene, things take on a strange new look to most people! Something that is strange is something that is different from the norm, or something that is unfamiliar to its surroundings. When Jesus came in healing the sick, casting out devils, and preaching with Holy Ghost power, he had the whole city standing in amazement.
Yet, why is it today that the average church would be just as amazed, should the Spirit of God begin such a revival of this nature? We who have been given the full canon of Scripture ought not to be so surprised when God works a miracle, and yet we are still amazed. It ought not to be such a surprise to us when God does what is only His nature to do!
Howbeit, many who are skeptical of the supernatural do not believe in miracles, and thereby nullify their eligibility of receiving the same. After all, if the only requirement for a miracle is faith itself, then how can those who don’t believe ever experience a miracle of their own, seeing how they don’t believe. I say to the unbeliever, “How should you know? The very fact that you don’t believe disqualifies you from receiving the benefits of faith in Christ!” You have to believe to receive!
Perhaps if we had greater faith, we wouldn’t be so surprised to hear that God still can and does work miracles in the world today. Question: When God moves mightily, does it look like a strange thing to you? I’m afraid that more Christians than not would barely recognize a true move of God even when they did see it, simply because of unbelief.
Often, people do not understand what they have never seen or experienced, and therefore criticize what they do not understand. God forbid that we see Him moving in “strange” ways and automatically reject what we see simply because we’ve never seen it done that way before. We must realize that God works in ways too numerous for us to count.
Perhaps God’s greatest works in the world today are those which have gone ignored, unrecognized, and even criticized by organized religion and traditions of men. Perhaps the most powerful ministries are those considered by main stream Christianity as “strange” or “different”. Think about it!
~ Pastor Gary Caudill