The God who worked miraculous signs and wonders in the lives of the disciples, after being baptised with His Holy Spirit, is still the same God you and I serve today. The disciples prayed and healed the sick, made blind men to see and raised men from the dead all by being empowered by the Holy Spirit.

So we see that since the time of the disciples in the first century, the time of miracles seemed to have gone silent, but of course this is not true. The Holy Spirit never stopped working in growing and empowering His church and every single convert that surrenders his or her life to Jesus is a miracle. On the global church scale however, apart from the act of salvation, we see very little miracles as these converts return to their weekly lives away from Church. Despite having the greatest power in the universe within, they ignore or neglect it, walking in their sphere of influence as ineffective men without meaningful spiritual impact.

People have limited God by their own expectations. It’s okay to trust God for a new car or a holiday or perhaps for a friend to become well again from an illness that has a reasonable prognosis, but God using us as instruments to cure terminal cancer or raising a dead family member from the grave is neither possible nor conceivable. Men rationalize that God didn’t intend these extreme types of divine interventions for today’s churches. We downplay God’s seeming reluctance to intervene in these traumatic events as, ‘God is not interested in our problem and stands aloof.’ or ‘What will be will be.’ And ‘This is probably not God’s will’.

Well if God remains the same, yesterday, today and forever [Heb. 13:8], guess who changed? That’s right, you and me… Have we become somehow less holy? Absolutely.

We grossly underestimate how holy God is and how holy we need to be as His children. In the Old Testament days, God killed thousands of men because of a simple act of disobedience. In Exodus 32:19-28, we find the account of Moses returning from Mt. Sinai with the two stone tablets, representing God’s holy law, to give to the Israelites. Upon his return he however finds them worshipping a golden calf as their god. By instruction of the Lord, through the hands of the sons of Levi, God required three thousand to be killed in one day.

But if it is the case that we are so unholy, then why doesn’t God destroy us where we stand? The apostle Peter gives us the answer in 2 Peter 3:9:

⁹ The Lord does not delay [as though He were unable to act] and is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is [extraordinarily] patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance. [AMP]

We live in what is generally known as the grace period, God has been extraordinary patient with us to afford us all the opportunities to preach the gospel of salvation in Jesus and thereby to bring in the harvest of Gentile believers, as oppose to Jewish believers. Out of love, God is delaying His judgment of men to give them maximum time to turn from there sin in repentance and take up their divinely designated responsibility for He doesn’t wish any of them to be lost.

Being a good person, doesn’t mean you are holy. Good is measured according to each person’s conscience and ethical values and therefore justification of one’s deeds come into play. One individual might consider stealing as being good, as long as the plunder is used to feed his own children. Another might see unforgiveness as justified because a friend was looking after your children and something unforeseen happen to them. Good is subjective and measured only according to human standards. God however doesn’t need good people, but holy people who are able to accomplish much more for His purposes. Good deeds only self-gratifies, holiness is an act of worship and praise to a Holy God and has nothing to do with self.

So, how do we become holy? Simply, by reading the Bible and thereby learning how to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit and recognise His ways. For only if you hear, can you obey Him and this is key. Holiness only comes by obedience. It is here also where the spirit grows and over times matures.

Listen to what happened to the prophet Elijah after he fled for his life from queen Jezebel and relinquished all hope of escape. He hid in a cave on top of Mt Horeb. It seems as if Elijah has forgotten how to hear from God in his desperate situation. In 1 Kings 19 God reminds him:

¹¹ “Go out and stand before me on the mountain,” the Lord told him. And as Elijah stood there, the Lord passed by, and a mighty windstorm hit the mountain. It was such a terrible blast that the rocks were torn loose, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lordwas not in the earthquake. ¹² And after the earthquake there was a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire there was the sound of a gentle whisper. ¹³ When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave.

And a voice said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” [NLT]

Today, the best place to hear God whisper is during a personal and dedicated quiet time with Him. God speaks but do we hear His voice?

The difference between hearing and not hearing His voice, is a life worth living or a life completely wasted.

It follows that because we continue in our disobedience, unwilling to sacrifice our time to fellowship with God, we remain unholy and spiritually immature.

We have to be honest with ourselves concerning how much time and effort we really put in daily to get to know God. Do we regard our relationship with the living God as top priority? How spiritually mature are you and me? I am not talking here about being mature in worldly ways like being self-made in life or self-sufficient and successful in business to support your own family.

Then there are other important aspects of the gospel which can aid us tremendously in our daily walk with God that are severely underutilized. Like reading the Bible, these aspects need to be applied consistently and methodically.  

The first aspect is verbal declarations according to the Word of God, for without it, the Word cannot be applied in a practical way. If God’s Word is spoken aloud, then the Holy Spirit is spiritually joined to attest to it in the natural. Today, the church doesn’t know the Bible Scriptures to speak it accurately. In today’s fast-paced world, we don’t think before we speak or respond. A quick witty answer in the accepted jargon of the day is all that any situation requires. Conversations are skin-deep.

The second neglected aspect is that we don’t thank and praise God daily for our blessed lives. If you have a healthy family, you are blessed; if you stay indoors, you are blessed. There are innumerable things to be grateful for. I immediately think of the privilege to serve God freely in our country without fear of being persecuted. This might not be the case one day. We can be grateful for close friends, as the world can be a very lonely place for some. What about going about our normal lives without being confronted with war and death on a mass scale?

We lack in these areas because perhaps we don’t really believe these methods work or carry any spiritual power. So, we don’t prioritize spending the time and effort with the God who makes these things possible. These aspects call the authenticity of our faith into question.

 ⁶ And it is impossible to please God without faith. [Heb. 11:6; NLT]

It comes down to having real faith again. Soften your heart and be open for God’s Word. Don’t become like stale salt according to Matthew 5:13:

¹³ “You are the salt of the earth. But what good is salt if it has lost its flavour? Can you make it salty again? It will be thrown out and trampled underfoot as worthless. [NLT]

God wants to see that you are willing to put in just a little effort and not just use Him as a SOS to meet your demands. How would you feel is somebody only wanted your money and not your company? Look at the example of the prophet Daniel’s dedication:

¹⁰ But when Daniel learned that the law had been signed, he went home and knelt down as usual in his upstairs room, with its windows open toward Jerusalem. He prayed three times a day, just as he had always done, giving thanks to his God. [Dan. 6:10; NLT]

We recount also the dedication of the Israelites to conquer the city of Jericho according to the Lord’s instruction given in Joshua 6:2-5:

² But the Lord said to Joshua, “I have given you Jericho, its king, and all its strong warriors. ³ You and your fighting men should march around the town once a day for six days. ⁴ Seven priests will walk ahead of the Ark, each carrying a ram’s horn. On the seventh day you are to march around the town seven times, with the priests blowing the horns. ⁵ When you hear the priests give one long blast on the rams’ horns, have all the people shout as loud as they can. Then the walls of the town will collapse, and the people can charge straight into the town.” [NLT]

I want to challenge you today to choose one thing that you have trusted God for, for some time and then commit to pray for it six days in a row while continuing just to praise and thank God on the seventh day for what He will do. You don’t have to pray long stories, keep it short and to the point. Show God that you are serious about your relationship with Him. Then trust Him to come through for you, as simple as that. I am convinced that God wants to show Himself strong on your behalf. I believe God will give you an answer, perhaps not what you might think, but He will bring resolution to the situation that is according to His will.

After every prayer, give glory to God by thanking and praising Him enthusiastically for His lovingkindness, for His truth and for His faithfulness. [Ps. 115:1] Your aim is to have the Holy Spirit remain in your heart, for Him to make a home in your spirit. The Holy Spirit descended from heaven and remained on Jesus.

²² and the ^[a]Holy Spirit descended on Him in bodily form like a dove, and a voice came from heaven, “You are My Son, My Beloved, in You I am well-pleased and delighted!” [Luke 3:22; AMP]

³³ I did not recognize Him [as the Messiah], but He who sent me to baptize ^[a]in water said to me, ‘He upon whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this One is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ [John 1:33; AMP]

Why did the Holy Spirit remain on Jesus? Because He was holy and if you seek to live a holy life before God, the miracles, big and small, will return in your daily lives like in the time of Jesus and the disciples on earth.

²⁸ “It shall come about after this that I shall pour out My Spirit on all mankind;
And your sons and your daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. [Joel 2:28; AMP]

The work of the Holy Spirit never stopped. We just need to get back to God as His holy people.

God bless you.