“saying, “What shall we do to these men? For, indeed, that a notable miracle has been done through them is evident to all who dwell in Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it.” Acts 4:16.B
By Michael Adekoya – Dear Reader, we are in the world of seeing is believing. When people see some things that can not be denied happening in our lives and ministries, their perceptions about God, the Church and of us shall surely change positively. Why are our Churches in the UK for instance are not filled up? Why are our Churches full of black people and not other ethnic groups especially the white British? Why is the influence of the Church in the Western World decreasing per day? Why do so called “believers” are lukewarm and even backsliding in multitude these days? The simple answer to these bothering questions among other ones is that, there are no undeniable miracles in our lives and ministries. Therefore, this week I shall be sharing some benefits of undeniable miracles with us to crave our thirst and hunger for this grace in our lives and ministries especially during this prayer and fasting period.
My friend, when our lives and ministries are characterised by undeniable miracles, first of all, there will be confusion among the enemies of the Kingdom, the Church and of our lives. Following from the undeniable miracle on the day of Pentecost in which everyone could hear the Believers speaking in their native languages. The Bible says, “And when this sound occurred, the multitude came together, and were confused, because everyone heard them speak in his own language. Then they were all amazed and marveled, saying to one another, “Look, are not all these who speak Galileans?” Acts 2:6-7. All the religious people, the enemies of the Apostles and of the Kingdom were confused, perplexed and astonished. Also when God used Peter to heal the crippled man, they said that, “What shall we do to these men? For, indeed, that a notable miracle has been done through them is evident to all who dwell in Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it.” Acts 4:16. Undeniable miracle is an occurrence that can never be denied, it is a testimony backed up with evidence, it is a miracle that can not be disproved, refuted or explained away by the opposers, unbelievers or atheists. Therefore, they were dumbfounded and confused. They knew deep down that it was not an ordinary, they were convinced but tried to pretend it wasn’t so. This is the first thing that undeniable miracle does when it happens in one’s life and or in the ministry. Do you desire this?
Secondly, undeniable miracles will automatically result into boldness in the lives of the agents. When Peter who was a coward before the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus received the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, he delivered his first open crusade message without any fear or favour. The Bible mentioned that, “But Peter, standing up with the eleven, raised his voice and said to them,……“ Acts 2:14. Seeing different people speaking in their dialects was an undeniable miracle. This enable the former coward to speak publicly about the Lord the he denied vehemently three times previously without minding the consequences. Also when the Holy Spirit used him to perform the undeniable miracle in this week’s text, the Bible says, “Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled. And they realized that they had been with Jesus.” Acts 4:13. Boldness rose up profusely in him, having known that God is with him, He is in him, He is for him and He is working through him. This explains why a lot of Christians today are still timid, coward, fearful and frightened to preach the Gospel to their neighbours or on the streets.
Thirdly, undeniable miracles brought about the conversion of 8,000 people into the Kingdom within a very short time. When the first undeniable miracle happened on the day of Pentecost the Bible says, “Then those who gladly received his word were baptized; and that day about three thousand souls were added to them.” Acts 2:41. In the backdrop of day of Pentecost’s undeniable miracle of speaking in the peoples’ dialects, the crippled man by the Beautiful Gate was miraculously healed. This prompted Peter to preach another public message, “However, many of those who heard the word believed; and the number of the men came to be about five thousand.” Acts 4:4. People were willing and ready to listen to his message, again another 5,000 people were won into the Kingdom. My friend, these two undeniable miracles captivated the attention and opened ears of 8,000 people to receive the word of God and to give their lives to Jesus within a short time. If our lives and ministries are backed up with undeniable miracles, no race will turn down our messages, they’ll surrender their lives to our King irregardless of their colour, socioeconomic status, education or civilisation. Sometimes we give excuses that other races are not coming to our Churches because of their affluent lifestyles, they are proud, racist, prejudice, they are atheists or because of our own colour. My friend, all these are religious excuses to explain away our lack of inefficiency, ineffectiveness and inadequacies. When our lives and ministries are backed up with undeniable miracles, there’ll be no “dry ground”, there’ll be no “unfruitful” part of the Western World or so the called “peculiar” or “closed” areas.
Furthermore, when our lives and ministries are backed up with undeniable miracles, our lives and ministries shall become unstoppable. Undeniable miracles shall automatically lead to greater oppositions, are you ready for it. “For a great and effective door has opened to me, and there are many adversaries. 1 Cor. 16:9. This is normal as the devil and the whole kingdom of darkness will be terrified, tremble and panicking as well as the religious people shall be envious, jealous and threatened. But one thing is certain, such lives and ministries can never be stopped, conquered or destroyed. The Disciples were bad mouthed, threatened, beaten and imprisoned but all these were unable to stop them. The Bible says, “But Peter and John answered and said to them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you more than to God, you judge. For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.” So when they had further threatened them, they let them go, finding no way of punishing them, because of the people, since they all glorified God for what had been done. For the man was over forty years old on whom this miracle of healing had been performed.” Acts 4:19-22. Even when they prayed the Bible says, “And when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness.” Acts 4:31. My friend, if our lives and ministries are backed up by undeniable miracles all efforts to stop us shall always be futile, abortive and fruitless efforts. But rather, God shall be pleased and release more grace to function upon such lives and ministries. This explains why some Ministers, Believers and Christians are frustrated, discouraged, lukewarm, grow cold and even are backsliding in multitude during this time and age.
Lastly, when our lives and ministries are backed up by undeniable miracles, we shall be relevant to God and significant to the people. Permit me to use Elijah and Elisha in the Old Testament to explain what I meant by this. After the undeniable miracle at Mount Camel and the threats of Jezebel, Prophet Elijah became physically wearied that led to discouragement and suicidal. He went to hide in a cave, the Bible says, “And there he went into a cave, and spent the night in that place; and behold, the word of the Lord came to him, and He said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”” 1Kings 19:9. God Himself went to look for him because he was relevant to the Kingdom, God has not finished with him yet and He still has more assignments for him to accomplish. Also when Elisha his protégée received the double portion of his power and performed an undeniable miracle of parting river Jordan. The Bible says, “Now when the sons of the prophets who were from Jericho saw him, they said, “The spirit of Elijah rests on Elisha.” And they came to meet him, and bowed to the ground before him.” 2Kings 2:15. Those who have despised him before came to bow down before him, he became significant, recognised, valued and celebrated. My friend, when undeniable miracles are manifesting in our lives and ministries, we shall be relevant to God and significant to the people both far and near, black and white, rich and poor, people in high places, Parliamentarians, House of Lords and even the Head of Governments shall be looking for solutions in the Church to fulfil the Old Testament prophecy of this end time, “Now it shall come to pass in the latter days That the mountain of the Lord’s house Shall be established on the top of the mountains, And shall be exalted above the hills; And all nations shall flow to it. Many people shall come and say, “Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, To the house of the God of Jacob; He will teach us His ways, And we shall walk in His paths.” For out of Zion shall go forth the law, And the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.” Isaiah 2:2-3.
In conclusion, my friend, our eloquence, our brilliance, our efforts, our recycling programmes, our preachings skills and so on are not enough to depopulate the kingdom of darkness and to populate the Kingdom of God in this end time. If they have been enough, all our Churches would have been full up, our Churches would have been multiracial and multicultural as I can bear witness like Apostle Paul bore witness to his people, the Israelites by saying, “Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they may be saved. For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge.” Romans 10:1-2. I can bear witness that African Churches in this part of the world are full of different programmes, worships, dances, shouting, prayers, fasting, preachings and the like. But all these do not commensurate the desired and the expected results. Someone says, it is insane to be doing the same thing over and over again and be expecting a different result. Fellow Men and Women of God, it is high time we change our approaches, it is high time we thirst after undeniable miracles to permeate our lives and ministries instead of saying the “time of miracles are over”, “miracles will not take one to heaven”, “miracles do not guarantee people’s salvation” “devil too performs miracles” or “some are using evil power”.
Well, if some are using evil and demonic powers to perform miracles, why can’t we use God’s power to do the same and even better? Jesus said, ““Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father.” John 14:12. Listen, we can not attract what we despise. We can not expect to experience what we are kicking, bad mouthing and talking against in our lives and ministries. It’s high time we change our orientations, renew mentalities and align ourselves with what God have said concerning this end time Church and Believers, all what God has purposed to do and how He has chosen to fill His Kingdom in this end time. That is, “Then Jesus said to him, “Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will by no means believe.”” John 4:48. I believe that you have been convinced that our lives and ministries need to be backed up by undeniable miracles, the relevant question now is, how can we operate in this miraculous? Well, the part two of this article next week shall be devoted to that. Till then, stay tuned and remain blessed!
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