Do Miracles From God Still Happen?

     People often ask me if miracles still happen to Christians today the same way they happened when Christianity was founded in the First Century.   And I always give them the same answer.  “Yes.”   However, to understand that answer, we need to define “miracles.”

     The early Christians had two words for “miracles.”   The first word was the noun semeion (“say-my’-ahn”), which translates into English as a sign or strange event.   The second word was the noun dunamis (“do’-nuh-mis”), which translates into English as a supernatural happening or Spiritual power.

     So “miracles” are defined as signs, strange events, supernatural happenings, and Spiritual powers that come from God and can’t be explained by natural laws.  They’re include such things as amazing answers to prayer, unique protection in danger, and surprising personal guidance.   These things not only help Christians, but they also serve as evidence to non-Christians that challenge them to become Christians.   (One of the biggest reasons why Christianity spread in the First Century was because non-Christians saw miracles in the lives of Christians.)

     The Early Christians also taught that the gifts of the Spirit (Spiritual healings, dreams, visions, prophecies, etc.) are examples of God’s miracles.   In fact, the apostle Paul’s letters teach that one of the Spiritual gifts from the Holy Spirit is called “miracles,” and his letters teach that all Christians have the Spiritual gifts within them through the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit.   So, Christians do experience miracles today the same way Christians experienced them in the early centuries of Christian history.

     Of course, doubters say that since Christians today don’t effortlessly walk on water, raise the dead, and feed crowds of people with two fish and five loaves of bread, that proves miracles “ended” at the end of the First Century.   However, in the First Century it was Jesus who walked on water, raised the dead, and fed 5,000 people with two fish and five loaves of bread.  It wasn’t Peter, Paul, John, and the other disciples.  All they did was watch as Jesus did these things.

      But, after Christianity was founded on the Day or Pentecost in the First Century, Peter, Paul, John, and the other disciples did have supernatural healings, dreams, visions, prophecies, amazing answers to prayer, unique protection in danger, and surprising personal guidance.   That tells us that there are two kinds of miracles for Christians:  First, miracles that Jesus performs as the Son of God.  Second, the miracles of the gifts of the Spirit, the fruit of the Spirit, and the supernatural experiences that God expresses through Christians because they’re indwelled by the Holy Spirit.

      There are also documented cases in our time of people coming back to life, of groups being miraculously fed, and other such First-Century-type miracles still occurring.  So there are no grounds for doubters to say that miracles “ended” in the First Century.  The sad truth is that many Christians have been taught that miracles “ended” in the First Century, and thus they’re not expecting miracles or even asking for them.  But that sad fact doesn’t prove that miracles don’t still happen if Christians expect them and ask for them.

     To summarize:  Christians can, and should, still experience signs, powers, and wonders today.   Christians can still experience Spiritual gifts, Spiritual fruit, and other supernatural miracles today – if they want them, if they believe in them, and if they pray for them.