STRETCH OUT YOUR HANDS - PART 3

FRIDAY 09 FEBRUARY 2024

Believing in God's ability to heal and to perform miraculous signs and wonders shows our reverence and honour to His Supreme Deity, and our acknowledgement of His greatness and sovereignty, and it portrays the true character of our Christian life.

Reference: Acts 4:30 New International Version (NIV)

"Stretch out your hand to heal and perform signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus."

The next segment to be expounded by my humble self in the versified statement is:

And perform signs and wonders.

Miraculous signs and wonders are divine events that take place under the powerful influence of God's manifest presence. They are divine acts that happen as supernatural manifestations of the Holy Spirit. And they include miraculous encounters such as speaking in tongues, prophesying future events, exerting or calling forth sufficient miracle money, raising the lame to walk, giving sight to the blind, turning negative outcomes to favourable outcomes, getting people saved, casting out the devils, functioning above deadly prognosis unaffected and unperturbed, and more.

They are transcendent experiences; zero wonder Peter and John, including the church at Jerusalem, assembled themselves to pray specifically for the manifestation of signs and wonders to be performed by God through their lives.

The Holy Spirit is a creative and performing Spirit that shapes signs and wonders in His full energetic manifestations. In Romans 15:18-19, Paul said, "I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me in leading the Gentiles to obey God by what I have said and done— by the power of signs and wonders, through the power of the Spirit of God. So from Jerusalem all the way around to Illyricum, I have fully proclaimed the gospel of Christ" (NIV).

Christ Jesus accomplished a lot in the church by using Paul as an instrument, and so, through his preaching, the enduring and transforming influence of mighty signs and wonders was wielded and fashioned by the power of the Spirit, which in turn, attested to supreme glory of God's presence.

Apostle Paul was epitomised as a man who represented the Lord Jesus Christ on earth, by stretching out His hand to heal and perform signs and wonders, thereby giving the most weight to the meaning of supernatural gifts of the Holy Spirit. Just like the Biblical apostles, we must expect signs and wonders to accompany us as we preach and spread the glorious gospel because our salvation and holy calling are supernatural in operation.

More so, preaching the knowledge of Christ is a sure means of experiencing the sovereign power of God in ways that are awe-inspiring, thereby filling us with the astonishing influence of the glory and greatness of His divine presence. For instance, after Peter preached and three thousand people gave their lives to Christ and were added to the church, the saints continually engaged the fellowship of the Spirit, and a deep sense of awe came over them all, as the apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders (Acts 2:43 NIV).

Beloved, God bears witness to His Word, with both signs and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, distributed according to His own will (Hebrews 2:4 NIV). Signs and wonders connect us with eternal assurance that comes with peace and comfort of the Spirit, and they deepen our convictions about our new life in Christ. In fact, every aspect of such miraculous acts can play a vital role in bringing lost souls to Christ for salvation, and in directing them in the path of life to walk fully in their liberty.

Acts 5:12 stated that the apostles were performing many miraculous signs and wonders among the people. And all the believers were meeting regularly at the Temple in the area known as Solomon's Colonnade (NLT). These apostles were highly favoured by God and today, in accordance with Mark 16:17-18, this is equally our own heritage as we preach the gospel of truth. Stay tuned for part 4. Shalom!

Scripture Reading - Acts 2:22; Acts 6:8; Acts 14:3; Acts 8:6; Acts 8:13.

Exuberant Declaration:

As for me and my household, we are for signs and wonders in the land of the living, and our heritage comes from the LORD of hosts, who dwells in Mount Zion. Hallelujah!