Signs and wonders had been the norm in the early church after the Day of Pentecost. Then there was a period where they went silent in history before 'restoration' came.
Signs and wonders are simply part of the Gospel. Or rather, without signs and wonders, it will not be a complete Gospel.
However, while signs and wonders point people to the reality of God, they don't transform lives. In today's world, there are too many believers who are excited about signs and wonders but they miss the purpose of the Gospel.
Some pursue signs and wonders to the other extreme where they start focusing on angels, heaven's visitations, transportation, gold dust, etc, just to name a few. These may sound exciting but it has nothing to do with the Gospel. You just have to read the four books of the Gospel to know what Jesus focused on.
Others pursue signs and wonders like healing, miracles, prophecies, etc but there is no fruit in their lives. In other words, they walk in extreme power but not in love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
In a third world nation like Indonesia, signs and wonders are the commonplace. I heard from my Indo pastor friend that they regularly have tremendous miracles in their local crusades. Honestly, they don't need another speaker to come in and 'perform' signs and wonders. However, there are many other issues among the churches and the pastors that boil down to one thing - not knowing their identity.
Teach the church on signs and wonders and the church will still be messed up. Just look at the Corinthian Church. But teach the church on identity and they will bring down heaven. Revivals didn't produce abiding fruit because people didn't understand identity.
Pursuing signs and wonders only reveals one thing. People are building their identity in the wrong place. Because signs and wonders do not transform lives. Only identity does.
The mercy of God allows one to live in sin and yet walk in the supernatural. Of course, this is not the heart of God. Bill Johnson said, "Gifts are free. But maturity is expensive."
To mature in Christ is to pursue the identity that Christ had paid for us to walk in - the same nature that He has.
You can walk in signs and wonders without walking in your identity. But you can't walk in your identity without naturally producing signs and wonders.
Be excited about signs and wonders. But pursue identity and let the supernatural be part of your identity. Not the other way round. #identity
No comments:
Post a Comment