Spiritual Gifts, Miracles, Prophesies

[CBE1]

What needs to also be considered is that all denominations do believe in the Holy Spirit for regeneration and assistance, but some do not believe that the gifts continued after the first generation of the church. They also do not believe in all the offices He has set up.

1. If someone does believe in something can the Lord make it happen in their life?

2. If I have a closed mind to what God can and can not do, does that mean that He can't do some things in my life?

1. Yes, He can, but will He? If that person is believing in something that is within the will of God, then it would be granted to that person. If it is outside His will, it will not. That does not mean that the person will make it happen themselves. An example would be if a person wants a specific job and prays about it. God does not want the person to take the job and tries to guide this person away from it, but the person likes the money, and when it is offered to them, they take it. It was not Gods will, but the persons will. God did not make it happen, they made it happen.

2. If He wants to do something in your life that you do not believe can be done, He will first try to prepare you for what He wants to do, opening your mind and heart to His will. If you refuse, then He will not force it onto you. God can do anything, but remember that we have to receive what He is doing. What God will not do is force anyone to do anything. To many times people miss out of what God wants to do because of closed minds. Yet, that does not mean to open your mind to every teaching under the sun that mentions God, but be guided by His word, through the Holy Spirit.

My answers are in general, as your questions were. If you want to ask specific questions, we can discuss how we believe God will answer, but mind you, He does not work according to our belief, but His will.

All things are possible with God, but still it is recorded that when Jesus went to Nazereth He told them that He couldn't to great miracles there because of theri disbelief.

How do you account for this statement of His?

[OneLight]

What needs to also be considered is that all denominations do believe in the Holy Spirit for regeneration and assistance, but some do not believe that the gifts continued after the first generation of the church. They also do not believe in all the offices He has set up.

1. If someone does believe in something can the Lord make it happen in their life?

2. If I have a closed mind to what God can and can not do, does that mean that He can't do some things in my life?

1. Yes, He can, but will He? If that person is believing in something that is within the will of God, then it would be granted to that person. If it is outside His will, it will not. That does not mean that the person will make it happen themselves. An example would be if a person wants a specific job and prays about it. God does not want the person to take the job and tries to guide this person away from it, but the person likes the money, and when it is offered to them, they take it. It was not Gods will, but the persons will. God did not make it happen, they made it happen.

2. If He wants to do something in your life that you do not believe can be done, He will first try to prepare you for what He wants to do, opening your mind and heart to His will. If you refuse, then He will not force it onto you. God can do anything, but remember that we have to receive what He is doing. What God will not do is force anyone to do anything. To many times people miss out of what God wants to do because of closed minds. Yet, that does not mean to open your mind to every teaching under the sun that mentions God, but be guided by His word, through the Holy Spirit.

My answers are in general, as your questions were. If you want to ask specific questions, we can discuss how we believe God will answer, but mind you, He does not work according to our belief, but His will.

All things are possible with God, but still it is recorded that when Jesus went to Nazereth He told them that He couldn't to great miracles there because of theri disbelief.

How do you account for this statement of His?

As I mentioned above, God does not force anything onto anyone. If you choose not to accept His blessings, He will not make you take it.

In the case of Jonah, being a servant of God and believing God can do anything, God did make circumstances happen. Yet, in the case of unbelievers, He will not.

[~Shalhevet~]

The danger I see in "faith healing" churches is that they seem to marvel in themselves. If these gifts and these healings are being done by Christ, why are so many crediting themselves? I have just dipped my feet into a few of these types of churches and it seems more people are interested in what they can do than what God can do. Make sense? This to me can be very dangerous IMO. If we are going to do these things, we need to make it extremely clear that it is not our power in force. These powers IMO should also be brought to unbelievers more than to Christians themselves. Of course, we need healing too, but we cannot do these things for our own "entertainment". Use these powers to SAVE people.

I will not deny that God can make these things happen. But I will do as many have advised me...proceed carefully and find a "medium". If we flat out deny that these healings are happening, these tongues are being spoken, these miracles are real, then who is behind them? If it isn't God...then wouldn't it be nasty old satan himself (aka puckerface....thanks yod!)? If denying these wonders isn't blasphemy of the spirit then I don't know what is.

Anyone correct me if I am wrong and I pray the Lord will do the same.

[CBE1]

The danger I see in "faith healing" churches is that they seem to marvel in themselves. If these gifts and these healings are being done by Christ, why are so many crediting themselves? I have just dipped my feet into a few of these types of churches and it seems more people are interested in what they can do than what God can do. Make sense? This to me can be very dangerous IMO. If we are going to do these things, we need to make it extremely clear that it is not our power in force. These powers IMO should also be brought to unbelievers more than to Christians themselves. Of course, we need healing too, but we cannot do these things for our own "entertainment". Use these powers to SAVE people.

I will not deny that God can make these things happen. But I will do as many have advised me...proceed carefully and find a "medium". If we flat out deny that these healings are happening, these tongues are being spoken, these miracles are real, then who is behind them? If it isn't God...then wouldn't it be nasty old satan himself (aka puckerface....thanks yod!)? If denying these wonders isn't blasphemy of the spirit then I don't know what is.

Anyone correct me if I am wrong and I pray the Lord will do the same.

I don't see where you are necessarily wrong. Understanding who is behind what, is important. And certainly we should not be taking credit for God's work, but credit, praise, honor, and glory belong to the Lord.

Still most of those ministries in which I have seen healing in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ are giving glory, honor, and praise to our Lord Jesus Christ. I would not want to degrade them. I'm in southern California, and have been to several of Benny Hinn's miracles crusades and they praised, gloified and gave honor to Jesus Christ and I saw what looked like upto five hundred people claiming to have gotten heal. The Scriptures talk against those who are scoffers. If the healing are somehow giving glory to the Lord I don't see why Satan of those following him would be behind it.

Still it is not by what we see that we should judge, nor should we make the judgement on our understanging. We have the ability to talk to the Lord ourselves and He answers. He never seems to answer like I think. His thoughts are not my thoughts. He not always gives me a straight yes or no either. Usually He seems to prefer leading me through some things so that I will get understanding and not just an answer.

Is it not enough to believe that all things are possible with the Lord, then ask Him to do His will in our life? If He tells someone like a Benny Hinn to do a healing ministry, then praise the Lord. He has asked me to pray for people and I have seen Him heal them, but not like that and in those numbers. My ministry is not like his at all. We all have different purposes in the body, but let us becareful not to scoff, least we find ourselves scoffing at the work of the Lord. And let us not be unaware, and that is the point you are making isn't it Or'el Shalhevet?

Good post.

[~Shalhevet~]

Is it not enough to believe that all things are possible with the Lord, then ask Him to do His will in our life? If He tells someone like a Benny Hinn to do a healing ministry, then praise the Lord. He has asked me to pray for people and I have seen Him heal them, but not like that and in those numbers. My ministry is not like his at all. We all have different purposes in the body, but let us becareful not to scoff, least we find ourselves scoffing at the work of the Lord. And let us not be unaware, and that is the point you are making isn't it Or'el Shalhevet?

Good post.

My point indeed. Yes, ALL things are possible with the Lord. And we should not scoff.

[CBE1]

[exrockstar]

Acts 2 -

16 but this is what was spoken of through the prophet Joel : 17 'AND IT SHALL BE IN THE LAST DAYS,' God says, 'THAT I WILL POUR FORTH OF MY SPIRIT ON ALL MANKIND ; . . .

Would someone care to explain when "the last days" ended?

If the "the last days" was then, what are we living in now?

what version of the bible are you looking at? i dont see "the last days...." in Joel.

I was quoting from Acts 2. You may compare translations of this verse here.

So the question would be why did Peter say, "Last days"?

i would have suspected that it was "the last days" as the last attempt to bring deliverance to the Jews. The message that Peter gave in Acts 2 was solemly for the Jews.

Even Joel 2 speaks to Jews only. Peter even started his speech in Acts 2:14 as "Ye men of Judaea....."

But as you know deliverance came to all that "called in the Lord" so it was never the gentiles "last days" but that was directed to the Jews.

the day Peter made his speech was not THEE last day but it's kinda easy to see when the last day came.

If you can pin point the last day then you can maybe even guess when SOME gifts exited. But lets not go there because some people

loves them those gifts.

IMO

[CBE1]

I once heard a preacher tell this story:

He was on a ship when he heard the Lord talking to Him. The Lord told the man that He couldn't do something without him. The man reminded the man that all things were possible for God. To which the Lord replied that was so, but He had committed to doing things through people and having them involved. So it was not possible for Him to keep that without using people.

I believe that He needs our faith in Him because He layed down the spiritual prinicple of things being possible according to our faith. If we do not believe that all things are possible with God and listen to the instructions of the Lord [faith comes from hearing] then it is impossible for HIm to do miracles and still keep the spiritual principle of having faith for them to occur.

sorry, but you give us humans too much power over God, and take way too much away from God.

God does not need us to do anything. He uses us for our own benefit, not for his.

He does use us for our own benefit. Isn't that why He decided that He would use us? This concept does not take anything away from God but glorifies Him for being so thoughtful, to the point that He decided that He can not do great miracles if we don't believe in Him. This does not glorify us, but rather glorifies Him through us. What a thoughtful Lord we have!

[OneLight]

The danger I see in "faith healing" churches is that they seem to marvel in themselves. If these gifts and these healings are being done by Christ, why are so many crediting themselves? I have just dipped my feet into a few of these types of churches and it seems more people are interested in what they can do than what God can do. Make sense? This to me can be very dangerous IMO. If we are going to do these things, we need to make it extremely clear that it is not our power in force. These powers IMO should also be brought to unbelievers more than to Christians themselves. Of course, we need healing too, but we cannot do these things for our own "entertainment". Use these powers to SAVE people.

I will not deny that God can make these things happen. But I will do as many have advised me...proceed carefully and find a "medium". If we flat out deny that these healings are happening, these tongues are being spoken, these miracles are real, then who is behind them? If it isn't God...then wouldn't it be nasty old satan himself (aka puckerface....thanks yod!)? If denying these wonders isn't blasphemy of the spirit then I don't know what is.

Anyone correct me if I am wrong and I pray the Lord will do the same.

I don't see where you are necessarily wrong. Understanding who is behind what, is important. And certainly we should not be taking credit for God's work, but credit, praise, honor, and glory belong to the Lord.

Still most of those ministries in which I have seen healing in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ are giving glory, honor, and praise to our Lord Jesus Christ. I would not want to degrade them. I'm in southern California, and have been to several of Benny Hinn's miracles crusades and they praised, gloified and gave honor to Jesus Christ and I saw what looked like upto five hundred people claiming to have gotten heal. The Scriptures talk against those who are scoffers. If the healing are somehow giving glory to the Lord I don't see why Satan of those following him would be behind it.

It is very simple, to be honest with you. If Satan can get someone to believe that a false teacher can perform healing and miracles from God, they will have to accept the false teachings as true. How else could one explain that God is using that person, since God only uses His own? So, by deceiving them to believe that a false teacher can heal and perform miracles, Satan can then get them to follow a lie, turning them from the truth, from life to death.

Still it is not by what we see that we should judge, nor should we make the judgement on our understanging. We have the ability to talk to the Lord ourselves and He answers. He never seems to answer like I think. His thoughts are not my thoughts. He not always gives me a straight yes or no either. Usually He seems to prefer leading me through some things so that I will get understanding and not just an answer.

I agree, but will also add that any answer we do receive, no matter how it is done, has to line up with scripture in order for it to be true. We should not look at what is goign on, but the message behind the action. I have never heard of Satan healing, but I do very much believe that he can stop the attacks on people in order to get then to believe they are healed, when only an attack has ceased.

Is it not enough to believe that all things are possible with the Lord, then ask Him to do His will in our life? If He tells someone like a Benny Hinn to do a healing ministry, then praise the Lord. He has asked me to pray for people and I have seen Him heal them, but not like that and in those numbers. My ministry is not like his at all. We all have different purposes in the body, but let us becareful not to scoff, least we find ourselves scoffing at the work of the Lord. And let us not be unaware, and that is the point you are making isn't it Or'el Shalhevet?

Good post.

No, it is not enough to just believe everything that happens. God can do all things, and Satan is trying his best to duplicate them, even to the point of almost deceiving the very elect. Matthew 24:24 "For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect." We have to test all things to see if they come from God or not. To just accept is foolish, for even the magicians in Egypt were able to duplicate some of Gods plagues. Be careful when you are told to believe blindly ... always search to see if it is from God or the deceiver.

[OneLight]

Acts 2 -

16 but this is what was spoken of through the prophet Joel : 17 'AND IT SHALL BE IN THE LAST DAYS,' God says, 'THAT I WILL POUR FORTH OF MY SPIRIT ON ALL MANKIND ; . . .

Would someone care to explain when "the last days" ended?

If the "the last days" was then, what are we living in now?

what version of the bible are you looking at? i dont see "the last days...." in Joel.

I was quoting from Acts 2. You may compare translations of this verse here.

So the question would be why did Peter say, "Last days"?

i would have suspected that it was "the last days" as the last attempt to bring deliverance to the Jews. The message that Peter gave in Acts 2 was solemly for the Jews.

Even Joel 2 speaks to Jews only. Peter even started his speech in Acts 2:14 as "Ye men of Judaea....."

But as you know deliverance came to all that "called in the Lord" so it was never the gentiles "last days" but that was directed to the Jews.

the day Peter made his speech was not THEE last day but it's kinda easy to see when the last day came.

If you can pin point the last day then you can maybe even guess when SOME gifts exited. But lets not go there because some people

loves them those gifts.

IMO

To follow your belief, you would have to deny that the Gentiles were grafted into the vine. Christ is the vine, and those who are His are the branches. Jesus told us that the vine dresser will cut off the branches that do not bear fruit, both Jew and Gentile. Since we are grafted into the vine, the last day is the Day of the Lord, and the period right before then are the last days. Even though Peter was talking to Jews as Pentecost, that does not mean what was being said was not for those in Christ.