Where Is the Supernatural Power of God Today?

The Sojourner:

God is supernatural.

Jesus walked in the supernatural.

He healed the sick. He cast out demons. He knew things naturally He could not have known. He multiplied food, calmed storms, raised the dead, and demonstrated the Kingdom of God wherever He went.

Then I look at the Church today and find myself wondering:

Where is the power of God in a supernatural way now?

I know God hasn’t changed.

So where is it?

The Professor:

That question forces us to go deeper than simply asking, “Do miracles still happen?”

The deeper question is: Where is the supernatural life Jesus demonstrated?

The New Testament never presents the supernatural as an occasional interruption to ordinary Christianity. It presents it as part of the Kingdom of God.

Jesus healed the sick, cast out demons, discerned hearts, spoke prophetically, multiplied food, calmed storms, and raised the dead. Then He promised that the Holy Spirit would continue His work through His followers.

“He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also…”
—John 14:12

When we move from the Gospels into Acts, we don’t see the supernatural disappearing when Jesus ascends. We see it continuing through ordinary believers empowered by the Holy Spirit.

And Acts does not read like the conclusion of something.

It reads like the beginning.

Yet when we look around today, much of Christianity seems to demonstrate very little of that same supernatural power.

I don’t believe the explanation is that God has changed.

Perhaps our expectations have changed.

Modern Christianity has become remarkably good at explaining God, organizing God, studying God, defending God, and building institutions around God. We have churches, seminaries, conferences, books, podcasts, commentaries, worship systems, and theological libraries.

None of those things are wrong.

But knowledge about God is not the same thing as dependence upon God.

The early Church possessed almost none of the resources we possess today, yet they seemed intensely aware of one thing:

If the Holy Spirit did not move, nothing lasting was going to happen.

They prayed until buildings shook.

They fasted.

They waited.

They listened.

They obeyed.

And when God moved, they moved with Him.

But there is another side of this that we shouldn’t overlook.

Sometimes we define “supernatural” too narrowly.

We immediately think of spectacular miracles—and certainly Scripture gives us every reason to believe in healing, deliverance, prophecy, miracles, and the gifts of the Spirit.

Paul specifically lists manifestations of the Spirit: words of wisdom, words of knowledge, faith, gifts of healing, working of miracles, prophecy, discerning of spirits, tongues, and interpretation of tongues.

These weren’t presented as museum pieces from Christianity’s opening century.

They were manifestations of the Holy Spirit given “to profit withal”—for the benefit of the Body.

But supernatural life begins even deeper than supernatural manifestations.

A hardened heart becoming tender is supernatural.

A person forgiving someone they once hated is supernatural.

A life being delivered from bondage is supernatural.

A human being hearing God’s voice and obeying Him is supernatural.

And perhaps the greatest miracle of all is the new birth itself—a spiritually dead human spirit becoming alive unto God.

We should never minimize those miracles.

But neither should we use them to explain away the rest.

Jesus healed bodies.

Jesus cast out demons.

Jesus demonstrated supernatural knowledge.

Jesus performed miracles.

And the early Church continued doing the same things through the power of the Holy Spirit.

So perhaps the better question isn’t whether supernatural power still exists.

Perhaps the question is:

Why don’t we expect to see more of it?

One possibility deserves serious consideration.

We sometimes seek power without pursuing intimacy.

In Acts, supernatural power flowed through people who first lived near God.

They didn’t treat the Holy Spirit as a ministry tool.

They yielded themselves to Him.

The power wasn’t ultimately the goal.

Jesus was.

And something else becomes apparent when we follow the supernatural through Scripture: God’s power frequently appears where His purposes are being advanced.

When Peter needed boldness, supernatural boldness came.

When Philip needed direction concerning the Ethiopian eunuch, supernatural guidance came.

When Paul needed deliverance, deliverance came.

When the Gospel needed confirmation, signs and wonders followed.

The miracles served the mission.

The Kingdom advanced, and the power accompanied it.

That also gives us an important safeguard.

Scripture doesn’t tell us to believe every supernatural claim simply because someone attaches God’s name to it. Neither does Scripture tell us to reject supernatural manifestations because counterfeit ones exist.

Instead, Scripture gives us two instructions that belong together:

Desire spiritual gifts.

And:

Test the spirits.

That requires discernment.

The genuine supernatural work of God will ultimately point toward Jesus, agree with the truth of Scripture, and produce fruit consistent with the character of God.

And perhaps we need to enlarge our understanding of what supernatural ministry looks like.

Healing is supernatural.

Deliverance is supernatural.

Prophecy is supernatural.

But so is perceiving what God is saying while everyone else hears only noise.

So is receiving wisdom that you could not have produced naturally.

So is recognizing danger before others see it.

So is speaking one Spirit-directed sentence that changes the direction of someone’s life.

So is writing something under the prompting of the Holy Spirit that awakens faith in someone you may never meet.

The supernatural does not always arrive with thunder.

Sometimes it arrives as a whisper.

Sometimes it looks like a hand laid upon the sick.

Sometimes it looks like a prophetic word.

Sometimes it looks like extraordinary deliverance.

And sometimes it looks like an ordinary believer sitting quietly before God and suddenly knowing what to do.

Perhaps, then, the Church’s greatest need isn’t merely another miracle service.

Perhaps we need another generation that knows God well enough to recognize His voice, trusts Him enough to obey when He speaks, and loves Jesus enough that when supernatural manifestations occur, nobody is confused about who deserves the glory.

Intimacy.

Obedience.

Humility.

And expectancy.

When those begin coming together, perhaps the supernatural stops being something Christians merely read about in the book of Acts.

It becomes something they expect while writing the next chapter.

The Sojourner:

And that leaves me with another question.

Maybe I shouldn’t only be asking:

“Where is the supernatural power of God?”

Maybe I should also be asking:

“Lord, how much room have I given You to demonstrate it through me?”