Month: May 2026

Do You Believe In Miracles? Part 1

Some claim that miracles ended with the apostles and that any supernatural work today must be a deception of Satan. Others maintain that God continues to perform miracles as He always has, (Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today and forever—Hebrews 13:8).

In the early days of my ministry, while I was still in Bible school, I had a profound spiritual encounter that marked my walk with God. One afternoon, between noon and 1 p.m., during a time of fasting and prayer, as I lay on my bed, Jesus revealed Himself to me. He stretched out His hand toward me and said, “Come.” Immediately, I felt my spirit leave my body and stand beside Him.

As I stood in His presence, Jesus instructed me to speak to my physical body—still lying motionless on the bed—and command it to recite Acts 17:28. I spoke to the body, but it could not respond. Then the Lord said, “Assist it.” At that moment, my spirit re-entered my body, my mouth opened, and I recited the Scripture aloud:“For in Him we live, and move, and have our being…”

The vision lifted. I rose from the bed, took my Bible, and read the passage again— this time including the verse before it, “That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us,” (verse 27; KJV). Through this encounter, Jesus imparted a profound spiritual truth: a child of God is never distant from God. Our entire existence—our life, our movement, our very being—is rooted in Him.

Jesus taught that signs, miracles, and healings will accompany those who believe (Mark 16:17-18). Neither He nor the Apostles ever suggested a timeline for when these works of God would cease within the life of the Church. Some, however, appeal to 1 Corinthians 13:8-13 and interpret Paul’s words to mean that miracles are no longer necessary because we now possess the completed Scriptures. Yet the passage does not explicitly state that miracles have ceased; its focus lies elsewhere, and we will examine this text more closely in a later section.

These differing interpretations point to a deeper question: “What does Scripture actually teach about the continuation of God’s power in the world today?”

Spirit is life. We live in Him—in spirit. We move in Him—in spirit. And our being is sustained by His presence—in spirit. This is the spiritual reality of every believer united with Christ.

This truth is affirmed in 1 Corinthians 6:17, which declares that the one who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with Him. God has repeatedly confirmed to me that He is faithful to His Word and that He never disappoints those who walk with Him in obedience and in the Spirit. His Word is still living and active, his Spirit still moves with strength, and His presence is nearer than we often realize.

Challenges and sicknesses that resist every form of treatment continue to persist, and new and strange afflictions arise. In such moments, only God’s intervention can confront what human strength and knowledge cannot. Those living in extreme poverty—unable to afford life-saving surgeries—cling to the hope of God’s miraculous provision. Parents who have not eaten for days, and unsure how to feed their starving children, still lift their eyes to a miracle-working God.

When a person seeks help and none is forthcoming as expected, the heart instinctively turns upward, trusting the God who hears the cries of the desperate. And those who have already tasted God’s miraculous power stand as living witnesses that He has not changed. They remain confident that He still works wonders today—bringing relief to those who languish in unbearable pain, lifting those crushed by need and proving once again that His compassion and his power are never out of reach.

Many times, when I cannot see any path forward or imagine how my situation could ever be resolved, I lift my eyes to God, the only One who sees what I cannot see. When circumstances offer no visible solution, I look up to God for a miracle—because what is impossible to me is never impossible to Him

God sees the full weight of what you are walking through. No one understands you as deeply or as accurately as He does. Scripture reminds us that the Lord looks beyond outward appearances and searches the heart (1 Samuel 16:7), examines the inner motives (Jeremiah 17:10), and knows all things perfectly (Acts 15:8). Even the sincerest people in your life—family, friends, mentors—can only understand in part. Their compassion is real, but their knowledge is limited. Even trained professionals, with all their skill and experience, cannot grasp your pain with perfect clarity.

But God can! He created you. He knows your frame. He sees every hidden burden and feels the weight of every unspoken sorrow.

People may stand with you, pray for you, and genuinely attempt to share in your suffering. Yet the ultimate healer and the ultimate provider is God. Those who help you are not the source of your deliverance; they are channels through whom God chooses to extend His grace and provision.

There are moments when those around you are unable to offer the help you need. There are moments when medical experts, having exhausted every available intervention, conclude that nothing further can be done. Yet God is never limited! Where human capacity reaches its boundary, the sphere of divine power begins. This is the point at which faith recognizes that resolution of the crisis no longer rests in human ability but in God’s sovereign intervention.

There are moments when, deep within your heart and spirit, you are fully convinced that your faith is right, and that God Himself has affirmed your conviction—but others may believe you are not thinking clearly. Remember Job and his three friends. Job stood upright and truthful before God, yet Satan was turning everything upside down. God saw every detail, even though He did not intervene immediately.

When you find yourself in a similar situation, your task is simple but not easy: wait for God. Hold your ground. Fix your hope on Him. And trust that He will work the miracle your situation requires.

Some lose their faith in the waiting. But those who truly know God—and believe that He still works miracles—anchor their hope in Jesus Christ, not in shifting circumstances. When the hand that could lift you out of your financial quagmire seems absent, look steadfastly to Jesus Christ, the One who never withholds His help. When you believe in God’s intervention, yet everything around you is hostile, only a miracle will suffice.

Consider the woman with the issue of blood. After twelve long years, she had exhausted her strength, her resources, and perhaps even her hope (Luke 8:43). Friends and family who once tried to help may have quietly stepped back when nothing changed. Her final remaining expectation was a miracle—nothing less.

And then Jesus came with the miracle! But the thick crowd pressed in from every side, making it seem impossible for her to reach Jesus. Yet she knew this was her moment—the miracle was passing by. Summoning the last of her strength, she whispered with conviction: “If I can only touch the hem of His garment, I will be healed.”

With trembling hands, she reached out, her fingers brushed the edge of His robe, and Jesus felt her faith. Though many hands crowded against Jesus, hers alone drew power from Him. Others pressed upon Him, but only her touch released virtue. She actuated her faith, and faith made the difference. Perhaps that is why miracles seem rare in our day: many make contact, but few make contact by faith.

Many may lose confidence in you or in the path God has set before you. People may grow tired, misunderstand you, or even give up on you—but do not lose hope. Jesus is still beckoning you, and He will answer your prayer.

I believe in miracles. I believe God still works wonders. And if you believe that Jesus performed miracles in the Scriptures, then you must also believe that He will perform miracles in your life today. His Power has not diminished. His compassion has not changed. His willingness to help has not expired.

Hold on to your faith. Let your touch—your prayers, your cry, your persistence—be the one that Jesus feels.

Miracles have not ceased. In our next discussion, we will examine this reality with clarity and with Scripture.

Syncretism Defeats Faith

The Christian faith has weakened for many reasons, but one of the most damaging is syncretism. One major reason we do not witness the power of the Holy Spirit today as in the New Testament is that many believers have blended the pure teachings of Christ with ideas and practices from other religions.

Some Christians adopt strange teachings, while others mix New Testament doctrines with elements from traditional African religions, Eastern religions, or cultural spirituality. This blending – whether intentional or unconscious – dilutes the purity and authority of the gospel.

A particular challenge arises when leaders who previously held positions in other religions convert to Christianity. Many of them retain the mindset and practices of their former roles. Without proper grounding in Christian doctrine, they often cannot discern where Christian spirituality ends, and where other religious practices begin. Assuming that “all spirituality is the same,” they incorporate rituals, beliefs, and methods from their former religions into their new faith. The result is a syncretized Christianity that looks Christian on the surface but is mixed at the core.

This confusion weakens the church, misleads believers, and undermines the transformative power of the Holy Spirit. In Acts 15, the Apostles decisively resisted every form of syncretism – and we must do the same.

Today, some Christians, in their sincere desire to walk in the apostolic and Pentecostal path, mistakenly import rituals from the Levitical priesthood – rites that Christ has annulled through His finished work and the establishment of the New Testament (Judaic) priesthood. Others go even further, introducing entirely new concepts and practices that merely resemble Levitical rites but are adaptations of rituals from their former religions. These practices are then presented as divinely inspired, even though they have no grounding in the teachings of the New Testament.

The Christian faith cannot be mixed with teachings or practices the Apostles did not hand down to us. We are “built on the foundation of the Apostles, with Jesus Christ Himself as the Chief Cornerstone” (Ephesians 2:19-20).

Jesus commanded His followers to teach everything He had taught them (Matthew 28:18-20), and the early Church obeyed – shaping its life, worship, and doctrine around apostolic instruction (Acts 2:41-43). This is the pattern we must continue: a faith rooted in Jesus Christ, guarded by apostolic truth, and kept free from foreign doctrines.

The Apostles, in Acts 15, firmly opposed every attempt to syncretize the Christian doctrine when certain men from Judea insisted that Gentile believers must submit to the Mosaic Law – especially the ceremonial rites tied to the Levitical priesthood – before their salvation could be considered complete. Such teaching implied that Christ’s finished work was insufficient unless supplemented by Old Testament ceremonial requirements, thereby undermining the very foundation of the gospel.

Today, similar errors persist. Some leaders claim that miracles can be activated through rituals modeled after Old Testament practices. Many of these rituals are outdated Levitical forms, while others are blended with practices from non-Christian religions that only resemble Old Testament symbolism. But Scripture is unmistakably clear: the Levitical system was temporary, limited, and intentionally replaced.

Hebrews 7:11-12, 18-19 and 8:6-13 affirm that God set aside the former priesthood and its rituals because they could not bring perfection. In their place, Christ established a better priesthood, a better covenant, and a better way – one not grounded in ceremonial rites but in His finished work and the power of the Holy Spirit.

The New Testament consistently grounds the manifestation of divine power, healing, and miraculous activity in the authoritative Name of Jesus rather than in the performance of ritual actions (Mark 16:17-18; Acts 3:16). This theological orientation reflects a decisive shift from the ritual-centered structures of the Old Covenant to a Christocentric framework in which faith in the risen Lord constitutes the primary locus of divine agency.

The Apostolic community’s rejection of syncretistic tendencies – whether the reintroduction of Levitical rites or the blending of Christian faith with surrounding religious practices – functions as a normative precedent for contemporary Christian theology. Maintaining this distinction is essential for preserving the integrity of Christian doctrine and ensuring that the source of spiritual authority remains anchored in Christ rather than in ritual systems that obscure or displace His centrality.

A church in Ghana split after its leaders attempted to introduce traditional religious concepts and rituals into the church’s doctrine, blending them with Christian teaching. Among the practices being introduced were elements drawn from indigenous snake-related ritual systems and other traditional worship forms. A portion of the congregation strongly disagreed with this direction and resisted the syncretization. Although other issues also contributed to the tension, the central conflict was doctrinal.

After a prolonged disagreement, the group that opposed the blending of Christian doctrine with traditional religious practices chose to separate. They eventually formed a new congregation and now operate under a new name.

This situation mirrors the warning Christ gave to the church in Thyatira. In Revelation, the Son of God commended the church for her love, faith, service, and perseverance. Yet despite these virtues, He rebuked her sharply for tolerating “the woman Jezebel,” who claimed prophetic authority while leading believers into immorality, idolatry, and practices rooted in satanic ritualism. Christ declared that unless they repented, He would judge both her and all who participated in her teachings.

Paul confronted this doctrinal drift in his epistle to the Galatians. He reminded the believers that they received the Spirit and witnessed miracles not through ceremonial observances or ritual performances, but through hearing the gospel and responding in faith (Galatians 3:2-5).

The power of God flows through Christ alone, by faith alone, apart from any ritualistic system that Christ has already fulfilled and set aside or abolished.

When the Name of Jesus Christ is invoked, the Holy Spirit who indwells within the believer moves, and miracles follow – not because of human effort, but because heaven responds to the authority vested in Jesus Christ (Philippians 2:9-11). The source of power is not the ritual, not the individual performing it, but the exalted Christ whose Name carries divine authority.