Signs and Wonders

Signs and Wonders 

God answers the prayer that asks for a miracle!

Ever wish you could see more

of the miracles Jesus did today?

I do, in fact it is a common prayer of mine.

I found that it was also a prayer of the disciples

after Jesus went to be with the Father.

In Acts 4,

Peter and John are arrested for preaching about Jesus;

and before they are released they are ordered

not to preach in His name any more.

When they got back to the rest of the disciples,

they prayed this prayer:

29 Now, Lord, look on their threats,

and grant to Your servants that with all boldness

they may speak Your word,

30 by stretching out Your hand to heal,

and that signs and wonders may be done

 through the name of Your holy servant Jesus."  

Acts 4:28-30 NKJV

After they prayed, the place was shaken

and their boldness was increased.

The Apostle Paul realized

that it was not his persuasive words

that caused the Corinthians to believe,

but the power of God.

4 My message and my preaching were not

with wise and persuasive words,

but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power,

5 so that your faith might not rest on men's wisdom,

but on God's power.

1 Corinthians 2:4-5 NIV

David realized the need to tell

the generations after him of God’s power.

18 Even when I am old and gray,

do not forsake me, O God,

till I declare Your power to the next generation,

Your might to all who are to come.

Psalm 71:18 NIV

People have always wanted to see God’s power.

We find a common thread to, or desire of,

 those who want to see God’s power and saw it.

They wanted others to know and believe in God.

3 So Paul and Barnabas

spent considerable time there,

speaking boldly for the Lord,

who confirmed the message of His grace

 by enabling them to do

 miraculous signs and wonders.

Acts 14:2-3 NIV

Maybe the cry for signs should be equaled

with the cry for boldness

that people might believe our message.

Scripture Reading

Acts 4:1-31 NIV

4:1 The priests and the captain of the temple guard

and the Sadducees came up to Peter and John

while they were speaking to the people.

2 They were greatly disturbed because the apostles were teaching the people

and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection of the dead.

3 They seized Peter and John,

and because it was evening,

they put them in jail until the next day.

4 But many who heard the message believed,

and the number of men grew to about five thousand.

5 The next day the rulers, elders and teachers of the law met in Jerusalem.

6 Annas the high priest was there, and so were Caiaphas, John,

Alexander and the other men of the high priest's family.

7 They had Peter and John brought before them and began to question them:

"By what power or what name did you do this?"

8 Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them:

"Rulers and elders of the people!

9 If we are being called to account today for an act of kindness

shown to a cripple and are asked how he was healed,

10 then know this, you and all the people of Israel:

It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth,

whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead,

that this man stands before you healed.

11 He is "'the stone you builders rejected, which has become the capstone.'  

12 Salvation is found in no one else,

for there is no other name under heaven given to men

by which we must be saved."

13 When they saw the courage of Peter and John

and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men,

they were astonished and they took note

that these men had been with Jesus.

14 But since they could see the man

who had been healed standing there with them,

there was nothing they could say.

15 So they ordered them to withdraw from the Sanhedrin

and then conferred together.

16 "What are we going to do with these men?" they asked.

"Everybody living in Jerusalem knows

they have done an outstanding miracle,

and we cannot deny it.

17 But to stop this thing from spreading any further among the people,

we must warn these men to speak no longer to anyone in this name."

18 Then they called them in again

and commanded them not to speak

or teach at all in the name of Jesus.

19 But Peter and John replied,

"Judge for yourselves whether it is right

 in God's sight to obey you rather than God.

20 For we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard."

21 After further threats they let them go.

They could not decide how to punish them,

because all the people were praising God for what had happened.

22 For the man who was miraculously healed was over forty years old.

23 On their release,

Peter and John went back to their own people

and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said to them.

24 When they heard this,

they raised their voices together in prayer to God.

"Sovereign Lord," they said, "you made the heaven

and the earth and the sea, and everything in them.

25 You spoke by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of your servant,

our father David: "'Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain?

26 The kings of the earth take their stand

and the rulers gather together against the Lord

and against his Anointed One.'  

27 Indeed Herod and Pontius Pilate

met together with the Gentiles

and the people of Israel in this city

to conspire against your holy servant Jesus,

whom you anointed.

28 They did what your power

and will had decided beforehand should happen.

29 Now, Lord, consider their threats

and enable your servants to speak

your word with great boldness.

30 Stretch out your hand to heal

and perform miraculous signs and wonders

through the name of your holy servant Jesus."

31 After they prayed,

the place where they were meeting was shaken.

And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit

and spoke the word of God boldly.