Signs and Wonders

 DEVOTION

THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES

SIGNS AND WONDERS

Acts 2:42-47

42 They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43 Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. 44 All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45 Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. 46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

NIV

The power of the Spirit was at work within the Apostles as many wonders and miraculous signs were being done. Has the Holy Spirit quit working? Did he only work in the lives of the Apostles and then stopped doing anything? Are we not supposed to believe that the Spirit comes to all who repent and are baptized like Peter just said? He just told the people when they asked, “What shall we do”, to repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ and they would receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. We have done that and therefore we have this gift. We believe we have received his fruit and gifts, although it seems the church in general only prays for healings, and then it does not seem many are healed, if any, through the power of prayer unless there is intervention from the medical profession. Should there not be many wonders and miraculous signs still going on? Of course, we do not have all things in common anymore either. It does not seem that anyone sells any possessions to make sure those who are in need have enough. That is surely a thing of the past. However, at least we meet in the sanctuary once a week, even though it is not every day. Didn’t any of them have jobs? Didn’t they ever do anything else? How did they support themselves? Was it only the fact they sold all their possessions? Peter does not explain all this in enough detail to give us sufficient information to make any conclusions. We know they did not sell their homes for they gathered in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts. We don’t even do that very much in our society, with all the hustle and bustle that fills our time. A few of us might get together occasionally, and even then it seems we only have a few we gather with, developing little cliques, so to speak. What has happened to the church? It doesn’t seem we are enjoying the favor of all the people either. Of course, the church has divided itself up into hundreds of little denominations because we cannot agree on every point in the scripture or have different opinions regarding the scripture. It would seem all the people see us as something other than what the people saw back in those days in light that we do not have numbers added daily that are saved. In fact, many churches have dwindling numbers as the old people die off, leaving the rest to wait their turn. What are we to do? Should we not look to God, look to the Spirit for his working in our lives? Should we not believe the Spirit does not change as He is God, and we surely believe God does not change for we are told that very truth. So, we must believe the Spirit is still active and will if we allow him to, perform many wonders and miraculous signs in our lives.