Are Miracles Random and Indiscriminate? Let's Check the Scriptures

Luke  4:23 And he said unto them, Ye will surely say unto me this proverb, Physician, heal thyself: whatsoever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in thy country.  4:24 And he said, Verily I say unto you, No prophet is accepted in his own country.  4:25 But I tell you of a truth, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elias, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, when great famine was throughout all the land;  4:26 But unto none of them was Elias sent, save unto Sarepta, a city of Sidon, unto a woman that was a widow.  4:27 And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Eliseus the prophet; and none of them was cleansed, saving Naaman the Syrian.  4:28 And all they in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath,  4:29 And rose up, and thrust him out of the city, and led him unto the brow of the hill whereon their city was built, that they might cast him down headlong.  4:30 But he passing through the midst of them went his way,

Looking into the scriptures, miracles can be described as divine intervention to fulfill divine purposes of God on earth.

Luke  11:2  And he said unto them, When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth.

From the scriptures above Jesus asserted that miracles are not indiscriminate. They are targeted at individuals to fulfill a definite will of God on earth. Jesus repeatedly confirms this in the scriptures.

1. Man born blind. John 9: 2-3

2. At the raising of dead Lazarus. John 11: 41-42

3.Even the greatest miracle of salvation of the soul man. John 6:37 

.They don't occur indiscriminately but targeted at individual for a divine purpose of God.

.This is why it's controlled by the office of Holy Spirit as demonstrated by Jesus and the early church apostles. Luke 4:1, Act 16: 6-7

Today miracle has become USP ( unique selling point in machandized Christianity. It's being marketed just like any product online, with a guarantee attached to it by its marketer. No more emphasis is being placed on eternal and universal law of sowing and reaping aka law of harvest.

The question is: can will of God be done in the life of one who not willing to accept will?

Your guess is as good as mine ✌️

Weightier Matters in Salvation

Mat 23:23 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.

Parable of the Virgin

Mathew 25:1

The virgins took expensive wedding garments, jewelries, shoes, make ups, but only 5 out of 10 took a long extra oil for their lamps. But the later turn of events proved that extra oil for the lamps is a weightier things than all other wedding items because it was what determined their destination.

The Judgement Day Scenario.

Mat 7:22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?

Mat 7:23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

From the above, performing signs and wonders and prophesying are not weightier matter of the kingdom of God aka Salvation!

Parable of the Talents.

Mathew 25:14-30

The emphasis was on divine purposes among the servants. Those who fulfilled it were rewarded and those who failed were punished.

 However , Mathew 25:34-46, revealed what actually went wrong.

Mat 25:34 Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:

Mat 25:35 For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:

Mat 25:44 Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee?

Mat 25:40 And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, In asmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.

Mat 25:45 Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me.

At this junction what, for Christ sake are the weightier matter in kingdom of God. Remember it was said to Pharisees and Scribes in Mathew 23:23" Woe on to them". over this same issue.

Parable of Good Samaritan.

Luke 10:25-37

There's an affirmative answer in :

Luk 10:25 And, behold, a certain lawyer stood up, and tempted him, saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?

Luk 10:26 He said unto him, What is written in the law? how readest thou?

Luk 10:27 And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself.

Luk 10:28 And he said unto him, Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt live.

In Luke 10: 32, a Levite, who has a spiritual title felt the life of a victim of robbers attack was not as important as his engagement in the temple. Hence he ignored the man in need of help.

Conclusions

1. Title bearing, office holding, church assembly organization, casting out of demons, prophesying, financial bankrolling of the gospel and many more are great works of faith, but if the motives behind them are for self gratifications and not borne out of love for God and humanity, they become worthless as far as SALVATION is concerned.

2.  Moreover from Mathew 23:23  Tithe was ranked below spiritual things like law, mercy, judgement and faith. One striking features between the two categories is that tithe minister to the physical need of humanity while the other categories ministers to the spiritual need of humanity.

Science behind FAITH

Science behind FAITH.

1. Faith is both gift and fruit of the Spirit.1Corinthians 12:9, Galatians 5:22

2.The woman with issues of blood:

Luke 8:43-48  And a woman having an issue of blood twelve years, which had spent all her living upon physicians, neither could be healed of any,

Came behind him, and touched the border of his garment: and immediately her issue of blood stanched.

And Jesus said, Who touched me? When all denied, Peter and they that were with him said, Master, the multitude throng thee and press thee, and sayest thou, Who touched me?

And Jesus said, Somebody hath touched me: for I perceive that virtue is gone out of me.

And when the woman saw that she was not hid, she came trembling, and falling down before him, she declared unto him before all the people for what cause she had touched him and how she was healed immediately.

And he said unto her, Daughter, be of good comfort: thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace.

1 the woman had not been a believer

2.She had no indwelling of Holy Spirit.

3.She did not have the mastery of the Word

So how did she develop that level of faith?

Well, this may be a good explanation why faith is both gift and fruit of Holy Spirit.

From scripture three sources of faith are obvious:

1.The one that comes with seeing signs and wonder. John 4:48

2.The one that comes with hearing the word which is inspired by Holy Spirit. Romans 10:17

3. The one that comes as a gift of Holy Spirit. - unexplainable sources. This seems to be available to all.            Ephesians 2:8

For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:

To go deeper, when interfacing with God, three channels are available namely:

. Faithfulness, Grace and Mercy.

Faithfulness: you are qualified. Lamentation 3:23

Grace: you are in the process but not yet qualified, hence, you are given provisional qualified status pending your final qualification.Ezra 9:8, Titus 2:11.

Under Mercy: you have either failed qualification test, or your qualification have been revoked, but was given OTP(one time password) status to obtain all at discretion of God. Romans 9:15

In conclusion.

So now when you are under grace like woman with the issue of blood, faith can be given to you as a gift to enable you received from God. Three people can be standing before God demanding for the same thing but coming from different channels of FAITHFULNESS, GRACE and MERCY.

Hebrews 4:16  Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.

Science behind FAITH.

Science behind FAITH.

1. Faith is both gift and fruit of the Spirit.1Corinthians 12:9, Galatians 5:22

2.The woman with issues of blood:

Luke 8:43-48  And a woman having an issue of blood twelve years, which had spent all her living upon physicians, neither could be healed of any,

Came behind him, and touched the border of his garment: and immediately her issue of blood stanched.

And Jesus said, Who touched me? When all denied, Peter and they that were with him said, Master, the multitude throng thee and press thee, and sayest thou, Who touched me?

And Jesus said, Somebody hath touched me: for I perceive that virtue is gone out of me.

And when the woman saw that she was not hid, she came trembling, and falling down before him, she declared unto him before all the people for what cause she had touched him and how she was healed immediately.

And he said unto her, Daughter, be of good comfort: thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace.

1 the woman had not been a believer

2.She had no indwelling of Holy Spirit.

3.She did not have the mastery of the Word

So how did she develop that level of faith?

Well, this may be a good explanation why faith is both gift and fruit of Holy Spirit.

From scripture three sources of faith are obvious:

1.The one that comes with seeing signs and wonder. John 4:48

2.The one that comes with hearing the word which is inspired by Holy Spirit. Romans 10:17

3. The one that comes as a gift of Holy Spirit. - unexplainable sources. This seems to be available to all.            Ephesians 2:8

For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:

To go deeper, when interfacing with God, three channels are available namely:

. Faithfulness, Grace and Mercy.

Faithfulness: you are Lamentation 3:23

Grace: you are in the process but not yet qualified, hence, you are given provisional qualified status pending your final qualification.Ezra 9:8, Titus 2:11.

Under Mercy: you have either failed qualification test, or your qualification have been revoked, but was given OTP(one time password) status to obtain all at discretion of God. Romans 9:15

In conclusion.

So now when you are under grace like woman with the issue of blood, faith can be given to you as a gift to enable you received from God. Three people can be standing before God demanding for the same thing but coming from different channels of FAITHFULNESS, GRACE and MERCY.

Hebrews 4:16  Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.

Religion vs. Spirituality

Religion vs Spirituality 

Maslow (1943) observed that humanity needs a relationship with supernatural (spiritual need) in his famous work "Hierarchy of Need".  This should be a good justification for evolution of religion on a global scale. However, on a critical and logical reasoning basis one may ask: is religion adequately taking care of this integral need of man?

If we examine religions today it features majorly today,  1.belief systems, 2. Doctrines, 3.practices,  4. laws, 5. Superstitions.  Historically, one fact that is indisputable is that man via religion wants to depend on the supernatural for solutions to problems especially the ones that defy human solutions. As a result, humanity is always using religion as a channel to communicate with supernatural and request for the desired solutions to problems. This is why prayers is an integral part of many religions. 

At this point, one fact is sacrosanct " In religion we do more of talking to God than listening to Him."

If we look at this critically, prayer in many religions violates the principle of communication, which is supposed to be a two-way relationship between the sender and receiver. A line of communication should allow for sending information and receiving of feedback.

Jesus Model

Jesus Christ gave us a perfect model of this phenomenon. When He was teaching his disciples how to pray, He taught them in  Mathew  6:10, Luke11:2…  to  say may " may your will be done on  earth as it is in heaven"  The logical deduction from this prayer is that the most important aspect of prayer is to receive a feedback from God on what his will concerning any particular situation a.k.a "His divine  purpose" 

.JESUS demonstrated this in his famous prayer in the garden of Gethsemane by sending a request o Father asking if the cup can pass over Him. He got a feedback immediately that He had to drink it, hence He immediately submitted to God's will. Matthew 26:39:44

The following facts are noteworthy:

Jesus advocated for Spirituality as opposed to religion. John 4:21-24 

Spirituality entails knowing the will of God, doing it or allowing it to be done.

In religion we do more of talking to God and less of hearing from Him. Mathew 6:7, Mathew15:9, Mark7:7

In Spirituality, we do more of listening and  striving to hear from God and less of talking to Him

Little wonder, Jesus never instituted any religion.

Just recently, the world is experiencing profound signs of the endtime. Matthew 24:5-7.  Pestilence (Covid19), Earthquakes in diverse places (Turkey, Syria, New Zeeland). How many of us from the household of God are conscious of these events or having a beforehand revelation of them?  This is because we preoccupy ourselves with loads of demands in our prayers and more than ever careless about what Spirit is saying. 

He who hath ears, let him hear what the Spirit is saying. Revelation:2:7, 2:11, 2:17, 2:29, 3:6, 3:13, 3:22 

PURPOSE OF LIFE. (Matthew 20:1-16)

Matthew 20:1-12  For the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which went out early in the morning to hire labourers into his vineyard.

And when he had agreed with the labourers for a penny a day, he sent them into his vineyard.

And he went out about the third hour, and saw others standing idle in the marketplace,

And said unto them; Go ye also into the vineyard, and whatsoever is right I will give you. And they went their way.

Again he went out about the sixth and ninth hour, and did likewise.

And about the eleventh hour he went out, and found others standing idle, and saith unto them, Why stand ye here all the day idle?

They say unto him, Because no man hath hired us. He saith unto them, Go ye also into the vineyard; and whatsoever is right, that shall ye receive.

So when even was come, the lord of the vineyard saith unto his steward, Call the labourers, and give them their hire, beginning from the last unto the first.

And when they came that were hired about the eleventh hour, they received every man a penny.

But when the first came, they supposed that they should have received more; and they likewise received every man a penny.

And when they had received it, they murmured against the goodman of the house,

Saying, These last have wrought but one hour, and thou hast made them equal unto us, which have borne the burden and heat of the day.

The following facts emerge:

1.You are here on time critical mission, aka, divine purpose. Matthew 20:.1-6, John 15:16

2. You have a designated schedule of duty.Matthew 20:1

3. You have a time limit to accomplish your task.Matthew 20:2-8

4. There is a reward for your mission.Matthew 20:8

4. Your reward is not related to how glamorous is your office or how enormous is your task.Matthew 20:9-13

5. Your reward is a function of weather you have accomplished your task (divine purpose) with accurate pricision.Matthew 20:8

6. Nature of your reward is an exclusive reserve of the One who commissioned you..

Matthew 20:13-15

PURPOSE OF LIFE. Matthew 20:1-16

Matthew 20:1-12  For the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which went out early in the morning to hire labourers into his vineyard.

And when he had agreed with the labourers for a penny a day, he sent them into his vineyard.

And he went out about the third hour, and saw others standing idle in the marketplace,

And said unto them; Go ye also into the vineyard, and whatsoever is right I will give you. And they went their way.

Again he went out about the sixth and ninth hour, and did likewise.

And about the eleventh hour he went out, and found others standing idle, and saith unto them, Why stand ye here all the day idle?

They say unto him, Because no man hath hired us. He saith unto them, Go ye also into the vineyard; and whatsoever is right, that shall ye receive.

So when even was come, the lord of the vineyard saith unto his steward, Call the labourers, and give them their hire, beginning from the last unto the first.

And when they came that were hired about the eleventh hour, they received every man a penny.

But when the first came, they supposed that they should have received more; and they likewise received every man a penny.

And when they had received it, they murmured against the goodman of the house,

Saying, These last have wrought but one hour, and thou hast made them equal unto us, which have borne the burden and heat of the day.

The following facts emerge:

1.You are here on time critical mission, aka, divine purpose. Matthew 20:.1-6, John 15:16

2. You have a designated schedule of duty.Matthew 20:1

3. You have a time limit to accomplish your task.Matthew 20:2-8

4. There is a reward for your mission.Matthew 20:8

4. Your reward is not related to how glamorous is your office or how enormous is your task.Matthew 20:9-13

5. Your reward is a function of weather you have accomplished your task (divine purpose) with accurate pricision.Matthew 20:8

6. Nature of your reward is an exclusive reserve of the One who commissioned you..

Matthew 20:13-15