Where Are The Miracles? (Parts 1 - 6) (article) by Pastor Gabriel Agbo on AuthorsDen

“Again the Israelites did what was evil in the LORD’s sight. So the LORD handed them over to the Midianites for seven years. The Midianites were so cruel that the Israelites fled to the mountains, where they made hiding places for themselves in caves and dens. Whenever the Israelites planted their crops, maruaders from Midian, Amalek, and the people of the East would attack Israel, camping in the land and destroying crops as far away as Gaza. They left the Israelites with nothing to eat, taking all the sheep, oxen and donkeys. These enemy hordes, coming with their cattle and tents as thick as locusts, arrived on droves of camels too numerous to count. And they stayed until the land was stripped bare. So Israel was reduced to starvation by the Midianites. Then the Israelites cried out to the LORD for help. When they cried out to the LORD because of Midian, the LORD sent a prophet to the Israelites. He said, ‘This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: I brought you up out of slavery in Egypt and rescued you from the Egyptians and from all who oppressed you. I drove out your enemies and gave you their land. I told you, ‘I am the LORD your God. You must not worship the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you now live.’ But you have not listened to me.’ Then the angel of the LORD came and sat beneath the oak tree at Ophrah, which belonged to Joash of the clan of Abiezer. Gideon son of Joash had been threshing wheat at the bottom of a winepress to hide the grain from the Midianites. The angel of the LORD appeared to him and said, ‘mighty hero, the LORD is with you!’ ‘Sir,’ Gideon replied, ‘if the LORD is with us, why has all this happened to us? And where are all the miracles our ancestors told us about?” (Judges 6:1-13) NLT.

When you go through the bible and other records of the early Christians, and read about great and mighty acts of God at those stages of Church development, you will be left with only one choice and that is to ask - where are all the miracles that we learnt God performed in those generations? Why are we not witnessing the same level of divine manifestation in our own generation? And what must we do to attract the same manifestations in our own generation?

Our God has not changed. He is the same yesterday, today and forever more. What He did in the olden days, He is still able and willing to repeat today. We must do a reappraisal of our relationship with God and the spiritual state of the church, if we really want the repeat of the great and mighty works that God did in the past generations. God’s power has not decreased in any form. He’s still the omnipotent and the omniscient. His power does not increase or decrease. He is the “I am that I am.”

Before we go further, let’s go back to our text in the book of Judges 6. This time again, the children of Israel still refused to follow God’s way and God handed over to their enemies - the Midianites. Midian was a nation nearly destroyed by the Israelites in the days of Moses, but they had since increased greatly, and had become numerous and powerful. They had thirsted for revenge; and now that the protecting hand of God was withdrawn from Israel (because of their sins), the opportunity had come. They will wait for Israel to plant crop and raise cattles, then at the time of harvest they wll come and harvest the crops, take away the sheep, oxen and donkeys and also destroy the remaining harvest. They left Israel with nothing to eat.

They came as soon as the harvests began to ripen, and remained until the last fruits of the earth had been gathered. They stripped the fields of the increase, robbed and maltreated the inhabitants, and then returned to the deserts. Thus, the Israelites dwelling in the open country were forced to abandon their homes, and to congregate in walled towns, to seek refuge in caves and mountains. This oppression continued for seven years.

Truly, Israel was in a very pathetic situation. They will sow and other people will reap. They will plant, with hope, only to be disappointed at the time of harvest. This is exactly what some of us are going through today. But what brought all thes calamities? Israel refused to follow the laws and covenant of God. God had warned them not to worship idols or serve other gods. He gave them this command through the Ten Commandments and other various times, but they would not heed. He warned them even before entering into the promise land not to serve the idol gods of the people that lived there, yet Israel went ahead and disobey God; serving the terrible gods of the Amorites and other idols. Consequently, they incured the wrath of God. God began to use the Midianites to torment them. When you disobey God, He hands you over to the enemies. Do you know why you are going through that disgrace and suffering today? Till next week. God bless you!

WHERE ARE THE MIRACLES? (Part 2)
By Gabriel Agbo

In part one of this message, we saw how terrible Israel’s situation was. They would plant and their enemies would come to harvest, leaving them with nothing to eat. They flew from their enemies into caves and mountains. Their possessions were regularly destroyed and carted away. They were in constant peril, fear and despair. I hope you're not going through the same experience today?

It was not that their tormentors were a stronger nation, but because Israel had lost God’s favour. The enemies were permitted to conquer them. They suffered terribly for those seven years, to the extent that the bible said, that their “land was stripped bare. So Isreal was reduced to starvation by the midianities.” Just imagine that - no freedom, no security, no possession, no peace and now, no food. It was indeed a very dangerous situation.

Yes, this is the kind of situation that precipitates the release of miracles. By the way, what is miracle? Miracle, according to Oxford Dictionary is an act or event which does not follow the known laws of nature. That is, something that is contrary to the natural process or procedure. We can also define miracle as the supernatural incursion into the natural. Something that lacks explanation by physical, scientific or natural laws.

Now when one finds him/herself in a situation that has no feasible remedy, or you have applied all known principles or efforts and you know that naturally nothing could be done about it again, and all of a sudden there came an intervention, that you could not properly explain, then we you could rightly say that a miracle has taken place.

God planned that from time to time, He would be intervening in the affairs of men. He knew that there will always be situations that would defy human efforts. So He made the provision for the miraculous. Man’s ability is limited, while God’s power is infinite. When the ability of man fails, God’s power continues and succeeds.

God also knew the importance of this, and I believe that was why He allowed the proper documentation of His mighty deeds in the bible. Remove the records of miracles, signs and wonders from the bible and you will be having nothing better than a story book. The stories of what God did as recorded in the bible and also the divine intervention we witness today help to create and sustain our faith in Him. In fact, signs and wonders create a more lasting impression on a believer that anyother aspect of evangelical outreach. Surely, the church needs the miraculous, if it’s going to make any impact in this generation. look at what happen when God was sending Moses to go and deliver the children of Israel from Egypt. Moses was very reluctant to embark on that mission, insisting that both Pharaoh and Israel would not listen to him. God then promised to be with him and also gave him the ability to perform signs and wonders. It was through signs and wonders that Moses accomplished that great mission. Let’s see that in Exodus 4 :1-17.

“But Moses protested again, ‘Look they won’t believe me! they won’t do what I tell them. They will just say,’ The LORD never appeared to you.' Then the LORD asked him, ‘what do you have there in your hand? ‘A shepherd’s staff,’ Moses replied 'Throw it down on the ground,’ the LORD told him. So Moses threw it down, and it became Snake! Moses was terrified, so he turned and ran away. Then the Lord told him,

'Take hold of its tail’ so Moses reaches out and grabbed it, and it became a shepherd’s staff again. ‘Perform this sign, and they will believe you,’ The lord told him. Then they will realize that the Lord, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob – really, has appeared to you.’ Then the lord said to Moses, ‘Put your hand inside your robe’ Moses did so and when he took it out again, his hand was white as snow with leprosy. ‘Now put your hand back into your robe again,’ the LORD said. Moses did, and when he took it out this time, it was as healthy as the rest of his body. ‘If they do not believe the first miraculous sign, they will believe the second, ‘the lord said.’ And if they do not believe you even after these two signs, then take some water from the Nile River and pour it out on dry ground. When you do, it will turn into blood. ….And be sure to take your shepherd’s staff along so you can perform the miraculous signs I have shown you.” Wonderful!

The success of Moses’ ‘Operation Egypt’ would depend largely on the display of the awesome power of the Almighty. Moses was encouraged to proceed by the signs which signified the divine presence. Israel would agree with Moses when they have seen the signs. And Pharoah (the enemy) was humiliated and forced to let Israel go also by the display of signs and wonders. I see a season of miracles coming into your life from now! Till next week. God bless!

Pastor Agbo is of the Assemblies of God / Double Honour Ministry, Inc. Nigeria

E-mail: gabrielagbo.yahoo.com Tel: 08037113283 , 08052433237