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Gifts
of the Holy Spirit 4
The Working of Miracles
by Pastor John Hamel
We are studying the
three Power Gifts. The three Power Gifts do something.
This study will
cover the Power Gift called the Working of Miracles.
The Working of
Miracles is a Supernatural power that comes from the God of the Bible
producing signs, wonders and miracles.
This Gift was more
in demonstration in the Old Testament than in the New Testament. But
don’t let that throw you. It still operates today and yes, I have
seen it in manifestation.
Let’s go back to
the definition. I told you this Gift produces
signs, wonders and miracles. This is accomplished as God suspends or
overrides the laws of nature.
Once the laws of nature are adjusted to
suit His needs, God moves according to the laws of the Spirit realm through
a human or angelic vessel.
Actually, when the
Working of Miracles is in manifestation, God is allowing the human or
angelic vessel to
perform the miracle.
This is when the Supernatural occurs.
Notice that this
Gift is not called the “Gift of Miracles.” It is called the Working
of Miracles.
This is because God actually uses a human being or an
angel to “work” the miracle.
The Gift of Faith is when God moves FOR a
human being.
With the Gifts of Healings,
God moves THROUGH a human being or through an angel.
However, with
the Working of Miracles, God actually allows the human vessel or an angel to
actually work the miracle utilizing His borrowed power for the moment.
By clicking on “The
Albuquerque Fire Pit” you can read how God sent His angel to
deliver me miraculously from drug and alcohol addiction. In the Bible, angels frequently worked
deliverances, healings and miracles. (John 5:4; Acts 12:1-11)
The
Working of Miracles Performed Through a Human Vessel
“[Elisha] took up
also the mantle of Elijah that fell from him, and went back, and stood by
the bank of Jordan;
And he took the mantle of Elijah that fell from him, and smote the waters,
and said, Where is the Lord God of Elijah? and
when he also had smitten the waters, they parted hither and thither: and
Elisha went over.” (2Kings 2:13-14)
Here God actually
allowed Elisha to perform this miraculous feat. The laws of nature
were suspended as Elisha called upon the Lord. Elisha hit the waters
with his cloak and the waters supernaturally jumped back and away to either
side of him. Elisha walked across on the river bottom. This was
no tiny brook, mind you. This was the mighty River Jordan.
The Old and New
Testaments are filled with the Working of Miracles.
A
Present Day Plastic Eye Miracle
I have a friend
who has now traveled on to Heaven. His name is Roscoe Ronald Coyne. You can find
Brother Ronald's testimony on the Internet.
As
a result of an accident, Brother Ronald had his eye surgically removed as a
7-year-old boy.
Approximately one
year later a tent Evangelist, named Daisy Gillock, older sister of T.L.
Osborn, prayed for him
during a tent crusade. The Evangelist did not know that Ronald’s eye was
missing. Ronald once told me that the Evangelist thought she was
praying for “a chest cold or something.”
As a result of that woman
releasing her faith through prayer, God suspended the laws of nature and Ronald
actually began to see through his empty eye socket.
Over the course of
his remaining 43 years on Earth, Brother Ronald traveled millions of miles
demonstrating this startling miracle to millions of individuals.
Untold millions turned to Christ as a result.
Brother Ronald demonstrated
this miracle in my Church pulpit on two occasions. I personally
blocked his existing eye with a handkerchief folded six or eight
times. I held it in place with a half roll of adhesive tape. I
did a really good job, too. Like you, I wanted to know that he could
not see through his existing eye.
Brother Ronald then
removed his plastic eye and proceeded to
read anything and everything brought to him by nearly everyone in those
services – all through an empty eye socket. He read drivers licenses,
Bibles, magazines, newspapers, certificates - anything that was placed
before him he read with precision.
Not one person could
say he missed a single word or letter.
Brother
Ronald once told me that he could
see through that empty eye socket 24 and 7. This was both with and
without the plastic eyeball in place.
Almighty God was allowing him to see supernaturally with his “spirit” eye.
You may have seen
Rev. Coyne on one of his multiple television appearances with Oprah Winfrey,
Phil Donahue, Geraldo Rivera, Sally Jesse Raphael, as well as on That's
Incredible and other popular
television talk shows. They all clamored for his appearances.
Ronald once told me that he told them all, “I’ll come on your program but you
must allow me the privilege of telling people that Jesus Christ has done
this for me. Otherwise, I will not come.” They always agreed to
allow him to freely speak of Jesus Christ.
This precious Gift
called the Working of Miracles, which manifested through Sister Gillock on
behalf of Ronald Coyne, is about to be demonstrated in the Earth
unlike any other time in all of human history.
When it is, the
multitudes will come running to Christ for salvation.
The
Working of Miracles Versus Miracles of God
As I told you in the
introduction to this lesson, when the Working of Miracles is in
manifestation God is allowing a human being or an angel to work a miracle
through a temporary use of His power.
However, when God Himself works
a miracle, it is simply referred to as a "Miracle" or a
"Miracle of God."
For
example, God Himself performed sixteen miracles in the presence of Moses. On
the other hand, God allowed Moses to personally perform forty-four miracles
through the borrowed use of His power.
One
night my wife, Barbara, and I were driving along in our automobile in
Vermont. It was the middle of winter. Everything was covered with snow
and ice, including the floor of our vehicle. Barbara was driving because I
was still recovering from the effects a growth which had been supernaturally
removed from my inner ear.
Barbara
wears contact lenses and is unable to see without them.
As we drove along one of her lenses slipped and she
needed to pull over in order to readjust it. We pulled to the side of
the snowy road and parked the car. Turning on the interior light she
attempted to readjust her lens as I watched.
Suddenly the hard plastic lens
literally popped out of her eye, bouncing off the palm of her hand and
falling down onto the snow-covered floor.
The
interior light was on and I personally witnessed the
contact lens pop out of
her eye, bouncing off her hand and falling to the floor.
Barbara
exclaimed, "My lens just fell out."
I said, "I know. I
saw it bounce off your hand and fall to the floor."
She responded,
"And I felt it bounce off my hand."
We
tried and tried to locate the lens to no avail.
She could not see
properly with only one lens to search for the other one. I could not
get down to search for it myself for the same reason I could
not yet drive - I was still recovering from the effects of a growth that had been in my inner ear
for two months.
We were in a quandary. Barbara did not have a
spare lens with her and I could not drive.
We prayed, "Father, we
need You to help us in Jesus' Name. Please show us where that lens
is."
Suddenly
Barbara exclaimed, "John, my lens is back in my eye! I can see. My lens
is back in my eye."
Almighty
God, had not only placed the lens back in Barbara's eye supernaturally, but
it was obvious that He had also carefully cleaned it before doing so!
Neither
Barbara nor I performed this miracle through the Working of Miracles.
To our knowledge an angel did not perform this miracle.
We believe
that Almighty God personally performed the miracle of locating Barbara's
lost lens, cleaning it and placing it back in her eye so she could safely
drive us home.
This
is the difference between the Working of Miracles and a Miracle of God.
Satan’s power is
mighty. But our God’s power is
Almighty.
In
our next lesson we will study the first of the three Revelation Gifts, the Word
of Knowledge.
Be Blessed … John and
Barbara Hamel
How
to Be Born Again (Receive Christ as Your Savior)
How
to Receive The Holy Spirit & Power
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