For to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, and to another the word of knowledge according to the same Spirit; to another faith by the same Spirit, and to another gifts of healings by the one Spirit, and to another the effecting of miracles, and to another prophecy, and to another the discerning of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, and to another the interpretation of tongues. But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually just as He wills. 1 Corinthians 12:8-11.
Today your LORD (יהוה) God (אלהים) says:
Have you noticed that the gifts of the Spirit are grace endowments that carry out a promise that Jesus, of whose fullness you have all received, grace upon grace, made to you the night He was betrayed and handed over to be condemned to death? Yes, and you know it already and should be living it every day of your sojourn upon the earth as His body, the Church.
Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do; because I go to the Father. John 14:12.
And why would His going to Me make you able to do the works He did and greater?
“But now I am going to Him who sent Me; and none of you asks Me, ‘Where are You going?’ But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper (Paracletos, one called alongside to help; Comforter, Advocate, Intercessor) will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you.” John 16:5-7.
He was going to pour upon you that which He would receive from Me, My promise to you of the Holy Spirit.
I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you. John 14:16-17.
And He kept that promise, just as I kept My promise, and the Holy Spirit was poured down by Jesus from My throne on all believers on the day that the appointed time of Pentecost was fulfilled. And Peter explained it to the astonished crowd that gathered as 120 witnesses were speaking the good news in tongues with interpretation functioning in every hearer.
“This Jesus God raised up again, to which we are all witnesses. Therefore having been exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He has poured forth this which you both see and hear.” Acts 2:32-33.
And it took Jesus’ life-giving death, resurrection, and ascension back to My throne to give you the gift of the Holy Spirit. It took His glorification to raise you up born again with Him, for He is the firstborn of many brethren.
Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.’” But this He spoke of the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive; for the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. John 7:37-39.
To receive My Spirit your spirit had to come alive again as a new creation in Christ. I took out your stony heart, a hard heart that could not hear, and gave you a new heart, pliant and soft in which the seed of My Word found root. You got what Solomon prayed for as his one desire—a heart that hears Me. And this is wisdom.
“Your servant is in the midst of Your people which You have chosen, a great people who are too many to be numbered or counted. 9 So give Your servant a hearing heart to judge Your people to discern between good and evil. For who is able to judge this great people of Yours?” 1 Kings 3:8-9.
The Holy Spirit is My gift to the Church, to the Body of My Son made up of those who believe in His Name and walk in love. And how do you get your life so filled with My Spirit that you do the works Jesus did and greater?
For He whom God has sent speaks the words of God; for He gives the Spirit without measure. John 3:38.34
Obedience to My Word. Zeal for My Word makes you the one to whom I can give My Spirit without measure. I send you to prophesy, to speak My Words into the earth and into people’s lives, I must be able to trust you with My Word.
And we are witnesses of these things; and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey Him.” Acts 5:32.
Think about this next time you feel the subtle pull of temptation to make you deviate from My Word, My Word is testing you to see what you will do before I entrust you with My heart completely.
He sent a man before them, Joseph, who was sold as a slave. They afflicted his feet with fetters, he himself was laid in irons; until the time that his word came to pass, the Word of the LORD tested (tsaraph (צָרַף): to refine, to test, to purify) him. The king sent and released him, the ruler of peoples, and set him free. He made him lord of his house and ruler over all his possessions, to bind his princes at his will, that he might teach his elders wisdom. Psalm 105:17-22.
People understand taking tests to see if you qualify for certain jobs or professions before you receive your license to practice that trade or skill. You even take tests to see if you qualify to move on to a higher grade level in school each year or for admittance to a college or trade school. The purpose of these tests is not to trip you up but merely to discern if you are skilled enough to work with people in your chosen profession or to study things in school at a higher level.
My Word will test you to see what kind of heart you have and what level of trust I can give you. Will you forgive or not? Will you tell the truth or lie, even when the truth may bring a result that is not to your benefit. Will you rejoice or be depressed? Daniel told Belshazzar that he had been weighed in the scales and found deficient. Daniel 5:27. He had failed the test. His deeds were less than complete in My eyes.
He who is faithful in little things I can entrust with greater. And the one who is faithful with someone else’s goods and money, I can entrust them with their own from Me. In fact, I can entrust you with My Kingdom and I can entrust you with the working of miracles.
And that is the wonderful gift of wonders, that is, the effecting of miracles, that we are considering today.
A miracle is a working of power that brings about a glorious result that would have been impossible in the natural realm but is possible in the Spirit realm. It always gives new life and changes a dreaded outcome into a desired and glorious outcome. It reverses the curse and undoes the works of the devil. You will notice whenever miracles took place by the hands and authority of Jesus on earth, the people gave Me glory.
Miracles were an everyday occurrence in the life of Jesus once He was filled with My Spirit at His baptism at the Jordan. They were performed not to show off His access to power but out of compassion for the people, who were distressed, broken, and wandering like sheep with no shepherd. He went about doing good and healing all those oppressed by the devil. My power in His hands produced healing, provision, health, and care of those He encountered. He came to save you from your sins but He also came to give you JOY. My joy. He shared His anointing with you, and I have anointed Him with the oil of joy.
And the good pleasure (Will) of the LORD prospered in His hand. Isaiah 53:10.
I now I desire it to prosper in the hands of the members of His body, the Church, to be the city on the mountain and the light that cannot be hidden. It is time the Body of Christ corporately and each member individually began to walk in the Spirit and stop the devil from destroying destinies and lives. It is time to hear from Heaven and act on the Word you are given.
I tell you that I do not want you unaware of the spiritual gifts. Earnestly desire them as you pursue Love. But to desire them, you need to know what they are. And you must know how to recognize them and respond to them when they do come to you. So far in our Life Lessons we have covered the Word of wisdom, the Word of knowledge, the gift of faith, and gifts of healing. Today, as I have stated above, we are considering the effecting of miracles.
The word there translated “miracles” is the Greek word “dunamis,” which simply means “power.” And the word translated “effecting,” is the Greek word “enérgēma,” which can means energizings, workings, operations, focusing on the results of My energy flowing into those who have born-again living spirits to cause works of POWER.
But now like us consider the different kinds and workings of miracles, that is, doing things out of the natural, normal course of the natural realm whereby the processes of nature are rearranged or changed in one of the following five ways: (1) Form; (2) Substance; (3) Time; (4) Multiplication; or (5) by the ministry (intervention) of the holy angels.
- Form. Examples of this would be the parting of the Red Sea, walking on the water, and walking through doors. It is result of changing the form of a substance by the packing tighter or loosening of its molecules. It does not change the substance itself. When the Red Sea parted I tell you that the water congealed into heaps and became like two walls as the Israelites passed through.
“At the blast of Your nostrils the waters were piled up, the flowing waters stood up like a heap; the deeps were congealed in the heart of the sea.” Exodus 15:8.
This was turning the liquid form of the water to a solid form more like ice. And I blew a strong wind over it that dried the land beneath the sea as well. And the word in Hebrew for “wind” is the same word that means “Spirit” and “breath.” Not by human power or might, but by My Spirit.
And once My people had completed crossing between the walls of water, I said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the sea so that the waters may come back over the Egyptians, over their chariots and their horsemen.” I stretched out My hand through his hand and My power effected a return of the molecules to their looser liquid state.
“So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to its normal state at daybreak, while the Egyptians were fleeing right into it. The waters returned and covered the chariots and the horsemen, even Pharaoh’s entire army that had gone into the sea after them; not even one of them remained. But the sons of Israel walked on dry land through the midst of the sea, and the waters were like a wall to them on their right hand and on their left.” Exodus 14:27-29.
“You blew with Your wind, the sea covered them; they sank like lead in the mighty waters.” Exodus 15:10.
And what did the Egyptians say?
“Let us flee from Israel, for the LORD is fighting for them against the Egyptians.” Exodus 14:25.
And what did Moses tell the people as their rescue began to unfold? “Do not fear! Stand by and see the salvation of the LORD which He will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians whom you have seen today, you will never see them again forever. The LORD will fight for you while you keep silent.” Exodus 14:13-14.
Then the gift of the effecting of miracles (works of power) came upon Moses as I told him, “Why are you crying out to Me? Tell the sons of Israel to go forward. As for you, lift up your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it, and the sons of Israel shall go through the midst of the sea on dry land.” Exodus 14:15-16.
Do you recall that Jesus walked through locked doors and yet Thomas felt his flesh and bone as he put his finger in the nail marks in His hands? John 20:26-27. I can rearrange molecules so that the space between them enlarges and the solid becomes a gas. The effecting of a miracle in form by My power. Molecules were set up for miracles.
- Substance. If you recall I worked many miracles through the hands of Moses and particularly by the rod of his staff. The ten plagues over Egypt were all effecting of power to set My people free and visit justice upon their oppressors. And this brings us to substance, the effecting of a change in the actual substance. In this aspect of the departure from the normal course by the effecting of the working of miracles, I add or take out molecules, changing the basic structure and character of the physical matter. Some examples of this would be Moses’ effecting the change of water to blood in the Nile River and then undoing it. And do you remember Jesus changing water into wine? John 2:1-11. Water is made up of two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom, wine has twelve hydrogen atoms, three oxygen atoms and fourteen atoms of carbon. Carbon is very plentiful throughout the earth and the universe. You need it for physical life and it is in many of the compounds that you need each day for survival. It is also plentiful in the air as carbon dioxide. Do you think I cannot add carbon, more hydrogen, and more oxygen to water and make it something new? And I did not need to make more carbon, hydrogen or oxygen to have an abundance. It was already made. There is nothing new under the sun, Ecclesiastes 1:9, but I can recombine and rearrange so that things are changed into something new. Romans 4:17. I set it up that way. With what you have now, that I put in the earth and throughout the universe, anything and everything you will ever need or desire can be made, restored, renewed and changed by the effecting of miracles.
Another miracle that requires changing the substance is seen in when I raised Christ from the dead and gave Him a glorified body. And I will give the gift of the effecting of miracles into your mortal body on the Last Day. And it will be a change in substance built up from your current DNA. And I tell you how I did that and I want you to know that power working in you too: “so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of His power (dunamis) toward us who believe in accordance with the working of the strength of His might which He brought about in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places.” Ephesians 1:18-20.
And then there are substances that are not of earth but come to you from Heaven. An example is the heavenly bread of the manna. This was a substance never known before and never seen since. It fell from Heaven each morning on the dewfall. And this was a foreshadowing of the change of the substance of bread and wine to the body and blood of My Son. And My royal priesthood has the gift of effecting miracles to do this in remembrance of My Son. It keeps the appearance of bread and wine but the substance is the Body and Blood of My Son in the eternal and glorified form that is His in Heaven.
- Time. All time is the same to Me as I am in eternity out of time, but I can enter it at any point. I AM, I WAS, and I AM TO COME. Nothing is lost with Me. Examples of this type of miracle would be the shadow of the sun going back ten steps at the prayer of the prophet Isaiah, “Now Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “What will be the sign that the LORD will heal me, and that I shall go up to the house of the LORD the third day?” Isaiah said, “This shall be the sign to you from the LORD, that the LORD will do the thing that He has spoken: shall the shadow go forward ten steps or go back ten steps?” So Hezekiah answered, “It is easy for the shadow to extend forward by going down ten steps; but let the shadow turn backward ten steps.” Isaiah the prophet cried to the LORD, and He brought the shadow on the stairway back ten steps by which it had gone down on the stairway of Ahaz.” 2 Kings 20:8-11. That is redeeming the time.
Other examples would be that not only the substance of the water was turned to wine in the first miracle of My Son in His earthly ministry but that it was the finest wine, that is, aged wine. Time was collapsed to provide a speeded-up result. You see this speeding up also when My Son was walking on the water (form) and when they took Him into the boat, immediately it came to land at the other side. You also see this in the withered fig tree. And you see a slowing down of the aging process in Joshua and Caleb over a period of forty years so that they could enter the Promised Land in full strength and vigor according to their profession of faith in My promises. And, of course, the sun standing still for Joshua in the valley of Gibeon.
- Multiplication. You see this effecting of miracles in the multiplication of the five loaves and two fish to feed over 5,000 people. You could liken this to cloning and replication. This also happened for the widow in the time of the drought and famine that fed Elijah for more than a year on a little bit of flour and oil that just continued to multiply in an abundance of provision for them. And many years after that the effecting of a miracle of multiplication took place at the direction of My prophet Elisha with the widow of the guild prophet whose little bit of oil multiplied to fill a vast number of containers which she sold to provide for herself and her sons. And you see multiplication again in the miraculous catch of fish My Son gave to Peter, Andrew, James and John on the Sea of Galilee when He called them to follow Him.
- The Ministry of Angels. And then you have the ministry of angels to you who are heirs of salvation in answer to prayers for deliverance and provision. Think of Hezekiah’s prayer for protection and deliverance from Sennacherib and the attacking Assyrian army,
“O LORD, the God of Israel, who are enthroned above the cherubim, You are the God, You alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. Incline Your ear, O LORD, and hear; open Your eyes, O LORD, and see; and listen to the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to reproach the living God. Truly, O LORD, the kings of Assyria have devastated the nations and their lands and have cast their gods into the fire, for they were not gods but the work of men’s hands, wood and stone. So they have destroyed them. Now, O LORD our God, I pray, deliver us from his hand that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You alone, O LORD, are God.” 2 Kings 19:15-19.
Isaiah sent him word that I had heard and answered his prayer and that night My angel went out and struck 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians; and when men rose early in the morning, behold, all of them were dead. So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and returned home.” 2 Kings 19:35-36. I am the LORD of Hosts and that is for you when you have received Jesus as Lord and put yourself in My jurisdiction as a citizen of Heaven by your new birth.
And if you recall when Peter was imprisoned by Herod, the church was praying fervently on his behalf and one of My angels came and led him out, causing all the huge gates to open before him and the guards to all sleep through the escape.
And there are many other incidents of the effecting of miracles, such as the roll back of the Jordan River to let the Israelites cross on foot into the Promised Land, the descent down under the earth of the walls of Jericho, the falling of the fire from the heavens on Mt. Carmel at the command of the prophet Elijah, and many other miracles at the hands of Elijah and Elisha. The effecting of miracles was prevalent in the life of Moses and later in the life of Joshua. Why not you? One and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually just as He wills. 1 Corinthians 12:11. Make yourself positioned for such by earnestly desiring the spiritual gifts as you pursue Love.
All of the miracles of Jesus were done out of compassion. Go and do the same. Pursue Love and all will follow. It is the most excellent Way.
I love you. I have given you the gift of Jesus, who has poured out on you the baptism of the Holy Spirit, and My Spirit gives you gifts and produces fruit with your spirit. It is time you got to know the Holy Spirit. I do not want you unaware of all that is yours in Christ. Yes, everything is yours in Him.