April 19, 2013

Your Power in the Holy Spirit (miracles are for today!)

your power in the Holy Spirit
your power in the Holy Spirit
Excerpts from this book.
The Miraculous Mind of Christ
 Jesus’ mental processes were miraculous. Ourlibraries are full of books written by great thinkerslike Thomas Edison and others who were incessantthinkers. With Jesus there is something different. Hespoke out from the Spirit that dominated Hisspiritual faculties. The Spirit of Christ ruled Hisintellect. Gems of divine truth dripped from His lipsas honey from the honeycomb. The Sermon on theMount and great portions in Luke and John are asuntouched as when they dropped from the lips of  Jesus. Men’s writings grow old and out of date. God’struth is ever fresh. Yes, Jesus’ words and life andcontact with men were miraculous; they are still miraculous.His death on the cross, His three days in the tomb,His dramatic and startling resurrection, were allmiracles. His presence among the disciples ondifferent occasions and, finally, His ascension in thepresence of five hundred witnesses were miracles.
They do not belong to the reason realm; they belongto the miracle realm. Jesus was in the realm of theSpirit, the realm of faith, the realm where God acts,the realm where the real child of God lives. You see,Christians have been translated out of the realm of human thought and reason into the kingdom of theSon of His love, the realm of the Spirit.
It would be uncharitable if we were to criticize aman of reason who knows nothing about thespiritual realm.
Christianity is not the product of human reasoning. Christianity is a divineintervention. Christians are those who have beenborn from above. They have been re-created. Thislife of God that comes into their spirit naturedominates the reason so that they have “the mind of Christ” (1 Corinthians 2:16) to think God’s thoughtsand live in God’s realm of miracles.
Friends, when a Christian tries to live by reason, he is moving out of God’s country into the enemy’s land.
We belong in the miraculous or supernatural realm.
Christ was a miracle. Every Christian is a miracle.
Every answer to prayer is a miracle.
Every divine illumination is a miracle.
The power of Christianityin the world is a miraculous power.
God, help us torealize that ours is a high and holy calling.
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Miracles Are For Today
I want to talk to you on the subject of miracles thisafternoon. From the year 400 until now, by and large,the church has assumed the attitude that the days of miracles are passed—without any scripturalevidence whatever. They have taught that miracleswere to demonstrate the divinity of Jesus and that, therefore, the divinity of Jesus having beendemonstrated, there was no longer any need formiracles.
We had a local incident that demonstrates the effectof this teaching. I think my conviction on the matteris that it has done more damage to the Christian faiththan any other teaching that has been promulgated.
There is a gentleman who works at the Davenport Hotel in Spokane, O. A. Risdon, who is one of theengineers there. He had a son with a deformed head.The top of the head raised up like the ridge of a roof; the forehead and back of the head also were forcedout in similar manner, giving the head the appearance of the hull of an upside-down yacht. He was born with what the physicians call a closed head. The boy was always slobbering. The pressure on the brain caused the right side to become paralyzed, and the boy was dumb. He was five yearsold at this time.
The physicians said there was nothing they could do.Then, in desperation, he appealed to his pastor. The pastor told him that the days of miracles were past, that the Lord did not heal now, and that miracles were given to demonstrate the divinity of Jesus. The father replied, “If Jesus would heal my son, I would be convinced that He is divine now. If He is divine,He could lift this damnation from our house.
“Finally, he came to us seeking help. We began tominister to the child. In a few days, we observed that the paralysis began to depart. Instead of walking onone side of his ankles, he began to walk on the foot, and that indicated that the pressure was relieved onthe brain. In seven weeks, the child was perfectly well. The bones of the head softened and came downto normal. The paralysis disappeared, and the child began to talk. In three months, he was in the publicschool. He is a young married man now.
Dear friends, if we had continued to believe that the days of miracles were past, that boy would be in the insane asylum. But we believed that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever, and the boy was healed.
It is a delight to believe the words of  Jesus. I have used this rule in my study of the Scriptures. If there is any question on any Scripture, I settle it with the words of Jesus. I consider all the Scriptures are a common court of the gospel, but the words of Jesus are the Supreme Court of the gospel.
When I want a Supreme Court decision, I appeal to the words of Jesus.
You can read all the words of Jesus in two hours or less in a red-letter New Testament. Make a practice of reading the words of Jesus on any subject that troubles you, and make a compilation of what He says.
He ought to be sufficient authority on any question, for the heavenly Father called attention to the fact that He is the Son of God and that we are to hear Him. God declared:
This is my beloved Son, in whom I am wellpleased; hear ye him. (Matthew 17:5)

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