Do Miracles Still Happen Today: How to see God working in your life.

The Bible is full of stories about miracles, big and small. But, these miracles can seem like a thing of the past. We don't hear about God parting seas or raising people from the dead in modern context. Does God still perform miracles? Does the miraculous still happen? I think so. But, we have to be paying attention.

In this post we will take a brief look at examples of miracles from the Bible. How was the miraculous received back then? Then we will outline how you can be a believer that doesn't miss God's modern-day miracles.

Miracles of the Bible

As stated, the Bible is full of miracles. The Bible is also full of people who completely miss the scope of what they are witnessing. From the Israelites that saw the parting of the Red Sea and then worshipped a golden calf, to the Pharisees that witnessed miracles and then claimed that Jesus was under the influence of the devil (Matthew 12:24), the people in scripture have missed God working right in front of their face!

Birth of Jesus

Christians are all about the miracle of Jesus's birth around the holiday season, but a close reading of the Bible story shows that the people of the time nearly missed it! God sent angels to shepherds so that there would be some celebration of his arrival (Luke 2:8-14). A short while later "magi" delivered their gifts after informing King Harrod that a baby king had been born (Matthew 2).

The Jews were entrusted with the Gospel news of a coming Messiah and the religious elite of the time rejected Jesus and every miracle he performed! I wonder if our Christian hearts are just as hardened and blind to the miracles that God blesses us with today?

Feeding 5,000

Think about the miracle of feeding the 5,000 from the perspective of someone in the crowd (Matthew 14:13-21, Mark 6:30-44, Luke 9:10-17, and John 6:1-14). If you were sitting in one of the groups of 50 waiting for one of the disciples to come around with a basket of food, would you just be pleasantly surprised that the seminar came with dinner? Or, would you be thinking, "How did this small group of guys manage to feed 5,000 people? Where were they keeping all the food?" I wonder how many people in the crowd were paying enough attention to know that they were witnessing a miracle.

The Disciples Missed It Too

The disciples themselves often struggled to understand what they were witnessing. In Mark 6 we have an account of Jesus feeding the 5,000 followed by the miracle of Jesus walking on water (v45). Mark's account of the disciples reaction to seeing Jesus walking on the lake was terror. Why? "They had not understood about the loaves; their hearts were hardened" (Mark 6:52 NIV). They participated in the miracle of feeding the 5,000 but didn't understand the significance of what they saw Jesus do then. This led to them responding to the next miracle on the water in terror!

The Bible says, "their hearts were hardened." This same phrase is used to describe Pharaoh after each miraculous plague he witnessed. They were stubborn. They didn't want to see it for what it was. They denied that they were witnessing the power of God at work! Have we become hardened in our hearts? Is that why we don't see miracles happen today?

How to See Miracles Happen Today

The short answer to the question, "How do I see miracles happen in my life?" is relationship. We have to have a relationship with the God of miracles in order to see them for what they are. Seeking God through Bible study and prayer will help us to grow our faith in him. As our faith grows our capacity to see the miraculous will grow as well.

One of the chief complaints of unbelievers is that if God is who Christians say he is then why doesn't he just prove it once and for all in some undeniable way--leave no doubts. To this I ask, "What would that undeniable miracle be?" Would raising the dead be enough? If we look back to the scripture there are many accounts of the dead being raised, but that wasn't enough proof for the Pharisees and many Jews back then (Matthew 16:1-4; John 12:37).

As a Christian studying the Bible I have often read stories of God doing great things, undeniably divine things, and been envious of those who witnessed them in person. I have thought, "If I saw the plagues of Egypt," or "If I was fed mana from heaven," or "If I saw fire from heaven...I would never doubt there is a God! I would never falter in my faith again!"

But, I think these stories prove that is untrue. The people who witnessed these miracles quickly forgot them and slid back into their habits and doubts. Or, worse yet, they didn't register what they were seeing as a divine intervention--they missed the miracle in front of them. So, how do we ensure that we don't miss what God is doing in our lives? How do we ensure that we see the miracles that happen today?

1. You have to Believe.

Seems counterintuitive, to believe first. But, you aren't believing in the miracle first, you are believing in God and his goodness and power to perform the miracle first.

In the story of the fiery furnace in Daniel 3:8-25, Daniel's three friends tell the king, "If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and he will deliver us from Your Majesty’s hand. But even if he does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up” (Daniel 3: 17-18 NIV).

These young men demonstrated their faith, their belief, in the God of the miracle they hoped for before they decided to take a stand against idol worship. More than that, they demonstrated faith in God's wisdom and power "even if" God didn't deliver them!

Our faith in him is the first step to seeing miracles. Only then will we have the living faith needed to believe that he still works miraculously in our lives today.

For more on saving faith and living faith see Exploring the Nuances of Faith and Help My Unbelief.

2. Pray for it.

Seems like a Christian no-brainer to pray, but we can easily get stuck in a prayer rut and forget to ask for the most obvious things. Pray that the Holy Spirit will open your eyes to God's miracles around you. Ask God to help you be one in the crowd that sees!

Pray to be a miracle! The only thing better than witnessing a miracle or blessing is to participate in one. As our eyes are opened by the Holy Spirit to see the miracles in our lives, we will begin to see opportunities to act as God's hands and feet. Through the guidance and power of the Holy Spirit we can offer others the miracle of salvation and more! In John 14:12 Jesus said, "Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these..." (NIV)

For more on prayer listen to the podcast or see our blog posts on prayer here.

If you are praying for a specific miracle, don't put God in a box. We can also miss recognizing the blessings in our lives when we insist that God has to do things our way. When what we wanted doesn't work out the way we wanted we think we were denied our miracle. But, God plays the long game, so...

3. Don't give up on God.

Watch and wait (Lamentations 3:25-26). The Bible gives us plenty of examples of those who had to wait on the Lord. Noah, Abraham, Joseph, Moses. They all had to wait decades on God's promises and miracles. Abraham and Moses ran into problems when they got impatient and tried to help God out.

"The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness" (2 Peter 3:9a NIV). Sometimes our need for instant gratification causes us to be angry with a slow God, but we must have faith and trust that God knows what is best--his timing is best.

The rest of 2 Peter 3:9 says, "Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance." Often times we are not waiting on God, but rather he is waiting on us! Noah preached for 120 years (Genesis 6:3) not because God was slow, but because God was giving the people every opportunity to choose salvation!

Hopefully God won't make you wait as long as Noah, 120 years, before your prayers are answered. But, even if he does...

4. The Gospel is Enough.

The love that led to our salvation through the miraculous birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ is the only miracle we need (Philippians 3:10-11). God already proved himself in Jesus (John 3:16). If salvation was the only blessing we received it should be enough for us. But, because God is a Loving Father we can come to him and ask for more knowing that he desires to bless us (Matthew 7:11).

God wants us to see him for who he is--Love (1 John 4:8). He offers us gifts and blessings the same way that a loving human father would. The miraculous is wonderful and exciting, but the real miracle is not in the devastating wind, the shaking of the earth, or raging fire. It is in the "still, small voice" that whispers that the God of all Miracles is close to us (1 Kings 19:11-13). He wants to be with us (Matthew 1:23)!

Have You Seen A Modern Miracle?

Share your story in the comments! Encourage your fellow believers with your story of what God has done.