Mountain Moving Prayers

In today’s text we see a pretty clear answer to the question why the church wanted signs and wonders—with all their dangers, with all their abuses—why they prayed: "Lord, stretch out your hand to heal and do signs and wonders in the name of Jesus." Acts 5: 12 says, “Many signs and wonders were done among the people by the hands of the apostles.”

Now let me bring in the objection that is sometimes brought up against praying for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit with power in signs and wonders today. Some people say that this compromises the centrality of the Word of God. It depreciates the value of preaching God’s Word. It jeopardizes the sufficiency of the Word of God to save sinners. If signs and wonders are added to preaching, it must be because God’s Word is not trusted or esteemed as sufficient to save. That’s the sort of thing you hear. Right? Signs and wonders are God’s witness to his Word. They are not in competition with the Word. They are not against the Word. They are not over the Word. They are divine witnesses to the value and truth and necessity and centrality of the Word. Signs and wonders are not the saving Word of grace; they are God’s secondary testimony to the Word of his grace. Signs and wonders do not save. They are not the power of God unto salvation. They do not transform the heart—any more than music or art or drama or magic shows. What changes the heart and saves the soul is the self-authenticating glory of Christ seen in the message of the gospel (2 Corinthians 3: 18–4:6).

But even if signs and wonders can’t save the soul, they can, if God pleases, shatter the shell of disinterest; they can shatter the shell of cynicism; they can shatter the shell of false religion. Like every other good witness to the Word of grace, they can help the fallen heart to fix its gaze on the gospel where the soul-saving, self-authenticating glory of the Lord shines. These apostles prayed for the impossible in the spiritual realm and received it bountifully in the physical realm. God did not fail them. He will never ever fail you. You need to do your part … (obedience to His Commandments, Judgments & Statutes.)

Illustration: Narration of our travel through the Awabi Road in the Middle-East and I prayed asking God whether He wanted us to stay in that country or leave … God answered. (Mary ~ impossible …)

Application: We must understand that God may answer our prayers with a ‘YES,’ ‘NO’ or ‘WAIT.’ We might be afraid of God saying ‘NO’ so what to do about it? It just reflects whether we have a ‘FAITH’ that will accept God’s ‘NO.’ Let us not forget the three Hebrews thrown into the fiery furnace. They had that faith. He may not always do what you ask or desire and may not do it immediately. The important thing is that we need to know whether we are asking it in God’s will (1 John 5: 14). In order for His will to be active in our lives we need to be walking, pleasing and witnessing for Christ. We must be walking and moving in the power of the Holy Spirit every moment and every day of our lives.

So are you going to pray for the possible and impossible, and claim the promises for your lives?