And these signs will follow those who believe

Amazing things can happen if you believe. Jesus said, “And these signs will follow those who believe: In My Name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover” (Mark 16:17,17). God responds to those who believe. Miracles are the manifestation of God’s power and in the face of seemingly impossible situations the miraculous can happen to you and through you. God is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him and you’ve got to believe that He is and that He will respond to your faith. He is a God who hears and answers prayer but the sad reality is that true faith is rare on the earth. Religious tradition has replaced the Word in many churches around the world and true faith is so rare that it is going to be praised by God. 1 Peter 1:7b (NLT) says, “So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world.”
Miracles don’t give you faith. They don’t make you believe but at the same time they are powerful persuaders. They get people’s attention. After the miracle healing of the lame man at the gate Beautiful Peter preached the Word and “many of those who heard the word believed; and the number of the men came to be about five thousand” (Acts 4:4). Miracles are needed to usher multitudes into the kingdom of God. In Acts 16 Paul and Silas were in prison praying and singing hymns to God at the midnight hour. While they sang the place suddenly began to shake. The foundation of the prison was shaken and immediately all the doors were opened and their chains and shackles fell off. This was a miracle and moments later the keeper of the prison “called for a light, ran in, and fell down trembling before Paul and Silas. And he brought them out and said, ‘Sirs, what must I do to be saved?’ So they said, ‘Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household'” (Acts 16:29-31). This is the purpose of signs and wonders.

Miracles glorify Jesus and the heart cry of every believer should be, “Here I am! Use me! Make me an instrument of Your miracle working power.” Miracles should be part of the normal operation of every born-again believer. God is a miracle working God and He lives inside of you. With a right heart you can tap into spiritual realities and create an environment where God can move. You must have reverence for the Holy Spirit and be receptive for what God wants to do. Acts 19:11,12 says, “Now God worked unusual miracles by the hands of Paul, so that handkerchiefs or aprons were brought from his body to the sick, and the diseases left them and the evil spirits went out of them.” God did powerful things through Paul and He can do the same with you. Signs and wonders follow those who believe. Verse 10 says Paul taught the Word in the school of Tyrannus for two years “so that all who dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greek.” If you want signs and wonders to follow you, if you want to become instruments of power, then preach what the Bible says and God will put His signature on it with miracles happening to you and through you. God is faithful and he confirms His Word with signs and wonders.

Acts 5:12a says, “And through the hands of the apostles many signs and wonders were done among the people.” Believers don’t do miracles by the power of God, God does miracles by the hands of men. His people are instruments through which His power flows. God uses people and He can use their hands. Jesus said “you shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover.” God even uses natural objects as a tool through which His power flows. Moses had his rod and in Mark 5:28 the woman with the issue of blood said, “If only I may touch His clothes, I shall be made well.” She pressed through the crowd and when she touched the hem of His garment she received her miracle. Her faith made her whole but the cloth was an instrument for the power to flow through Jesus to her. Jesus felt that power had gone out of Him (vs. 30) and the woman felt the power flow into her. “Immediately the fountain of her blood was dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of the affliction” (vs. 29).

It is God’s will for everybody to get saved, to be prosperous, to get healed from all infirmities, and to be sound in spirit, soul, and body. To help people be made whole He uses instruments for the manifestation of His power to flow through. Acts 5:15,16 says, “so that they brought the sick out into the streets and laid them on beds and couches, that at least the shadow of Peter passing by might fall on some of them. Also a multitude gathered from the surrounding cities to Jerusalem, bringing sick people and those who were tormented by unclean spirits, and they were all healed.” God uses shadows, handkerchiefs and aprons, sticks, clothes, mud, spit, and hands as instruments of His power. He can also use you. In fact, He wants to. People flock to miracles and the power of God working through you will draw people in. You need to reach a point in your walk with God and spiritual maturity where God can work in you and through you as He wills, not as you will. Remember, you don’t do miracles by the power of God, He does miracles by the hands of men.

You don’t have to be a big name preacher in order for God to use you. 1 Cor. 1:26,27 says, “For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty.” Being used as an instrument of power is not about people being impressed with you and noticing how powerful and spiritual you are. But when you know you can do nothing by yourself, then God can use you. Even Jesus said, “Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner” (John 5:19). God only uses people who don’t want to be seen. When you’re hungry for the glory of God you want Him only to be seen, not you. When the lame man at the gate Beautiful was miraculously healed the people were greatly amazed. “So when Peter saw it he responded to the people: ‘Men of Israel, why do you marvel at this? Or why look so intently at us, as though by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk?'” (Acts 3:12).
Acts 6:8 says, “And Stephen, full of faith and power, did great wonders and signs among the people.” Stephen was nobody special in the society where he lived. He was one of seven primitive disciples chosen to serve tables but he over leaped the limitations of his task and became a powerful preacher. Those who heard him “were not able to resist the wisdom and the Spirit by which he spoke” (vs. 10) and “all who sat in the council, looking steadfastly at him, saw his face as the face of an angel” (vs. 15). If God can use a bus boy from the local restaurant, He can use you. Train yourself to yield to God and throw yourself wholeheartedly and full time into God’s way of doing things. “Do not let sin control the way you live, do not give in to sinful desires. Do not let any part of your body become an instrument of evil to serve sin. Instead, give yourselves completely to God, for you were dead, but now you have new life. So use your body as an instrument to do what is right for the glory of God” (Rom. 6:12,13 NLT). 

Whatever you yield to is what gains power over you. “Don’t you realize that you become the slave of whatever you choose to obey? You can be a slave to sin, which leads to death, or you can choose to obey God, which leads to righteous living” (Rom. 6:16 NLT). Train yourself to yield to God day in and day out to the point where it changes your personality. You can yield to something so much that it becomes a part of you. Ask God to teach you how to yield to Him where you do it without thinking or reasoning. The word “yield” means ‘give place to, to respond, to react on the promptings of.’ What you yield to is what influences you and controls your life. You become what you yield to. If the Holy Spirit speaks to your heart and tells you to do something, respond to it! Yield to it! Do it! Act on the promptings of the Holy Spirit within you. This is what you must do to become an instrument of power where you will see more and experience more of the miraculous. You need to reach a point in your walk with God and spiritual maturity where He can work through you to do amazing signs and wonders.

Paul wrote in 1 Cor. 12:1, “Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I do not want you to be ignorant.” Why don’t we see more of the miraculous in the world today? Ignorance! People don’t know the miraculous is available today. They don’t expect it and they don’t look for it. Ignorance! And if people don’t want it, God won’t push it off on them. Paul goes on to say in the same chapter, “But earnestly desire the best gifts” (vs. 31a). The working of miracles is one of the many manifestations of the Spirit (vs. 7) and Paul is saying you must covet earnestly to become an instrument of power. You must desire the miraculous otherwise Paul would not have said to covet earnestly the greatest gifts. You must have a consuming, continuous hunger and a desire for these things and this is one of the biggest areas where people miss it the most. Most folks just don’t want it enough. They’re not hungry for it. Most churches are ignorant of what’s going on in the spiritual realm. They don’t know about it and they don’t think about it. They make excuses and water the Bible down to match their lack of experience.

Isaiah 26:9a says, “With my soul I have desired You in the night, Yes, by my spirit within me I will seek You early…” Desire compels you to seek. If you want something bad enough, you’ll look for it. Today most people are looking for money and ways to have an early retirement. What people seek after is what they want. Why are there not more miracles seen today? People don’t desire or seek them enough. If you want something enough you will do whatever it takes to get it. Do you treasure the things of God? Do you covet earnestly the best gifts? Do you treasure the opportunity to become an instrument through which the power of God flows? Jesus said in Matt. 6:21, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Compel yourself to hunger for and earnestly desire the moving of the Holy Spirit in your life so that you will see gifts of healings and the working of miracles manifested in you and through you. Your desire will compel you to ask, seek, and knock for the things of God. This is what happened in the upper room on the day of Pentecost. The disciples were waiting in anticipation and expectation. Today people just don’t want it enough. Open your heart up to God and let Him show you what is available and what you can be a part of. Covet earnestly to become an instrument of His power.

You can not satisfy spiritual longings with money, cars, new clothes, and other natural possessions. Jesus said in John 3:6, “That which is born of flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” You must stop living only immersed in the physical realm. Deep calls unto deep. The spirit in you is calling out to the God of spirits. 1 Cor. 2:14 says, “But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” God is a Spirit and when your spirit is in open communion with Him you’ll become spiritually alive and have access to everything He is doing. When God moves, yield to it. Do what he tells you to do. Before Jesus ascended on high He told the disciples what to do, they did it, and signs followed. People were healed, delivered, set free, and made whole. God is real and the moving of the Spirit is real. When you hunger to be an instrument of His power your desire leads you to ask, seek, and knock for the miraculous to happen in your life.

How do you do the works of Jesus? The same way He did them. He said in John 14:10b, “…the Father who dwells in Me does the works.” The NLT Bible says, “…but My Father who lives in Me does His work through Me.” Jesus then said in vs. 12, “Most assuredly, 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 My Father.” This is so wonderful that many in the church have not dared to believe it. They put Jesus in a category where everything He did is unattainable to somebody else. They acknowledge the things Jesus did but reject the spiritual reality that they also can do the very same things. They don’t realize that Jesus did not do these signs and wonders because He is God. He laid aside His divine position and came to earth as a man. He had to be anointed by the Holy Spirit to do the things He did. You can have the glorious potential to do the same works He did, and greater works also, because you have been anointed by the same Holy Spirit!
Gal. 3:5 says, “Therefore He who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you, does He do it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?” The Message Bible says, “Does the God who lavishly provides you with His own presence, His Holy Spirit, working things in your lives you could never do for yourselves, does He do these things because of your strenuous moral striving or because you trust Him to do them in you?” You can not produce miracles through your own effort! Miracles can only be produced by the hearing of faith. Jesus said in John 5:19, “Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner.” Every miracle begins by hearing from God. Jesus said, “I only say what I hear Him say. I only do what I hear Him do.” This is how you have miracles in your life. It is no more complicated than that. At the wedding feast Mary said to the servants, “Whatever He says to you, do it” (John 2:5). The Spirit of God was speaking through Mary and she gave the complete summary of how to have miracles. Do whatever He tells you to do. They did and they had their miracle.

Prov. 3:5,6 says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.” This is how you have miracles. Acknowledge Him and whatever He tells you to do, do it! Act on it without delay! You don’t have to be a well known preacher who stands behind a pulpit to be used by God to work miracles. Anybody can hear from God and if you do what He tells you to do you will be an instrument of power and miracles will follow. Acts 9:10 says, “Now there was a certain disciple at Damascus named Ananias; and to him the Lord said in a vision, ‘Ananias.’ And he said, ‘Here I am, Lord.'” Ananias was not a preacher or a pastor or a prophet. He was a lay person, a student, a disciple. In other words, he was just a normal guy yet he heard from God and acknowledged Him by calling Him “Lord.” The Lord spoke to him and he will also speak to you.
“So the Lord said to him, ‘Arise and go to the street called Straight, and inquire at the house of Judas for one called Saul of Tarsus for behold, he is praying. And in a vision he has seen a man named Ananias coming in and putting his hand on him, so that he might receive his sight.'” (Acts 2:11,12). This is a word of knowledge and in itself is a miracle. The Lord is giving Ananias direction. He tells him the street, the house, and the person in the house. This is how you have miracles! Every miracle begins with hearing from God. The Lord told Ananias the man in the house was blind and then said in vs. 15, “‘Go, for he is a chosen vessel of Mine to bear My name before the Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel.'” Go your way! Get up! Go! It takes faith to do this. Saul persecuted the church and did much harm to Jerusalem (vs. 13) but Ananias went anyway. He obeyed the voice of the Lord. Whatever God says to do, do it!

“And Ananias went his way and entered the house; and laying hands on him said, ‘Brother Saul…'” Brother? Nobody else was calling him “brother.” This man persecuted the church and took part in the killing of Stephen. But if calling Saul to preach the gospel was good enough for God, it was good enough for Ananias. “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you came, has sent me that you may receive your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit” (vs. 17). If you want miracles you’ve got to be bold and do what the Lord tells you to do. “Immediately there fell from his eyes something like scales, and he received his sight at once; and he arose and was baptized” (vs. 18). No sooner were the words out of his mouth when immediately a miracle occurred! Saul later became known as Paul and took the gospel to the known world all because a normal guy named Ananias heard from God and did what He told him to do.
A similar story of major significance happened in the very next chapter to a centurion soldier named Cornelius. His name means “the beam of the sun” and like Ananias he also was not a preacher or a pastor or a prophet. He was the leader of a hundred men in the Italian Regiment and Acts 10:2 says he was “a devout man and one who feared God with all his household, who gave alms generously to the people, and prayed to God always.” He was a warrior trained to lead men into battle and shows that you can be in an occupation that some people may not think is “spiritual” but still be called upon to be an instrument of power. It is a tragedy when people think God can’t use them just because they clean toilets or pack groceries or wait on tables. God uses anybody who has the faith and the boldness to push all these preconceived ideas aside and does what He tells them to do. Everybody, no matter what their occupation, can have a close walk with the Lord and have the element of the miraculous happening in their lives.
Benevolence, obedience, and spiritual receptivity characterize the life of this Roman centurion. He feared God and prayed to Him all the time. These are the same qualities every believer should have when they desire to be an instrument of power. The Father wants you to reach out to Him in your spirit with all sincerity and love Him and worship Him in spirit and truth. Absolute honesty and genuineness helps you draw near to Him. You can’t be false, fake, or phony in any degree and be in a spiritual relationship with God. He desires to have a close relationship with you and this is something you can give Him. You can reverence Him and give Him worship day in and day out. Get up in the morning loving Him and as you go through the day tell Him always how much He means to you. He seeks this, He wants this, He deserves this. Spend your whole day with Him and when you lay down at night let your praises be the last thing you do. Then wake up the next morning and do it all over again.
“About the ninth hour of the day he saw clearly in a vision an angel of God coming in and saying to him, ‘Cornelius!’ and when he observed him, he was afraid, and said, ‘What is it, lord?’ So he said to him, ‘Your prayers and your alms have come up for a memorial before God.'” God sees everything you do. People may think He doesn’t but He does. No matter where you work, no matter what you say and no matter what you do, He sees everything you do for Him and for His people. He sees it and He remembers it. “‘Now send men to Joppa, and send for Simon whose surname is Peter. He is lodging with Simon, a tanner, whose house is by the sea. He will tell you what you must do'” (vs. 5,6). As with Ananias here was a word of knowledge telling Cornelius where to go to find the man of God. This was necessary because without it the man of God may not have been found because he wasn’t at home. But God knew where he was at and before long this Roman soldier knew where he was at also.
When the angel who had spoken to him departed immediately and with no hesitation Cornelius sent two of his servants and a devout soldier to Joppa to meet the man of God named Peter. Miracles happen when you hear from God and do what He tells you to do. At the same time, God is getting Peter ready to meet the visitors who will soon be knocking on the door where he is at. He became very hungry and while the food was being prepared he fell into a trance where he saw several common and unclean animals. A voice from heaven told him to kill and eat these animals but Peter refused to do so because it was breaking every religious rule in the book. This happened three times and afterward as Peter pondered what the vision was about the Spirit said to him, “Behold, three men are seeking you. Arise therefore, go down and go with them, doubting nothing; for I have sent them” (Acts 10:19,20). Peter then went down to meet the men and asked for what reason had they come. Soon he would be asked to do the unthinkable.
They said to Peter, “Cornelius the centurion, a just man, one who fears God and has a good reputation among all the nations of the Jews, was divinely instructed by a holy angel to summon you to his house, and to hear words from you” (vs. 22). This just wasn’t done. A Jew never steps into the home of a non-Jew just like he never eats any animal that is considered common and unclean. Cornelius was a Gentile who was disgusted with the paganism of his day so he turned to God because he still did not have a full understanding of the gospel of grace. God meets you where you are so to help Cornelius with his dilemma He called on Peter to do something he had never done before, preach to a crowd of Gentiles. This just wasn’t done but Peter went anyway and this is why he was an instrument of power. He heard from God and did what He told him to do. Through Peter’s ministry Cornelius became the first Gentile believer and was received into the fellowship of the church. From this point forward there is no difference between Jew and Gentile. In Christ they become one (Vs. 34,35).
This is how you have miracles. You step out where you’ve never been before. Miracles don’t start with thunder and lightning. They start with you hearing from God and having the courage to do what He said without delay. Draw close to God, pray more, and seek His face daily. Don’t try to produce anything on your own but on bended knees make yourself available to Him. Say “Here I am, Lord. Use me.” Then with great expectancy believe that you will hear from Him. It may be a small thing like calling a neighbor or mowing the lawn of the widow down the street. Don’t look for the spectacular and miss the supernatural. But as you obey God in the little things doors of opportunity will be opened to you and soon the realm of the miraculous will be a part of your every day life. This is how it happened with Jesus, Peter, and Paul. This is also how it happened with normal folks like Stephen, Ananias, and Cornelius and this is how it will happen with you. You’ll hear from God and take a step of faith and do what He tells you to do. You then step back and watch as He does the miracle. Hallelujah! You have just become an instrument of power.