Do we still have miracles and should we believe in them? In some African societies, people associate unnatural acts with witchcraft. The person who performs them is seen as powerful and is feared and respected. Such acts are believed to bring prosperity, healing and fertility. Among the Datooga people of Tanzania, there is someone who can use spiritual powers to cause a river to dry up or to flow. He can cause a borehole to become dry or to have water, and then people bring him a bull or a sheep as a sacrifice. This African belief and practice that has to do with spirits, is not the kind of self-serving miracles we as believers seek for the growth of our ministries.

Biblical perspective

Miracles in the Bible were done not just to help the person or community in need, but to show the greatness of God. From Genesis to Revelation, God revealed himself to people, and he did this through miracles, using his own creation or by asking his people to trust him as he provided them with a miracle because of their faith. In these passages, we see God’s anger when his people do not trust him. At other times, God responds to his people’s pleas for a miracle in difficult circumstances, as he did in parting the Red Sea (Ex. 14). In the New Testament, Jesus explained that the reason for doing miracles was so that people would believe and give glory to his Father.

Miracles are not salvation.

Later on in Scripture, Paul and other apostles performed many miracles which helped people believe in the Jesus they were preaching about. In Acts 8, God performed miracles of healing and the casting out of demons through Philip, and this brought great joy to the city of Samaria. Miracles confirmed the gospel message and people believed in Jesus.

Do miracles still happen?

The same God who did miracles in the past has not changed. He still heals and transforms people’s lives, revealing himself in different ways. The problem that the world is facing now is fake miracles which lead people astray. Jesus warned that false messiahs and prophets would perform signs and wonders to deceive even the elect and so this should not surprise us (Mt. 24:24). We should not lose our confidence in God’s ability to do real miracles in our lives and in the lives of others. God will do miracles according to his will, and sometimes, he uses humans to perform them. Humans do not do miracles by themselves, but only as God allows.

Miracles in the mission field

Prayer is asking God to do something that is beyond human capacity, and we can ask God to answer our prayers  with evidence of his miraculous acts. Miracles are needed in the mission field now because sometimes, people want to see the power of God before they believe.

In the same way miracles were used by the apostles, they can shore up work in the mission field and help to make Jesus known. It is important to remember that miracles are not salvation. Salvation is found in believing in Jesus Christ, and not by performing or receiving miracles.