APOSTLE EDWARD SSEWANYANA: THE GIFTS OF THE SPIRIT: PART 1 (B)

A miracle is a supernatural occurrence that goes against the ordinary course of nature. It is the power of the Holy Spirit working through a believer to counteract earthly and evil forces. The word translated miracles is the Greek word dunamis and means a display of power giving the ability to go beyond the natural, it is literally a mighty force.

(i) Old Testament:

Dividing the river Jordan by Elijah and Elisha 2Ki2:8,14:

“And Elijah took his mantle, and wrapped it together, and smote the waters, and they were divided hither and thither, so that they two went over on dry ground. And he took the mantle of Elijah that fell from him, and smote the waters, and said, Where is the LORD God of Elijah? and when he also had smitten the waters, they parted hither and thither: and Elisha went over." The waters were divided supernaturally against the natural course of nature. This miracle involved stopping the flow of water from upstream, sucking the water that was flowing downstream to stand in one place and creating a dry road for them to pass over.

(ii) New Testament:

Multiplication of the loaves and fish by Jesus Christ Mk6:38-44

"He saith unto them, How many loaves have ye? go and see. And when they knew, they say, Five, and two fishes. And he commanded them to make all sit down by companies upon the green grass. And they sat down in ranks, by hundreds, and by fifties. And when he had taken the five loaves and the two fishes, he looked up to heaven, and blessed, and broke the loaves, and gave them to his disciples to set before them; and the two fishes divided he among them all. And they did all eat, and were filled. And they took up twelve baskets full of the fragments, and of the fishes. And they that did eat of the loaves were about five thousand men."

The five loaves and two fishes were supernaturally multiplied to feed five thousand men, excluding women and children through the gift of the working of miracles.

(iii) Church History:

The ministry of Apostle John Alexander Dowie (1847-1907)

"There had been a severe drought in the land, and no rain had fallen for eight months. So the reporters chided Dowie, reminding him that Elijah prayed for rain during the drought in Israel and the rain came. And that if he was Elijah, surely he would do the same for California. Dowie did indeed pray for rain at the end of the service, and before the crowd was dismissed, rain was falling in torrents" (God's Generals by Roberts Liardon).

(iv) Personal Example:

One time I was doing an assignment on the computer and I had saved my work on a floppy diskette. When I inserted the diskette an error message came on the screen asking me whether I should format the diskette. The work could not open and I realised that I had lost hours of work. I prayed to God and believed i received my answer. When I next inserted the diskette, it opened perfectly and I quickly saved it onto the computer, I had miraculously retrieved it. A few moments later when I inserted the diskette again it could not open, but by now I no longer needed it since I had removed my work.

(2) Gifts of healings:

These are supernatural creative powers released through an individual to heal the sick or restore maimed and missing parts. The gifts of healing are different from the usual method of healing that believers can exercise by faith (Mk 16:18) through laying on of hands in that it takes a much shorter time. This gift can operate and cause a person to be healed regardless of whether they have faith or not.

(i) Old Testament:

The healing of Naaman's leprosy by Prophet Elisha (2Ki 5:1, 8-14):

"Now Naaman, captain of the host of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master, and honorable, because by him the LORD had given deliverance unto Syria: he was also a mighty man in valor, but he was a leper. And it was so, when Elisha the man of God had heard that the king of Israel had rent his clothes, that he sent to the king, saying, Wherefore hast thou rent thy clothes? let him come now to me, and he shall know that there is a prophet in Israel. So Naaman came with his horses and with his chariot, and stood at the door of the house of Elisha. And Elisha sent a messenger unto him, saying, Go and wash in Jordan seven times, and thy flesh shall come again to thee, and thou shalt be clean. But Naaman was wroth, and went away, and said, Behold, I thought, He will surely come out to me, and stand, and call on the name of the LORD his God, and strike his hand over the place, and recover the leper. Are not Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? may I not wash in them, and be clean? So he turned and went away in a rage. And his servants came near, and spoke unto him, and said, My father, if the prophet had bid thee do some great thing, wouldest thou not have done it? how much rather then, when he saith to thee, Wash, and be clean? Then went he down, and dipped himself seven times in Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God: and his flesh came again like unto the flesh of a little child, and he was clean" (2Ki 5:8-14).

(ii) New Testament:

Peter's shadow healing the sick in Jerusalem (Acts 5:15,16)

"Insomuch that they brought forth the sick into the streets, and laid them on beds and couches, that at the least the shadow of Peter passing by might overshadow some of them. There came also a multitude out of the cities round about unto Jerusalem, bringing sick folks, and them which were vexed with unclean spirits: and they were healed every one" (Act 5:15-16).

(iii) Church History:

The ministry of Apostle John Graham Lake (1870-1935) during a deadly plague outbreak in South Africa:

"Lake then invited the doctor to experiment with him. He asked the doctor to take foam from the lungs of a dead plague victim and put it under a microscope. The doctor did so, and found masses of living germs. Then Lake astounded the people in the room as he told the doctor to spread the deadly foam on his hands and announced that the germs would die. The doctor did so and found that the germs died instantly in Lake's hands. Those who witnessed the experiment stood in amazement as Lake continued to give glory to God" (God's Generals by Roberts Liardon).

(iv) Personal Example:

I had an experience one time in 2004 during a conference in Kakamega Kenya when I prayed for a man who was deaf and dumb. He could not speak or talk but came along with a lady who used to write for him what she would hear during the sessions and he would read it. This man came forward for prayer and I laid my hands on His tongue and commanded his ears to open. He began to speak and also one of the ears opened immediately. We were able to verify the miracle and the lady who used to assist him was astonished at what had happened since she heard him speaking yet he never could do so before.

(3) The gift of Faith:

The gift of faith is a supernatural level of faith imparted by the Holy Spirit to enable a person pronounce or perform demonstrations of power beyond normal. When this gift is operating in people, they are able to comfortably believe God in or for something that other people would see as impossible. This supernatural level of faith is not active at all times and is not merely faith in God's written word. This is referred to as wonder-working faith in the Amplified Version.

(i) Old Testament:

Joshua commanding the earth to stop rotating (the sun and moon standing still) (Josh 10:12, 13):

"Then spoke Joshua to the LORD in the day when the LORD delivered up the Amorites before the children of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel, Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon; and thou, Moon, in the valley of Ajalon. And the sun stood still, and the moon stayed, until the people had avenged themselves upon their enemies. Is not this written in the book of Jasher? So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and hasted not to go down about a whole day."

Cursing the fig tree by Jesus Christ (Mk 11:12-14, 20-21):

“And on the morrow, when they were come from Bethany, he was hungry: And seeing a fig tree afar off having leaves, he came, if haply he might find anything thereon: and when he came to it, he found nothing but leaves; for the time of figs was not yet. And Jesus answered and said unto it, No man eat fruit of thee hereafter forever. And his disciples heard it. And in the morning, as they passed by, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots. And Peter calling to remembrance saith unto him, Master, behold, the fig tree which thou cursedst is withered away."

(iii) Church history:

The ministry of Smith Wigglesworth (1859-1947) in raising the dead:

"My friend said, 'She is dead.' He was scared. I have never seen a man so frightened in my life. 'What shall I do?' he asked. You may think what I di was absurd, but I reached over into the bed and pulled her out. I carrried her across the room, stood her against the wall and held her up, as she was absolutely dead. I looked into her face and said, 'In the name of Jesus, I rebuke this death.' From the crown of her head to the soled of her feet her whole body began to tremble. 'In the name of Jesus, I command you to walk,' I said. I repeated, 'In the name of Jesus, in the name of Jesus, walk!' and she walked" (God's Generals by Roberts Liardon).

(iv) Personal Example:

One time we were traveling from Uganda to Kenya and we seemingly got stranded at the border since there was no obvious way for us to join the other missioners in Misikhu, deep in Western Kenya. The taxis going to that place were over and we had no other solution. God spoke to me, "I have prepared a car to take you to your destination." I believed this word by the gift of faith and surely after some time we walked up to a bus station and a bus came in, the conductor allowed us to get on board and took us to a town near where we were going. We embarked at a petrol station and a car pulled up to get fuel. The man in the car saw us standing out there and asked us where we were going. We told him we were going to Misikhu and it was already late. He said that that was the place he was staying also, he took us to his home for the night and drove us to our destination the next day in the morning. This was a foreign nation and moreover being so late in the night it could not take natural faith to be delivered in such a situation.