This resource exists for many different communities. For those who are seeking Christianity, this is a place to hear accounts from trustworthy people of miracles they have either encountered or heard about from other trustworthy people. While I can’t guarantee that these miracles did in fact happen, I do at this time know all the authors of the articles personally, and I trust them. (If any strangers reach out to share stories, I will require that they vet themselves by speaking on the phone with me and providing a reference who I can speak with as well). In other words, I think it is quite unlikely that there is dishonesty in these accounts. Maybe it is possible that these are accounts of coincidence or of the mind tricking itself wishfully. I don’t think those are the best explanations in any of these cases, but of course you can decide for yourself once you read and think about and perhaps discuss the accounts. If you don’t think this is worth your time, I encourage you to at least first read my article on why it should be worth your time to investigate, “Why it is Necessary to Listen to Accounts of Miracles.” You can find it as one of just 7 articles (including this one) in the “My Posts” section of the blog. If it turns out that the most likely conclusion is that these miracles occurred, then you will find that there is a good reason to further investigate evangelical Christianity as a better way of life than agnosticism/atheism, other religions, or even pluralism. There are a few more articles in the “My Posts” section, written by me, that give accounts of miracles and also address other religions, including “The Importance of Doctrinal Exclusivity and Why Christianity Offers More Hope than Mormonism,” “The Unevangelized and Why Christianity Offers More Hope than Islam,” “The One with All Authority and Why Christianity Offers More Hope than Worshipping Any Other of the Gods.” If you do want to take another step into investigating Christianity more intentionally, the article “Answered Prayers and Why Christianity Offers Hope Even When We don’t Get the Answer We Wanted” is a guide for some practical ways to get started. It also is a voice of reason for skeptics who may think that their unanswered prayers of the past suggest God doesn't exist.
As I get more and more guest authors, there could be a lot more to offer in the “Guest Posts” section. I will try to keep a list of what is going on in my “Index of Miracles and Some Extra Ones” post within the “My Posts” section.
For those who are Christian, I hope that you will first of all be encouraged. I have been doubtful in different seasons and have considered different lifestyles. I hope you read the articles I mentioned in the previous paragraph if you find yourself in the same boat. The miracles that God worked in my life are a big reason why I continued in Christianity and the memories of them are helpful to this day when I continue to face new doubts. For those who are lukewarm and for those who are mature, I hope you read the rest of this article, as I will address the first group first and the latter group last.
For the lukewarm, as I have been where you are and occasionally backslide into, I ask you to read through Psalm 77. Right now. It will take just a couple of minutes. Maybe one (but most probably not the only) reason that we backslide is because we either don’t realize or we forget the ways that God has worked powerfully in our lives. Yes, the Bible is full of stories of what God has done in the past, and, as the Psalmist suggests, remembering them can be a big boost of encouragement. But I think we can remember what God has done for us (you and me) as well as Paul encourages us in Philippians 4:5-7, “The Lord is near. Don’t worry about anything, but in everything, through prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses every thought, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” Paul tells us God is near. He urges us to pray. And to be thankful- which tells me to (among other things) remember the times God has answered OUR prayers and even shown US miracles. And then a peace that is even more powerful than every thought- whether it be a doubt or even a very good rational thought about why we can trust God- will guard us. Stronger than our own minds, however strong the truths we know about Christ are historically and doctrinally, are the answered prayers. And if you let me, I will extrapolate that concept to any miracle that God does. If we could only realize and remember how the Spirit still does miracles among us, we would have even greater security and encouragement! Please read my article I mentioned before, “Answered Prayers and Why Christianity Offers Hope Even When We don’t Get the Answer We Wanted.” Start to realize, remember and even record the miracles God does in your life!
Finally, for mature Christians, I hope you have read all of this so far. If you have only skimmed, read back over this article carefully (and Read Psalm 77). It has good info for you in all parts, IMHO. Indeed, as a Christian who is maturing more and more, I have also had seasons of doubt and seasons of lukewarmness. Don’t be afraid to ever set aside the mission temporarily and just get the encouragement you need for your own spiritual nourishment. And then, yes, return to the mission, since that is why we are on this earth (and is also nourishment in itself)!
Speaking of the mission, these accounts of miracles are hopefully resources you can use evangelistically. Paul tells the church in Corinth that, while wisdom is to be sought by mature Christians, he did not first come to them with wisdom or eloquence but with the power of the Spirit (1 Corinthians 2:4). And while I know many others have set out to use miracles in evangelism, a lot of those sources are quite Charismatic in nature. While there is nothing necessarily wrong with being Charismatic, there is nothing wrong with not being Charismatic either. I don’t label myself as such, but come from a reformed presbyterian and evangelical free and baptist background. Each flavor of evangelicalism has strengths and weaknesses. And while those of us who are not Charismatic often forget about miracles during evangelism, we, I think, are often more discerning about accounts of miracles. That’s my experience.
And so I want this resource to be a way to have accounts of miracles to even those who are less Charismatic. Know that most of the accounts I share are from non-Charismatic Christians. Try as we may to avoid miracles (which I don’t really think we actively try to avoid miracles, we just tend to not have them in the forefront of our minds - for better or worse we don’t expect them around every corner), they do undoubtedly show up from time to time. If we were very careful to think about it, they actually happen quite more often than would we guess! (Still rare enough to be noteworthy, however, and that is one of the points of this resource - to compile meaningfully important accounts).
And since I want every article to have at least one account of a contemporary miracle, I will share one account here of how miracles can help during the process of someone coming to faith. My knowledge of this miracle happens because I was out doing the work of an evangelist in spite of what seemed like a lack of much success. I was at a bit of an impasse in my own vocational ministry work that I had been doing on a college campus in Utah. As I seemed to be transitioning out of campus ministry and into an ministry internship at a church (and eventually into a role as a layperson who is quite serious about the mission still), I spent some time with a group of church planters who had just moved to the area. I joined them on their door-to-door attempts at evangelism. About an hour and a half into what was supposed to be a two hour spree, my friend Tyler and I had knocked on dozens of doors only to get few answers and no very promising conversations. As we prayed and left door hangers at each door, I was personally feeling discouraged. Campus ministry wasn’t going well for me particularly. This door-to-door stuff (which I had done one previous time with this group) had been flat-out rough. We came to the door of an elderly yet impassioned LDS man. He was quite hostile in his assertion that we knew very little about God compared to him and that he sure didn’t need to hear about anything from us. I had about given up, and we were getting closer to returning to the car at the end of our loop, when we walked by Pat’s house.
Pat was outside working in his yard. We introduced ourselves and after hearing that we wanted to talk about Jesus, he invited us in. He introduced us to his wife. We shared our own brief (30 second!) testimonies about how Jesus had changed us and a short gospel presentation on a 3x5 notecard. Pat said he appreciated our work and testimonies and said he had a lot of questions, but didn’t know if we could answer them. We said we didn’t either but we would be happy to hear them and try and at least be honest. He shared the story of a miracle that occurred to him and made him certain that there is a God. He was working under his car one day with it jacked up in a way he had done many many times before. He heard a voice urgently tell him to get out from under the car. He did quickly and just in time before the car slipped off of one jack and the front came crashing to the ground. Pat admits he would have been crushed by the car. Out from under the car, there was no one there in his garage with him. No physical person to tell him to get out from under the car. Pat thought he must have heard some benevolent spirit, whether it be an angel or God Himself.
Because of this experience, Pat believes that God exists and is benevolent. Beyond that he does not know what to believe specifically about God. We marveled at his story and gave some of the best reasons we could think of as to how to know Jesus is God and the only way to God. He said he had heard that all before and just couldn’t agree that Jesus, while a real historical person and likely a spiritually powerful one, came to die for our sins.
One area he was stuck on was how unevangelized people seemed to unfairly be in dire straits according to the idea that Jesus is the only way to God. We agreed that the existence of unevangelized people was troubling to us. Tyler was quite impassioned to plead with Pat that that is why he moved his family to Utah from North Carolina - to reach those who may have never heard the gospel. (Though my passion was currently waning, I had made a similar move years prior for the same reason and so I agreed with Tyler). We urged him to trust in Jesus and join with us to reach the lost since, yes, they do need to hear about Jesus.
He wasn’t convinced. Which I’m sure you aren’t totally surprised to hear, even though I said my story would end with someone being saved due to a miracle. Well, as far as I know, Pat is not saved still. I still pray for him when I remember him. But the last I heard is that he skipped out on plans to meet with Tyler to study the bible more. So you can join in and pray for him too please.
But I share the story because this miracle did end up helping to save at least one person, or so it seems to me. For one, it was a boost of encouragement for me to hear one more way that God is still at work performing miracles. That there are still people living next door or maybe showing up each day to where we work or shop who experience miracles. They need more than just the miracles, of course. They need teaching from the Bible and to trust in Jesus. And preaching this is our job.
We came back to the car half an hour late to meet up with the other pair and apologize for being tardy and share our story and pray. Well… they weren’t back yet either as they were in the middle of a good conversation themselves. They only knocked on one door and spoke with a woman who had grown up LDS but wasn’t practicing much anymore as an adult. They were able to share the gospel and answer many questions during the 2 1/2 hour long conversation.
Anyway, I was so encouraged by the events of the day that I approached my final months of campus and intern work with more boldness. I did see a college student come to faith due to contact evangelism that I doubt I would have done if not for the encouragement of that day. Several hundred more people have heard the gospel than who would have if not for the account of that miracle.
And that is an account from someone who isn’t Christian! Think of all of what we would learn about if we were to share with one another the many miracles we see or at least hear happen and then forget about.
So I want to encourage you to read through these articles. Find ones that could be used to encourage or even potentially share the gospel with others. Come back and re-read to encourage yourself at times.
Beyond that, if you have a good account you want to share, email it to me. I will post ones that I find helpful for sure (after vetting that you are a trustworthy person, which I'm sure most of you are, but there are fake accounts so... we need to be diligent).
I’ve backed down on the contact evangelism during the pandemic. But as I’ve spent more time trying to evangelize online, I’ve realized that linking to articles does get them read. If only a small percentage of the time, the articles are read because there are people being sought out by God. Even if they do so on the internet.
Praise Jesus!!
Comments