Concerning miracles & problems
Miracles are just that, not common events but random acts of God. Just as you hope your parents would give you more of the vegetales you need than desert or make sure you spend more time doing things that would develop you than entertaining yourself - the life of faith has more to do with discipline than miracles. However, a life that is consistent with a what God desires for us would have more miracles.
4 And God confirmed the message by giving signs and wonders and various miracles and gifts of the Holy Spirit
whenever he chose. (heb.2)
1 Be careful to follow every command I am giving you today, so that you may live and increase and may enter and possess the land that the LORD promised on oath to your ancestors.
Our faith is first in a person, Jesus. He is our boss & He decides what we say, do, where we do it & for how long. The reason we put our faith in Him is for the ultimate goal of our faith - eternal life in His kingdom.
We believe He is going to come back again to judge the living & the dead. That is our ultimate world view. We live by this faith - that is, we govern our lives according to this world view. We submit ourselves to Him & His discipline. He wants a Kingdom of sons. So His ultimate goal of sending His Son is for us to be conformed to the image of Sons.
So we who are true converts, true born again, regenerated sons of God are going to be trained, tried & tested.
3For the appeal we make does not spring from error or impure motives, nor are we trying to trick you. 4On the contrary, we speak as men approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel. We are not trying to please men but God, who tests our hearts. 5You know we never used flattery, nor did we put on a mask to cover up greed—God is our witness(1 thess.2:3-5)
The same time the devil is tempting us to show disloyalty to the One we are supposed to show fidelity to.
8 Then the LORD said to Satan, "Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil."
9 "Does Job fear God for nothing?" Satan replied
In other words, will we serve God when He is not meeting our needs? Will we serve God when we are persecuted?
Faith brings miracles. What is the whole counsel of God concerning faith? What are we seeking? I had faith to stand in my room & praise God for a job without looking for it & the job I asked God for I got it, but I heard from God first & it was confirmed by someone else to do this. I had faith to look in a newspaper & get a job but again I heard from God. The difference between the Jews following Moses & himself was communion with God. Moses complained a lot, to God in prayer. He stayed there until he got an answer from God. He waited for days on the mountain until he heard from Him. The Jews complained & did not humble themselves to seek God.
And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that
he rewards those
who earnestly seek him.
1MY BRETHREN, pay no servile regard to people [show no prejudice, no partiality]. Do not [attempt to] hold and
practice the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ [the Lord] of glory [together with snobbery]!
Faith , our loyalty to Jesus as he followers , is something we put into practice when we are tested. Faith comes through hearing the Word of God, so how does the bible say we should live. It tells us how to live if we have & how we should live when we do not have.
2 Remember how the LORD your God led you all the way
in the
wilderness these forty years,
to humble and test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands.
3 He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that people do not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.
4 Your clothes did not wear out and your feet did not swell during these forty years.
5 Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so the LORD your God disciplines you.
The children of Israel went through a long period walking through the wilderness for a number of reasons. He leads us in hard times & He gives us miracles along the way as we seek Him but the ultimate goal is our discipline. You must discipline yourself to stay in peace in the middle of the storms of life to be able to hear from Him at those times. You have to seek Him to practice hearing from Him so you will know when He is prompting you.
I will listen [with expectancy] to what God the Lord will say, for He will
speak peace to His people, to His saints (those who are in right standing with Him)--but let them not turn again to [self-confident] folly
Moses did not perform one miracle wihtout hearing from God what he should do. It is important to hear, you must spend a lot of time in His Presence. You must be determined to know what His will is for everything. Expect Him to answer.
Many times things we hear from God , He speaks of as if they are right around the corner but it may be a few years in the making whiles we are supposed to be growing in character.
Romans 8
Present Suffering and Future Glory
18 I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.
19 The creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed.
28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who
[a] have been called according to his purpose.
29 For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.
Colossians 1:9-14
9For this reason we also, from the day we heard of it, have not ceased to pray and make [[
a]special] request for you, [asking] that you may be filled with the [
b]full (deep and clear) knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom [[
c]in comprehensive insight into the ways and purposes of God] and in understanding and discernment of spiritual things--
10That you may walk (live and conduct yourselves) in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to Him and [
d]desiring to please Him in all things, bearing fruit in every good work and steadily growing and increasing in and by the knowledge of God [with fuller, deeper, and clearer insight, [
e]acquaintance, and recognition].
11[We pray] that you may be invigorated and strengthened with all power according to the might of His glory, [to exercise] every kind of endurance and patience (perseverance and forbearance) with joy,
12Giving thanks to the Father, Who has qualified and made us fit to share the [
f]portion which is the inheritance of the saints (God's holy people) in the Light.
13[The Father] has delivered and [
g]drawn us to Himself out of the control and the dominion of darkness and has transferred us into the kingdom of the Son [
h]of His love,
14In Whom we have our redemption through His blood, [which means] the forgiveness of our sins.