Signs, Wonders and Our Upredictable Father by Ian NicholsonIan Nicholson - 31 May 2008

"God testified to the message by signs, wonders and various miracles and gifts of the Holy Spirit, distributed according to His will"  - Hebrews 2:4

"There are different kinds of gifts, service and working … but the same Spirit"  - 1 Corinthians 12:6

The Global village can be pretty sterile at times! Worldwide communication spreads ideas and products with amazing speed and scope. Canadians, Colombians and Chinese watch the same films, wear the same football shirts and listen to the same music. However ultimately its all pretty shallow because global brands don’t do friendship or individuality.

God is not a brand! He doesn’t do production lines and identikit patterns – in fact he never repeats Himself. Every day there is a new discovery, nuance or slant on the Kingdom of God – spontaneity is everywhere. The Kingdom of Jesus is made up of gardens, mosaics and families – wonderful expressions of divine creativity and diversity; one wonderful whole but nothing ever the same - ever. The kingdom is full of surprises and accidental wonders and over its entrance should be a motto ‘who would have thought – prepare to be surprised!’

Every time we think we have God taped and understood, He delights in confusing us. Just look at the disciples – they were perpetually bewildered. Every time we begin to mumble ‘at last I’m getting this, he moves on – and we never know fully where or how. He sleeps in storms, gets angry in temples and becomes friends with all the wrong people. It never makes complete sense. We get glimpses, but never the full picture.

Who would have predicted Pentecost? Tongues of fire and other languages. Really? Or the Moravians? Or the Asuza street outpouring? Water into wine? Gold Teeth? Clouds of glory? Why would God do that? Who could ever have planned that a fairly routine course like Alpha would explode across the nations? Who would have predicted that a group of young people praying in a small room in Southern England would still be going 8 years later in over 70 nations.

But God is God.  He is who He is and He moves where He moves. There is no map, manual or rule book. The call is to follow and remain friends with the Spirit; to keep close to our spontaneous, unpredictable, unsettling and exhilarating friend, Jesus. One thing is certain: He never does the same thing twice and rarely does He start in the same place or through the same people. Doing that would be far too reasonable and predictable. Sometimes we lead.  At other times we receive, learn and follow others. Always we remain humble.

As I write there are incredible reports coming from Florida of healing miracles which are initiating  prayer meetings, raising faith and unsettling us again in the west. Over the last few years many have been challenged by the reports of healings on the streets in Redding, California. In the two-thirds world, raisings from the dead and healing miracles are commonplace as the church advances into new regions. All over the world the Spirit of God is being poured out, bringing glory to Jesus and advancing the Kingdom.

Once we simply reduce ourselves to buying the brand or copying the model we have lost the heart – the life and pursuit of God. Newness is not the same as novelty. We don’t need to buy any t shirt, adopt an accent or copy the style of others to be in step with the Spirit. The Spirit of Jesus  is being poured out on all flesh and all over the world the kingdom advances in diverse ways we could never have predicted or imagined.

I am deeply stirred and challenged by the reports; it does resonate with some of the things the Lord has been saying and which many have longed for for decades. It has given focus to my slots in the current prayer week and our house of prayer. It has blasted my growing feeling that God just doesn’t do genuine miracles in the west anymore. However, I want to be secure enough to be true to myself, do what God is currently giving me to do and at the moment that doesn’t involve clearing my diary or hotfooting it to the local airport.

We are surrounded by incredible, eyecatching signposts pointing to God’s kingdom being more inclusive, much bigger and immeasurably more powerful than we imagine. At this time of heightened expectation let's be discerning, true to who we are, ruthless with defensive cynicism, prayerful with renewed vigour and prepared to take bold risks of faith and engagement in our communities. Its exciting times and one thing's for sure – prepare to be surprised!