Thu. Jan 23rd, 2025
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Shortly after Elijah was carried to heaven in a fiery chariot, a group of young prophets asked his successor, Elisha, to go with them to build a new living quarters. While one of the men was cutting down a tree, the blade of his axe fell in the water and sank into the murky depths of the Jordan River.

The construction project came to an abrupt stop. This was before the days of flashlights and sonar devices. They couldn’t stop by Home Depot for a new axe. These guys were in trouble.

Knowing that his friends couldn’t replace this expensive iron tool they had borrowed, the young prophet cried to his mentor Elisha for help. Second Kings 6:6 (NASB) says: “Then the man of God said, ‘Where did it fall?’ And when he showed him the place, he cut off a stick and threw it in there, and made the iron float.”

I love how the King James Version says it: “And the iron did swim.” The heavy iron blade floated to the surface—defying the laws of physics and proving that nothing is impossible with God. Elisha’s faith saved the day.


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This obscure Bible story not only reminds us that God has power over the natural world, but it also shows how desperately we need the power of the Holy Spirit. The prophets would never have finished their building if it hadn’t been for a miracle.

Yet in so many churches today, miracles are rare, and no one expects them. Some Christians even teach that God no longer does miracles. Cessationism, as it is called, has become a popular doctrine in some denominations. It proposes that after the Bible was canonized, miracles ceasedn and now all we need is God’s Word to reach the world for Jesus.

Cessationists demonize charismatics and Pentecostals because we believe in the supernatural gifts of the Holy Spirit. Yet there is absolutely no biblical basis for the idea of a shutdown of God’s power after the New Testament period. It is preposterous to suggest that Jesus flipped a switch and turned off the Spirit’s power a few decades after Pentecost.

Many of us who call ourselves Spirit-filled have also been subtly affected by cessationism. We’ve become content to do ministry with an axe handle alone. We’ve lost the blade. We try to build God’s house without the sharp edge of His genuine anointing. So we sweat and strive, depending on human effort and man’s wisdom instead of praying for the power that Elisha experienced.

I have a friend who became crippled as a boy in India. His parents were desperate for a miracle, but nothing happened when they took him to their Hindu temples. But then his mother met a Pentecostal evangelist who shared the gospel with her and prayed for her son. This boy was miraculously healed and got up out of his small wheelchair! Both parents eventually became Christians, and the boy grew up and became the pastor of a large church in his country.

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Cessationists would say this man’s miracle must have been a hoax. They claim we don’t need miracles anymore. And yet because of this one unexplained healing in India, the gospel is spreading rapidly in a major city there.

I’ve met many other humble Christians who carry the genuine anointing of the Spirit. I’ve spent time with Chinese believers who witnessed miracles inside their prison cells. I’ve met a Pakistani apostle who regularly sees Muslims healed during outdoor gospel meetings. There are probably more miracles happening through Christians today than at any time in history, especially in developing nations where believers aren’t hindered by doubt and intellectualism.

The earliest disciples prayed for miracles. After Peter was reprimanded for preaching in Jerusalem, his friends gathered for prayer and said, “And now, Lord … extend Your hand to heal, and [may] signs and wonders take place through the name of Your holy servant Jesus” (Acts 4:29-30). In the next chapter, people were being healed and delivered of demons in the streets.

There is a cry in the American church today that resembles the cry of the desperate young prophet in 2 Kings 6. We know the precious power of God has eluded us. We know we dropped the blade. Yet we are beginning to acknowledge our blunder.

As we begin this new year, don’t be content with dead religion that denies God’s power. We serve a miracle-working God. He has the power to raise iron from the bottom of a river. Lord, let 2025 be a year of miracles.

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By J. Lee Grady

J. Lee Grady is an author, award-winning journalist and ordained minister. He served as a news writer and magazine editor for many years before launching into full-time ministry. Lee is the author of six books, including 10 Lies the Church Tells Women, 10 Lies Men Believe and Fearless Daughters of the Bible. His years at Charisma magazine also gave him a unique perspective of the Spirit-filled church and led him to write The Holy Spirit Is Not for Sale and Set My Heart on Fire, which is a Bible study on the work of the Holy Spirit.

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