Now God worked unusual miracles by the hands of Paul, so that even handkerchiefs or aprons were brought from his body to the sick, and the diseases left them and the evil spirits went out of them. Acts 19:11
I have a friend that says a sign and a wonder is simply a sign that makes you wonder. Signs and wonders have been for a large part absent from the church for so long that many of us don’t really know what they are or what they are not. A healing or a miracle is not generally a sign and/or a wonder. Moses experienced signs and wonders in his lifetime. He saw the Red Sea part before him and all of Israel. Joshua, Elijah and Elisha saw a similar sign from God. Joshua and Elisha both experienced the parting of the Jordan River on separate occasions, while they crossed as a sign to the people that God’s favor and anointing was upon them. The children of Israel had the glory cloud and pillar of fire as a sign to them that God was with them and leading them. Moses saw a bush that was on fire, yet it was not consumed as a sign to him that it was really God who was speaking to him. The scripture is full of signs and wonders.
We have began to experience these kinds of phenomena as the glory of God invades our lives. My wife and I have attended some services where there were signs and wonders. In these meetings we both had gold dust on our hands and clothes each night that we attended. When we came back home, we immediately began to see this phenomena manifest in our church. I thought that I was perfectly alright with this type of sign, but when it happened in the meetings that I was personally responsible for, something in me became unsure. I had never anticipated that I would feel this way. It was an inward struggle that had to be overcome. I knew the signs were from God, yet there was still a reservation inside of me. One afternoon I prayed for the Lord to help me get this settled in my spirit. The next day I came home from a tremendous lunch hour prayer meeting and sat at the kitchen table. The glory was so strong on me that no one spoke, which is very unusual at our house. We sat there, my wife and I, just soaking in the presence of God. Nancy, my wife, looked at her hands and her clothes and saw that she was covered in gold dust. Our middle child came in and sat at the table. We watched him as gold dust began to form on his face and hands. The same thing happened as our youngest child and then our daughter came and joined us at the table. We all sat there covered with gold dust soaking in a heavy presence of God’s glory . From that moment on it was common for our kid to have this heavenly gold on their faces, hands and clothes. One morning our daughter came into our bedroom as we were getting ready asking what we were listening to. We often listen to some of our favorite preachers or teachers as we get ready for the day. We told her, and she said that she was getting so much gold dust on her face that she couldn’t put on her makeup.
A member of the church approached me because he had heard of what was happening in our home and about how the presence of God had been so strong. He asked me to come to his house and pray that God’s glory would saturate his home also. I recommended that he pray over his own house first. He went home and prayed for the presence of God to invade his house as I had instructed. God heard his prayer and began to visit his home in a powerful way. They would sit in their living room in the evening and just soak in the manifest presence of God that had been released in response to their prayers. During that time they even had sterling silver jewelry turn to gold right before their eyes.
As word of these unusual signs began to get out, (I might add that we were not broadcasting this news. People are not always very accepting of such things) we began to have people call and visit the church from all over the region. Pastors and leaders of ministries began to flood into our church as God broke out in new and exciting ways.
Since then we have experienced many signs and wonders. People have had supernatural oil appear in their hands, heavenly fragrances have manifested in prayer meetings, some have felt the ground shaking, and several times people have heard angels singing during worship services. On one account we watched a woman’s eyes change from brown in color to blue as we ministered to her. We asked the Lord why He did this, and He said to us that every time she looked in the mirror it would be a sign for her to remind her of the incredible change that had taken place in her heart.
I believe we are going to see signs and wonders in the heavens more and more. We have been around several ministries that have experienced heavenly signs such as rain and even earthquakes. We have began to notice that as we go out to preach, the rain seems to follow. I think God is trying to get our attention so that we could testify of the power of God and his authority even over nature. In one city we stayed in a hunting lodge. The owner, who was not a believer, was very friendly, and we had the opportunity to visit with him several times. He had overheard us in our room singing a worship song about the rains coming down. He told us that his area had been in a drought and that if it rained while we were there then we must really be servants of God. Within a few hours the drought came to an end as the rain began to fall and did not stop for the duration of our stay. It even rained for about another ten hours after we left. He gave us an open invitation to come back anytime.
God is showing forth His power in many ways to get the attention of all who will listen. Time is getting shorter. Let’s take full advantage of every opportunity that God provides so that we can bring in a bountiful harvest of souls for His Kingdom.