Scripture to confirm this please.
1 Cor 13:4-13….
”Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous. It does not brag, does not get puffed up, 5 does not behave indecently, does not look for its own interests, does not become provoked. It does not keep account of the injury. 6 It does not rejoice over unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth. 7 It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
8 Love never fails. But if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away with; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away with. . . . 11 When I was a child, I used to speak as a child, to think as a child, to reason as a child; but now that I have become a man, I have done away with the traits of a child. 12 For now we see in hazy outline by means of a metal mirror, but then it will be face-to-face. At present I know partially, but then I will know accurately, just as I am accurately known. 13 Now, however, these three remain: faith, hope, love; but the greatest of these is love.”
To “grow up” as a Christian, we need the mature qualities of “faith, hope and love” because without those important qualities, no amount of miracles will save you. The need to see miracles is what drew many to Christ in the first century, but these Paul said were the traits of a spiritual child…..those traits needed to cease so that the more enduring qualities could have room to grow.
Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed.
Praying to be healed in this instance is not physical….it involves confession of sins and prayer so the healing here, is spiritual.
The Kingdom is where Jesus reigns and Jesus gave John the Baptist the signs of it's coming...
Luke 7:22
And He answered and said to
them, “Go and report to John what you
have seen and heard:
the blind receive sight,
the lame walk,
the lepers are cleansed, and
the deaf hear,
the dead are raised up,
the poor have the gospel preached to
them.
What I look for then is His Love at work and the Gospel preached with signs following.
And that is most definitely what we should see in Christ’s disciples…..love of neighbor, but more importantly it is the love of God that should be the prime motivator in our activities. What was reported to John was what the first Christians had to offer the Jews by way of proof that Jesus’ disciples had God’s spirit backing them….and it was quite persuasive, but even though the crowds saw his miracles and partook of the bread and fish he supplied to thousands of people on two occasions, miracles were not his primary mission.
Luke 4:42-44…..
”However, at daybreak he departed and went to an isolated place. But the crowds began searching* for him and came to where he was, and they tried to keep him from going away from them. 43 But he said to them: “I must also declare the good news of the Kingdom of God to other cities, because for this I was sent.” 44 So he went on preaching in the synagogues of Ju·deʹa.”
The preaching of the good news of the Kingdom was his primary concern….it is what his Father “sent“ him to do.
What does the Lord’s Prayer mean when it says…..“thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven”?
Mark 16 “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. 16 He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved; but he who has disbelieved shall be condemned. 17 These signs will accompany those who have believed: in My name they will cast out demons, they will speak with new tongues; 18 they will pick up serpents, and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”
These verses in Mark 16 do not appear in good translations of the Bible. However the first Christians were recipients of the holy spirit and did indeed expel demons, speak in tongues, and healed the sick. Paul even experienced a snake bite that did not kill him….but I do not recall anyone drinking poison…..Many people have died undertaking that kind of risky behavior…..what did Jesus say…”you must not put the Lord your God to the test” by doing stupid things that are risking your life for a showy display. That is NOT what a martyr is.
