What is the secret of miracles, signs and wonders? Many things can be said about this. However, I believe that when faith in the Lord and the power of the Holy Spirit meet, miracles can be produced. They are rare because, often, there may be faith and not the power of the Holy Spirit, or the power of the Holy Spirit and no faith. Stephen was very different. He had both faith and the anointing. If he had been full of faith occasionally and full of the anointing occasionally, he might have performed an occasional miracle when the two met. He was, however, different. He was always full of faith and he was always full of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, at any moment when the Lord wanted a miracle to be performed, He just turned to Stephen and it was done. My beloved brethren, do you see it? His secret lay in the fact that he was full of faith, and he was full of the Holy Spirit. O, that God would, in His love for us, put an end to these experiences of intermittent faith and intermittent fullness of the Holy Spirit! Shall we not do all that needs to be done to give God the vessels He wants and, thereby, satisfy His heart? That is the greatest need of the hour.

So Stephen was full of grace. He was also full of the Holy Spirit. But it did not end there. The Bible adds that he was full of power. What was the result of this? The Bible says that he did great wonders and signs amongst the people. It was not empty words. It was power being manifested. The Lord of glory, the Lord Jesus, was also full of faith, full of the Holy Spirit and full of power. Miracles, signs and wonders flowed from Him endlessly. There was not one situation when He stood before a sickness or disease and spoke and nothing happened. He put all of the power of the devil under control. He was Lord even of the underworld - the world of evil spirits and demons. There are some today who occasionally perform great signs and wonders. This is wonderful and we thank the Lord for it. However, we must recognize that there has not arisen anyone in modern times like Stephen who, because he was full of power, faith and the Holy Spirit, was able to answer to any manifestation of the power of darkness. We must not accept things as they are. I believe that God is still seeking for people who are full of faith and of the Holy Spirit. He will then grant to them to be full of power, and there will be no limit to what He can do through them. My prayer for you and my prayer for myself is that we should seek God in a new way, pay all the price, and then God will manifest all of His glory and power. We dare not accept the current impotency of the church in her ministry to the unsaved, the sick, the possessed and the oppressed, as normal. We must exert ourselves, pay the supreme price and let God have His way.

The apostle Paul said, "For I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has wrought through me to win obedience from the Gentiles, by word and deed, by the power of signs and wonders, by the power of the Holy Spirit, so that from Jerusalem and as far round as Illyricum, I have fully preached the gospel of Christ, thus making it my ambition to preach the gospel, not where Christ has already been named, lest I build on another man's foundation, but as it is written, 'They shall see who have never been told of him, and they shall understand who have never heard of him'" (Romans 15:18-21).

Stephen preached the gospel by word, by the Holy Spirit and by signs and wonders. Paul preached the gospel by words, by the Holy Spirit and by signs and wonders. Some preach the gospel only by word and by the Holy Spirit, but there are no signs and wonders. Others preach it only by word. Is that not the reason why only limited obedience is won by such limited ministry? Is such limited ministry a manifestation of total love for Him? Is He satisfied with it when He wants more from us?