Not Every Miracle Is From God

Many people have stories of answered prayer. Someone prays to a saint and recovers from an illness. Someone makes a vow at a temple and the job comes through. Someone visits a shrine and the danger passes.

Were these miracles? And if they were, where did they come from?

The Bible has a lot to say about miracles — what they are, why God does them, and how to tell when one is not from Him.

What Is a Miracle?

A miracle is God doing something that nature, effort, or human power could not do on its own.

But in the Bible, miracles are never just displays of power. John calls Jesus’ miracles signs, because they point to something beyond themselves. After Jesus turned water into wine, John wrote:

John 2:11 (NIV) — “What Jesus did here in Cana of Galilee was the first of the signs through which he revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.”

And at the end of his Gospel, John tells us why he recorded them at all:

John 20:31 (NIV) — “But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.”

That is the purpose of a true miracle. It points to God.

Miracles Still Happen Today

God has not stopped working. Many believers can tell of a moment when they were in danger and were somehow kept safe. A conversation with a difficult boss that turned around. A bill that was paid just in time. A need met from a place they never expected.

Jesus invited us to bring these needs to God:

Matthew 7:7-8 (NIV) — “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.”

He said faith in God can move what seems immovable:

Mark 11:24 (NIV) — “Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.”

And Paul promised:

Philippians 4:19 (NIV) — “And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.”

But that is not a blank cheque. James explains why some prayers are not answered:

James 4:2-3 (NIV) — “You do not have because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.”

And John adds the key:

1 John 5:14 (NIV) — “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.”

God answers prayer, but He answers as a loving Father, not as a machine. Sometimes the answer is yes. Sometimes it is not yet. And sometimes it is no, because He sees what we cannot.

Not All Miracles Are From God

Here is the warning the Bible gives just as clearly. Not every supernatural event comes from God. Jesus said:

Matthew 24:24 (NIV) — “For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.”

And Paul warned that the deceiver can look like the real thing:

2 Corinthians 11:14-15 (NIV) — “And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. It is not surprising, then, if his servants also masquerade as servants of righteousness.”

Scripture gives us examples.

Pharaoh’s magicians. When Moses performed signs before Pharaoh, his magicians matched them. Staffs became snakes. Water turned to blood. Frogs came out of the river. The Bible says they “did the same things by their secret arts” (Exodus 7:11). It does not call it a trick. But their power ran out. When they could not copy the plague of gnats, they admitted:

Exodus 8:19 (NIV) — “The magicians said to Pharaoh, ‘This is the finger of God.'”

Their power was real. It was also limited, and it did not come from God.

Simon the sorcerer. In Samaria, a man named Simon amazed a whole city:

Acts 8:10-11 (NIV) — “…all the people, both high and low, gave him their attention and exclaimed, ‘This man is rightly called the Great Power of God.’ They followed him because he had amazed them for a long time with his sorcery.”

Notice what the people called it: the power of God. They were wrong. When Philip arrived preaching Christ, even Simon was astonished by the real signs God did through Philip (Acts 8:13).

The slave girl at Philippi. She had a spirit that let her predict the future. Her owners “earned a great deal of money” from it (Acts 16:16). She even followed Paul shouting true words about him. Paul still cast the spirit out (Acts 16:18). True words and real power did not make it godly.

And at the end of the age, it will be even greater:

Revelation 13:13-14 (NIV) — “And it performed great signs, even causing fire to come down from heaven to the earth in full view of the people. Because of the signs it was given power to perform on behalf of the first beast, it deceived the inhabitants of the earth.”

Fire from heaven — the very sign God gave through Elijah — will be copied to deceive.

Miracles That Point to God

So what do God’s miracles look like? Look at a few of them, and notice where each one leads.

On Mount Carmel, Elijah prayed, and God answered with fire:

1 Kings 18:38-39 (NIV) — “Then the fire of the Lord fell and burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones and the soil, and also licked up the water in the trench. When all the people saw this, they fell prostrate and cried, ‘The Lord — he is God! The Lord — he is God!'”

At the Red Sea, God opened a path through the water, and Israel walked through on dry ground:

Exodus 14:31 (NIV) — “And when the Israelites saw the mighty hand of the Lord displayed against the Egyptians, the people feared the Lord and put their trust in him and in Moses his servant.”

On the lake, Jesus walked on the water, and the storm stopped:

Matthew 14:32-33 (NIV) — “And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down. Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, ‘Truly you are the Son of God.'”

In Philippi, Paul and Silas were praying and singing in prison at midnight:

Acts 16:26 (NIV) — “Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everyone’s chains came loose.”

Within the hour, the jailer was asking, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” (Acts 16:30).

Every one of God’s miracles led people to Him. That is the difference.

How to Tell the Difference

Scripture gives two clear tests. Neither one asks whether the miracle was real.

The first is where it leads you:

Deuteronomy 13:1-3 (NIV) — “If a prophet… appears among you and announces to you a sign or wonder, and if the sign or wonder spoken of takes place, and the prophet says, ‘Let us follow other gods’… you must not listen to the words of that prophet.”

God does not say the sign will fail. He says it may come true, and that settles nothing. What matters is where it points.

The second is what it says about Jesus:

1 John 4:1-3 (NIV) — “Do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God… Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God.”

So our trust must never rest on a miracle itself — or on an image, a temple, a shrine, a saint, or a person. It belongs to Jesus alone:

Acts 4:12 (NIV) — “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.”

Why Didn’t the Apostles Pray to the Saints Before Them?

Many people pray to saints, to people who have died, or before images — and some say their prayers were answered. So it is worth asking a simple question: what did the people in the Bible do?

Paul knew the great men and women of faith who came before him — Abraham, Moses, David, Elijah. He wrote about them often. But he never once prayed to them, and he never taught anyone else to. He prayed to God: “For this reason I kneel before the Father” (Ephesians 3:14). And he taught believers to do the same:

Philippians 4:6 (NIV) — “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.”

Jesus taught us to pray “Our Father“, and to ask in His name:

John 16:23-24 (NIV) — “Very truly I tell you, my Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete.”

The New Testament never tells us to go through anyone else:

1 Timothy 2:5 (NIV) — “For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus.”

Hebrews 4:16 (NIV) — “Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”

The apostles also saw faithful believers die — people they knew personally.

Stephen was the first Christian to die for his faith. He was “full of the Holy Spirit“, and as he died, he prayed to Jesus (Acts 7:55, 59). No one would question that Stephen was a saint.

Yet after he died, do you ever see Paul — in any of his letters, or anywhere in his life — pray to Stephen, or to anyone who had died? Do you ever see the early church ask Stephen to carry their prayers to God?

Not once.

Then King Herod had the apostle James put to death (Acts 12:2). James was one of the Twelve, one of Jesus’ closest friends. Soon after, Herod arrested Peter too, and it looked as if Peter would be next (Acts 12:3-4). If there was ever a moment to call on a saint in heaven, this was it. So what did the early church do?

Acts 12:5 (NIV) — “So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was earnestly praying to God for him.”

They were praying for Peter’s life — and they prayed not to James, not to Stephen, but to God. That very night, God sent an angel who led Peter out of the prison (Acts 12:7-10).

In the Bible, the word “saints” does not even mean a special group of people who have died. It means every believer. Paul wrote to living Christians as “all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi” (Philippians 1:1, NKJV).

The Old Testament is the same. No prophet was ever prayed to after he died — not Moses, not Elijah, not Samuel. In fact, God forbade it:

Isaiah 8:19 (NIV) — “When someone tells you to consult mediums and spiritists, who whisper and mutter, should not a people inquire of their God? Why consult the dead on behalf of the living?”

When King Saul did it anyway, Scripture records what it cost him:

1 Chronicles 10:13 (NIV) — “Saul died because he was unfaithful to the Lord; he did not keep the word of the Lord and even consulted a medium for guidance,”

Even a good thing could become an idol. In the wilderness, God told Moses to make a bronze snake, and those who looked at it were healed (Numbers 21:8-9). Centuries later, the people were burning incense to it. So King Hezekiah destroyed it:

2 Kings 18:4 (NIV) — “He broke into pieces the bronze snake Moses had made, for up to that time the Israelites had been burning incense to it.”

God had once used that very object to heal. It did not matter. When people began to give it the honor that belonged to God, it had to go.

And God’s servants always refused honor meant for Him. When Cornelius fell at Peter’s feet, Peter told him, “Stand up… I am only a man myself” (Acts 10:26). When John fell before an angel, the angel said, “Don’t do that!… Worship God!” (Revelation 19:10).

Images fall under the same warning:

Exodus 20:4-5 (NIV) — “You shall not make for yourself an image… You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God”

Psalm 115:4-5 (NIV) — “But their idols are silver and gold, made by human hands. They have mouths, but cannot speak, eyes, but cannot see.”

Two passages are sometimes raised. In Revelation 5:8, elders in heaven hold “golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of God’s people“. But they are carrying prayers already offered to God, like priests with incense — and three chapters later an angel does exactly the same (Revelation 8:3-4), yet no one prays to that angel. In Luke 16, a rich man asks Abraham to send someone back from the dead. The request is refused: “They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them” (Luke 16:29).

There is not one example in the whole Bible of a living person praying to someone who had died. The way to God is already open, through Jesus.

What About Healing?

There is one more question many people ask. If praying to saints, images, or temples is not what Scripture teaches, why do some people who do it still get healed?

Scripture always presents God as the Healer:

Exodus 15:26 (NIV) — “…for I am the Lord, who heals you.”

Psalm 103:2-3 (NIV) — “Praise the Lord, my soul, and forget not all his benefits — who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases,”

Scripture never shows the devil healing anyone. Every true healing is a good gift, and “Every good and perfect gift is from above” (James 1:17). Still, Paul warns that the enemy uses “all sorts of displays of power through signs and wonders that serve the lie” (2 Thessalonians 2:9). So we should still judge every wonder by where it leads.

And when a real healing happens — even outside the church — Scripture shows us God’s hand. He is kind to everyone:

Psalm 145:9 (NIV) — “The Lord is good to all; he has compassion on all he has made.”

Jesus healed many who did not yet know Him.

The man at Bethesda had been unable to walk for thirty-eight years. He did not even know who Jesus was (John 5:13).

The widow at Nain did not ask for anything. When Jesus saw her, “his heart went out to her“, and He raised her son (Luke 7:13-15).

Malchus came with the crowd to arrest Jesus, and Jesus healed his ear (Luke 22:51).

Naaman was a foreign army commander with his own gods (2 Kings 5).

The Roman centurion was an officer of the occupying army (Matthew 8:5-13).

So why might someone who prays to a saint or at a temple be healed? Scripture does not give us one answer, but it shows us several ways God works.

God’s compassion. “He had compassion on them and healed their sick” (Matthew 14:14).

Someone else’s prayer. A paralyzed man was healed “When Jesus saw their faith” — the faith of his friends (Mark 2:5). A mother, a friend, or a church may have been praying without that person ever knowing.

Faith reaching toward God. “Your faith has healed you” (Mark 5:34).

For God’s glory. “This happened so that the works of God might be displayed” (John 9:3).

We usually do not know the full story behind someone’s healing. That is why these questions should not shake us. God’s mercy is not limited the way we sometimes think. Jesus did not come for one nation only:

1 John 2:2 (NIV) — “He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.”

But a healing does not prove that the saint, the image, or the temple did it. It proves that God is merciful. And the right response is to give Him the glory. When Naaman was healed, he said, “Now I know that there is no God in all the world except in Israel” (2 Kings 5:15). When ten lepers were healed, only one came back to thank Jesus, and Jesus asked:

Luke 17:17-18 (NIV) — “Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? Has no one returned to give praise to God except this foreigner?”

As for why one person is healed and another is not, Scripture leaves that with God:

Romans 9:15-16 (NIV) — “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy… It does not, therefore, depend on human desire or effort, but on God’s mercy.”

So What Do We Do With This?

Miracles are real, and God still does them. But not every miracle is from Him. Some are counterfeits, meant to lead people away.

So test every wonder by where it leads, and by what it says about Jesus. When God heals or helps — even someone who does not yet know Him — the glory belongs to Him, not to an image, a temple, or a saint.

And you do not need anyone else to carry your prayers. The way to God is already open, through Jesus. Take what you need straight to Him.

Last updated 5 October 2026