Spiritual Data: What God Can Do

This is a formal list of possible ways that God has worked, followed by how He can work.

Large-Scale

Created the universe (Genesis 1-2).

Physical

Worldwide flood event (Genesis 7-8).

Destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 19:24-25).

Turning water to blood (Exodus 7:17-21).

Severe hailstorm (Exodus 9:22-26, Joshua 10:11).

Sending severe darkness (Exodus 10:21-23).

Guided Israel with a pillar of cloud by day and pillar of fire by night (Exodus 13:21-22).

Opened the Red Sea for Israel to pass, then closed it to kill an Egyptian army (Exodus 14:21-29).

Sweetened bitter water (Exodus 15:23-25, 2 Kings 2:21-22).

Sent food from heaven every day except the Sabbath (Exodus 16:4-15).

Made water spring from a struck rock (Exodus 17:5-6, Numbers 20:7-11).

Parted the Jordan River (Joshua 3:14-17, 2 Kings 2:7-8, 2:14).

A strategic earthquake destroyed Jericho (Joshua 6:6-20).

Changed the earth’s rotation (Joshua 10:12-14, 2 Kings 20:9-11).

Rain for harvest (1 Samuel 12:16-18, 1 Kings 18:41-45).

Large-scale drought (1 Kings 17-18).

Spontaneous water reservoir (2 Kings 3:14-20).

Army killed by an angel (2 Kings 19:35-36).

Star leads to Bethlehem (Matthew 2:1-11).

Biological/Anthropological

Confusion of human languages (Genesis 11:1-9).

Covered Egypt with frogs (Exodus 8:2-14).

Covered Egypt with bugs (Exodus 8:16-18, 8:21-24, 10:12-15).

Killed Egyptian citizens’ cattle while preserving Israel’s cattle (Exodus 9:2-7).

Sent poisonous snakes against Israel (Numbers 21:4-6).

Medical

Egypt afflicted with boils (Exodus 9:8-11).

Killing all firstborn in Egypt (Exodus 12:29-30).

Sent a plague (Numbers 16:46-50, 1 Samuel 5:9-12).

Smaller-Scale

Taken up to heaven (Genesis 5:23-24, 2 Kings 2:11-12, Mark 16:19/Luke 24:50-51).

Physical

Kept a bush from burning up (Exodus 3:1-3).

Fire burned up people who didn’t honor God (Leviticus 10:1-2, Numbers 11:1-3, 16:34-35, 2 Kings 1:10-12).

The earth opened up under rebellious people (Numbers 16:28-33).

Water came from a dry place (Judges 15:18-19).

Dagon’s statue fell before the Ark of the Covenant twice (1 Samuel 5:1-7).

Strategic thunderstorm (1 Samuel 7:10).

Marching sound in balsam trees (2 Samuel 5:22-25).

Fire from heaven (1 Kings 18:19-39).

Made an iron axe head float (2 Kings 6:5-7).

Discrepancy in fleece and ground dryness (Judges 6:36-40).

Turned water into wine (John 2:1-10).

Calming a storm (Matthew 8:23-27/Mark 4:37-41/Luke 8:22-25).

Shaking a building (Acts 4:31).

Instantly transports people (Acts 8:39).

Biological/Anthropological

Turned Lot’s wife into a pillar of salt (Genesis 19:26).

Turned a staff into a snake (Exodus 7:8-12).

Aaron’s staff sprouted and produced buds and almonds (Numbers 17:1-11).

Made a donkey speak (Numbers 22:21-35).

Samson given tremendous strength (Judges 14-16).

Killed a prophet with a lion (1 Kings 13:3-30).

Fed by ravens (1 Kings 17:5-6).

Fully fed with impracticably little, sometimes thousands of people (1 Kings 17:13-16, 2 Kings 4:42-44, Matthew 15:32-38/Mark 8:1-8, Luke 9:10-17/John 6:1-14, Matthew 14:13-21/Mark 6:30-44/Luke 9:10-17/John 6:1-13).

Mauled by bears (2 Kings 2:23-24).

Debt/tax paid off (2 Kings 4:1-7, Matthew 17:24-27).

Provides direct intelligence (2 Kings 6:12).

Protection from fire (Daniel 3:10-27).

Protection from lions (Daniel 6:16-24).

Survival in a fish’s stomach (Jonah 1:17-2:10).

Conception without sex (Luke 1:26-38).

Passing through a crowd without detection (Luke 4:28-30).

Made fish cluster in a net (Luke 5:4-7, John 21:4-6).

Exorcised demons (Mark 1:23-27/Luke 4:33-36, Matthew 8:28-33/Mark 5:1-20/Luke 8:26-39, Matthew 15:21-28, Mark 7:24-29, Matthew 12:22-23/Luke 11:14, Matthew 17:14-18/Mark 9:14-27/Luke 9:37-42, Acts 16:16-18).

Walked on water (Matthew 14:22-33/Mark 6:45-52/John 6:16-21).

Caused a fig tree to wither (Matthew 21:18-20, Mark 11:12-14,20-25).

Jesus transfigured into transcendent appearance (Matthew 17:1-9/Mark 9:1-9/Luke 9:28-36/2 Peter 1:16-18).

Speaking in other languages (Acts 2:1-12).

Opening prison doors (Acts 5:17-20, Acts 12:1-16, Acts 16:25-34).

Medical

Gave elderly people a child (Genesis 21:1-2, 2 Kings 4:11-17, Luke 1:5-25).

Poison reversed (Numbers 21:8-9, 2 Kings 4:38-41, Acts 28:3-6).

Spontaneously killing people for disrespecting the Ark of the Covenant (1 Samuel 6:19, 2 Samuel 6:6-7).

Destroyed a body part (1 Kings 13:4).

Restored a body part (1 Kings 13:6, Luke 22:50-51, Matthew 12:9-13/Mark 3:1-5/Luke 6:6-10, Acts 3:1-11, Acts 14:8-10).

Resurrected from the dead (1 Kings 17:17-24, 2 Kings 4:18-37, 2 Kings 13:20-21, Luke 7:11-17, John 11:38-44, Matthew 28/Mark 16/Luke 24/John 20-21, Acts 9:36-41, Acts 20:8-12).

Leprosy cured (2 Kings 5:10-19, Matthew 8:1-4/Mark 1:40-45/Luke 5:12-15, Luke 17:11-19).

Struck with leprosy (2 Kings 5:20-27, 2 Chronicles 26:16-21).

Blindness cured (2 Kings 6:17, 2 Kings 6:20, Matthew 9:27-31, Mark 8:22-25, John 9:1-7, Matthew 20:30-34/Mark 10:46-52/Luke 18:35-43, Acts 9:17-19).

Struck with blindness (2 Kings 6:18, Acts 13:6-11).

Deafness and mute speech cured (Mark 7:31-37).

Edema cured (Luke 14:1-4).

Fever cured (John 4:46-53, Matthew 8:14-15/Mark 1:30-31/Luke 4:38-39).

Paralysis cured (Matthew 9:1-7/Mark 2:1-12/Luke 5:17-26, Acts 9:32-35).

Unspecified infirmity cured (Luke 13:10-13, John 5:2-9, Matthew 8:5-13/Luke 7:1-10, Matthew 9:18-25/Mark 5:21-43/Luke 8:40-56, Acts 5:12-16, Acts 28:7-9).

Striking dead immediately (Acts 5:1-10, Acts 12:23).

Other

The Holy Spirit falls on people (Acts 4:31, Acts 8:14-17, Acts 10, Acts 19:1-7).

Signs and wonders performed (Acts 2:43, Acts 6:8, Acts 8:5-7, Acts 14:3).

Miracles through transferred objects (Acts 19:11-12).

Miraculous visions (most of the prophets, Acts 7:54-56, Acts 9:1-9).

What’s Possible

This doesn’t reflect what God will do, and everything here represents only a fraction of the possibilities.

We often don’t keep track of the mundane miracles, which works against our ability to have faith that God has everything under control.

The ordering is approximated from the least to most required faith in God’s provision.

No Money

  1. Unexpected windfalls can come in the course of the workday.
  2. Transactions can get held up from mundane or unnatural events.
  3. Tax credits or government programs can sometimes coincide with lost income.
  4. Financial windfalls can come before or during a dramatic hardship.
  5. People in church or work can give money after hearing about a hardship.
  6. Sometimes money is hidden or lost somewhere.
  7. The Holy Spirit can provoke strangers to give without solicitation.

No Food

  1. There may be a hidden cache of food somewhere, or something nature provides.
  2. A government program gives out food under specific conditions.
  3. A church food ministry or individuals give boxes of food.
  4. The presently available food supply will decrease at an unpredictably slower rate.
  5. The food’s shelf life will last an unexpectedly long time.
  6. An unexpected windfall of surplus food can happen before or during a hardship.
  7. Someone else’s misfortune provides (e.g., neighbor’s fridge breaks down).
  8. Food instantly appears.

Health Issues

  1. Doctors may misdiagnose something as dangerous.
  2. There is a known remedy that can be implemented to cure someone.
  3. There’s a known remedy that’s controversial or experimental enough to be in another country.
  4. People may innovate a new technology that cures the person.
  5. There may be an unusual practice that creates a seemingly miraculous recovery.
  6. Someone may perform an act of faith over someone afflicted that God honors.
  7. There may be an unusual miraculous recovery without provocation.
  8. God may send a believer home, or a nonbeliever to their final judgment.

Government Oppression

  1. Another believer may help out to mitigate the government’s actions.
  2. Other believers may confuse or misdirect government officials.
  3. Other secular people may confuse or misdirect government officials.
  4. Other people create political action that stops an activity from happening or recurring.
  5. Government workers may overlook certain important details or not pay attention.
  6. Technical people (e.g., computer hackers) can obscure activities or disrupt government involvement.
  7. A war may intervene in government procedures or change them entirely.
  8. A natural disaster or unusual event may intervene in government procedures.
  9. A technicality in the law over a seemingly unrelated matter makes someone’s actions inapplicable to a specific law.
  10. Civil unrest deteriorates the quality of how well laws can be enforced.
  11. A miraculous event opens jail doors or causes health issues to the government worker.