Snowblind, i have a point of view much like yours... i also think that there are higher powers, and that they act in a passive way... its interesting that i hadnt read this thread before, and some hours ago, when i was HIGH i was thinking just about this... i think the higher powers act upon what is called "chance".

As a physicist, ive learned in quantum mechanics that in a VERY small scale, our universe is a complete mess... pairs of particles are created and destroyed at random places, in random times... virtual particles are exchanged... in resume... the chaos. Only at greater scales the order that we call "the laws of physic" appears.

One real-life example of this is the emission of radioactivity by a radioactive atom. Each radioative atom emits radiation, but the exact instant of this emission is completly unpredictable. We only know that, there is, lets say, 50% of chance of it emit radiation during one hour, but there is absolutely no laws to tell when the atom must emit.

So, i think the higher powers would intervene in the physical world through this "holes" in the physical laws. A higher power would, for example, induce the atom to emit its radiation at some choosen instant. Doing so it wouldnt be interfering with the physical laws, and yet it would be acting somehow upon the physical world.

If the higher powers could intervene in what is called "chance", then they could induce what is called "miracles". For example... it isnt physically impossible that a lake freeze in the summer (with the temperature above 0C/32F). Due the chaotic nature of the matter, there is a small probability of it happen, but the probability is SO small (1 in 100000000000.....000000.....00000........ you got it.) that we say its impossible.
But if were possible to act upon the chances, then would be possible to influence all the choices of all the molecules of water and made all of them made all the "right" choices for freezing a lake in the summer.

I think its also related to what we usually call "good luck". When all the things that happens seems to fit to our benefit, we say we were lucky. But if we calcule the probabilities of everything had gone so well, we find that we were lucky indeed, cause the chances were very low... so, maybe what we call "luck" and treat as an abstract concept is in fact a measurable thing, that is related with our ability of influence random events.

And if we think this way, we could say that the higher powers would be the most "lucky" beings that are...