Now about the spiritual gifts ( the special endowments of supernatural energy), brethren, I do not want you to be misinformed. I Corinthians 12:1
I attended church for many years and never heard one sermon or lesson of any kind on the gifts of the Spirit. I did not know what they were, let alone that they were available to me.
Many people are afraid of receiving the Holy Spirit because they don't understand either the Holy Spirit or the gifts of the Spirit. For that reason, I would like to share with you some important Scriptures on this subject.
In I Corinthians the apostle Paul wrote to the church that he had established in the city of Corinth to explain to those new believers something about the nature, operation and purpose of the gifts that the Holy Spirit bestows upon people.
In I Corinthians 12 he begins by telling the Corinthian believers that he does not want them to be ignorant of these things. Then he goes on to explain the gifts to them.
A Variety of Spiritual Gifts
Now there are distinctive varieties and distributions of endowments ( gifts, extraordinary powers distinguishing certain Christians, due to the power of divine grace operating in thier souls by the Holy Spirit) and they vary, but the [Holy] Spirit remains the same.
And there are distinctive varieties of service and ministration, but it is the same Lord [ Who is served ].
And there are distinctive varieties of operation [ of working to accomplish things], but it is the same God Who inspires and energizes them in all. I Corinthians 12:4-6
Paul tells the Corinthians that there is a variety of spiritual gifts and that they are distributed to different people in the church according to the will and purpose of God.
Although the spiritual gifts are distinct one from the other and operate differenlt to accomplish different purposes, they are all under the direction of God, who gives them life and energy.
The Gifts Defined
But to each one is given the manifestation of the [Holy] Spirit [ the evidence, the spiritual illumination of the Spirit] for the good and profit.
To one is given in and through the [Holy] Spirit [ the power to speak] a message of wisdom, and to another [ the power to express] a word of knowledge and understanding according to the same [ Holy] Spirit;
To another [ wonder-working] faith by the same [ Holy] Spirit, to another the extraordinary powers of healing by the one Spirit;
To another the working of miracles, to another prophetic insight ( the gift of interpreting the divine will and purpose); to another the ability to discern and distinguish between [ the utterances of true] spirits [ and false ones], to another various kinds of [unknown] tongues, to another the ability to interpret [ such] tongues.
All these [gifts, achievments, abilities] are inspired and brought to pass by one and the same [Holy] Spirit, who apportions to each person individually [ exactly] as He chooses. I Corinthians 12:7-11
So we see that when God gives the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him, the Holy Spirit distributes among them different spiritual gifts to be used for different purposes.
Generally, these gifts are known by the description of them found in the King James Version of this passage: word of wisdom, word of knowledge, faith, healing, working of miracles, prophecy, discerning of spirits, tongues and interpretation of tongues.
Remember, the gifts vary, but they are all from the same Holy Spirit.
The word of wisdom is a form of spiritual guidance that lets an individual know supernaturally by the Holy Spirit how to handle a certain issue in a way that is beyond thier natural learning or experience and lines up with God's purpose.
The word of knowledge operates much the same way as the word of wisdom. There are a number of different interpretations of the word of knowledge, but the one believers generally follow is this: We find it valuable because suddenly an individual knows something that God reveals to them about thier life or about what He is doing in another person's life that there is no natural way for them to know.
I believe there are certain individuals to whom God gives the gift of faith for specific occasions such as a dangerous missionary trip or a very challenging situation. When this gift is operating in people, they are able to comfortably believe God in or for something that other people would see as impossible.
The gifts of healing work with the gift of faith. Although every believer is encouraged to l ay hands on the sick, pray and see them recover, God may choose to use certain individuals in a special healing ministry. In other words, as believers, we can always pray for the sick, but the gifts of healing may not always be present. We canalways pray in faith, using the measure of faith that the Bible tells us God has given to every person, but the supernatural endowment of faith is given as the Spirit wills.
Miracles are things that cannot be explained, things that do not occur through ordinary means. We all can and should believe God for miracles in our lives, but God will choose certain individuals to have the gift of the working of miracles flow through them. It is up to the wisdom of the Holy Spirit whether it occurs once or a few times or on a regular basis.
Prophecy concerns the will of God, and while it is instructive or edifying, sometimes it may bring correction. One may prophesy to another individual or to an entire congregation of people. Sometimes the prophecy is more general; at other times it is very specific. It may come through a prepared message or sermon, or it may come by divine revelation.
Some people say that the discerning of spirits gives people supernatural insight into the spirit realm when God allows. They believe that it is not exclusively the discerning of evil or demon spirits but also of divine spirits. Other people believe that discerning of spirits also helps us know the true nature of who we are dealing with, whether they are good or evil, and what the motivation is behind a person or situation. In other words, it involves following our heart and not our head.
There are all abilities, gifts, achievements and endowments of God's supernatural power by which we believers are enabled to accomplish something beyond the ordinary. We experience this power as we use our gifts.
Speaking in tongues and interpretation of tongues are part of these nine gifts. The best and easiet way to describe tongues is to say it is a spiritual language, one the Holy Spirit knows and chooses to speak through us but one we do not know. It is the Holy Spirit speaking directly to God through is. We do not understand it with our minds. It is a spiritual thing.
Since all nine of these spiritual gifts are given individually by the Holy Spirit to different people, this question almost always arises: "What if I am baptized in the Holy Spirit, but I am not given the gift of speaking in tongues?"
Speaking in tongues is probably one of those misunderstppd of all nine gifts of the Spirit, so although we have already mentioned it, we are going to take a closer look at it in the next chapter ( or in our case, next blog!)
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