Concerning Spiritual Gifts - "Now about the gifts of the Spirit,
brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be uninformed. You know that
when you were pagans, somehow or other you were influenced and led
astray to mute idols. Therefore I want you to know that no one who is
speaking by the Spirit of God says, “Jesus be cursed,” and no one can
say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit.
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There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work.
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Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues,and to still another the interpretation of tongues. All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines."
♥
There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work.
♥
Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues,and to still another the interpretation of tongues. All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines."
- 1
Corinthians 12:1-11 NIV
This weekend my husband and I went to church with my parents. It was great! My husband and I have seen almost every gift of the spirit used countless times whether it be in our personal lives, church services, worship events or conferences. The only gifts we haven't seen in operation are "speaking in different kinds of tongues" and the "interpretation of tongues". We are both filled with the Holy Spirit and pray in the spirit, but that's different than the gift of "speaking in different kinds of tongues" in a church service and then someone else with the gift of "interpretation of tongues" translating for everyone. It was powerful! I was so excited to see this gift in operation for the first time!
Church service started with praise and worship.The worship leader sang some old songs that brought me back to my early stages as a Christian. It was strange, but in a good way. It's funny how many memories a song can hold. I flashed back to discipleship classes I took in my youth, walking up to the alter, being filled with the Holy Spirit, youth group, old friends etc. So many memories in a song. Then those memories triggered other memories and other songs and on and on....has that happened to you? I continued to worship and cleared my mind and refocused on the Lord.
As we worshiped I felt my heart release some heaviness I had been carrying, it was refreshing. Then it got silence and people praised the Lord in their own way. Slowly, their voices quieted and a woman began speaking in tongues as tears flooded her eyes. Then I felt the Holy Spirit on me and I heard the lady behind me breathe heavier and heavier. What was God doing? When the women speaking in tongues stopped the lady behind me spoke up and interpreted. We were in the back, so she had to project her voice so those in the front could hear. It was so spontaneous yet organized. No chaos and yet not controlled. Then everything went silent. You could feel the people waiting upon the Lord. Then a man spoke up from the other side of the church and gave a word. It went silent again. No one else said anything so the pastor stood up and began to pray and thank God. It was beautiful. I felt so blessed to have witnessed this gift moving for the first time. :-)
The whole service was powerful. At the end they baptized people in the Holy Spirit with the evidence of praying in the spirit, they prayed for the sick and they were healed. It was a great morning, but again the highlight for me was observing what I hadn't observed before. :-) If God didn't want us using the gifts of the spirit in church He would have said so, but the New Testament actually promotes the gifts. We need them to encourage each other. They are for us, the church!
I understand that there are some churches that have gone WAY off course and do nutty things like "barking", yes, I said "barking". That's crazy! Things like that turn people off, it turns leaders off, it turns me off from allowing the Holy Spirit to lead. Many churches fear this non Biblical nutty stuff.
We shouldn't throw the baby out with the bath water. Look at driving cars. Not everyone is a responsible driver and yet we still drive. What about pastors? Not all are good. Some have done very evil things, yet we still have pastors. There are tons of things in almost every area of life that have good and bad sides, and yet we still hold them close because we believe the good outweighs the bad. I guess many don't believe in the good that spiritual gifts bring. Why have we stopped believing in these gifts?
I was reading one article about spiritual gifts, and the author was for them, but when I read his description of each gift he had watered each one down with practical reasoning and took the super natural out of each one. Are we scared to let unbelievers know that, "Yes! Our God is super natural!"? Do we fear their reaction? That they may think we are crazy? or off our rocker? I've gotten those looks. Trust me the anticipation of those looks is scarier then actually getting them. When we are faced with negative reactions to the truth, God's grace fills us and we are able to stand and go through. Dreading rejection and negative reactions is way worse then the actual experience.
When the gifts of the spirit are used the people are blessed, the people are encouraged, the people grow and God is glorified. :-)
