The revelatory gifts have got to the most misunderstood gifts of the Holy Spirit – and rightfully so. They can be misused. They can be manipulative. They can be creepy, unpredictable, abusive, and downright rude. In short, they can ruin a life.
Yet, in spite of all that, Jesus used them, the apostles used them, and the church fathers used them. They’ve been the centerpiece of every revival in history, and – as I mentioned in an earlier chapter – a vast majority of the worldwide Body of Christ in this day and age actively engages in the gifts of the Spirit - all of the gifts of the Spirit, including the revelatory/supernatural gifts. Why? The revelatory gifts are powerful avenues wherein God blesses, heals, equips, and anoints his followers to shine as lights in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation.
So how do they work? How does a prophet hear God’s word so he can share it with the gathered? How does a vision come, a word of knowledge, a dream, or a healing? In short, how does God speak?
Variety is the Norm. For starters, it is a very individual thing. Different people get it different ways. That’s the beauty of our God. In addition, different ways can be made manifest in the same person. And to raise our faith, no ministry situation is the same as the last ministry situation.
Physical pain. One way people have heard the “voice” of God is though physical pain in the body. Sounds weird, but it’s true. It’s almost as if God allows them to feel what the ailing person is going through as a form of prayer, or intercession.
That happened to me once. I was speaking on the subject of healing at an ALPHA course in Switzerland, Florida, and, as I was asking the Lord how he would minister that evening, I felt an intensely sharp pain in my lower gut – like a needle. It was very painful and, after a second thought, I concluded it must be a word of knowledge for someone in the group. So I said, “I believe the Lord would like to minister to a person having trouble with a gallbladder.”
Just then a slight stirring happened at the back of room and, within a few minutes, I found myself praying for a woman who came forward at the urging of her husband. She told me she didn’t believe in healing and I mentioned that it may not be for her healing – only that God singled her out for prayer of any nature. We prayed, she left, and I went home.
A few weeks later I saw this woman at a party and learned that, since the prayer, she had been completely healed. (She also mentioned she still didn’t really believe in healing, but couldn’t argue with the medical results.) She was slated to have surgery when we met but didn’t need it when she went in to the doctors’ offices later that week. All that happened as a result of me getting a pain in the place where I thought a gallbladder should be.
The mind. God shares his will for us and gives revelatory insight through thoughts, as well as other normal operations of the brain. Visions, for example, come through one’s imagination, sort of like dreams. Visionaries actually see a segment of something notable, describe what they’re seeing, and pray into it. Words of knowledge can flow from verses that we have memorized. Not everything that comes to our imagination is of the Lord, of course. The point here is that visions appear on the same “screen” that everything else in our imagination appears on.
Emotional Feelings and the Past Memories. Other ways God can reveal himself are within the avenues of emotion and memory. If, for example, you are praying with a person and a certain memory emerges from somewhere out of the blue, don’t discount that. It very well may be a word of knowledge for that other person. With that memory you’ll need to ask for wisdom on what to do with what God has just revealed. Just because a person gets a vision doesn’t mean it’s an automatic shoe-in. It could go any number of directions - all of which demand the ongoing discernment and reliance upon the the Spirit. Do you share your vision? Do you share the learning experience you gleaned from the experience, perhaps couching it in a prayer, or full-blown exhortation? Does the memory include the name of a person? If so, is that a name of someone in the life of the person within you’re praying? Should you voice this name? The year of your memory’s conception? You see what I mean? All these questions are open turf and demand the wisdom of the Spirit before you step into articulation of the word.
In the same manner, I have prayed for people and have been overwhelmed by emotions - sometimes grief; other times joy. Chances are, whatever you’re experiencing is something that God is doing, or wanting to do, under your humble hands.
As I close this chapter two things come to mind. First, is the increasing trend on multiple ministers in this area. Gone are the days where one super-Christian knows it all. God likes it when a couple of people get together and decipher what God is up to.
Just last week a woman and I were praying with someone else. In a time of silence I saw the exoskeleton of an insect that had recently discarded its “shell.” It was beige in color and transparent, left hollow on a gravel mound. At the same time, the woman with whom I was ministering saw this person dancing, twirling with delight. We apparently received the visions at about the same time because we interrupted each other when sharing what we were getting from the Lord! After hearing both sides of the same reality, the woman broke into joy and said that’s exactly what the Lord was doing in her life! She had recently made a define decision to leave the past behind and, in her newfound joy and freedom, was now dancing for the Jesus. This completely affirmed what was going on this woman’s life! Sometimes it takes more than one person to decipher what the Lord is doing.
The other thing that comes to mind as we close out the chapter is this: Remember - it’s all about faith. Faith is needed in every situation (whether revelatory or not) with ministry is happening. Even a famous faith healer is, on some level, working on faith - the same the same level of faith that we normal people work on when we’re praying for lesser things. Without faith it is impossible to please the Lord. To be sure, different people have different levels of faith. One person could never have the faith to raise the dead, but - for them - it takes all their faith to pray aloud at Outback. Either way, a person raising the dead is operating in the same proportionate “challenging vacuum of faith” as the person grace. Same faith, same challenges - and sometimes the same nervousness associated with stepping out for God. Sure, the pros may make it look easy but don’t be fooled, they are trucking along, riding the highways of faith, just like the rest of us.
So, in summary, we’ve seen the way God speaks to a person is as varied and as magnificent as the Person we serve. Our minds, emotions, and bodies are all fair game - fair avenues wherein the Spirit can reveal the will of the Father in order to evangelize and equip the followers of Jesus.
The walk-a-way here is to know that God is always working, always speaking, always up to something. And he uses us to get it out into the mainstream.
Of all people - us.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
6 Myths of the Super-Saint
Most of the gifts of the Holy Spirit look familiar. We see them every day - people administrating, teaching, sharing hospitality, showing compassion, and serving. When choosing a life vocation the ideal is to wind up in a profession that integrates one’s gifts with one’s work.
A teacher, for example, may or may not have the gift of teaching. Yet when a professional teacher has the spiritual gift of teaching it is a win-win for everyone: the students really grasp the content in a deep way and the teacher is fulfilled in his or her chosen profession.
While many of us may believe in the more so-called “dynamic” gifts of the spirit, few of us have seen these gifts in action. Many of us have seen these gifts used in abusive or satirical situations. There are abuses with all the gifts. With the revelatory gifts, however, there seems to be more a a stigma involved. A Mad-TV episode will much more readily take a shot at a faith healer than a person who sits around all day crunching numbers. A bit of that stigma has crept into the church as well. We need to be cautious not to through the baby out with the bath-water!
So let’s spend some time taking a close look at the operation of the revelatory gifts - specifically how they work. We’ll look at a few myths associated with them and try to even them out on a level plane with the other gifts of the Spirit.
The revelatory gifts are called, “revelatory,” because their operation depends solely on information that is given, or “revealed,” by God in order for the gift to work. Revelatory gifts include words of knowledge, visions, dreams, prophecy, the interpretation of tongues, wisdom, and discernment of spirits. People with a revelatory gift(s) often tend to have complementary, or accompanying, gifts in the areas of healing, miracles, and exorcism. God works through the revelatory gifts in powerful ways to get under what is seen, to address the heart of the matter - whether it be a nation, a group of people, or an individual.
Let’s take a look at two myths commonly generated about the revelatory gifts of the Spirit.
Myth #1: People who have revelatory gifts are superhuman. They have it all together. Rainbows follow them wherever they go.
While I have always believed that God reveals insight, visions, directions, and other supernatural directives to people, I have always also believed that the person receiving these directives had to be some sort of super-Christian. You know, the kind of person who fasts 40 days twice a year, never watches T.V., and never dances.
But that isn’t true. Like all spiritual gifts – indeed, even as the Grace of God itself – we are working within the realm of gifts, unmerited favor, and nothing that we can strive to attain or even deserve. (That’s why highly gifted people can do equally highly creepy things.) Of course we can grieve that Spirit to point where we become dull and hard of hearing. But, the gifts of God are irrevocable and have a reputation of leaking through us, even in spite of our humanity.
It’s very easy to see a person who is praying for the sick, for example, as a superhuman kind of guy. There he is, eyes shining, sharing words of knowledge that no one else in the world could ever know, laying hands on you and filling you with divine electricity – after which you from the floor and return home literally shaking in your shoes. You stare at yourself in the mirror because you can’t believe you’re the same person you were when you left earlier that evening for the service. You float into your bedroom and fall to the bed into a deep, peaceful slumber that night, knowing you’ve had a life-changing encounter with the Almighty God of the Universe.
Days pass and you see this same Divine Faith Healer – no, let’s just say it this way...“You see this guy who has the gift of healing” at Target. At once you want to worship him. But, as you rub your blurry eyes to see the real picture, you see a much different man. There he is, hunched over the counter at the register, shirt half-way hanging out of his torn blue jeans, patting down his pockets looking for his reading glasses, fumbling around with loose change which is clanging on the floor and rolling in every conceivable corner of the room - all the while holding up a long line of frustrated shoppers.
What’s with that? Wouldn’t you think someone you linked you with the Almighty God of the Universe and spoke into the very threads of your spiritual DNA would have known how much money his shopping would cost and would have somehow supernaturally arranged his cash-flow before he even walked into the Target department store?!!
No. Not really. Not really at all.
Remember: A person’s personalty, skills, and mental state - can be quite different from that same person’s spiritual gift. Contrary to popular belief, people who operate in the revelatory gifts do not have a corner on the spiritual market. They are just ordinary people like you and me. Sure, they’ve been graced with gifts that perhaps seem more extravagant than the others, but they are using their gifts in the same proportion of faith that someone else may have when using their gifts, say the gift of helps, for example.
Let that level the field.
Myth #2: A person with revelatory gifts can look through your vulnerable eyes, peer into the deepest chambers of your soul, and know everything about you - past, present, and future. They know your secret sins. They know about that time in high school when you and whats-his-name locked braces at Walden Pond. And, then, there was that other thing...
They know everything.
This is another common stigma associated with these guys - akin to Myth #1. It sounds something like this, “If this mighty man of God is so accurate in addressing this particular issue in my life, then they must know every particular issue in my life.” This is easy to believe - as God shoots for the bulls-eye every time - and hits it. People gifted in revelation speak with such pinpointed, prophetic, accuracy that it is easy to assume they know all about everything.
Again: simply not true.
When I minister in the revelatory gifts, for example, it’s not like I look into the eyes of the victim and do perform a Spock-like mind-meld of the spiritual interior of the person – as if I was a mechanic looking over the inside of an engine – and then, after filtering though all the gunk, determine what’s best and move in to pinpoint the precise cause of the problem. It’s nothing like that at all.
This how it works: God will show me a picture of something - one thing - one thing only. I share with the person what I think I’m getting, and we pray. It’s always very limited. It’s the only thing seen. There are times I need to really look at the vision for a while and seek to decipher and sort of piece together what it all means before I say anything. Other times, I get something and share what I’m getting and - in the process of speaking what I’m getting - the picture fills in and the interpretation of the revelation sort of forms on my lips as I’m describing it in faith.
God rarely violates spiritual integrity and preciousness of one of His children - even when it would be easy to do so. If he does, it’s usually done in private. He’s not out to embarrass us, only to heal, encourage, deliver, and bless us.
In this chapter we’ve looked at two myths regarding those who have revelatory gifts and a bit on how the gifts work in a ministry situation. Next chapter we’ll talk a bit more about how a person discerns what God is doing or saying in any particular ministry situation.
For now we need to understand that revelatory gifts are no greater, or lesser, than any of the other gifts of the Spirit. There are no more, or no less, “extravagant” gifts of the Spirit. All gifts are equal in footing and require proportional amounts of faith to do them. We’ve seen that people who can have life-changing gifts fumble around at cash registers and even struggle with their own issues. Some even have their laundry aired on prime time television.
After all, they are only human.
Next chapter we talk about the business of “how a person can discern what God is doing or saying in any particular ministry situation.”
A teacher, for example, may or may not have the gift of teaching. Yet when a professional teacher has the spiritual gift of teaching it is a win-win for everyone: the students really grasp the content in a deep way and the teacher is fulfilled in his or her chosen profession.
While many of us may believe in the more so-called “dynamic” gifts of the spirit, few of us have seen these gifts in action. Many of us have seen these gifts used in abusive or satirical situations. There are abuses with all the gifts. With the revelatory gifts, however, there seems to be more a a stigma involved. A Mad-TV episode will much more readily take a shot at a faith healer than a person who sits around all day crunching numbers. A bit of that stigma has crept into the church as well. We need to be cautious not to through the baby out with the bath-water!
So let’s spend some time taking a close look at the operation of the revelatory gifts - specifically how they work. We’ll look at a few myths associated with them and try to even them out on a level plane with the other gifts of the Spirit.
The revelatory gifts are called, “revelatory,” because their operation depends solely on information that is given, or “revealed,” by God in order for the gift to work. Revelatory gifts include words of knowledge, visions, dreams, prophecy, the interpretation of tongues, wisdom, and discernment of spirits. People with a revelatory gift(s) often tend to have complementary, or accompanying, gifts in the areas of healing, miracles, and exorcism. God works through the revelatory gifts in powerful ways to get under what is seen, to address the heart of the matter - whether it be a nation, a group of people, or an individual.
Let’s take a look at two myths commonly generated about the revelatory gifts of the Spirit.
Myth #1: People who have revelatory gifts are superhuman. They have it all together. Rainbows follow them wherever they go.
While I have always believed that God reveals insight, visions, directions, and other supernatural directives to people, I have always also believed that the person receiving these directives had to be some sort of super-Christian. You know, the kind of person who fasts 40 days twice a year, never watches T.V., and never dances.
But that isn’t true. Like all spiritual gifts – indeed, even as the Grace of God itself – we are working within the realm of gifts, unmerited favor, and nothing that we can strive to attain or even deserve. (That’s why highly gifted people can do equally highly creepy things.) Of course we can grieve that Spirit to point where we become dull and hard of hearing. But, the gifts of God are irrevocable and have a reputation of leaking through us, even in spite of our humanity.
It’s very easy to see a person who is praying for the sick, for example, as a superhuman kind of guy. There he is, eyes shining, sharing words of knowledge that no one else in the world could ever know, laying hands on you and filling you with divine electricity – after which you from the floor and return home literally shaking in your shoes. You stare at yourself in the mirror because you can’t believe you’re the same person you were when you left earlier that evening for the service. You float into your bedroom and fall to the bed into a deep, peaceful slumber that night, knowing you’ve had a life-changing encounter with the Almighty God of the Universe.
Days pass and you see this same Divine Faith Healer – no, let’s just say it this way...“You see this guy who has the gift of healing” at Target. At once you want to worship him. But, as you rub your blurry eyes to see the real picture, you see a much different man. There he is, hunched over the counter at the register, shirt half-way hanging out of his torn blue jeans, patting down his pockets looking for his reading glasses, fumbling around with loose change which is clanging on the floor and rolling in every conceivable corner of the room - all the while holding up a long line of frustrated shoppers.
What’s with that? Wouldn’t you think someone you linked you with the Almighty God of the Universe and spoke into the very threads of your spiritual DNA would have known how much money his shopping would cost and would have somehow supernaturally arranged his cash-flow before he even walked into the Target department store?!!
No. Not really. Not really at all.
Remember: A person’s personalty, skills, and mental state - can be quite different from that same person’s spiritual gift. Contrary to popular belief, people who operate in the revelatory gifts do not have a corner on the spiritual market. They are just ordinary people like you and me. Sure, they’ve been graced with gifts that perhaps seem more extravagant than the others, but they are using their gifts in the same proportion of faith that someone else may have when using their gifts, say the gift of helps, for example.
Let that level the field.
Myth #2: A person with revelatory gifts can look through your vulnerable eyes, peer into the deepest chambers of your soul, and know everything about you - past, present, and future. They know your secret sins. They know about that time in high school when you and whats-his-name locked braces at Walden Pond. And, then, there was that other thing...
They know everything.
This is another common stigma associated with these guys - akin to Myth #1. It sounds something like this, “If this mighty man of God is so accurate in addressing this particular issue in my life, then they must know every particular issue in my life.” This is easy to believe - as God shoots for the bulls-eye every time - and hits it. People gifted in revelation speak with such pinpointed, prophetic, accuracy that it is easy to assume they know all about everything.
Again: simply not true.
When I minister in the revelatory gifts, for example, it’s not like I look into the eyes of the victim and do perform a Spock-like mind-meld of the spiritual interior of the person – as if I was a mechanic looking over the inside of an engine – and then, after filtering though all the gunk, determine what’s best and move in to pinpoint the precise cause of the problem. It’s nothing like that at all.
This how it works: God will show me a picture of something - one thing - one thing only. I share with the person what I think I’m getting, and we pray. It’s always very limited. It’s the only thing seen. There are times I need to really look at the vision for a while and seek to decipher and sort of piece together what it all means before I say anything. Other times, I get something and share what I’m getting and - in the process of speaking what I’m getting - the picture fills in and the interpretation of the revelation sort of forms on my lips as I’m describing it in faith.
God rarely violates spiritual integrity and preciousness of one of His children - even when it would be easy to do so. If he does, it’s usually done in private. He’s not out to embarrass us, only to heal, encourage, deliver, and bless us.
In this chapter we’ve looked at two myths regarding those who have revelatory gifts and a bit on how the gifts work in a ministry situation. Next chapter we’ll talk a bit more about how a person discerns what God is doing or saying in any particular ministry situation.
For now we need to understand that revelatory gifts are no greater, or lesser, than any of the other gifts of the Spirit. There are no more, or no less, “extravagant” gifts of the Spirit. All gifts are equal in footing and require proportional amounts of faith to do them. We’ve seen that people who can have life-changing gifts fumble around at cash registers and even struggle with their own issues. Some even have their laundry aired on prime time television.
After all, they are only human.
Next chapter we talk about the business of “how a person can discern what God is doing or saying in any particular ministry situation.”
Friday, February 20, 2009
5 All in Us
As we’ve seen, all of Jesus’ followers – those whom He has sealed with His Spirit for eternity – have, by default, the potential to have all the gifts of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the big gift. All gifts lie resident in him. From his Fountainhead all rivers flow.
The idea that every disciple of Christ carries the inner potential for all the gifts can be a bit humbling. For the person who yearns to be totally surrendered to God’s will on a moment by moment basis, it can even be a bit unnerving. God has the prerogative to call forth any gift he deems fit for any situation of warrant. In other words, we shouldn’t be surprised if, from time to time, we find ourselves in uncharted territory; we find ourselves being called to step into gifts that are foreign to - that lie outside of - our normal gift mix.
Talk about adventure!
I was once in a church when the Pastor invited the congregation to share any words, images, visions, and so on that would serve to edify the assembly gathered. “When the Lord prompts you, just stand up, there where you are, and share what you’re getting from your seat. Be sure to speak up so everyone can hear you,” he said.
At once I had a vivid impression which I knew was from God. With that came the knowledge that He was wanting me to stand up and share the impression with the 250+ other people in the room – which was completely out of the question for me. In fact, the whole idea of standing up and saying a “thus saith the Lord,” just sort of freaked me out. Up to that point I had never done anything like that before. “Besides,” I argued. “You don't understand, Lord. Prophecy isn’t my spiritual gift.”
A long period of silence followed, during which I went through intense internal tension. It seemed like everybody in the room was waiting for me to stand up and share “the word.” I resisted. Still we waited. It was excruciating. I sat there thinking, "Lord, you're just going to have to get somebody else to do this thing because I'm not going to move." More time passed. Peoples’ shoes were beginning to scuffle on the floor. Others began to cough and let out long sighs.
Just when I could take it no longer – and much to my relief – the man next to me squirmed in his chair uneasily, let out a long sigh, slowly rose to his feet, and awkwardly shared a prophetic word. I could tell he was as uncomfortable as I was. But he did it. And the clincher was his word carried much of the same elements of the vivid impression that God gave me to share - all of which was followed by a number of "Amens" and Hallelujahs," I might add!
I was unnerved. "Dude - you could have done that!" And, as the service continued, I found myself realizing I has lost out on a wonderful opportunity - the opportunity to do something big for God - all because I “didn’t have that gift.”
So much for human reasoning.
Since then I’ve noticed that God will call me into situations that warrant action that I am either ungifted or uncomfortable with. When I see the same thread of love flowing through me I understand that God is God - he can use me in anyway he deems fit. And afterwards, when I see fruit, I am awestruck all the more because I know, without a doubt it wasn’t me. It was God in me.
Lesson learned: Know your gifts; and know who’s the Lord over all the gifts. Be on the lookout: God has the right to call out any gift at any time needed. If we choose (like I did) to quench the Spirit's leading, it;s not like we’ll loose our salvation or anything - only the privilege of being an instrument and giving glory of the Lord. We’re not going to hold him up. With or without us he's going to get His word out anyway. If we say, “No thank you, Lord - not today, I have a headache,” he'll just move around the room until He finds someone more available to his leading.
Are you ready for that?
It’s risky business - to be sure. But I’m convinced that the great adventure rides on the crest of this type of openness. This is where little people do big things for God. Maybe you don’t think of yourself as someone who could do big things for God. And you are not. Perhaps, better said, you are somebody wherein God can use to do big things for others.
So this short chapter’s summary comes in the form of a gentle admonishment to maintain a posture of openness to the Holy Spirit. When you sense the leading of the Spirit in anything - and I mean in anything - why not take the risk and step up to the up to the plate?
The idea that every disciple of Christ carries the inner potential for all the gifts can be a bit humbling. For the person who yearns to be totally surrendered to God’s will on a moment by moment basis, it can even be a bit unnerving. God has the prerogative to call forth any gift he deems fit for any situation of warrant. In other words, we shouldn’t be surprised if, from time to time, we find ourselves in uncharted territory; we find ourselves being called to step into gifts that are foreign to - that lie outside of - our normal gift mix.
Talk about adventure!
I was once in a church when the Pastor invited the congregation to share any words, images, visions, and so on that would serve to edify the assembly gathered. “When the Lord prompts you, just stand up, there where you are, and share what you’re getting from your seat. Be sure to speak up so everyone can hear you,” he said.
At once I had a vivid impression which I knew was from God. With that came the knowledge that He was wanting me to stand up and share the impression with the 250+ other people in the room – which was completely out of the question for me. In fact, the whole idea of standing up and saying a “thus saith the Lord,” just sort of freaked me out. Up to that point I had never done anything like that before. “Besides,” I argued. “You don't understand, Lord. Prophecy isn’t my spiritual gift.”
A long period of silence followed, during which I went through intense internal tension. It seemed like everybody in the room was waiting for me to stand up and share “the word.” I resisted. Still we waited. It was excruciating. I sat there thinking, "Lord, you're just going to have to get somebody else to do this thing because I'm not going to move." More time passed. Peoples’ shoes were beginning to scuffle on the floor. Others began to cough and let out long sighs.
Just when I could take it no longer – and much to my relief – the man next to me squirmed in his chair uneasily, let out a long sigh, slowly rose to his feet, and awkwardly shared a prophetic word. I could tell he was as uncomfortable as I was. But he did it. And the clincher was his word carried much of the same elements of the vivid impression that God gave me to share - all of which was followed by a number of "Amens" and Hallelujahs," I might add!
I was unnerved. "Dude - you could have done that!" And, as the service continued, I found myself realizing I has lost out on a wonderful opportunity - the opportunity to do something big for God - all because I “didn’t have that gift.”
So much for human reasoning.
Since then I’ve noticed that God will call me into situations that warrant action that I am either ungifted or uncomfortable with. When I see the same thread of love flowing through me I understand that God is God - he can use me in anyway he deems fit. And afterwards, when I see fruit, I am awestruck all the more because I know, without a doubt it wasn’t me. It was God in me.
Lesson learned: Know your gifts; and know who’s the Lord over all the gifts. Be on the lookout: God has the right to call out any gift at any time needed. If we choose (like I did) to quench the Spirit's leading, it;s not like we’ll loose our salvation or anything - only the privilege of being an instrument and giving glory of the Lord. We’re not going to hold him up. With or without us he's going to get His word out anyway. If we say, “No thank you, Lord - not today, I have a headache,” he'll just move around the room until He finds someone more available to his leading.
Are you ready for that?
It’s risky business - to be sure. But I’m convinced that the great adventure rides on the crest of this type of openness. This is where little people do big things for God. Maybe you don’t think of yourself as someone who could do big things for God. And you are not. Perhaps, better said, you are somebody wherein God can use to do big things for others.
So this short chapter’s summary comes in the form of a gentle admonishment to maintain a posture of openness to the Holy Spirit. When you sense the leading of the Spirit in anything - and I mean in anything - why not take the risk and step up to the up to the plate?
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
4 Graced in Ministry
In the New Testament there are hallmark Scriptures regarding the gifts of the Spirit. Perhaps this is the time to look at them. They are:
1 Corinthians 1.7;12.1-14.40
Romans 1.11; 12:3-8
Ephesians 4.7-16
1 Timothy 4:14
2 Timothy 1.6
Hebrews 2.4
1 Peter 4:10-11
As you read through the lists you will soon sense a couple of things. You’ll see each gift is proactive and has its part to play in the general scheme of things. Conversely, each gift provides an avenue wherein the others experience and receive the work of God in their lives. When a person is operating in his or her gifts it is a win-win situation: work gets done and God gets revealed.
There is a lot of proactive work being done in the church today. People are so very busy doing very important things. Like busy beavers, or scurrying ants, the activities of the faithful can sometimes take on a level of business never intended by our Lord. True, we are a motivated people group - with a a wondrously urgent message for the world to hear. But many of us are wrung out, drop dead tired. Why is that? We figure, if we don’t do “it” nobody else will. The truth is that nobody else can do it because we are doing it all for them.
The followers of Christ have the dangerous potential to be the most codependent group of people on earth - and all for good reason, I might add. We’ve been gifted. We’ve been called. We’ve been commissioned by Christ himself to get the good news out in every which way, shape and form. It’s a high calling.
But why are we so busy, so consumed, so drained of the abundant life that Jesus died to give us? Are we are working off guilt from the past? Are we still working for our salvation, seeking to be justified before a holy God by the things we do? Are we seeking to establish God’s reputation to others by how we painstakingly articulate our theology - and correct others who can’t do so? Do we think that if we fail God, God himself fails? What’s with all the strife? Why are we so very, very driven? Weren't the nails driven in far enough for me?
It’s almost as if we have exchanged the old laws of sin and death - the rules and regulations we were first forced to obey, now have been replaced by God’s amazing grace - with a new law which really doesn’t look too much different than the old law. We have clothed ourselves within such a high standard of Christian responsibility, action, and behavior - let’s call it a “ministry work ethic” - that the well-defined line between salvation by grace and salvation by works has been blurred.
It’s a hard line to walk - that of Grace and working out a heart of thanksgiving for the Grace received. Our new nature is “love.” So we instinctively want to help each other, do the work of the church, share God’s love, go the second mile, jump into endless activities for the sake of “the call,” and whatnot. These are all good works and stem from pure motives. The danger, of course, is when we commit to ministry, regardless if the ministry lies within the range of our spiritual gifts, or not.
It has been said that, “The need is the Call” – meaning that if you are aware of a need (anything from global warming to a squeaky door in the woman’s bathroom) it is your duty to respond to it. I don’t agree with that. I don’t see it outlined in Scripture, either.
Look at Jesus. If anyone was aware of the unmet needs around him certainly he was. Did he heal all the lepers, raise all the dead people back to life, bless every child he saw? Did he give money to all the poor? Of course not. He sought to remain true only to what he saw God, doing. Through it all He stayed true to only that which God was calling Him to. That meant, for Jesus, the need wasn’t the call. His call was was what God needed him to do, and nothing else. (How freeing!) As he resolved to look beyond the tyranny of the urgent Jesus was able to fulfill our greater need by going to the Cross and securing our salvation.
LIke Jesus, our real need is to foster the ability to hear God’s voice. When we hear his voice he will tell us what to do. Then we need to be obedient to that - only that - regardless of all the other needs that are everywhere around us.
This brings us to an amazing fact: God doesn’t give any one person all the gifts. He doesn’t expect one person to do it all. On the contrary, he gives a couple of gifts to me and a couple of gifts to you. That’s so we wouldn’t get burned out doing everything all the time. He’s also mixed it up that way so we’d learn to depend/rely on others. This not only teaches us humility but reveals God’s wondrous glory within the interaction of the mystical “Body of Christ.” When others bring their gifts to the table God is reflected and we see Jesus.
The other wonderful thing is this: If I only do what I’ve been gifted to do, and you only do what you’re gifted to do, then everything will get done. I really don’t think I have to do the things you’ve been called to do. You’ll have to do those things yourself. I’ve got enough on my plate, thank you very much.
Well then, the question beckons: If God wants us to only do the things that lie around the general area of our giftedness, how can we discern our general area of our giftedness? In short, how can we know our spiritual gifts?
Here are some things to look at:
1. Remember When. Pause for a moment and recall a time in your life when you were particularly struck with the Presence of God. Got it? Alright, for starters, get back to that.
Do today what so captured your heart then. Think a bit deeper about the activities surrounding that event. What was stirred in you? What was being done around you? Who was doing what when you so powerfully encountered Christ? Find a place like that in your present day life and invest in that.
2. Your Dream Gift. As you consider the list of gifts from Scripture, or as you have observed the gifts in action, ask yourself, “What gifts create a real buzz in my soul?” Which gifts do I dream about doing? What gifts - when I see other doing them - do I find myself thinking, ‘I would love to be able to do that?’”
Why not ask God for it? Read about it. Go to a seminar about it. Become friends with someone who has it. Contrary to popular belief, God is not a celestial killjoy. He actually has been known to give someone the desire of their heart.
3. Fruit Inspection. Take a good look at the fruit that is being generated by the activities you are currently engaged with. What is growing? What is dying? Do things that install growth.
4. Consider the Streets. Go unrestricted; not all gifts are to be used in church. You may be using your gifts very nicely indeed in the workplace – which actually works quite well.
I know of a woman, for example, who has the gift of compassion. Guess what she does in real life? She is a social worker. I know others who work in the oil business – one of which has the gift of evangelism. Of course, he doesn’t stand at the water cooler and pass out Bibles. But, you can be sure, that in every conversation he has one ear tuned to the gentle of leading of Christ and, if so invited, will share the Lord at the drop of a hat. These are situations where one’s spiritual gift leaks through the vocation of the individual. That’s okay. Spiritual gifts are for the evangelizing and edification of the followers of Jesus. And they (the potential and actualized followers of Jesus) are everywhere.
5. Listen to Others. What do they see in you? Other followers of Jesus oftentimes see things we cannot and often have uncanny discernment into our lives.
Shortly after I had “crossed-over” to Christ, I remember speaking quite emphatically to a friend one evening. I’ll never forget it. We were sitting on our sofa and I spent about an hour sharing with her how I came to Christ and pleaded her to do the same. “Just check him out,” I said. “What have you got to loose?” She just stared at me. Afterwards she said, “You’re good. Bill, you ought to be a pastor.” At the time, that was the last thing I wanted to hear. Today... well, today I am a pastor.
So, in summary, we’ve looked at the gift-lists as outlined in Scripture, noted that - thankfully - not everyone has the all the gifts, seen that God is seen by others through our gifts, and have gotten a few ideas on how to discern our own spiritual gift(s), and have been encouraged to spend some time in silence, reflecting and praying over your specific gifts.
In the next chapter we’ll take a look at God’s prerogative to call us into any and all gifts of the Spirit - depending entirely upon any given need at any given time. As a friend of mine says, “I guess he thinks he’s God!”
Perhaps now would be a good time to place the blog aside and reflect upon the five items mentioned above. Inventory your experience, the desires of your heart, your fruitfulness, and what others have seen in you.
1 Corinthians 1.7;12.1-14.40
Romans 1.11; 12:3-8
Ephesians 4.7-16
1 Timothy 4:14
2 Timothy 1.6
Hebrews 2.4
1 Peter 4:10-11
As you read through the lists you will soon sense a couple of things. You’ll see each gift is proactive and has its part to play in the general scheme of things. Conversely, each gift provides an avenue wherein the others experience and receive the work of God in their lives. When a person is operating in his or her gifts it is a win-win situation: work gets done and God gets revealed.
There is a lot of proactive work being done in the church today. People are so very busy doing very important things. Like busy beavers, or scurrying ants, the activities of the faithful can sometimes take on a level of business never intended by our Lord. True, we are a motivated people group - with a a wondrously urgent message for the world to hear. But many of us are wrung out, drop dead tired. Why is that? We figure, if we don’t do “it” nobody else will. The truth is that nobody else can do it because we are doing it all for them.
The followers of Christ have the dangerous potential to be the most codependent group of people on earth - and all for good reason, I might add. We’ve been gifted. We’ve been called. We’ve been commissioned by Christ himself to get the good news out in every which way, shape and form. It’s a high calling.
But why are we so busy, so consumed, so drained of the abundant life that Jesus died to give us? Are we are working off guilt from the past? Are we still working for our salvation, seeking to be justified before a holy God by the things we do? Are we seeking to establish God’s reputation to others by how we painstakingly articulate our theology - and correct others who can’t do so? Do we think that if we fail God, God himself fails? What’s with all the strife? Why are we so very, very driven? Weren't the nails driven in far enough for me?
It’s almost as if we have exchanged the old laws of sin and death - the rules and regulations we were first forced to obey, now have been replaced by God’s amazing grace - with a new law which really doesn’t look too much different than the old law. We have clothed ourselves within such a high standard of Christian responsibility, action, and behavior - let’s call it a “ministry work ethic” - that the well-defined line between salvation by grace and salvation by works has been blurred.
It’s a hard line to walk - that of Grace and working out a heart of thanksgiving for the Grace received. Our new nature is “love.” So we instinctively want to help each other, do the work of the church, share God’s love, go the second mile, jump into endless activities for the sake of “the call,” and whatnot. These are all good works and stem from pure motives. The danger, of course, is when we commit to ministry, regardless if the ministry lies within the range of our spiritual gifts, or not.
It has been said that, “The need is the Call” – meaning that if you are aware of a need (anything from global warming to a squeaky door in the woman’s bathroom) it is your duty to respond to it. I don’t agree with that. I don’t see it outlined in Scripture, either.
Look at Jesus. If anyone was aware of the unmet needs around him certainly he was. Did he heal all the lepers, raise all the dead people back to life, bless every child he saw? Did he give money to all the poor? Of course not. He sought to remain true only to what he saw God, doing. Through it all He stayed true to only that which God was calling Him to. That meant, for Jesus, the need wasn’t the call. His call was was what God needed him to do, and nothing else. (How freeing!) As he resolved to look beyond the tyranny of the urgent Jesus was able to fulfill our greater need by going to the Cross and securing our salvation.
LIke Jesus, our real need is to foster the ability to hear God’s voice. When we hear his voice he will tell us what to do. Then we need to be obedient to that - only that - regardless of all the other needs that are everywhere around us.
This brings us to an amazing fact: God doesn’t give any one person all the gifts. He doesn’t expect one person to do it all. On the contrary, he gives a couple of gifts to me and a couple of gifts to you. That’s so we wouldn’t get burned out doing everything all the time. He’s also mixed it up that way so we’d learn to depend/rely on others. This not only teaches us humility but reveals God’s wondrous glory within the interaction of the mystical “Body of Christ.” When others bring their gifts to the table God is reflected and we see Jesus.
The other wonderful thing is this: If I only do what I’ve been gifted to do, and you only do what you’re gifted to do, then everything will get done. I really don’t think I have to do the things you’ve been called to do. You’ll have to do those things yourself. I’ve got enough on my plate, thank you very much.
Well then, the question beckons: If God wants us to only do the things that lie around the general area of our giftedness, how can we discern our general area of our giftedness? In short, how can we know our spiritual gifts?
Here are some things to look at:
1. Remember When. Pause for a moment and recall a time in your life when you were particularly struck with the Presence of God. Got it? Alright, for starters, get back to that.
Do today what so captured your heart then. Think a bit deeper about the activities surrounding that event. What was stirred in you? What was being done around you? Who was doing what when you so powerfully encountered Christ? Find a place like that in your present day life and invest in that.
2. Your Dream Gift. As you consider the list of gifts from Scripture, or as you have observed the gifts in action, ask yourself, “What gifts create a real buzz in my soul?” Which gifts do I dream about doing? What gifts - when I see other doing them - do I find myself thinking, ‘I would love to be able to do that?’”
Why not ask God for it? Read about it. Go to a seminar about it. Become friends with someone who has it. Contrary to popular belief, God is not a celestial killjoy. He actually has been known to give someone the desire of their heart.
3. Fruit Inspection. Take a good look at the fruit that is being generated by the activities you are currently engaged with. What is growing? What is dying? Do things that install growth.
4. Consider the Streets. Go unrestricted; not all gifts are to be used in church. You may be using your gifts very nicely indeed in the workplace – which actually works quite well.
I know of a woman, for example, who has the gift of compassion. Guess what she does in real life? She is a social worker. I know others who work in the oil business – one of which has the gift of evangelism. Of course, he doesn’t stand at the water cooler and pass out Bibles. But, you can be sure, that in every conversation he has one ear tuned to the gentle of leading of Christ and, if so invited, will share the Lord at the drop of a hat. These are situations where one’s spiritual gift leaks through the vocation of the individual. That’s okay. Spiritual gifts are for the evangelizing and edification of the followers of Jesus. And they (the potential and actualized followers of Jesus) are everywhere.
5. Listen to Others. What do they see in you? Other followers of Jesus oftentimes see things we cannot and often have uncanny discernment into our lives.
Shortly after I had “crossed-over” to Christ, I remember speaking quite emphatically to a friend one evening. I’ll never forget it. We were sitting on our sofa and I spent about an hour sharing with her how I came to Christ and pleaded her to do the same. “Just check him out,” I said. “What have you got to loose?” She just stared at me. Afterwards she said, “You’re good. Bill, you ought to be a pastor.” At the time, that was the last thing I wanted to hear. Today... well, today I am a pastor.
So, in summary, we’ve looked at the gift-lists as outlined in Scripture, noted that - thankfully - not everyone has the all the gifts, seen that God is seen by others through our gifts, and have gotten a few ideas on how to discern our own spiritual gift(s), and have been encouraged to spend some time in silence, reflecting and praying over your specific gifts.
In the next chapter we’ll take a look at God’s prerogative to call us into any and all gifts of the Spirit - depending entirely upon any given need at any given time. As a friend of mine says, “I guess he thinks he’s God!”
Perhaps now would be a good time to place the blog aside and reflect upon the five items mentioned above. Inventory your experience, the desires of your heart, your fruitfulness, and what others have seen in you.
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
3 All Gifts Credible
The spiritual gifts are essential in evangelizing and equipping the followers of Jesus.
Essential.
Essential to such an extend that, when Jesus left Earth for Heaven, he expressly forbade his followers NOT to do any ministry until they had received the empowerment of the Holy Spirit who is the source of all the gifts. His giftedness and effectiveness was based on his relationship with the Father through the Holy Spirit. It is no different for anyone following in his footsteps.
Let’s take a look at the vast variety of spiritual gifts. For they are diverse. And, despite their diverseness, they are all credible.
When people peruse the lists of spiritual gifts as outlined in Scripture they generally refer to them in two categories – “the normal ones” and the, for lack of a better phrase, “the weird ones.”
The normal ones are the gifts that are, well... normal. You know - the ones we can understand - like gifts of teaching, administration, hospitality, mercy, service, giving, and encouragement - things that are pretty much in the box.
This is an example of a normal gift of the Spirit in action:
When I was a college student I used to attend a Friday night gathering where there were other students, a lot of food, a really nice house, and a Bible study. I lived for those Friday evenings. Every time I passed through the door and entered the house I felt like I was coming home - always welcomed unconditionally with smiles, hugs, attention, and, perhaps most significantly, with honor. I could walk into the kitchen, nab a glass from the cupboard, wander into the living room, plop down on the sofa, kick off my flip-flops, and take a nap if I wanted. I just felt normal there. I didn’t have to look the part; didn’t need to act the part. Even if I was in the worst mood it didn’t matter. Something about being around those people lifted my spirits and made me feel human again. When I left their house I felt renewed, affirmed as a child of God, and at rest in my soul.
I later learned that the hosts of the home had (and had been practicing) the spiritual gift of hospitality – the gift of welcoming people and making them feel like family. The gift of hospitality is a so-called “normal gift” of the Spirit. You don’t have to be a spiritual heavyweight (or even look weird) to pull it off. Like many gifts, it is seen in our culture about everywhere we go. We’re used to it.
No so with the other category, “the weird ones.” They are subjective, supernatural, super-sensationalistic, and secret. When people talk about them, their voices drop to a whisper and they look around the room to see if anyone is looking. They include gifts of healing, discernment of spirits, dreams, prophecy, tongues, visions, exorcism, and so on. Sometimes they are called the "revelatory" gifts because their actions depend on the revelation of God for them to work.
This is an example of a weird gift of the Spirit in action:
Recently, I was praying for a young adult at a service when, in my spiritual vision, I saw the ringleader of a three ring circus. He was dresses in a red coat and tall black hat - just like the ones in the movies - and standing in the center ring. It was a small, knee-high ring which, as I watched, began to enlarge and and grow in its parameter. Within a few moments the ring expanded completely out of my sight.
I opened my eyes and told the young adult that I believed God was going to expand the parameter of his tent – that everything he knew was going to be multiplied and increased in a very significant manner. He sort of smiled and went back to the pew. The service ended and we all went home.
A few weeks later he pulled me aside in church and shared with me some recent events that had occurred in his life. He told me that a firm - with an entirely different product and focus than what he been schooled for - had contacted him “out of the blue” and had offered him double the salary of what he was then making. Remembering the vision of the ringleader and the expanding center ring, he decided to go for it. In the process of leaving his old firm for the new firm the old firm decided, in attempt to keep him working for them, to match the new firms offer - and even increase it. When the new firm realized he was reconsidering staying at the old firm, they increased the increase of the doubled salary and won him back!
This is a wonderful example of how the weird gifts work. (Of course, by now you know there are not “weird gifts of the Spirit” and “non-weird gifts of the Spirit.” All gifts are credible and provide wondrous ways wherein God manifests Himself to others.) While all the gifts of the Spirit are alive and well in the church today, not all Christians believe that. Contrary to consumer belief, we are not free to pick and choose the gifts that make sense to us and those who don't – or even place historical limitations forbidding the operation of gifts we “have trouble” with. It is God himself who distributes the gifts and he distributes the gifts as he desires. Who are we to pick and choose the ones we consider theologically relevant?
I had a terrible struggle with this. Perhaps you have, too. As a young believer I had actually been taught by sincere followers of Christ that the spiritual gifts were no longer “effective” for our day and age. Thus, whenever a person was seen using a spiritual gift it had to be a counterfeit and, in short, “of satan.”
Now I had spent enough time under his dehumanizing influence and wasn’t about to return to that. At the same time, I knew that God was bigger than satan and, if satan had gifts, then God must have had gifts as well. If not, what was he counterfeiting? If all the devil was doing was copying God, then what was he copying? That’s where I wanted to be. Surely, I reasoned, God wasn’t going to set me free me from the bindings of my enemy, meet me, and call me into the continuation his miraculous work with a powerless hope and questionable praxis that is no longer relevant and for this day and age!
So I talked to a lot of people. And the answers were all over the charts. The pentecostals were closest to what I was thinking. They told me satan counterfeited the all gifts - even tongues and healing - and that, in itself, was proof they were still around. The evangelicals told me that only the normal gifts of the Spirit were operative because the revealed will of God now came through the Scriptures - the “living, breathing Word of God.” The fundamentalists were quite skeptical of all things experiential and told me none of the gifts were around!
What a broad spectrum!
Once I was tanning on a beach when a couple of good people from Campus Crusade for Christ came up to me and asked, if I were to die “tonight,” would I go to heaven. I sat up and we had a wonderful conversation. At one point I asked one of them about the gifts of the Spirit - especially the gift of tongues. (I was particularly struggling with tongues.) He gave me a very interesting look and, with a twinkle in his eye, told me that I would have to seek those answers out for myself. That was an amazing answer - probably the gift of wisdom! So I took him up on it. And today I have come to the understanding that all the gifts of the Spirit are still being poured out on the church today - even the weird ones.
It's interesting to note that over the course of His three-year ministry, Jesus exhibited all the gifts of the Spirit - excluding tongues and their interpretation.The early church relied heavily on the power of the Holy Spirit and his manifested gifts, day in and day out. It’s also interesting to note that, in our day and age, the vast majority of the world-wide Christian Faith embraces all of the gifts as well.
So our summary of this chapter is a reminder that the gifts of the Spirit – those we can mentally understand (such as mercy, teaching, helps, and administration) along with those that are more mystically-centered (such as tongues, discernment of spirits, visions, dreams, and prophecy) – are given by God, and specifically designed for the evangelizing and edification of the followers of Christ.
Some are weird. Others are not.
All are credible.
Essential.
Essential to such an extend that, when Jesus left Earth for Heaven, he expressly forbade his followers NOT to do any ministry until they had received the empowerment of the Holy Spirit who is the source of all the gifts. His giftedness and effectiveness was based on his relationship with the Father through the Holy Spirit. It is no different for anyone following in his footsteps.
Let’s take a look at the vast variety of spiritual gifts. For they are diverse. And, despite their diverseness, they are all credible.
When people peruse the lists of spiritual gifts as outlined in Scripture they generally refer to them in two categories – “the normal ones” and the, for lack of a better phrase, “the weird ones.”
The normal ones are the gifts that are, well... normal. You know - the ones we can understand - like gifts of teaching, administration, hospitality, mercy, service, giving, and encouragement - things that are pretty much in the box.
This is an example of a normal gift of the Spirit in action:
When I was a college student I used to attend a Friday night gathering where there were other students, a lot of food, a really nice house, and a Bible study. I lived for those Friday evenings. Every time I passed through the door and entered the house I felt like I was coming home - always welcomed unconditionally with smiles, hugs, attention, and, perhaps most significantly, with honor. I could walk into the kitchen, nab a glass from the cupboard, wander into the living room, plop down on the sofa, kick off my flip-flops, and take a nap if I wanted. I just felt normal there. I didn’t have to look the part; didn’t need to act the part. Even if I was in the worst mood it didn’t matter. Something about being around those people lifted my spirits and made me feel human again. When I left their house I felt renewed, affirmed as a child of God, and at rest in my soul.
I later learned that the hosts of the home had (and had been practicing) the spiritual gift of hospitality – the gift of welcoming people and making them feel like family. The gift of hospitality is a so-called “normal gift” of the Spirit. You don’t have to be a spiritual heavyweight (or even look weird) to pull it off. Like many gifts, it is seen in our culture about everywhere we go. We’re used to it.
No so with the other category, “the weird ones.” They are subjective, supernatural, super-sensationalistic, and secret. When people talk about them, their voices drop to a whisper and they look around the room to see if anyone is looking. They include gifts of healing, discernment of spirits, dreams, prophecy, tongues, visions, exorcism, and so on. Sometimes they are called the "revelatory" gifts because their actions depend on the revelation of God for them to work.
This is an example of a weird gift of the Spirit in action:
Recently, I was praying for a young adult at a service when, in my spiritual vision, I saw the ringleader of a three ring circus. He was dresses in a red coat and tall black hat - just like the ones in the movies - and standing in the center ring. It was a small, knee-high ring which, as I watched, began to enlarge and and grow in its parameter. Within a few moments the ring expanded completely out of my sight.
I opened my eyes and told the young adult that I believed God was going to expand the parameter of his tent – that everything he knew was going to be multiplied and increased in a very significant manner. He sort of smiled and went back to the pew. The service ended and we all went home.
A few weeks later he pulled me aside in church and shared with me some recent events that had occurred in his life. He told me that a firm - with an entirely different product and focus than what he been schooled for - had contacted him “out of the blue” and had offered him double the salary of what he was then making. Remembering the vision of the ringleader and the expanding center ring, he decided to go for it. In the process of leaving his old firm for the new firm the old firm decided, in attempt to keep him working for them, to match the new firms offer - and even increase it. When the new firm realized he was reconsidering staying at the old firm, they increased the increase of the doubled salary and won him back!
This is a wonderful example of how the weird gifts work. (Of course, by now you know there are not “weird gifts of the Spirit” and “non-weird gifts of the Spirit.” All gifts are credible and provide wondrous ways wherein God manifests Himself to others.) While all the gifts of the Spirit are alive and well in the church today, not all Christians believe that. Contrary to consumer belief, we are not free to pick and choose the gifts that make sense to us and those who don't – or even place historical limitations forbidding the operation of gifts we “have trouble” with. It is God himself who distributes the gifts and he distributes the gifts as he desires. Who are we to pick and choose the ones we consider theologically relevant?
I had a terrible struggle with this. Perhaps you have, too. As a young believer I had actually been taught by sincere followers of Christ that the spiritual gifts were no longer “effective” for our day and age. Thus, whenever a person was seen using a spiritual gift it had to be a counterfeit and, in short, “of satan.”
Now I had spent enough time under his dehumanizing influence and wasn’t about to return to that. At the same time, I knew that God was bigger than satan and, if satan had gifts, then God must have had gifts as well. If not, what was he counterfeiting? If all the devil was doing was copying God, then what was he copying? That’s where I wanted to be. Surely, I reasoned, God wasn’t going to set me free me from the bindings of my enemy, meet me, and call me into the continuation his miraculous work with a powerless hope and questionable praxis that is no longer relevant and for this day and age!
So I talked to a lot of people. And the answers were all over the charts. The pentecostals were closest to what I was thinking. They told me satan counterfeited the all gifts - even tongues and healing - and that, in itself, was proof they were still around. The evangelicals told me that only the normal gifts of the Spirit were operative because the revealed will of God now came through the Scriptures - the “living, breathing Word of God.” The fundamentalists were quite skeptical of all things experiential and told me none of the gifts were around!
What a broad spectrum!
Once I was tanning on a beach when a couple of good people from Campus Crusade for Christ came up to me and asked, if I were to die “tonight,” would I go to heaven. I sat up and we had a wonderful conversation. At one point I asked one of them about the gifts of the Spirit - especially the gift of tongues. (I was particularly struggling with tongues.) He gave me a very interesting look and, with a twinkle in his eye, told me that I would have to seek those answers out for myself. That was an amazing answer - probably the gift of wisdom! So I took him up on it. And today I have come to the understanding that all the gifts of the Spirit are still being poured out on the church today - even the weird ones.
It's interesting to note that over the course of His three-year ministry, Jesus exhibited all the gifts of the Spirit - excluding tongues and their interpretation.The early church relied heavily on the power of the Holy Spirit and his manifested gifts, day in and day out. It’s also interesting to note that, in our day and age, the vast majority of the world-wide Christian Faith embraces all of the gifts as well.
So our summary of this chapter is a reminder that the gifts of the Spirit – those we can mentally understand (such as mercy, teaching, helps, and administration) along with those that are more mystically-centered (such as tongues, discernment of spirits, visions, dreams, and prophecy) – are given by God, and specifically designed for the evangelizing and edification of the followers of Christ.
Some are weird. Others are not.
All are credible.
Monday, February 16, 2009
2 Love Never Fails
There is an essential relationship between a spiritual gift and the role of the Spirit when the spiritual gift is in use. Spiritual gifts need to be used in harmony with the Holy Spirit, and always with love.
You mean, it’s possible to use my spiritual gift independently of the Spirit? Yes. Left to our own devices, we can do a lot of things independently of the Spirit. Gifts are no different.
If I run into the street decided to sing a ten minute rock-opera in tongues (which, theoretically, I suppose, I could do) it would be fruitless. Yet, if I take that same gift and, when prompted by the Spirit, exercise it at His perfect pleasure, it will bear fruit.
Once a spiritual gift is revealed it does not guarantee spiritual nirvana. Many people have been loaded with gifts and filled with the Spirit and – in spite of such magnificent graces – will be turned away from entering heaven when Jesus returns at the end of the Day. While spiritual gifts are wonderful tools in the toolbox they are just wonderful tools in the toolbox . The do not automatically assure a “greater spirituality” nor even assurance to heaven.
And, for those of you who have neglected or even forgotten about your gifts – perhaps, for example, you used to be in a place where you used your spiritual gifts all the time but, today, those days are long gone – I have great news for you: You haven’t lost it!
Perhaps you’ve been a very naughty fellow and think that you deserve to loose the good things God has given (and you probably do). But God doesn’t play it that way. I’m here to tell you that you can’t out-sin your gifts. God has promised that he will never take away your gift.
Isn’t that wonderful?
Many older saints are now in places where circumstances have left them on the banks of the river. They have been watered-down into thinking that the glory days are over for them or, even worse, that God is no longer doing the same exciting things anymore. But that’s not true - he is - and you can reenter the rapids and minister in the same wonderful ways you used to, you so many years ago!
Oh, sure – you may need to blow out the cobwebs and re-sharpen your sword a bit. But, when the dust settles and you reengage your gifts in the glory of God, you will find they are still there like never before; still fruitful, still glorious, and still evangelizing and edifying people of all ages in the all-consuming love of the Father.
Again - and it bears repeating - why is that? It’s because the Holy Spirit lives within you. If he still lives in you then, by default, you still have your gifts.
So, in summary, the gifts of the Holy Spirit are once given and never revoked. They are as good for as long as the world needs to be evangelized and the church needs to be edified. Additionally, we need to demythologize the “possessors” of the gifts. We sometimes yearn for gifts (and to use gifts) believing they assure some sort of spiritual nirvana. They do not. We sometimes believe, if we can be operating in the gifts of the Spirit, we will have finally arrived and all our cares will vanish - or, worse yet, that spiritual gifts assure us of an eternal future.
They do not. While it’s true that God gives the gifts, the gifts are tools in the toolbox and are also - and can be abused - by very broken people. Like all things fruitful, they are to be used in living concert with the love and will of the Father as revealed in the Holy Spirit.
You mean, it’s possible to use my spiritual gift independently of the Spirit? Yes. Left to our own devices, we can do a lot of things independently of the Spirit. Gifts are no different.
If I run into the street decided to sing a ten minute rock-opera in tongues (which, theoretically, I suppose, I could do) it would be fruitless. Yet, if I take that same gift and, when prompted by the Spirit, exercise it at His perfect pleasure, it will bear fruit.
Once a spiritual gift is revealed it does not guarantee spiritual nirvana. Many people have been loaded with gifts and filled with the Spirit and – in spite of such magnificent graces – will be turned away from entering heaven when Jesus returns at the end of the Day. While spiritual gifts are wonderful tools in the toolbox they are just wonderful tools in the toolbox . The do not automatically assure a “greater spirituality” nor even assurance to heaven.
And, for those of you who have neglected or even forgotten about your gifts – perhaps, for example, you used to be in a place where you used your spiritual gifts all the time but, today, those days are long gone – I have great news for you: You haven’t lost it!
Perhaps you’ve been a very naughty fellow and think that you deserve to loose the good things God has given (and you probably do). But God doesn’t play it that way. I’m here to tell you that you can’t out-sin your gifts. God has promised that he will never take away your gift.
Isn’t that wonderful?
Many older saints are now in places where circumstances have left them on the banks of the river. They have been watered-down into thinking that the glory days are over for them or, even worse, that God is no longer doing the same exciting things anymore. But that’s not true - he is - and you can reenter the rapids and minister in the same wonderful ways you used to, you so many years ago!
Oh, sure – you may need to blow out the cobwebs and re-sharpen your sword a bit. But, when the dust settles and you reengage your gifts in the glory of God, you will find they are still there like never before; still fruitful, still glorious, and still evangelizing and edifying people of all ages in the all-consuming love of the Father.
Again - and it bears repeating - why is that? It’s because the Holy Spirit lives within you. If he still lives in you then, by default, you still have your gifts.
So, in summary, the gifts of the Holy Spirit are once given and never revoked. They are as good for as long as the world needs to be evangelized and the church needs to be edified. Additionally, we need to demythologize the “possessors” of the gifts. We sometimes yearn for gifts (and to use gifts) believing they assure some sort of spiritual nirvana. They do not. We sometimes believe, if we can be operating in the gifts of the Spirit, we will have finally arrived and all our cares will vanish - or, worse yet, that spiritual gifts assure us of an eternal future.
They do not. While it’s true that God gives the gifts, the gifts are tools in the toolbox and are also - and can be abused - by very broken people. Like all things fruitful, they are to be used in living concert with the love and will of the Father as revealed in the Holy Spirit.
Sunday, February 15, 2009
1 What is A Spiritual Gift?
The other day my daughter asked me about spiritual gifts. It happened after I had told her that from a very early age I had prayed for her and her sister to be prophetesses.
“What’s a ‘prophetess,’” she asked.
“It’s a person who can sense God’s word over a person or situation and share it with others to encourage them in the faith. It’s one of the spiritual gifts,” I added.
“What’s a ‘spiritual gift?’”
Here’s a kid, raised in the church her whole life – involved in worship leading, Bible study, and other spiritual leadership and she asks, “‘’What’s a spiritual gift?” Her friend was with her. She didn’t know what a ‘spiritual gift’ was either.
So I’m stepping out. Of course you have access to deeper discussions than this. (Can you say, “Google?”) For our purposes, I’m going to spend a bit of time just talking through the gifts, making random comments here and there. The intent, of course is that, once discovered, they will be used.
That being said, let’s talk about spiritual gifts. Every Christian has at least one spiritual gift. A spiritual gift is an accolade, given to the the followers of Jesus for edification and evangelization.
I have come to believe that every Christian has access to ALL the spiritual gifts (we’ll talk about that later on down the line) because every Christian has the Holy Spirit residing in them. The Holy Spirit is the big gift and He has all the gifts residing within Him. He can distribute all known spiritual gifts to any one person - or, at least has the potential to do so. Usually, however, people find themselves majoring in just a few gifts.
Spiritual gifts don’t happen once you’ve attained a certain age, or a rite of passage – like a spiritual puberty or something. They are bestowed on any person – young or old – who has given him or herself to Christ and entered into the life-long journey of following Jesus. That means if a elementary student, teen, young adult, or old guy accepts Christ they enter into a new birth which includes the infilling of the Holy Spirit. Age has no bearing here. And no ministry of Christ happens without the empowerment and gifts of the Holy Spirit. Ministry happens when a person employs his or her gift. I’ve seen elementary kids speaking in tongues and grandma’s healing the sick. It’s not about age; it's about who lives in you.
So that’s the word for this chapter: everyone (young or old) who follows Jesus and has been born into his spiritual reign has spiritual gifts. They differ from skills, hobbies, interests, or things you learn in that they are given from God to build up other Christians and grow the church. If you are a Christian, you have at least one – probably more. And if you have the Holy Spirit abiding within you – which all Christians do – you have potential access to all the gifts, from prophecy to teaching, mercy to administration, or tongues to hospitality.
And he has given your spiritual gift(s) according with the desire of his heart, not yours.
“What’s a ‘prophetess,’” she asked.
“It’s a person who can sense God’s word over a person or situation and share it with others to encourage them in the faith. It’s one of the spiritual gifts,” I added.
“What’s a ‘spiritual gift?’”
Here’s a kid, raised in the church her whole life – involved in worship leading, Bible study, and other spiritual leadership and she asks, “‘’What’s a spiritual gift?” Her friend was with her. She didn’t know what a ‘spiritual gift’ was either.
So I’m stepping out. Of course you have access to deeper discussions than this. (Can you say, “Google?”) For our purposes, I’m going to spend a bit of time just talking through the gifts, making random comments here and there. The intent, of course is that, once discovered, they will be used.
That being said, let’s talk about spiritual gifts. Every Christian has at least one spiritual gift. A spiritual gift is an accolade, given to the the followers of Jesus for edification and evangelization.
I have come to believe that every Christian has access to ALL the spiritual gifts (we’ll talk about that later on down the line) because every Christian has the Holy Spirit residing in them. The Holy Spirit is the big gift and He has all the gifts residing within Him. He can distribute all known spiritual gifts to any one person - or, at least has the potential to do so. Usually, however, people find themselves majoring in just a few gifts.
Spiritual gifts don’t happen once you’ve attained a certain age, or a rite of passage – like a spiritual puberty or something. They are bestowed on any person – young or old – who has given him or herself to Christ and entered into the life-long journey of following Jesus. That means if a elementary student, teen, young adult, or old guy accepts Christ they enter into a new birth which includes the infilling of the Holy Spirit. Age has no bearing here. And no ministry of Christ happens without the empowerment and gifts of the Holy Spirit. Ministry happens when a person employs his or her gift. I’ve seen elementary kids speaking in tongues and grandma’s healing the sick. It’s not about age; it's about who lives in you.
So that’s the word for this chapter: everyone (young or old) who follows Jesus and has been born into his spiritual reign has spiritual gifts. They differ from skills, hobbies, interests, or things you learn in that they are given from God to build up other Christians and grow the church. If you are a Christian, you have at least one – probably more. And if you have the Holy Spirit abiding within you – which all Christians do – you have potential access to all the gifts, from prophecy to teaching, mercy to administration, or tongues to hospitality.
And he has given your spiritual gift(s) according with the desire of his heart, not yours.
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