The Gifts of The Holy Spirit

The gifts of The Holy Spirit are just that. Gifts from God as a resulting from His Grace and Love towards us and are designed to be used for His Purposes.

You can ask for them or ‘impart them but it is up to God whether or not they are given. If He does not give the gifts requested or supposedly imparted then Satan will try and give you his version of corrupted theses gifts and at times will succeed.

You do not need to ask for gifts, guidance or understanding. These are all promised when you live according to Mat 6:33.

Gifts, like the Baptism of The Holy Spirit are given for the purposes of service and are really part of the anointing authorising a person to minister in a certain area God has promote them to minister in.

Spiritual gifts are given for one purpose only and that is to assist a person in doing their work as a citizen of The Father’s Kingdom and through their correct usage bringing Glory to Jesus. Any other reason is a misuse of the gifts, makes the gift an idol and is a sin against God.

The gifts are given as God determines and not because anyone is more spiritual than another or asks more boldly than another. If God was to give you what you ask and it was not beneficial for you it would cause you to stumble and/or sin. Accordingly, God gives you only what you need. It is we who desire more than we should and in doing so can allow demons to give us their gifts , who will gladly help us ‘achieve’ what we should not have or do.

The true test of a person’s gift is whether it is used for the purposes of The Father or for their own edification, whether by their use they promote The Kingdom of God or their own ministry achievements.

Ministries that advertise that at their services you will receive the Holy Spirit or gifts of The Holy Spirit, be healed or prophesied over or other gifts will be present are misusing the gifts and the anointing They are using them to sell their ministry and not to glorify Jesus unless they have asked Jesus and have been told what will happen to specific people and even then it can only be in regard to some people and not all who will attend the service. They are also ignoring the role we have to play in having a right attitude towards God to be able receive the gifts as well as the fact that the gifts of The Holy Spirit are a result of promotion and for service and not for self–edification.

They are ignoring the fact that God determines what gifts a person has and where and when He desires these gifts to be used. It is in these types of services without demons step in and exercise their ‘gifts’ on people in place of The Holy Spirit. Beware of tele–evangelists and others freely bearing the gifts of The Holy Spirit.

Should we desire more gifts than we have?

Can ask for more gifts them we have? No! Gifts are to equip us for ministry and are given by The Lord to equip us in an area in which He wants us to minister in.

Desire more gifts only if you are willing to pay the price and be prepared to suffer and be moulded to receive them and work in a ministry where these gifts you have desired will be used in. God is economical and gives you what you need and not what you want. To be given a gift you must prove you are worthy to receive it and this is done by obedience in trials and being a good steward of what you already have so God can trust you with more. He will then trust you with more people (ministry) and also with what you need to minister to these people (gifts, finances and similar).

As you walk in the principles of Mat 6:33 you will be given all you need to minister and that includes the anointing to minister of which the gifts are a part.

Another side effect of this walk is that you will show more and more of God’s Love in your life as you draw closer to Him through the increased Lordship and the resultant changes in you increasing your openness to His Character as expressed through you by The Holy Spirit.

They are not given because we are spiritual. They are given because we have been obedient and have been promoted. With the promotion comes the necessary giftings to add to the ones you already have.

To seek a gift you are not ready for and have a person try to give it to you opens you up for Satan to give you his counterfeit version of the desired gift. You are not in the Will of God by desiring something He does not want you to have so are open to attack by Satan.

To desire a gift to make you more spiritual is idolatry as it is put before what Jesus wants you to have. To desire it to serve Jesus is how we should desire the gifts. Remember He will give us what we need, not what we think we need.

How do you know what Gifts you have?

Ask The Holy Spirit and He will tell you unless you ask Him from a wrong reason.

Any gifts you have will be relevant to the ministry God as given you but not to any one you assume you have. Also, any gifts you assume you have will not be relevant to the ministry you have and as they are nonexistent will only cause problems in that ministry you do have.

Gifts will be naturally expressed in the way you hear The Holy Spirit and minister firstly to Jesus and then to others.

They will also be in The Bible as being one of the Gifts of The Holy Spirit.

There are three passages that list the gifts of The Holy Spirit

This is the three main lists of spiritual gifts. Note the five-fold ministry are also a gift from God and are not earned by working or studying but by the maturity in your relationship with Jesus and are provided by Jesus to help you minister in the area He has sent you to minister in.. In other words they are not the result of years of service or university degrees. One wonders what God makes of the modern system where these five ‘gifts’ are ‘learned’ and exams passed to be given the right to use them even though God may not have approved the person to minister in the position for which he has been qualified by man’s criteria.

Should we desire Prophecy above all?

Gifts are used to minister to the body while signs are usually reserved for the demonstration of the Kingdom during evangelism.

People usually desire prophecy as a gift when they minister to the body but prophecy is of little use in deliverance or pastoral counselling, which is a large part of Christian ministry. ‘Words of Wisdom’ and Words of Knowledge’ are more useful in deliverance and counselling (pastoral type work).

Should we seek these instead of prophecy? Paul says not too. He says that love is more important as it is the basis if all ministry.

So should we seek Love? Jesus said not to. He said We are to seek to develop further the relationship we have with Him and to seek the purposes of His Kingdom and all we need: gifts, provision, spiritual authority, Fruit of The Spirit etc., would be given to us.

Seek Jesus and not the manifestations of His Kingdom: signs, gifts, the fivefold, His provision and ministries etc., and all you need of these will be given to you and not what you think you need.

The Various Gifts

I will give a brief description of the gifts then discuss other relevant points about some of them later in this chapter.

The various gifts are as follows in (alphabetical order)

Apostles: One who is commissioned to represent Christ, usually in the context of planting churches in a new area. They do not necessarily have all the other four offices as they were sent out with others in the New Testament who had the gifts they lacked.

One of the signs of an Apostle is that they are used by God to heal the sick and deliver people from demons (Luke 9"1-10).

Discerning of spirit: The ability to tell the nature of a spirit in a person, whether it belongs to Jesus or Satan. There is also the ability to look into a person’s soul and see what their spirit is like.

Evangelists: The ability to tell clearly the good news of the Gospel of The Kingdom as well as demonstrate it in some way.

Exhorting: The ability to encourage another to persevere in their trials

Faith: The ability to believe God when others would have given up doing so.

Healing: Physical and spiritual healing of a person. Spiritual and inner healing is done in the deliverance ministry, which is part of the Pastoral Ministry.

Mercy: The ability to show God’s love when others cannot. Everyone can show love and compassion but these people can do so when others find it hard.

Pastors: those who look after the people of Jesus on a day-to-day basis, pray for them and minister The Word to them.

Prophets: the ability to speak on God’s behalf in regard to future events or current situations. Their gift is used to correct, encourage and warn but also to call people to repentance - especially those that are out of a proper relationship with God. Any one with the gift of prophecy who is not calling people to repentance is not using their gift properly.

Ruling: Administration of others and possessions. These have a gift to be able to use wisely what God gives them to be stewards of, whether it be people or assets. These are the people you want running the church finances and administration. They will be deacons in the church and not elders as elders minister the word and pray (See Acts 6).

Teachers: the ability to teach the things of God correctly and clearly to people in a way the people can clearly understand.

The word of knowledge: The ability to tell of things unknown personally to that person. This is to do with things a person does not know but needs to know to minister to themself or others

The word of Wisdom: The ability to give God’s guidance on an answer to a question that is not covered by the Bible.

The working of miracles: The ability to change supernaturally natural events.

Note: All the gifts are empowered by The Holy Spirit and as we pronounce our faith in Jesus and the authority He has to express these gifts in this world they will be expressed.

Tongues: ( divers kinds of languages). There is only one type of this gift. It is the ability to be understood in a language foreign to the one you speak, (demonic and angelic tongues are still a tongue that is foreign to us).

Tongues, Interpretation of: The ability to understand what a person is saying in a language that is foreign to you.

Both are mentioned in this verse. One is of no use without the other. There is no need usually for interpretation in the church service as there should usually be no ‘tongues’ as it is only for communicating to others who do not speak your language and that is not usually necessary in a church service.

Why have the gifts been given?

Eph 4:12-13 summarises this as follows

Literally

The gifts are given for the benefit of all and not just for those considered worthy of them.

How does one receive a gift of The Holy Spirit?

The Holy Spirit gives them as He wills in accordance to need of the ministry or service and not as we think we need them.

I quote two verses:

All good gifts come from The Father so you can ask Him to release them towards you but only if you are seeking the good of His Kingdom and seeking His righteousness and ministry according to His Will for you. But is it still The Holy Spirit who distributes them as He thinks necessary and works through your faith to release them as He tells you too. He is the one living in you and knows what you need and what God wants you to do.

Laying on of hands

The uses in The New Testament are as follows:

For the healing of the sick. Laying on of hands and the sick being healed are a sign of a follower of Jesus.

For the Impartation of a gift.

The Holy Spirit would have told them to impart these gifts or it would have been a sin to try to do so without God’s authorisation.

Note the conditions:

The people can be any mature Christians who have been authorised to impart that gift. The gift must be ordained by God (authorised) so the gift is really from Jesus (and at His direction) and not the people actually laying on hands. They are just carrying out the orders of their Lord and Master. It is Jesus that authorises the gift to that the person.

The people laying on hands must be appointed by God to minister to this person and lay hands on them.

It must be a group of people who have Jesus as Lord of their life and service and so represent Him and hear Him clearly to know what He wants them to do

It is symbolic of the gift being given and a witness to its being given.

Gifts or healing must be in line with the Will of God so should not be quickly or carelessly given. Time must be taken to ask The Holy Spirit what type of gift(s) and when to give them and not just assume these things. To assume and not ask God is to sin and the warning here is against people who go around supposedly imparting the His Gifts of The Holy Ghost at their command and direction while ignoring God’s Will in this matter. The devil will gladly give gifts in place of those of The Holy Spirit. The people are receptive to a gift and are open to it because they have been told that they are to receive one and have not checked with The Holy Spirit to ensure it is from Him.

1 Corinthians Ch 12

1 Cor 12 is the main passage on spiritual gifts and is coupled with 1 Cor 13 the main passage on what love really is.

Introduction

So many people desire the filling of The Holy Spirit as they want Spiritual power and Spiritual Gifts! There is nothing wrong with that if it is asked for with the purpose of The Kingdom, for showing the Love of God in ministering to others and to defeat the work of God’s enemy. But if Love for others with the desire to serve them is not the motive for the Gifts then those imparting them or receiving them have missed the purpose of them and God will not give them gifts to use but the devil will try and substitute his own version of these gifts. The Gifts are an expression of God’s Love and should be ministered in that way!

After talking about the gifts in 1 Cor. 12, Paul says" I will show you a better way!" And talks about Love. Remember that the Fruit of The Holy Spirit all flow from the first one - Love, which flows from and is a result of God’s Love awakening a responsive chord in you!

Desire the Fruit of the Spirit so you can live like Jesus! It is no use having the gifts if you are not living the life! The Gifts you can live without, but without the Fruit of the Spirit you cannot live as a Christian should. If you do not express God’s Love how can He give you a weapon based on His Love, for that is what the gifts are - A weapon of God to destroy the works of the enemy in a person. Notice that all the gifts are for personal ministry. Miracles are against Nature, the Gifts against are the work of Satan in a person.

Paul emphasizes the Love of God working through us as being greater than any Gift of the Spirit!

If I do something and the Love of God is not revealed or released as I do it, the act will be based on expediency and selfish purposes. The Love of God in us releases the Fruit of the Spirit so that the action is done in the character and attitude that Jesus requires of His followers.

As a child one is expected to behave as a child (selfish) but as a mature follower of Jesus, the Love of God should be expressed in all we do!

When all is over, in heaven there will only remain three things in relation to us:

Desire Spiritual gifts but remember that the greatest of all gifts is Love, for in it is found the purity and nature of God from which all things flow!

Turning to this passage

Spiritual Gifts can be imitated by demons (as can miracles) so Paul is about to give them a lesson in regard to the source of the Christians’ Spiritual Gifts, what they are and how they are to be used.

They had obviously seen demonic spiritual gifts in their worship of their gods and had been persuaded to follow the idols (demons) that showed these gifts. So they would have been familiar with the demonic manifestations of the ‘gifts’. They had carried over into their Christian life some of the aspects of these demonic gifts so Paul has to teach the gifts from a Christian perspective to counteract this wrong learning so they would understand and use them properly.

Satan knows the attractive power of demonstrating gifts and miracles so his demons use these to attract people. It is interesting that the ‘gift’ Satan uses most is the false equivalent of prophecy, the consulting of psychics, mediums and astrology. Many follow Satan (often unwittingly or unknowingly) as result of demonic appearances, prophecy (mediums and psychics) and manifestations. If the church was to work in the Kingdom and demonstrate its Power and Glory (that of Jesus) it would too attract people and not lose them to Satan and his various religions of the new age.

Christians have the source of their gifts in the Lordship of Jesus Christ over their lives. God will not entrust you to minister to His people (with a gift) if you are not going to listen to how He wants you to use it (as directed by The Holy Ghost).

There are different types of Gifts. They are used in different circumstance and manifest in different ways but the source is always The Trinity. The Holy Spirit gives you a gift so you can serve The Lord Jesus for the purposes of The Father.

We are reminded that the purpose of the gifts is to help others. The moment we identify our self-worth with the degree of expression of these gifts through us we either become proud at being used or depressed at not being used enough. The gift becomes an Idol being used for purposes other than that which God intended it for

The reason we need to listen to The Holy Spirit in regard to their use is so that we do not evaluate them according to our understanding of what we should be doing with them but according to our obedience to God as when we are obedient to God we are doing His purposes so we know we are using the gifts as we should.

The other comment to make is that everyone has some gift From God which they are required to use for His service. Gifts are also a reward for service and promotion as you are prepared for a new and greater area of service. Greater as God sees it and not as man determines or reasons it to be.

A basic comments on the gifts is as follows:

‘Word of Wisdom’. This is different to prophecy, which is God’s telling of future events and guiding His people through this. The Word of Wisdom is used in counselling to guide people through everyday problems. It is supernatural as it is to do with things that cannot be reasoned out under the normal rules of Guidance.

The ‘Word of Knowledge’ is the ability to tell others of things that cannot be humanly known as they are either secret or unknown to the person or supernatural and cannot be discerned naturally. It normally occurs when the person cannot see what to do next so God gives them a hint.

The gift of ‘Faith’ is given to all who become Christians but here refers to faith that exists in spite of all that is adverse and contrary to it as the person has the assurance of God that what they have their faith in will come to pass. It is the gift given to martyrs so they can face death.

‘Healing’ is supernatural and natural - of the wounded soul and/or spirit and/or the wounded body.

God is sovereign and can do what he likes, however what He does is logical and rational. He also works within the guidelines He has mandated. To work outside the guidelines He has given us and Satan would make Him a hypocrite.

We are also to remember that He is Love and all He does is in Love, that He sees the overall situation and that healing may not be what is necessary for His purposes either now or later if at all!.

Is it His Will to heal?

God is sovereign and can act when people are not able to make a decision for healing

God may not heal immediately. The sickness may serve the purposes of His Kingdom and bring Him Glory and also be what you need to mature as He desires you to.

He also said you to doctors to have the illness recorded as well as to show that medicine cannot cure it. So that when Jesus heals the illness, it will witness to doctors for these God

So healing may not be instantaneous and delayed which is why you need to ask God why there is no or little healing as it may be His purpose not to completely heal immediately.

The Lord is concerned with the whole person and not just the immediate need of the person and healing may not be a need for wholeness at that time.

At times, God uses sickness to remove you from the world and the activities that stop you hearing Him so He can do a greater purpose in you or through as you do the task He has prepared for you to do in this illness.

Purposes for healing

Problems

As usual The Holy Spirit is to be consulted before you act in The Name (Authority) of The Lord Jesus to ensure it is His will to heal and you are acting in His Authority.

‘Miracles’ are manifestations that control nature or natural things. What occurs as a result of the miracle will not naturally be possible and will go against what reason says should have happened.

The ability to ‘Discern Spirits’ is not the ability to see them but to know in your spirit whether they are of Jesus or God and sometimes what the actual demon is. This gift is vital for the ‘Inner healing and deliverance’ ministry which is the main reason it is given. This gift is also used when it is needed to ‘test the spirits’.

Demons can control weather and animals and this discernment of spirits can tell you which is behind the weather or animals so you can deal with these things appropriately

The true gift of ‘Tongues’ is manifest in service of The kingdom of God as Jesus is proclaimed to a people who do not speak the language you speak. This means that there is no excuse for not speaking to anyone in your language about Jesus. The gift of tongues may be given you as you speak and the person will understand what you are saying about Jesus and his kingdom.

People misuse this gift as it is designed for evangelism and expanding the Kingdom of God and not for prophesying. Prophesying is a separate gift and tongues is not needed if you are prophesying to people who speak the same language you speak. God showed at Pentecost that tongues were to be used for evangelism. The evangelism conducted at Pentecost by the apostle Peter, is the only example of the use of tongues in the Bible as if to indicate this is the only real use for that gift.

Salvation is found only in a relationship with Jesus and the evidence of salvation is not works (tongues) but a changed life that lives for Jesus and not to exhibit gifts, miracles or knowledge.

The whole purpose of the Gifts is to build each other up and by this build the body and manifest God in this world but only as led by The Holy Spirit so that the purposes of God are achieved.

Remember that demons can copy the gifts and miracles as well. The test of the working of the gift is in the fruit that results in the person being used to impart the gift as well as the manner in which this gift is expressed in the life of the person receiving this gift.

Empowerment and the leading of The Holy Ghost

The purpose of the leading (guidance) of The Holy Ghost is to know the Will of God so it can be done on earth. As we declare His will in prayer or command in His delegated Authority The Holy Ghost (Acts 1:8) brings it into existence.

The process is as follows:

You can see the importance of being able to hear The Holy Ghost so you can hear what God wants you to do.

This is the usual way God has chosen to work on earth, through our obedience to Him. As a King though, He reserves the right to work directly with people when they are not able to hear or are not listening as well as plan battles and attacks on the enemy and set them up in the spiritual.

We are His representatives on earth, His ambassadors, doing His work in a foreign land, (Remember our citizenship is in heaven and not earth, so earth is a foreign land to us spiritually). Those not doing His work or representing Him are tourists and not ambassadors. They may think they belong to the Kingdom of heaven but may not and need to evaluate their role in this foreign land very carefully in case their eternal salvation is at risk.

Unity in The Body of Christ

While the Gifts may be used for evangelism to show the Love of God the main reason for them is to build up and heal the body of believers that forms the true church. Man’s reasoned ways and management systems cannot meet the spiritual need of the body of Christ which is why church management programs and counselling based on man’s psychology (and similar) do not meet the needs of this spiritual body. This is the reason why churches that neglect the Gifts eventually ‘die’ spiritually having the form of Christianity but not the empowerment to show they are different to man’s organizations.

The church is one and indivisible, not a denominationalised system where each has their own slant on theology and denominational rules. Paul deals with this and the unity of the body after he lists the gifts.

We are saved into The kingdom of God and not a denomination. We are baptised into Jesus (and His Kingdom) and not into a denomination! We are baptised into the church of Jesus - one, indivisible, each part needing the others. If one part does not perform its part all the other members will suffer! Remember! Jesus does not recognize denominations, but only the Body.

When this verse is fulfilled then will the true church completely defeat the enemy of God in the authority of Jesus and the Gifts and Power of The Holy Spirit.

Are the gifts for today?

The early church turned the world upside down. What did they have to do this?

The first four points are what God gave them to use, the latter was the relationship they had with Jesus, The Holy Spirit and God.

Many of the modern churches in the West states the first four points are no longer applicable to this modern era and so are not available to modern Christians. They serve a callous and uncaring God who expects them to do the work of the early church without the equipment God gave the early church to do His work And wonder what God no longer works as he did in the early church.

God says in Malachi 3:6 "I change not" And in Rom 11:29, that he does not withdraw His gifts therefore He cannot have recalled the gifts He gave to us to use and has not changed His mind about our using them. If God has changed His mind about using the gifts today then Rom 11:29 is incorrect and the Bible is in error and thus cannot be believed as the inerrant Word of God. God would also clearly have stated He had done this or else He would not be able to condemn us for ignoring them.

To ask people to work in a supernatural sphere without the supernatural provision of God is callous and inappropriate but this is what many in the western church ask its members to do. It has removed the supernatural element from its battle and wonders why it is dying and not achieving what God requires it to achieve.

They pray, it is true, but do not do what God asks them to do. He gave us the authority to cast out demons, to heal the sick, to preach the word with miracles and did not tell us to ask Him to do it for us. The church prays and wonders why God does not act when most of the time He wants them to act. Prayer is important but it cannot replace our responsibility to act as He requires us to.

Jesus demonstrated The Kingdom of God and taught about it. He destroyed the works of the enemy and set people free from the enemy's bondage. Jesus said these signs would follow all who were led by His Spirit (Mat 16:17-18):

They would:

If you are not:

Then you are not living as the early church did and are not doing the work of Jesus.

If you do not use the supernatural weapons and gifts that Jesus gave you then you will be using the methods and coping systems of the world to compensate for the lack of empowerment and will appear to them as being no different to them except that you are more moral and disciplined in some areas than they are. If they cannot see the supernatural in your life, that Jesus and The Holy Spirit are still at work in the world, then they will not see any reason to follow your beliefs and that means they will see no reason to follow Jesus.

They will see the church as just another organization or social thing and will go to the New Age or Satanism where the supernatural is occurring because demons know this is what attracts people and not reasoned theology or mans methods and ways of doing things. Without the supernatural element the church is not a relevant faith to follow which is why cults are so easily able to lead people from the true church.

Unless the supernatural is relevant in your life you are not relevant to all who would want to follow Jesus and who would be encouraged to put their trust in Him. You are also not representing Him and His Kingdom as He requires all His subjects to destroy the work of the enemy in people and society.

If you are not doing any of His work how can you call yourself a citizen of His Kingdom and a follower of Jesus (a Christian)? His early followers were noted for doing His work (deliverance and teaching of the Kingdom) and loving others as He loved them. If you are not doing this then what will you say to Jesus when you are asked to give an account of how you used your life on earth.

You will not be judged for trying to use the gifts and not succeeding or incorrectly teaching the Kingdom out of incorrect knowledge about it. You will be judged for not bothering to do either when you know you should or for not studying The Bible to learn what it says about them.

When the church demonstrates The Kingdom of God with power and authority and with His Love flowing through them to the people they are sent to minister too then it will attract people to His Kingdom. Otherwise it may as well be a social club for all the relevance it will have to the world and God's enemy.