Spiritual Gift: Miracles

The spiritual gift of miracles is similar to healing but not limited to healing. Soon after Jesus ascended to heaven, miracles were performed by the apostles as credentials of whom the served and where they got their power from (Acts 8:13; 14:8-10; 19:11-12; Romans 15:19; Hebrews 2:4). Most scholars today would call healings, tongues and miracles "infancy gifts" professing that they were only for the early church, I and many others disagree.

The spiritual gift of miracles can also be used for exercising demons (Acts 19:12), inducing physical ability (Acts 13:11), or even death (Acts 5:5;9). It is easy to understand how the miracles in the first paragraph would be encouraging to the church, but what about the ones like death and potential blindness? In Acts 13:1-11, Paul temporarily blinds a demonic magician trying to divert a high ranking Roman officer from hearing the gospel, so Paul straight blinded this magic man and the Roman officer was saved. What's not encouraging about that!!!

Like I said in yesterday's post about healing, these type of gifts must be sought out, expected from the Father and not doubted. If we want to see God do big things, let's allow Him to do them!!!

Spiritual Gift: Healing

The spiritual gift of healing was a hard one for me to study, but by the grace of God I believe I can explain it well. I know a couple of people who have the gift of healing and have seen some amazing things take place. In 1 Corinthians 12:8-10 "healings" is plural, just like in 1 Corinthians 12:28. After doing a word study on these passages, we see that Paul does not have in mind that the gift of healing is drawn by some "general power" within themselves, but the healings take place with faith and mostly charisma through the Holy Spirit.

People who have the gift of healing usually would have a natural ability to sympathize or empathize along with the ability to know what to do in certain situations. When these people are yielded to the Holy Spirit, miraculous healings can take place. Through reading, Paul seems to make these healings as miraculous as the ones done by Christ himself.

The American church has institutionalized spiritual gifts. What I mean is that we have taught that each person has certain gifts and that's it. However, scripture often makes clear that we should pray for gifts. So, if someone prays for the gift of healing and is able to heal someone in the Church of a disease, we must be careful not to label that person or assign them to a "healing ministry." The Spirit does give gifts at certain times to those with enough faith and charisma to heal.

Look at some of these examples of healings, and please read the surrounding verses to understand the context: Acts 2:43; 5:12; 2 Corinthians 12:12. When one reads through the gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) we see Jesus constantly healing (Matthew 8:16-17). These healings were just a foretaste, or appetizer, to the healing that would take place through the atonement.

Here is the thing friends: The gift of healing is real and we must not limit it to charismatic churches. We all pray that God would move in our churches but then the second a "charismatic" man or woman comes in, we disregard them as crazy or something. We are limiting God ourselves when we do this. Let's start having faith and expecting to see healings happen. Let's see God move!

Spiritual Gift: Leading/Administrating

The first thing we see in Romans 12:8 about leadership is it is aided by zeal. Zeal in the Greek is the word "spoude" and means to have haste and earnestness. This means that one who has the gift of leadership gets things done with a quickness and with a sincere and intense conviction. The spiritual gift of leadership can be defined as the God-given desire and ability to give vision and direction to projects and people, like Nehemiah.

Some other good examples we see of sinners being good leaders are Joseph (Genesis 37-50) and Titus (1:5) just to name a few. There are a lot of people who WANT to be leaders, but are not. This usually stems from a sense of pride (1 Peter 5:5) and should be addressed by church elders or leadership. WARNING: If you have this spiritual gift, guard yourself against lust for power and the abuse of power (Mark 10:42-52). The spiritual gift of leadership usually presents itself as an encouragement to the Church because God's plans are clearly seen and directed and the leader is a SERVANT-LEADER, not an observer spouting direction.

If you have the spiritual gift of leadership, use it humbly for the encouragement of the Church and glorifying God!

Spiritual Gift: Interpreting Tongues

Guest blog by Adriel Sanchez

The gift of interpretation of tongues is extremely important in the body of Christ. This is because without interpretation, the gift of tongues has no edificational value for the corporate body of Christ (it solely benefits the speaker). When Paul was writing to the Corinthians, he was encouraging them to pursue the greater gifts, i.e. the gifts that would edify the body as a whole. He makes this clear in ICor 14:1-2, "Pursue love, yet desire earnestly spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy. For one who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men, but to God; for no one understands him, but in the Spirit he speaks mysteries." and then in verses 3-4 Paul explains why prophesy is to be a more coveted gift, "But one who prophesies speaks to men for edification and exhortation and consolation. One who speaks in a tongue edifies himself, but one who prophesies edifies the church." In other words, Paul is saying, "Listen Corinthians, seek the gifts that are going to edify the body as a whole! Dont just get involved in self edification." Without the gift of interpretation - tongues will not corporately edify the body of Christ! Paul writes in 14:5, "Now I wish that you all spoke in tongues, but even more that you would prophesy; and greater is the one who prophesies than one who speaks in tongues, UNLESS he interprets, so that the church may receive edifying." (emphasis mine)

The gift of interpretation is a supernatural gift bestowed by the Holy Spirit which allows someone in the congregation (and often times the tongues speaker himself) to interpret the unknown utterance that was given. When someone speaks in tongues, they don't understand what they are saying. Paul affirms this in ICor 14:14, "If I pray in a tongue my Spirit prays, but my understanding is unfruitful." In order for the congregation to understand what the Spirit has said through the tongues speaker, an interpreter must be present. It is also important to note that Paul says in 14:13 that the one who prays in tongues, should also pray that he may interpret (this is especially important to note when you're speaking in tongues in the assembly) This seems to indicate that the tongue's speaker can himself have the gift of interpretation, and should pray that he has the ability to do so in order that he might edify the body. The gift of interpretation is not when someone simply understand the tongues that are being spoken (such was the case during the day of pentecost, with the Jews who were present during the Holy Spirits outpouring) but rather when someone is granted supernatural understanding by God, in order to be able to articulate the unknown tongue being spoken.

I want to also make it clear the the gift of tongues has a personal edificational value. Some people argue that tongues should never be spoken if there is no interpreter, however this is simply not true due to the fact that all tongues speaking serves to edify the speaker. However tongues should not be spoken out loud in the midst of the assembly, if there is no interpreter. Paul makes this clear in 1Cor 14:19. Tongues then aught to be used in the privacy of ones prayer closet (self edification) and in the midst of the body of Christ when accompanied by an interpreter (corporate edification). The question remains, will you take Paul's commandment in 1Corinthians 14 seriously to "desire the greater gifts," and to "seek to abound for the edification of the church." (14:12) That's a mandate that is often overlooked by many Christians, but was an imperative from Paul for the Corinthians, and for the present day saints as well!

Spiritual Gift: Speaking in Tongues

Speaking in tongues is a highly debated topic, mostly whether or not this spiritual gift is for today. Some would say speaking in tongues has ceased. I want to make clear that my belief is that speaking in tongues IS still a if used today. I think the gift must meet at least 3 criteria for it to be valid.

1. It must be for the overall purpose of encouraging the Church and glorifying to God.

2. It must be in an orderly fashion that is not distracting or overwhelming in a negative way.

3. There must be an interpreter present (I will address this more tomorrow).

The best place that describes this gift is 1 Corinthians 14. This chapter would say that there does not have to be an interpreter present, but then the man or woman speaking in tongues only encourages themselves, which can be seen as a direct prayer to God out of an overflowing of his/her spirit.

Speaking in tongues should have some sort of revelation, encouragement, or teaching for the Church, not just reckless blabber. Some would say that speaking in tongues is a heavenly language, while others have said it is the ability to speak foreign languages. A reputable author once told a story of a conference going on and all of a sudden this dude got up and started speaking in tongues. After a couple minutes, a dishwasher came running into the conference asking where this man learned to speak his language. The man then explains that he is from a small village where only they speak that language. The dishwasher interpreted and ended up trusting in Christ.

I am hoping my friend Adriel will be kind enough to comment on this and maybe guest blog tomorrow, he has done far more studying on this spiritual gift than I have. Love you all!!

Spiritual Gift: Giving

The spiritual gift of giving is a very necessary one in today's Church. We are raised and trained in a culture where it is normal to have an excess of pride. It is supposed to be "all about me." Even in the Church, pride is running rampant among pastors, elders, deacons, and volunteers. Some churches are filled with people who give to get attention.

We must recognize the true givers, the ones with the spiritual gift of giving who give for the purpose of encouraging the Church. The spiritual gift of giving can be defined as a God-given ability and desire to impart one's substance to meet the material needs of others (Acts:9:36-39 and Romans 12:13).

The Greek word for giving is haplotes and is defined as simplicity, liberality, bountifulness. This is not a self-seeking generosity but an openness of heart that manifests itself through generosity. It can be seen as someone who gives their clothes, time, or money to someone in need in the Church. If you have the spiritual gift of giving, use this blessing as much as the Lord directs because the Church needs it!

Spiritual Gift: Mercy

The gift of mercy is found in Romans 12:8. Again, before I explain this spiritual gift, remember that it is to be used for the edification and encouragement of the Church. If you read Romans 12:8 you will notice that the gift of mercy is sandwiched between two verbs: acts and cheerfulness. It is someone who does acts of "mercy" with cheerfulness. Before I define the spiritual gift of mercy, let me contrast the description in Romans 12:8 so we know what it is NOT. 

The gift of mercy is NOT someone who volunteers at the church, serves the homeless, or helps a friend out in need out of a bitter heart. It is NOT someone who serves with a negative attitude or expects something in return, especially respect.

The spiritual gift of mercy IS a God-given desire and ability to SHOW concern and DO what is necessary for needy others (Read Luke 11:30-37). You probably have the gift of mercy if you gravitate towards the less fortunate, the ill, the down and depressed. You do this because it is not only glorifying to the Lord, but shows them His love towards them (Read Matthew 25:31-46).

Here is the key: In Greek , the word mercy is eleeo. Every time it is used in the Bible, it is an action. It is not something to be stored up, but something to be expended...like all the other gifts. Also, in the Greek, it is connected , or grouped, with "who does acts of." That is clear evidence that if you have the gift of mercy, you should be wearing yourself out showing mercy for God's glory!