In Part 1 we looked at how we can actually operate in all the gifts. In this part we will address some more of the sacred cows surrounding the gifts pertaining to maturity and desiring the greatest gift. Somehow we have adopted the belief that the gifts of the Spirit are for people who are very spiritually mature. Unfortunately, gifts don’t determine maturity as is evident from Paul’s 1^st letter to the Corinthians.

1 Cor 3:1-3 And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ. ² I fed you with milk and not with solid food; for until now you were not able to receive it, and even now you are still not able; ³ for you are still carnal. For where there are envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere men? (NKJV)

Paul calls the Corinthians carnal, unspiritual babes in Christ. He fed them with milk because they couldn’t handle solid food and he says they are still unable to handle it because they are still carnal, behaving like mere men. What he is basically saying is that they still have a lot of maturing to do and he is going to give them more milk to help them grow up. In other words there is no solid food for mature believers contained in the whole of 1^st Corinthians. Interestingly this letter is where we have the only short reference to the 9 gifts and their operation. Food for carnal immature believers? Mmm…

1 Cor 1:4-7 I thank my God always concerning you for the grace of God which was given to you by Christ Jesus, ⁵ that you were enriched in everything by Him in all utterance and all knowledge, ⁶ even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you, ⁷ so that you come short in no gift, eagerly waiting for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ (NKJV)

This opening chapter to the letter however doesn’t paint the picture of what we would think of as being descriptive of immature believers. They were enriched in everything, in all utterance and knowledge. There was no other church that operated in the gifts more powerfully than these immature carnal believers. So having revelations and enriched knowledge or operating in the gifts like no other doesn’t make mature believers. I am not saying the gifts are for immature believers or that mature believers have no need of them. The difference lies in ignorance.

1 Cor 12:1 Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I do not want you to be ignorant: (NKJV)

You can operate in all the gifts yet be ignorant and immature. But it is not ignorance of the gifts that makes you immature. When you look at the original Greek of this verse, you will find the word ‘gift’ was added by the translators. Originally it read, “Now concerning spiritual, brethren, I do not want you to be ignorant.” Ignorance of the spiritual keeps you immature, not ignorance of the gifts. The word for ignorance here means to have a lack of information, intelligence and understanding. Immature believers lack information, intelligence and understanding about the spiritual. Just like immature humans lack information, intelligence and understanding about the natural.  So what is it that the Corinthians didn’t get about the spiritual? I want to propose that it is the thing that Paul kept on repeating throughout this chapter: THE SAME SPIRIT. He mentions it 9 times by my count. I believe the key to not being ignorant of the spiritual is realizing the truth about ‘the same Spirit’.

The one who prophesies does not have a different spirit than the one who works miracles. It is the same Spirit who works through both. The real gift is not in the diversity of operations and manifestations but the Spirit Himself. Every believer has the gift of the Spirit. Since it is the same Spirit who empowers the operation of the gifts, having the same Spirit means having ALL of Him. One person doesn’t have more of Him than another. The one who prophecies doesn’t receive just His tongue. The one who speaks words of knowledge doesn’t just receive His mind. The one who heals doesn’t just receive His hands. Everyone receives all of Him. Some believers choose to develop only their tongues, their minds or their hands, but that is not what we are to mature into. You are not to become a baby believer with a mature eye, or a mature foot or hand. You are predestined to be conformed to the whole image of Christ. You are to grow up and mature into Him, ALL of you into ALL of Him.

1 Cor 12:4-7 There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. ⁵ There are differences of ministries, but the same Lord. ⁶ And there are diversities of activities, but it is the same God who works all in all. ⁷ But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all: (NKJV)

Read these verses again and note the use of plural and singular words. Diversities of gifts, differences of ministries and diversities of activities: 3 instances of plural followed by a big BUT. The manifestation of the Spirit: Singular. In verse 31 of this chapter Paul says we are to earnestly desire the greatest gifts, but as long as we try to divide the Spirit into greater and lesser gifts, ministries, manifestations or activities, we will not mature. One gift is not greater than another. The greatest gift is the Spirit and each situation determines the greatest manifestation of that gift. If a word of knowledge is needed, that gift is greater in that situation. Desire it. Healing would not be the greatest manifestation if interpretation of tongues is required. Desire the greatest gift, the one most applicable to serve the person in their particular situation and watch the Spirit manifest through you in diverse manners. I do not claim to have any gift except the Spirit Himself. When I give a word of knowledge, the person receiving the word receives the gift. I am just the giver. The recipient receives the gift. My gift is to be the giver. Jesus said to give to every man that asks you. You are the giver, the Spirit the supplier, man the receiver. But some will say, “I can only give what I have.” To that one I say you don’t yet know what you have. You too are ignorant of the spiritual for if you knew what (or Who) you actually had, you would be giving away much more.

In Part 3 I will take a look at more of the spiritual and show more specifically what it is you need to not be ignorant of: Who you really are/have…

Grace and peace be multiplied to you!

Cornel

Click Here To Get New Posts by Email

Or Subscribe To Our RSS Feed

Have you ever heard somebody say, “I don’t have the gift of healing, so I don’t have to minister healing to people” or “Go to so and so and get a word of wisdom, I can’t help you with that?” Even though I fully understand that way of thinking, I believe it is an immature way of ministering. If I have the same Spirit as the one who gives the words of wisdom, then that same Spirit can manifest words of wisdom through me. “All things are possible to him who believes.” Let’s look at the natural as a shadow for the spiritual for a moment. Some people seem to be naturally better at playing music, while others are naturally more adapt for sports. Both are people but with different aptitudes. The musician might have a natural talent, but still needs to works at it to play really good. The sportsman also needs to train hard to be the best. The musician is not more human than the sportsman and vice versa. Can the sportsman learn to play music? Of course. Can the musician play sport? Sure. They can do all things through teaching their bodies how to do it. Now in the spiritual, can the one who heals also speak words of prophesy? Yes. One person might seem to be naturally more adapt to healing than the prophetic but that does not mean they don’t have to prophesy. “I can do ALL things through Christ who strengthens me.” All means ALL. Healing might seemingly come easy to some while prophesy seems to be hard for them. It is like the sportsman learning to play an instrument. It might not come naturally at first, but through training he will master the instrument to the point where it does seemingly come naturally. Will he make mistakes? Duh! Of course!  And when he does, his music teacher isn’t going to condemn him; he is going to help him correct the mistake.

So when one who heals ventures out into interpretation of tongues, there is a learning curve where mistakes will be made. The problem is that the church almost immediately condemns the person for making a mistake and they feel so guilty and ashamed that they never want to try and interpret again. Instead, they should have said, “Don’t worry about the mistake. Go see so and so who interprets accurately and learn how to do this better. Then come back again. We want more people operating in more of the gifts.” People have become so afraid of being condemned by the church for making mistakes that they all together choose to not even try to flow in power. The whole book of 1 Corinthians is a letter Paul wrote to tell them that they are making mistakes whilst operating in the gifts. He didn’t tell them to stop operating. He didn’t say they were of the wrong spirit. He didn’t call them weird, false prophets or anything like we hear in church today when somebody makes a mistake. No, he came alongside and helped them to do it right.

Usually you will find that the people who do the most condemning are the ones who also operate in the least amount of power. They are afraid of operating because they were condemned when they made mistakes perhaps, so they use condemnation (sometimes unknowingly) to try and bring everyone else around them down to their level of doing nothing, their level of ‘the fear of having faith.’ Why is it that we automatically feel done in when somebody else gets it right and we don’t? If I see somebody who has better results in healing than me, I don’t go to them and try to break them down to my level, I go to them and learn from them. If I am to grow up into all the fullness, then I have to grow up into ALL things in Christ. Healing is in Christ. So is prophesying and working of miracles, words of wisdom and knowledge and all the other gifts. I am not to exalt one gift above the other and form a click of people who do the same thing only and then judge everyone who doesn’t do what we do. No, I grow up into all things. I grow up into healing, prophesy, interpretation until I reach the fullness of the stature of the measure of Christ. In my growing up I might have to rely on a gift, but once I am a grown up son of God, I won’t have to rely on the gifts because I have now learned to rely on THE GIFT, the Holy Spirit.

The gifts, to me, seem to be more of a tool God uses to teach us to have faith for the miraculous. The gifts are stepping stones to reach reliance on the Holy Spirit only. When one gift starts operating through you, it should invoke the desire in you to ask, “If I can speak in tongues, what else is possible for me? What else is there for me to trust God for? Oh! Interpretation of tongues! Let’s go after that!” Once you have interpretation down, you can move onto the next manifestation. When you start living with that mindset, you will see more and more of the gifts operating through you anyway. Jesus’ ministry had almost all of the gifts. He prophesied, He had words of wisdom and knowledge, He had faith, worked miracles, healed and He discerned spirits. The only gifts He didn’t operate in were tongues and interpretation of tongues. Interestingly enough, tongues is usually the first gift to be activated in a believer. Why? So we can start looking at what else can be done. “If I can speak in tongues, perhaps I can interpret. If I can interpret, perhaps I can discern spirits. If I can discern, perhaps I can speak words of wisdom. If I can speak words of wisdom, perhaps I can prophesy. If I can prophesy, perhaps I can heal. If I can heal, perhaps I can work miracles and raise the dead.” Each gift will teach you to stay out on the water longer without sinking. Step out in faith towards the fullness of the Spirit in you. Eagerly desire the gifts. ALL of them.

If you have a desire for healing, find somebody how can teach you. Desire might show aptitude. That means it might be easier for you learn healing than to give words of knowledge so the learning curve will be less sharp if you start with healing. You will get it right quicker in other words. Then look for the next desire, not neglecting the one you have already learned. All 9 working together will reflect a manifested son of God able to do all things through Christ who strengthens you.

In Part 2 we will look more closely at 1 Cor 12 and see what there really is to say about the gifts, and hopefully kill a few more sacred cows in the process…

Yours in Grace,

Cornel

Click Here To Get New Posts by Email

Or Subscribe To Our RSS Feed