Note: This is a 6 part series. Click here to read those parts:

[Part 1] [Part 2] [Part3] [Part4] [Part 5] [Part 6]

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

Read more about Cornel’s book “So You Think Your Mind Is Renewed?” here!

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