Spiritual Gifts ride the heels of UTTERANCE (Speaking in Tongues) when it comes to controversial Church Doctrine. Speaking in Tongues and operating in the Spiritual Gifts are Supernatural actions. Just as being Born Again at the time of Salvation is a Miracle, so too are Speaking in Tongues and the Spiritual Gifts.
Chapter 12 of First Corinthians is where Paul presents us information regarding The Spiritual Gifts. Calling these Spiritual Manifestations gifts is a little ambiguous as they can’t for example, be put into a box or one’s pocket and taken home. The Lord maintains control of them as He works together with the believer. The manifestation of Speaking in Tongues and of the Spiritual Gifts is administered by God co-laboring with the believer.
“That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation” (Romans 10:9-10).
The operation of the Holy Spirit is two-fold. Salvation, referred to as the Baptism of Christ happens first. His dwelling in men is for sanctification. In dwelling in us, the Holy Spirit supplies Christ to us to be our life and to enable us to bear the Fruit of Holiness. Baptism with the Spirit or being filled with the Spirit is a secondary working. Speaking in Tongues as the Spirit gives the UTTERANCE is the initial evidence of being Filled with the Holy Spirit. This is synonymous with having The Spirit Upon. It is the gateway to Supernatural Miracle Prayer and for co-laboring with God in the Spiritual Gifts. His coming upon (being poured out upon) men is for power, for doing miracles and for witnessing.
Speaking in Tongues is frowned upon in most pulpits and a demonstration of the operation of The Spiritual Gifts is not commonly found in local Churches.
There are nine Spiritual Gifts; nine ways in which the Holy Spirit manifests Himself Supernaturally when co-laboring with Believers. The Gifts are placed within three categories. Three of them are classified as Revelation Gifts (they reveal something), Three are the Power Gifts (they do something) and three are the Inspiration Gifts (they say something).
The Word of Wisdom is the 1st of the Revelation Gifts. One should distinguish The Word of Wisdom from natural wisdom. They are two different things and one has nothing to do with the other. The Word of Wisdom is a Supernatural Manifestation of the Holy Spirit. It is a Wisdom that comes down from Heaven. It is a Divine Wisdom. Limited purposes, directives and plans of God are revealed as Words of Wisdom. Old Testament Prophets Uttered Prophetically Words of Wisdom When the Holy Ghost would Come Upon them. God revealed fragments of his plan for mankind and the earth to the likes of Enoch, Noah, Joseph, Moses and Jesus Christ as well as the Minor and Major Prophets. The Word of Wisdom reveals a short-term or long-term plan of God.
“And the Lord God said unto the serpent, because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life: And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee” (Genesis 3:13-16). This is an excerpt from an early reprimand by God in the Garden of Eden. This prophetic
UTTERANCE is a word of wisdom.
“Therefore, the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel” (Isaiah 7:14). This prophecy of the coming Savior is an example of The Word of Wisdom.
(2) The Word of Knowledge is the second of the Revelation Gifts. The Word of Knowledge has nothing to do with human knowledge or intellect. It is the Supernatural communication of the Holy Spirit of a fact in existence where there is no natural way for it to be known to the believer. It occurs directly from the Omniscience of God.
In 2nd Kings Chapter 5 we find an example of this gift. The prophet Elisha had the occasion to cure Naaman, an army commander from Syria, of leprosy. Naaman was very grateful and offered Elisha gifts which Elisha refused. Elisha’s servant Gehazi who was standing buy at the time, ran after Naaman to retrieve the gifts privily. He later denied receiving them. The prophet, however, knew by the Word of Knowledge of this evil deed and so the servant was cursed with that leprosy, he and his seed forever.
The (3rd) Revelation Gift is Discerning of Spirits. This operation of the Holy Spirit is to open a window to the invisible world for the believer to look through. Supernaturally and miraculously the believer is availed of transactions of another dimension. A revelation regarding Discerning of Spirits could appear as a vision, a trance or in a dream. The Lord could communicate the presence or devices of a spirit (or spirits) in other ways. Here is one example in 2nd Kings:
“And when the servant of the man of God was risen early, and gone forth, behold, a host compassed the city both with horses and chariots. And his servant said unto him, Alas, my master! how shall we do? And he answered, Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them. And Elisha prayed, and said, Lord, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And the Lord opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha” (2 Kings 15-17).
Yet another example of the Gift of Discerning of Spirits is found in the book of Acts as thus: “And it came to pass, as we went to prayer, a certain damsel possessed with a spirit of divination met us, which brought her masters much gain by soothsaying: The same followed Paul and us, and cried, saying, these men are the servants of the Most High God, which shew unto us the way of salvation. And this did she many days. But Paul, being grieved, turned and said to the spirit, I command thee in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. And he came out the same hour” (Acts 16: 16-18). Clearly, Paul discerned the invisible person behind the damsel.
The Gifts of The Word of Knowledge and or Faith are likely present with the gift of The Discerning of Spirits.
The 1st of the Power Gifts of the Spirit is the gift of Faith. The Gift of Faith is to be distinguished from “The Measure of Faith” (Romans 12:3) and Saving Faith of Romans 10:17 (So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God).
The Gift of Faith transcends the Mark 11:22-26 faith to remove mountains. The Gift of Faith is sometimes referred to as Special Faith. Like all the Gifts of the Spirit, the Gift of Faith is a Supernatural Manifestation of the Holy Spirit. It is an operation of the Holy Spirit. It is administered by The Holy Spirit. The believer need only co-labor with God to the extent of being yielded and willing.
The fulfillment of UTTERANCES, of blessing and curses, alterations, creations, destructions, removals, and even the raising of the dead are manifested by this Gift. There is no limitation where the Gift of Faith is present.
The 2nd of the Power Gifts of The Spirit is The Working of Miracles. The Supernatural manifestation of the power of God that intervenes in the ordinary course of nature is the Working of a Miracle. The manifestation of any of the Spiritual gifts is a miracle in a general though not specific sense.
There are many examples of miracles cited in the Bible. In the Old Testament, in the book of Exodus; in Egypt, there was the waters being made into blood, frogs produced, locusts and there was darkness so thick that it could be felt. There was the dividing of the Red Sea by Moses’s rod and water given from the rock at Rephidim. There was the Mana from Heaven. Additionally, in the Old Testament there was Balaam’s ass speaking, the Sun and The Moon standing still, the widow’s son being raised, the iron swimming and many other exciting exhibits of God’s wonders.
Our Lord also work many miracles during his brief sojourn on the earth. He healed the sick, the blind, the deaf and dumb and those many infirmities and diseased conditions. He raised Lazarus from the dead. He cast out devils, stilled storms, fed four thousand folks with two loaves and five fishes. He walked on water.
In the Book of Acts, we see Ananias and Sapphira struck dead for lying to the Holy Spirit. Peter raises Tabitha (Dorcas). Peter is also delivered out of prison by an angel. Paul’s conversion was truly a miracle; as when every time a person is saved. Paul restores Eutychus to life and shakes off a deadly viper from this hand with no ill effect in chapters 20 and 28 respectively. These are a few of the miracles that were documented in the book of Acts.
The 3rd Power Gift is The Gifts of Healings. It is thought by theologians that the fact that both words (Gifts and Healings) are plural indicates diversity in their application. As an example, one minister will have success when praying for deaf people and, yet another is likely to see the cripple walk.
While the healings that are brought about by the Doctors and hospitals are either directly or indirectly blessings from God, they are not the Supernatural Gifts being discussed here.
There were approximately twelve occurrences of individual healings recorded in the old testament. Notable from that list are Hanna receiving healing from barrenness in response to personal prayers and Eli the Priest’s declaration (1 Samuel 1:9-20) and Hezekiah’s 15-year life extension by the prophet Izaiah after Hezekiah prayed to God (2 Kings 20: 1-7).
There were numerous healings at the hand of Jesus Christ recorded in the Gospels.
In the Acts of the Apostles there was the healing by Peter of the lame man at the gate Beautiful (Acts 3: 1-11) and Eneas of a palsy, recorded in chapter 9 as well as other miracles in which he worked. Paul healed a cripple in Lystra (Acts 14: 8-10). “And God wrought special miracles by the hands of Paul: So that from his body were brought unto the sick handkerchiefs or aprons, and the diseases departed from them, and the evil spirits went out of them” (Acts 19: 11-12).
The first of the Gifts of Inspiration is The Gift of Prophecy. Strong’s Concordance describes prophecy as “a discourse emanating from divine inspiration and declaring the purposes of God, whether by reproving and admonishing the wicked, or comforting the afflicted, or revealing things hidden; esp. by foretelling future events.”
“But he that prophesieth speaketh unto men to edification, and exhortation, and comfort” (1 Corinthians 14: 3) Prophecy is Inspired UTTERANCE and should be distinguished from Revelation. Revelation by The Word or Wisdom may sometimes function together with Prophecy.
Smith Wigglesworth said this: “We see also that he that prophesieth speaketh unto man to edification and exhortation and comfort. How important it is then that we should have this gift in manifestation in the church in order that the saints might be built up and made strong and filled with the comfort of God. But with this as all other gifts we should see that it is operated by the Spirit’s power and brought forth in the unction of the Spirit; so that everyone who shall hear prophecy, as it is brought forth by the Spirit of God, shall know that it is GOD who is bringing forth that which for the edification of those who hear. It is the Spirit of God who takes of the deep things of God and reveals them, and unctionizes the prophet to give forth, that which is a revelation of the the things of God.
Utterance in prophecy has a real lifting power and gives real light on the truth to those who hear. Prophecy is never a mind reflection; it is something far deeper than this. By means of prophecy we receive that which is the mind of the Lord; and as we receive these blessed, fresh utterances through the Spirit of the Lord the whole assembly is lifted into the realm of the spiritual. Our hearts and minds and whole bodies receive a quickening through the Spirit-given word. As the Spirit brings forth prophecy we find there is healing and salvation and power in every line. For this reason, it is one of the gifts that we ought to covet.”
The final two Inspiration Gifts are Divers Kinds of Tongues and the Interpretation of Tongues. Here is an example of what they might look like when manifested in a Church near you:
A minister tells the story about how he was interrupted early during one of his sermons by a young lady who was obviously overpowered by the Holy Ghost. He says that she came up on the platform with him, which he yielded as he recognized that God was present.
He said that she chanted some language that he did not know and made gestures sometimes made by religious priest of another religion. He said that near the back of the Church he observed a young East Indian man, whom he knew, begin to walk down the aisle toward the platform. The young man looked at the girl with intense amazement. It turns out that she had spoken the young man’s language.
She tells him that salvation comes from God: that to save men, Jesus Christ, who was God, became a man; that one man cannot save another; one man has no power to same another from his sins. But Jesus was God and He had power to impart His Spirit to men.
Here, the young lady was obedient to the prompting of the Holy Spirit and spoke with Divers Kinds of Tongues (other Tongues). The Elder in the pulpit was sensitive to the Holy Spirit and yielded to His Manifestation. The young gentleman, while somewhat dumbfounded, was able to give the Interpretation of Tongues. The Protocol for Speaking Tongues in the Church was known and had been well taught in this Church as should be the case in every Church.
The Inspiration Gifts are for Ministry. They are for the Exhortation, Edification and Comfort of the Church.