Everyone who knows the Lord and is in Christ Jesus have been blessed with Spiritual Gifts. Thats EVERYONE! If we are in Christ, He is in us. The Trinity; the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, literally 3 in 1. The Father; God the creator, Son; Jesus who came to earth and died for our sins & the Holy Spirit; who is our guide & comforter. Obviously theres a LOT more to the Trinity than that, but I just wanted to give a brief outline as it’s relevant to what we’re talking about today, Spiritual Gifts.
Because of our relationship with the Trinity we are all blessed with these gifts.
But, what are Spiritual gifts?
They are part of our purpose on this earth. We are to use our gifts to glorify God and help others.
1 Corinthians Chapter 12 explains all!
Now about the gifts of the Spirit, brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be uninformed. 2 You know that when you were pagans, somehow or other you were influenced and led astray to mute idols. 3 Therefore I want you to know that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, “Jesus be cursed,” and no one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit.
Pauls letter to the Corinthians, begins with that fact that he wants us- all believers, not just the Corinthians, to know about these gifts of the Spirit. He reassures us that everyone who says and knows in their heart that “Jesus is Lord” does so by the Holy Spirit. He compares to how we were before, so that the difference, in us, is clear. We are no changed and the Holy Spirit is within each of us.
4 There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. 5 There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. 6 There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work.
There are many gifts, but it is by the one and only Holy Spirit who gives them to us all. It’s the same with service; helping others, there are different ways for all of us to do this. Some might be good a listening to others, some might be generous givers, some might be prayer warriors, the list goes on. It’s the same with work, God has a purpose for each of us, they are all important, not one is “better” than another, we are all part of one body. It’s like our human body, every part is useful for something!
7 Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. 8 To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit,
With the help and guidance of the Spirit we can do all things good!
Now, this is the list of the (main) Spiritual Gifts. (Throughout the Bible it mentions other gifts too, but for now, we’re focusing on Corinthians 12.)
It begins with wisdom and knowledge. This is clearly important. We are given this wisdom and knowledge through the Holy Spirit and the word of God. Everything we ever need to know is in the Holy Bible and we can ask the Holy Spirit anything, then when we listen we are given that knowledge and guidance, according to God the Father.
9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit,
Yes, faith is in fact a gift. It’s having trust, confidence and belief in the Trinity and in the promises of God that He has for us.
Or healing, some are given the gift to pray for and heal others. This can be from anything that is not of God, be it spiritual, emotional, mental or physical .
10 to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues.
Miraculous powers? Wow! We are told that, through the gift of the Holy Spirit, we can have the power to demonstrate miracles! Throughout the Bible we see the miracles of Jesus, but it also tells us about the miracles His disciples perform too. Through Jesus and the Spirit, if we have been given this gift, we can too! How exciting!
Distinguishing between spirits. Whats this? It’s being able to determine the different spirits we come across. It’s knowing about attitudes, behaviours, words, activity and where they come from. Are they of God, the Holy Spirit, or not? Are they a result of a different spirit, one that is not of God, a spirit of darkness, one of Satans minions? By having this gift, we can distinguish the different spirits.
Speaking in tongues, is a gift too. Tongues is about prayer, it is a direct language between our spirit and God- the Holy Spirit in us. We hear that the Spirit intercedes for us in prayer, this is it. We may not know what we are saying but our Spirit does. It is like a secret language that only God hears. The enemy can hear us when we pray, but when we speak in tongues, the enemy hasn’t a clue what has been said. And sometimes we might not know either. So when someone in church prays in tongues, it’s important that someone else has the gift of interpreting tongues, so everyone knows what is said. It’s like speaking our language in a group of people who speak a different language, from a different country, it can come across quite rude, cant it? Which is why we have interpreters, to tell the others what is said. It’s the same with speaking in tongues amongst others, we need an “interpreter” to tell everyone else what is said. And so both of these are different gifts; one is speaking in tongues and the other is interpreting tongues.
But all of these different gifts are the work of and are given from the one and the same Holy Spirit, and he distributes them to every one of his Children, EACH OF US, just as he determines and according to His will. (Verse 11)
Which gifts have you been blessed with? And how have you used it/them to help others?
Share in the comments below.
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Lauren, thanks for this wise post on spiritual gifts. I will teaching a retreat on this in October and appreciate the resource!
Thank u Mary! Yes, ur more than welcome to use and share it. Blessings x
Tongues was something I was afraid of as a young girl but it has proven to be both powerful and peaceful, and life saving. Your personal prayer language builds you up, but you have to be consistent, I tell everyone to study for themselves so they will understand it, but it is not something to fear.
Thank u for sharing! I’ve heard personal stories of people being afraid of tongues. But, yes, by studying it and with the right knowledge and the guidance of the Holy Spirit people can know the benefits. X