Christian Foundations

A.  A QUICK REVIEW OF SPIRITUAL GIFTS 

We have been going through the Christian Foundations and the place of the Church in your world.  This post is a quick revisions and an encouragement to find a group of people and begin to practice.

There are many ways you can do this; Birthday blessings is just one idea.  Most people here have already been taught about the Gifts and Talents given by the Lord Jesus to His church.  Remember, the main reason the Lord gives Gifts to His Church is to build up, strengthen and grow His Body of Believers into maturity. 

1.  The Five-Fold Ministry (Ascension) Gifts, Ephesians 4:11-13:

“It was He who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers ….”  ——-> “…to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature ….. “

2.  The 1 Corinthians 12:4-11 list of the Nine Spiritual Gifts

Gifts to Speak:	Godly Knowledge:	The Power to Act:
Prophecy Various Tongues Interpretation	Word of Wisdom Word of Knowledge Discerning of Spirits	Faith Gifts of Healing Working of Miracles

3.  Other Gifts, Romans 12:7-8

The gift of Leadership, The gift of Shepherding, The gift of Mercy, The gift of Administration, The gift of Helps, The gift of Giving, The gift of Encouragement, The gift of Hospitality, Service and helping. 

B.  TAKING A WIDER VIEW IF THE ‘GIFT OF HEALING’. 

1.  Some tend to think of the Gift of Healing as just healing prayer.  Certainly these are part of this Gift, but also think how ‘The 5 Love Languages’ can bring healing.  Words, touch, gifts, acts of service and quality time all add health to the person.

2.  Although spiritual in nature, the Gifts are meant to be manifested – to be seen in the physical world.  We should observe them in our everyday lives.

3.  The Healing Gift is given to the person who is sick; demonstrating God’s love towards humanity.  It is not given to the person who is praying for the other’s healing, they only facilitate it.  God often uses human vessels to initiate His power (Deut. 9:8, 23

4.  The Gift of Healing may flow through someone (to another) so often that they are tempted to say that they have the Gift of Healing.  This is not correct.  What has happened is that they have become confident in passing on this Gift and are manifesting it more often.  All Gifts are available to all Believers, as the Holy Spirit distributes them.  Paul encourages us to seek these gifts (1 Corinthians 14:1)

5.  Character versus Charisma – Sad to say, in some places the Charisma (Gift) can become more the focus than the Character of the person transferring the Gift.  This is not God’s perspective.  Just because He gives gifts to mankind, does not mean He approves of their lifestyle (Romans 11:29).

6.  The Gifts are inner-connected, meant to be used inter-dependently, such as a ‘Word of Wisdom’ is needed to go with a ‘Word of Knowledge’, ‘Interpretation of Tongues’ with ‘Tongues’.

7.  The Gifts are given to the Body as needed; so each person needs to be willing to step into their part of the Body Functioning. 

No one can say they are not needed or wanted in the Body, Romans 12:4.  “Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ, we who are many form one body and each member belongs to all the others.”

This means in a group of 2, two people could flow in the Gifts.  In a group of 8, eight people are capable of contributing, as the Holy Spirit wills.  Since Jesus had all the gifts within Him, and He is in us, we have the potential of having all the Gifts available to us – when needed.

7.  Using the Gifts of the Holy Spirit depends on us working along with the Holy Spirit as co-workers.  We, as the congregation, need a safe place to learn to practice these Gifts; to grow and develop for the good of the whole Body.

C.  SOME CAUTIONS:

Our faith must be activated in order to receive and practice any of the gifts.  Be cautious of ‘directive words’ applied to the future.  Even New Testament prophets must be careful.  In addition, extreme caution must be exercised in obedience to any directive word.  Use these principles:

1.  The Shelf’ Principle – Any directive word needs to be put on the ‘shelf’ until its meaning and timing becomes clear.  Before you can take it seriously, God needs to have talked to you through a ‘rhema’ or other ways of proving the word.  A directive prophecy must be part of a collection of events or ‘words’ that point you in the same direction.

2.  The ‘Confirmation’ Principle – All directive prophecies must be confirmed (2 Corinthians 13:1).  There must be two or more circumstances or words, from God, that confirm the truthfulness of the prophecy, especially if it applies to the future.

3.  The ‘Timing’ Principle – Any directive word may be truthful, but WHEN is it supposed to take place.  A word of wisdom is needed to accompany the execution of the directive.

4.  The ‘Interpretation’  Principle – Every word of knowledge must be accompanied by an interpretation.  This may occur at a separate time and place.  A picture and what it means are often two separate gifts.

Be cautious of a ‘word of direction’.  This is not one of the listed Gifts.  God does not direct us today, through prophets, the way He did in the Old Testament.  Learn to put directions ‘on the shelf’ to be confirmed by the Lord.  The Holy Spirit is our ‘prophet’ guide today.

5.  The word given from the Lord will also be ‘edification, exhortation and comfort’.  Take the seed of the word He wants to share and explain it is a way that it does bring comfort.  I’m not saying change His words but be cautious of your interpretation and delivery.

An example:  In one of our practice sessions, someone received a word for Eddie.  The Lord said she was like a Walrus.  Without thinking, the persona said that word out loud and Eddie….in her self-hatred and low self esteem felt what? 

…big, ugly, alone ugly, battered by the sea…alone…ugly.  What the Lord was saying was all the good qualities of a Walrus could be said of her: steadfast against the waves, sturdy, self-reliant, eyes on the wind yet calm, and so on.

It is important to see behind the Word from the Lord, we can use a word of wisdom to explain what the Word really means rather than just give the word without compassion and empathy.

D.  A FIVE MINUTE DAILY PRACTICE

How many times have you heard others say “I’m not feeling so good.  I’ve got a headache, etc.”?  Do we respond with: “You poor dear …”  OR do we step into the moment and offer prayer?  We need to help our heart make the determination to always offer to pray for others, whether pre-believers or those of the faith.  This is a way of practicing and developing our ‘gifts’.

     Learn to catch other people’s comments and do something about it.  We are all part of one body; if one is sick, the whole body is affected.  Practice praying for each other with one ear on the person, the other ‘ear’ on how the Holy Spirit wants you to pray.

E.  IN CONCLUSION

We are invited by a Loving Father to learn to hear from Him, and speak on His behalf.  What an awesome opportunity and responsibility that is!  These free gifts are part of our inheritance that is!  These free gifts are part of our inheritance as Believers (Mark 16:17), not just for pastors and church leaders. 

He gives these gifts as a demonstration of His love.  The gifts show care, concern, consideration and allow choice.  They must not express judgmental, legalistic or harsh attitudes.

People in the Body of Christ are hungry for the supernatural so have a go!  By learning to hear His voice for yourself, you will also be practicing stepping into the Spiritual Gifts.  Look for say places to practice but try not to be afraid to step out and ‘give someone a word’ when you know it is the Lord speaking.  Most people will respond with gratefulness to a positive word. 

F.  LET’S DO SOME REAL PRACTICE

If we are going to move in the gifts, we need to be able to sense the movement of the Holy Spirit and the timing of the word we give.  All this may take practice and encouragement from your leaders.  That is one purpose for our time tonight – to give you a chance to practice in a safe environment.

Avoid being over-spiritual when bringing a gift.  Avoid ‘boxing in’ people, or being overly dogmatic with the words you bring.  Always be tentative, such as “I’m sensing the Holy Spirit might be saying this to you”. 

As you release your faith in this exercise, the gifts will be released, “….according to your faith”, Matthew 9:49.  It is the Holy Spirit who determines which gifts are given and to whom but we need a safe place to practice and learn how to use these gifts.  So relax while we ‘practice’ the gifts.

Find a group of 3 or 4 people who wish to practice the Spiritual gifts.  Ask someone in your church or growth group to help guide you through the exercises we have presented.  Write down any words the Lord gives you, making sure they are in the positive frame of statements.  Take time to share your words with each other and pray for each other.  Enjoy the practice session,

Susanne Fengler, Blog Author

www.hearinggod.mentorsnotebook.com/blog

Tags: Review Spirtual Gifts
Filed under: Christian Leadership Training, Foundations of our Faith