Spiritual Gifts

[LaSorcia]

Do you think people have certain spiritual gifts, just like other skills and talents? Do you think God gives them to us as we need them? Some combination of the above?

 

[Farine]

Some gifts are given to you after you pass your tests....The spiritual gift of Authority comes to mind immediately.

 

[com7fy8]

God does things perfectly, giving you what helps you while you help others. For an example . . . in case I have the teaching gift . . . first, I could explain anything; but people would not listen or they would put down what I gave, and I'd get bent out of shape. Then it would come to me, how I was not loving those people the way Jesus wants. And I needed for my teaching gift to teach me how to love!

Gifts are not for status or show or only serving or for getting attention and control; but God's gifts are for ministering God's grace > 1 Peter 4:9-10 < so we become more and more sound and mature in love.

 

[quietbloke]

Great question,'La Sorcia' and good answers

 

[tturt]

When we're believers, we have at least one spiritual gift ("But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal." I Cor 12:7).

We know that every man is referring to believers because this is addressed to "Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren..." I Cor 12:1

 

[quietbloke]

'Go forth and tell! The doors are open wide. Share God's good gifts - let no one be denied. Live out your life as Christ your LORD shall choose.Your ransomed powers for His sole glory use' (James E Seddon)

 

[farout]

Do you think people have certain spiritual gifts, just like other skills and talents? Do you think God gives them to us as we need them? Some combination of the above?

Spiritual gifts are the least understood for most Christians. How do you know what gift you have? How do you use your gift in the church? The list of questions is long we believers have for those who try to explain about spiritual gifts. These spiritual gifts are not the talents we have. For me it took a long time to really understand what my gift was.

I found Chip Ingram's teaching on spiritual gifts that helped me truly discover what my spiritual gift really was. His Ministry Living on the Edge a real huge help for me his web site is loe.org one of my favorite places to learn and grow

 

[AGTG]

Some gifts are given to you after you pass your tests....The spiritual gift of Authority comes to mind immediately.

Do you have any scripture to back this idea up?

The Spiritual gifts mentioned in 1 Cor. 12 manifest "as" God wills. That does not mean God gives you something to do whatever you want whenever you want. That's a massive error modern charismatic/pentecostals believe and has caused great damage and drawn many into idolatry and cavorting with demonic forces presuming they are working with the Holy Spirit.

The term "as" in this context means when He wills. How do I know this? Because Jesus said that when the Holy Spirit would come, He would not even act on His own authority, but would only do what the Father says:

John 16
13 When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.

The idea that God has given a gift for man to utilize whenever he sees fit is quite unbiblical and dangerous. Even Jesus only did what He saw Father God doing. In other words, there were times when there were sick people He did not heal because Father God was not healing them.

Moreover, there are no fleshly manifestations that accompany the manifestation of the Spiritual gifts. That is another error the devil has spread throughout the modern church. The shaking, shouting, flopping on the ground, the goosebumps, are all demonic manifestations to further trick people into thinking they're working with the Holy Spirit.

But the Holy Spirit is likened to a dove for a reason. Dove's are gentle. Additionally, if we are in right standing with Father God by the shed blood of Jesus, we have the mind of Christ. You will know when the Holy Spirit is doing something, but it may not be in the actual moment He's doing something. It sometimes is revealed later to keep people from being puffed up in pride. When God does something, it always bears fruit, too. The Holy Spirit is not an amusement ride for the body of Christ. He enables and empowers humble servants to do ministry God's way.

 

[Farine]

Do you have any scripture to back this idea up?

.... The Holy Spirit is not an amusement ride for the body of Christ. He enables and empowers humble servants to do ministry God's way.

First of greetings to you in the shared service we have to the Kingdom of the Living God. Your zeal is immediately apparent. I love that! You asked about scripture.. happy to oblige. I kept my post short for purposes of clarity. I am also going to keep the quoted verses tight around the concepts that support this in order to illustrate more clearly. It's recommended to read the verses before and after what is said for best effect.

Matthew 16: 15-18 (NIV)
“But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?” 16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven. And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.

OK. Here we have Jesus renaming Simon. We know throughout the gospels that Simon is on an wildly erratic journey through his preparation period to become Peter full time. We can see from the Epistle of Peter who he is after his transformation. Paul talks about meeting Peter in his accounts.

Galatians 2:8-9 (NIV)
For God, who was at work in Peter as an apostle to the circumcised, was also at work in me as an apostle to the Gentiles. James, Cephas (Edit:another name for Peter) and John, those esteemed as pillars, gave me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship when they recognized the grace given to me.

So what happened here?

Jesus prophesied that Simon's true name and nature is Peter in Matthew 16. When did this transition really take place?

Jesus addresses Simon at the Last Supper. Luke 22:30-32 (NIV)

“Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift all of you as wheat. 32 But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.”

This comment specifically refers to a mighty test. Also the use of his original given name here is significant. "Simon, Simon".. not Peter. Simon. The prophecy of Peter's Leadership over his brothers is inferred as usually the strong lead followers.

Then you have the actual account of the test in the Gospels. Matthew 26: 74-75

Then he began to call down curses, and he swore to them, “I don’t know the man!” Immediately a rooster crowed.
Immediately a rooster crowed. 75 Then Peter remembered the word Jesus had spoken: “Before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times.” And he went outside and wept bitterly.

What was Peter doing while he was weeping bitterly? He was making a permanent decision about WHO HE WAS. That he would never deny his Lord again.

To bring this full circle, Peter's martydom was crucifixion.. only he refused to be crucified in the same manner as Jesus. His faith held.

 

[LaSorcia]

I was asking because I have seen the gift of discernment in my life in strong ways in the past. Not so much now, but I'm thinking that's because I don't need it at the moment. If I need it to help myself or others, I suppose it will manifest?

 

[quietbloke]

I was asking because I have seen the gift of discernment in my life in strong ways in the past. Not so much now, but I'm thinking that's because I don't need it at the moment. If I need it to help myself or others, I suppose it will manifest?

Amen 'La Sorcia',God is with you

 

[tturt]

When Paul said to the spirit in the fortune teller, "I command thee in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her." And he came out the same hour (Acts 16:18), that was discerning of spirits. Though what she had been saying beforehand for days was accurate = "These men are the servants of the most high God, which shew unto us the way of salvation." So Yahweh revealed to Paul what spirit was behind the words. Paul had the right attitude by being against the demonic spirit and grieved for her.

Some think that it's discerning of demonic spirits but that's not accurate. An example of discerning a Godly spirit is when James, Cephas, and John perceived the grace that had been given to Paul (Gal 2). Plus why test the spirits (I John 4:1) if they're only demonic.

Spiritual gifts are manifestation of The Holy Spirit (I Cor 12:7).

I do think that there's a training period. After all, the original were with Yeshua for over 3 years - I'm not saying it'll take 3 years though. You're doing the right thing by asking.

 

[bookofjade]

Do you think people have certain spiritual gifts, just like other skills and talents? Do you think God gives them to us as we need them? Some combination of the above?

What kind of gifts do you think you might have.

 

[LaSorcia]

I have seen God help me or others through me in the past with: exhortation/encouragment, generosity/giving, administration (I seem to be able to work miracles in organising things lol), discernment/discernment of spirits, faith, words of knowledge, wisdom and hospitality.

Concerning hospitality, please pray for me. I have a guest coming for 5 months, and I want to treat them as I would want someone would treat my child were they a guest in a foreign country.

 

[LaSorcia]

When Paul said to the spirit in the fortune teller, "I command thee in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her." And he came out the same hour (Acts 16:18), that was discerning of spirits. Though what she had been saying beforehand for days was accurate = "These men are the servants of the most high God, which shew unto us the way of salvation." So Yahweh revealed to Paul what spirit was behind the words. Paul had the right attitude by being against the demonic spirit and grieved for her.

Some think that it's discerning of demonic spirits but that's not accurate. An example of discerning a Godly spirit is when James, Cephas, and John perceived the grace that had been given to Paul (Gal 2). Plus why test the spirits (I John 4:1) if they're only demonic.

I think these are both examples of discernment of spirits. Some folks might have been happily thinking this woman was a prophet, rather than a fortune teller.

 

[farout]

What kind of gifts do you think you might have.

Welcome to the Christian Forum Book of jade. I personally have the gift of exhortation. This took me a VERY long time to find this out, and to be honest I never gave this even the remotest possibility that I had it, but after finding it out, I had been involved with this gift a long time. Have a God day.

 

[bookofjade]

Welcome to the Christian Forum Book of jade. I personally have the gift of exhortation. This took me a VERY long time to find this out, and to be honest I never gave this even the remotest possibility that I had it, but after finding it out, I had been involved with this gift a long time. Have a God day.

What is exhortation, spiritually.

 

[LaSorcia]

What is exhortation, spiritually.

Encouraging, edifying, building someone up. Making them stronger and increasing their faith. Encouraging people to do what is right.

 

[quietbloke]

Encouraging, edifying, building someone up. Making them stronger and increasing their faith. Encouraging people to do what is right.

So glad there are those that 'exhort',encouragers like Barnabus ('son of consolation'. God bless all you 'encouragers!'

 

[quietbloke]

I pray that God will bless us as we seek to develop our spiritual gifts.