Sam Nichols USMC Divine Healing Article Audio Teachings On Healing
The Narrow Path 1 - Healing Helps Let It Rain Article Gifts of the Holy Spirit
White Fields Ezine
copyright 2008 by Greg Nichols
Gifts of the Holy Spirit! Part 1
copyright 2006 by Greg Nichols
An Overview
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In my way of thinking, Christianity that is not supernatural and miraculous is not the real Christianity. The whole dimension of the miraculous aspect of Jesus' ministry while He was on Earth was supposed to be transferred to His followers upon His departure. And it was not just for the Apostles as many think, it was to be for all generations until Christ's return. But many do not believe that God does miracles today. However, these same people will pray for God to intervene in their lives over and over. But answered prayer is a miracle too. So if one throws out miracles as a belief, then they must also throw out prayer. God would like to do more through us than we allow Him to.
I personally have been a party to a long chain of miraculous events for years. That is because I prayed and used my faith in many situations. I feel I am qualified to write on this subject. If you wish to see God have more access in your life and miracles occurring more regularly, then pay close attention to this teaching. It is a fresh teaching; you are getting this material hot off the wire, so to speak.
Prioritize This Mindset
I do not want you to become a miracle chaser. That can get you into a ditch. The Bible says that the children of Israel knew God's acts, but Moses knew God's ways. (Psalm 103: 7) Some people are miracle junkies like it is a fast food. They say, "show me a miracle that I might believe." This is a very wrong heart and mindset, and they will see no miracle. Only the believing who believe God and His Word first, will see miracles. Who did most of the miracles in Moses' time? Moses. Yes, those who know God's ways get to operate on an intimate level with God and see His mighty hand. Those who just want to see God's acts or see a show from God will remain in a stunted state of growth. If you must chase something, chase God's ways. Follow after God to get His ways. God reveals His ways in the Word. Love is God's way. Do you love everyone with God's love? That is His way. For me, I understand that having a miracle is just one more of God's ways in a long line of ways that God wants me to have. Miracles are not an end result, they are a means to and end, and the end that is desired is obtaining the will of God by means of using God's ways. To want God's will in your life is to want His ways, and to do His ways. A man or a woman that wants God's ways, and mines them out of Scripture is a man or woman that will walk in the miraculous realm of Jesus and God's Holy Spirit.
Come Into The New Testament!
Where miracles are concerned, there is a teaching and a revelation from Jesus and the Apostle Paul in the New Testament found in the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, and in the Acts of the Apostles, and in the Epistles of Paul, especially 1 Corinthians. There are 9 supernatural gifts of the Holy Spirit. The Old Testament had 7 gifts of the Holy Spirit, 2 more were added in the New Testament. But these gifts, or rather the understanding of these gifts, was seemingly lost from the church for centuries. It was the great outpouring of God's Holy Spirit at the beginning of the 20th century that actually helped to restore them to today's church. Much of the truths and understanding of these gifts still elude many in the Body of Christ. I intend to teach on them in White Fields Ezine extensively. I intend to share what the Apostle Paul taught, which was as much for believers to have and possess today as it was for believers back in the Bible days.
Background Information
Where did I study this? That is a fair question. I have studied this from dozens of men and women of God. I have also sat under the Holy Spirit directly and let Him expand my revelation of this. I have used the gifts quite often, mostly in ministry, sometimes in business, and often in raising my very large family. There was a man who went to Heaven long ago named Howard Carter. He was from England, and he is best known for the founding of the Assemblies of God denomination. What he is less known for is his teaching and understanding of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. This was at the beginning of the 20th century. As the story goes, he was a conscientious objector and was placed in prison for it. It was in prison that he first had God reveal the truths about the gifts of the Holy Spirit. In his prison cell, he was being driven quite to distraction by a leaky pipe, which no one would fix. Finally, one day, he spoke to it and rebuked the leak in Jesus' name, and it stopped. This one occurrence led him to seek God for more truth in the area of miracles. God led him to Paul's teaching in Corinthians, but then led him all through the Word showing him examples of Paul's teachings, from the early patriarchs, to the prophets, to Jesus, to the disciples, and then to Paul himself.
Howard Carter wrote a book, called, I believe, The Gifts of the Holy Spirit. I am sure this book is rare. I read it only once, in about 1986, as I borrowed it, but had to return it quickly. Howard Carter traveled throughout the world as a missionary early in his ministry, and his right hand man and helper in the Lord was a very young Lester Sumerall. I wrote about this man several issues ago. Not only did I get to sit under Lester Sumerall one time, in Sacramento, California, in person, I also studied a teaching of Lester's (also borrowed) called, "The Gifts of the Holy Spirit: The Weapons of Our Warfare"! Lester did a 12-15 hour teaching, in depth, in that series, and I listened to it 3-4 times and took detailed notes. Howard Carter had poured the knowledge of the gifts of the Holy Spirit into his young pupil. So much of my understanding and faith for the gifts of the Holy Spirit comes right from the source of the revelational teaching, by the man who actually was used by God to restore it to the Body of Christ. That man was Howard Carter.
A few years later, in 1988, I obtained a 4 part series by the teaching evangelist, Gordon Lindsey, called "Gifts of the Spirit." I saw that one on ebay for $80 recently. I own a set. Lindsey had an astounding way of teaching the Word and his knowledge of the gifts of the Holy Spirit was inexhaustible.
One interesting fact is that God had me using and ministering with the gifts of the Holy Spirit a few years before I ever studied about them. This was awesome, and much like the experience of the disciples, who used the gifts first, but Paul had to explain them years later. I had stepped out into ministry, and I had hurting people all around me, and God opened up the deep well of His Spirit from inside me and helped these hurting souls. The only prerequisite I had, and I believe is necessary was the Baptism of the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues, which follows the New Birth. I had received the New Birth in August, 1982, and I had received the Baptism of the Holy Spirit on October 20th, 1983.
Gifts in Action
One time, a lady came to my house, brought by friends, and she was hopelessly hooked on prescription drugs. (Vicoden) I didn't know her, but I was to pray for her and try to get her delivered. I taught a short Bible message. Then it was time to pray for the lady. As I began to pray, the Holy Spirit seemed to give me her life in a glimpse, and I simply recounted hi-lights to her, and then shared God's love with her, and she virtually almost was overcome with an explosion of emotion and collapsed - she was lost in God's anointing and had never had such an experience that stirred her soul so much. My wife, Debbie, also gave this lady quite a few Words from the Holy Spirit. She went home praising God, as did her friends. She was greatly helped. To me, it was easy. I did not wrestle with demons for hours, I did not try to reason with the woman's mind, I only obeyed the Holy Spirit and the work was done in just minutes. This woman and her friends thought we were spiritual giants. If she could see our daily life, she would see that we struggle with the same things as everybody, and have some of the same teenager issues, marriage fights, and watch some of the same crummy television shows, and eat too many junk foods. But get a revelation of these gifts of the Holy Spirit, and love people, and desire to help them, and God will make you look like a spiritual giant. But the excellence of the thing is all God. We can take no credit. This is what He wants to do through you and every believer. You do not have to be sinless to move in the gifts of the Holy Spirit. You only need to understand them and have faith for them. Christianity is the only religion on earth that causes its people to do the miraculous workings of its founder and leader, Jesus Christ. This is unique. Other religious belief systems do not teach or encourage this. One reason is that the founder is alive, and among His people.
"And they went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them, and confirming the Word through the accompanying signs. Amen." Mark 16:20
Jesus Operated In the Gifts of the Holy Spirit!
Every single miracle, every healing, and every supernatural word from the Spirit that Jesus did can be found on Paul's list of 9 gifts in 1 Corinthians 12. Jesus got empowered to do this at His water baptism when the Holy Spirit came upon Him. This was at the beginning of His ministry. It was not the water baptism, it was the Holy Spirit descending upon Him like a dove. "Then Jesus, when He had been baptized, came up immediately from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on Him." Matthew 3:16
This Holy Spirit baptism that Jesus received was a huge key to His miraculous life. There are no miracles recorded by him before that day. That is why he told His disciples to wait in Jerusalem to get the baptism of the Holy Spirit. They would be crazy to launch their ministries without it. They would fail. They would have little supernatural ability. They would never be able to write the Holy Scriptures. Peter would not be able to preach his famous Pentecostal sermon of Acts 2 because of fear. Fear had gripped Peter's whole ministry until the day of Pentecost. Even in Jesus' presence, Peter could not put away his fears. But when Peter was baptized in the Holy Spirit in Jerusalem that day, a new man was created by God. He risked execution to preach to a crowd and 5,000 were converted.
How do you think I can send a teaching like this out to the Internet, to some people who do not know God, and to people who have every varying form of belief system and different Christian doctrines? The boldness to do this is rooted in the Baptism of the Holy Sprit that Jesus said we must have if we are to serve Him, and take the gospel to the nations.
"...and being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, He said, you have heard from Me; for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now." Acts 1:4-5
Why?? Why?? Why did they need this?
Why did the early church, the disciples, the followers of Christ need this? Why do we today need this? Verse 8 reveals the reason: "But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth." Acts 1:8
They may not teach this in your church or denomination, but this baptism of the Holy Spirit is the blueprint here. If your leaders are away from this, love them, forgive them, do not argue with them, do not debate this, but do seek this for yourself. Satan is quite powerful and you will be wise to not take him on without the baptism of the Holy Spirit. You and God are unbeatable. Once you are baptized in the Holy Spirit, Satan's teeth are pulled, so to speak. You have power. This power is as huge as Heaven's power, because it is Heaven's power. I know some leaders who teach against this doctrine and would like to tear a few pages from the Bible. But I say, if you are going to serve God, get all of His teachings and believe and do all of them.
The Doorway to the Gifts
I went into quite a bit of material here on the Holy Spirit, but you need to know that the great baptism of the Holy Spirit is the doorway to the gifts of the Holy Spirit. The disciples got some miracles done before Jesus died on the cross using Jesus' anointing and His filling with the Holy Spirit. That was His power, not theirs. After the day of Pentecost, they had to get their own filling, and they did. After that, their miracles were greater than ever.
Paul wrote: "Now concerning spiritual gifts brethren, I do not want you to be ignorant." 1 Corinthians 12:1
Ezine readers, I do not want you ignorant of spiritual gifts. It will not help you to ever use them or operate in them if you are ignorant about them.
What Are the Gifts?
"...for to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healings by the same Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another different kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues." 1 Corinthians 12:8-10
There are 9 altogether. In the Old Testament, there are 7. In Christ's ministry, there were 7. Upon Pentecost, and the beginning of the church, two were added.
Those two are:
different or diverse tongues
interpretation of tongues
There are 3 revelational gifts:
Word of Knowledge
Word of Wisdom
Discerning of spirits
There are 3 power gifts:
Faith
Healings
Working of Miracles
There are 3 utterance gifts:
DiverseTongues
Interpretation of Tongues
Prophecy
I wanted you to see this grouping, and I wanted to let you see that Paul taught on them, and I want you to see that there is no revoking of them by God. No where in scripture does an Apostle ever say they are not to be used. In fact, the opposite was said: "Therefore brethren, desire earnestly to prophesy, and do not forbid to speak with tongues." 1 Corinthians 14:39
Do not call the psychic hotline. Do not think ESP or clairvoyance is sufficient for your life. Scripture forbids these. Do not seek out a medium who shares messages from the dead. This is of devils and Satan is the father of lies and you will not get the truth. Yes, I believe those things work, and because they work is why you need to avoid them like leprosy. If you are a believer, then those are in the enemy's camp. The gifts of the Holy Spirit are the true, and the stuff that looks like them are the counterfeit. Those forbidden things can corrupt and defile you fast, and God knows it and that is why He gave a love command, "stay away from them." But the gifts of the Holy Spirit are for building up, encouraging and comforting people. (1 Corinthians 14:3)
If you are saved or born again, it is possible these gifts have operated in you in the past whether you were aware of it or not. You just did not recognize when the gift manifested. If you are filled with the Holy Spirit according to Acts 1, it is most probable that these gifts, at least a few of them, have manifested for you in your life even if you were not aware of it. If you stay on board for these teachings, you will see what I mean. If you learn and grasp what God has shown me to teach this ezine audience over time, you will recognize quickly these gifts when they manifest, and the gifts will manifest more often.
God is always speaking by the Spirit. There is a wavelength or radio wave so to speak. Just get tuned in, and get quiet in His presence. His voice comes through your human spirit, up from the core of you. Remember, He dwells in you. You don't hear from Heaven, you hear from inside yourself. Read this teaching again. Then get quiet with God, worship Him a little, and wait for inner communication, which you probably won't hear with your physical ears. If you do what I say, I believe you will have a supernatural experience this week. Reach out and try to bless someone; that is when Holy Spirit gifts usually kick in. I have a friend who is going through a lot. I call him, and he says, "man, you call at the weirdest of times, just when something big is happening or when I have asked God a question." Let that be your way, or your workings of God. Project it out to others.
My nephew was staying with me. This was 2 days ago. He has been going through some things. I knew he was leaving, and I kept seeing myself praying for him physically, by sitting him in a chair and aligning his back and spine, just by prayer. (I do this a lot) I saw this over and over for 48 hours. Then, as he was packing his car, he threw out his back. He could barely walk and had a 3 hour drive ahead of him. I sat him in a chair and prayed for his back. He told me it felt as if someone was applying hot compresses on his back. His pain left, his back was remarkably better. God gave me a word of wisdom, (a revelational gift) and the gifts of healings (a power gift) - two gifts for this young man who needed to see the love of God that day just to go higher with God to victory over several issues. Just think how it built my faith for the healing because God by a gift of the Holy Spirit, had already shown me the scenario in advance. See yourself as the solution, and not the problem. God can use that kind of thinking.
Get ready for a miracle life. Get ready to go higher in the abilities of God. God wants to flow through you to a needy humanity. He wants to heal and to give words and to shock some people by doing signs and wonders through you. Really serving God is a way-out, exciting, and eventful experience.
Get ready to tromp on Satan. He hates for believers to get this truth. He hates for men and women to act like sons of God. But we at White Fields Ezine are going to roll out this teaching like a steam roller and roll right over him. Are you with me? Your Christian brothers and sisters in many countries around the net are getting ready to rock the world with the gifts of the Holy Spirit.
"For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil." 1 John 3:8b It is with the gifts of the Holy Spirit that God wants to manifest Jesus to the nations in our generation.
Re-read this teaching and begin praying over it until you get the next one. Next time, I will show more examples of gifts of the Holy Spirit from Scripture.
We love you at White Fields Ministries,
Greg Nichols
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The Gifts of the Holy Spirit! Part 2
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Imagine being able to flow in the supernatural realm, at times and when needed - receiving special words or supernatural blessings coming to you from God that you couldn't have known by yourself and having no guilt or condemnation whatsoever because it was a God endorsed practice? Scripture teaches a pure and holy way for believers to move in the supernatural realm of God without consulting demonic or elemental spirits that are in the earth. This is done by a direct link with the Holy Spirit. God intended for us to use His power and also demonstrate it to the world.
I believe that the Bible teaches we are not to be in touch with anything or anyone supernaturally but God Himself. This is for our own good. There are a few witches and warlocks on my mailing list. How do I know that? Some have emailed me with comments and questions. God loves them the same as the rest of us. In fact, they like the teachings I share. I stay on scripture very closely and many of them cannot deny scripture. It is my hope that these ones will be shown the truth of salvation through Jesus Christ. What I write about is needed, but not very common in Christianity in this modern time, and many people will learn anything they can about the supernatural realm from any source they can. There can't be a dark kingdom without a Kingdom of Light! Right? Even witches know that.
I love to teach about the gifts of the Holy Spirit. But there are counterfeits out there. The Bible teaches about familiar spirits. These are spirits of Satan that know about people, down to small details. Their aim however is deception, and the biggest deception of all is that they are supposedly from God's realm, when they are not.
God has given ways to test spirits to see if they are from God. That is because He knew that imitators would try to seduce us and lead us away from Him. If He gave us tests, which I will show you, then that means He expected us to flow in the supernatural, and receive Words and messages from Him. If that be true, then what is all the doctrinal garbage about the gifts of the Holy Spirit being for the apostles only, and not the modern church? The tests God gave us center around human vessels and their delivery of Words from God to other people. But the tests are also for spirits that speak directly to people also.
"Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world." 1 John 4:1
Pay close attention here. The ability to test the spirits is a huge part of being proficient at flowing in the gifts of the Holy Spirit. If you know exactly what kind of thing God would not say, then you should be able to filter out all of those messages of Satan's Kingdom, leaving very few other voices. In fact, only one voice is left, and that is your own mind. Filtering out your own mind is much harder than filtering out an evil spirit. This is extremely subtle. First of all, if you submit your mind to God's Word, and totally immerse yourself in Biblical doctrines, scriptures, teachings, and Godly thoughts, then it is quite possible that words from you and words from God will match each other most of the time, and knowing where God begins and you leave off or visa versa will be pretty hard to tell. Just the same, the more you walk into maturity and use of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, the more you can discern, yourself, when God spoke through you or you just spoke your own opinion.
Paul had this experience and spoke of it in Scripture: "Now to the married I command, yet not I but the Lord: a wife is not to depart from her husband. But even is she does depart, let her remain unmarried or be reconciled to her husband. And a husband is not to divorce his wife. But to the rest, I, not the Lord, say: if any brother has a wife who does not believe, and she is willing to live with him, let him not divorce her. And a woman who has a husband who does not believe, and he is willing to live with her, let her not divorce him." 1 Corinthians 7:10-13
Note that Paul gave God's sharp clear instruction, but on a gray area he qualified that it was he that was speaking. Was Paul going against God? No. In all cases, you have the letter of the Word, and you have the spirit of the Word. The letter sets rules and surface doctrines, but the spirit of love in the Word is able to fill in grace to hearers and interpret the Word by other scriptures not before our eyes at the moment. Paul was speaking out of his own revelational knowledge of God, God's Love, God's Holy Spirit, and God's goals. I am sure God agreed with Paul when Paul gave his own opinion here. Paul, no doubt, saved millions of Christian marriages by sticking his own neck out and giving his own opinion here. Jesus said in Luke 12:51 that he came to bring family member against family member, (I am paraphrasing) which would be the result of one family member being saved when the other was not. Saved and unsaved persons living under the same roof is really a tough way to live, and marriages go by the wayside quickly. Jesus does not want this, but one being saved in a multiple person household brings great division. Paul was saying that he thought as a practical step that unbelieving spouses should be allowed to stay on with believing spouses as long as they can live in peace. The grace and mercy shared by Paul here has not only saved marriages, but eventually, may save an unsaved spouse. Also, as a result, Paul got millions of those unsaved spouses saved over the generations with his practical thought.
We are not to fear giving our own opinions if they line up with God and His Word. The gifts of the Holy Spirit may at times be sprinkled with man's opinions, some good, and some not so good. Scripture teaches that we have the responsibility to operate in these gifts, and expects believers who do so to be careful of what they say and to follow certain guidelines. Scripture also places responsibility on those who hear the Words from God, or gifts, that they have their own filtering system.
There are many voices in creation speaking at us all the time. It helps to discuss who those are that are speaking.
Who Is Speaking Spiritually?
The Father
Jesus
The Holy Spirit
Let me qualify that Jesus and the Father allow the Holy Spirit to do most of their speaking to us. I believe, however, the Father and Jesus can speak to us at times.
Angels
People (God's servants through spoken audible words)
At times, a Heavenly message or Word may be spoken to you by an angel, but this is not as common as the Holy Spirit speaking to us.
That takes care of Heaven's side of it.
Next, the other kingdom:
Satan
Fallen angels
Demons
People (satanically or demonically influenced people through spoken audible words)
These speak, but it is uncommon for Satan to speak himself to us. Usually fallen angels and demons speak to us, doing the will of their master. Demons also speak through people constantly. It is possible however, to get so in tune with God and full of His Holy Spirit that no demon or evil spirit will come within hundreds of feet of you, and definitely will not speak to you. They fear Holy retribution from us, and we can mess them up bad.
I had an evil spirit appear to me once in the 1980's, and I blasted it hard with the name of Jesus, and it fled instantly. It had appeared in a dream, but when I awoke, it was still there visible to my real eyes. It was a spirit of fear. It was hideous to describe, and no doubt messing with me because I was ministering to people and stirring up things in the spirit realm quite a bit. I also was a newer believer and the spirits must have felt they had to test me. Nothing like this has happened since. I think you can get a reputation fast in that realm. However, I have had demons speak to me through people since then, as when they have a human host, they are quite bold, thinking they are really set in there firmly. They can be cast out quite easily, providing the human is willing.
Let me qualify that dead people do not speak to us. Do not even get me started on ghosts. God does not allow deceased human beings to roam the earth, or to speak from the great beyond, in spite of what Hollywood and literature say. As far as that guy Edwards who travels around and is on television, that is a demon or several demons and Edward's own perception and con man ability. "Give no regard to mediums and familiar spirits; do not seek after them, to be defiled by them: I am the Lord your God." Leviticus 19:31
These people will deposit defilement in you, God said it, don't allow it. Notice the word "family" in the word "familiar" and did you notice that Edwards and his kind are always speaking about your dead mom, or old aunt Martha, or cousin Billy? The spirits involved in this are the ones that have watched your families for generations. It is no great revelation that they know a fact or a piece of personal information about you or the deceased person you loved. This is destructive, and it will harm you mightily. Just trust God. What He forbids, He does for your own welfare.
Our bodies are our permits to stay on earth, and when they expire, we leave. (James 2:26) Demon spirits are here illegally, and roam the earth, but human spirits are governed over by God quite closely upon death. Jesus has the keys of Hell and death, and He rules this domain, and He does not allow humans to recklessly roam about after death. (Revelations 1:18) Jesus, Himself, however may go and do anything He wishes and has appeared to people on earth even in the last few years.
The Holy Spirit Gives Generous Gifts!
He is the one with whom we have to do. He is the agent of God the Father and Jesus. He is speaking out to us all the time. Go catch a message from Him directly. I love the Holy Spirit. He is very gentle and quiet. He doesn't like to speak when I have the television or radio on. He wants our devotion and our attention. Scripturally, Jesus and the Father are in Heaven, and the Holy Spirit is here on earth. He is one with them, and knows their thinking moment by moment. He wants to be one with you and I, so that we know the will of the Holy Spirit, the Father, and Jesus, moment by moment. I heard Kim Clement say once that he likes to speak with the Society of the Godhead. What a wonderful phrase. Here is another wonderful phrase. The Family of the Godhead - 3 beings in one, and I plug into them and become a 4th member, and we can just hang together.
Do I sound irreverent? Maybe I sound that way, but God likes people that can be open and honest and real with Him. He doesn't mind our street lingo. He is my Father. He wants to speak to me and through me. God gets to experience our lives because He is in us. We were made to be inhabited by a Spirit. Note I used a big S. We were made to be inhabited by God, and unfortunately, many people are inhabited by a spirit, or spirits, small "s."
We are to identify with God, our Father. We are to identify with Jesus, our older brother and our King. We are to identify with the Holy Spirit, our Teacher, our Helper, our Comforter, and our Co-laborer in ministry. It is all about relationship. He also protects us, and takes personal offense at our attackers, or detractors. What would you do to a person if they beat up your son on the way home from school? The more you identify with God, the more He identifies with you. Never, I repeat, never, come against a man or woman of God. It is so unwise. A group of young people in Israel poked fun at Elisha, the prophet, and made remarks about his bald head. He stopped and cursed them, and immediately, two bears came out of the woods and mauled 42 of the youths. (2 Kings 2:23-24) Didn't their parents tell them not to mess with the successor to Elijah, who called fire down on people from Heaven, and killed great amounts of people?
There was a great lady preacher near the beginning of the 20th century by the name of Marie Woodworth Etter. She was a great Pentecostal minister. She had to be great, for it was a time when women had little to do with ministry. One day, she was preaching to a crowd, and a man stood up and began a verbal attack on her and the meeting. Immediately, he fell to the ground gasping and began to turn blue from suffocation. This was the anointing of God. Do not attack a minister of God. Etter got off the platform, walked down, and prayed for and laid hands on the man, and he was alright after that. Talk about obeying Jesus and praying for your enemies!! Do you think he ever did that again? Both of these were the gifts of the Holy Spirit. The choking and the healing both fall under the working of miracles and the gifts of healings. Are you surprised that God has such a severe side? He never comes against what is already right, but evil must beware in the presence of God and during the operation of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Elisha performed the working of miracles with those bears. There are many cases in Scripture where Divine judgment was served by people operating in the gifts of the Holy Spirit. In Acts 5:1-12, Peter confronted Ananias and Sapphira while he was in the anointing of God and working in the gifts of the Holy Spirit. They both fell dead. This was the working of miracles. However, even to find out what they were doing, he used the discerning of spirits, the word of knowledge and the word of wisdom. Four gifts manifested here:
1) discerning of spirits: Peter sensed their hearts were untrue and lying.
2) word of knowledge: Peter knew by the Holy Spirit exactly what they did.
3) word of wisdom: Peter pronounced their fate, or least the fate of the wife.
4) working of miracles: Through Peter, the Holy Spirit carried out the judgment.
Without Peter as a human vessel and contact point, this whole occurrence would not have happened. Every miraculous Biblical account can be read and looked at in the perspective of the 9 gifts of the Holy Spirit.
There are exactly 9 gifts of the Holy Spirit, and that number is no accident. There are 3 groups with 3 in each group, and 3 is the Scriptural number of God; 1) Father, 2) Son and 3) Holy Spirit. Interestingly, there are also 9 fruits of the Holy Spirit. The fact that there are 9 gifts and 9 fruits is also not coincidental. A list of the 9 gifts can be found in 1 Corinthians 12:8-10 A list of the 9 fruits of the Holy Spirit can be found in Galatians 5:22-23. They are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control.
Interestingly, the 9 fruits of the Holy Spirit, as you allow them to govern and guide your life, will actually show you how to work with the Gifts of the Holy Spirit and how to test the spirits, and how to hear God's voice. Begin to pray about and study these concepts and truths, and begin to see that God wants to lead you into using these gifts and help you in your life, your family, your business, and your ministry. One time the great healing evangelist, John Lake, was driving in his car on a mountain road. There was a sharp cliff next to him. He was in America, and was driving on the right side. God's Holy Spirit spoke to him and said, move to the left side and stop. He obeyed instantly. Just after he did that, a logging truck careened around the bend out of control and zoomed past him, in his right lane. An accident that would have no doubt knocked him over the cliff and killed him was averted. This was a word of wisdom. God told him what to do. A word of knowledge is when God shares a fact that you could not otherwise know. This incident however was a Divine instruction which was a piece of God's future plan, which was to save his life. Lake did not get to know anything, so although some of these gifts are identical as you try to classify them, I believe that this one was a word of wisdom. Please note "word of" in front of the 2 gifts. The Holy Spirit does not give knowledge, or wisdom in these 2 gifts, only a few words of knowledge or wisdom. It is like a ventriloquist's dummy, he is no smarter after the words are put in his mouth than before.
When God gives a word of wisdom or a word of knowledge, it is not helpful to anything other than the specific subject it is about. The next time, in a new scenario, you need another "word of." This keeps you utterly dependent on the Holy Spirit, every time, just as the dummy needs the ventriloquist to act 100% of the time. Get this good and clear, you are only a vessel or a mouthpiece in the gifts of the Holy Spirit, not an originator or source. The humility needed to operate well in the gifts of the Holy Spirit is enormous. You must, I repeat, must understand it is all of God, and none or little of you. You give God your voice, mind, memories, and thoughts. He does not take you over, you are still in total control, but you can feel and sense the strong anointing of God on yourself. Then, these lessons on guidelines for moving in these gifts help keep you in a state of focus, so if you sense a Word coming from God, your faith is there to give the Word. The gifts of the Holy Spirit operate in us by faith. The Word of God builds faith in us. That is what this teaching is doing. Divine understanding and knowledge come to us, a revelation opens the door, and we go through that door by faith.
Imagine being in a crowded room, with intent listeners who trust you, as a man or woman of God. God shares with you secretly that a person in the room has an injury, and if you speak it out, before they can tell you, you will show a sign that will bless the group mightily. This gift may even open the doorway to the anointing of God that brings that person a full healing, as well as boosting other people's faith to receive what God has for them. What are you going to do? If you share it, and you are not correct, all will know. God's very will being done may be tied up in your courage to share. This is where your faith in God kicks in. Does your love for the person exceed your own concern about how you look? Does seeing God glorified in this instance outweigh fears of you looking wrong? I have been in this situation many times, and I have to say, if you have a sincere heart, and walk in love and are not in personal ambition or are not showing off, or walking in pride, then God does not let you down. You will be accurate. However, God's representatives do make mistakes, but God does not. If you miss God, or make a mistake, it makes little difference to you if you heart is right. We are only practicing and always growing in our abilities to function in these gifts. We never arrive. I have made errors with the gifts of the Holy Spirit, but as I persevere in using them, I grow better at it. The whole beauty of Christianity is that God who is perfect uses imperfect vessels to do His will, and if you keep that truth before your eyes, you will not let Satan deceive you out of using these mighty gifts of the Holy Spirit.
God needs pure and faith-filled vessels, and He needs them today. Want the job? God does not need ability, since we are not the source of the gifts, He only needs your availability. As you study these writings, you are becoming an instrument God can use, a fitting tool in His Mighty hands.
"Also, I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "whom shall I send, and who will go for Us? Then I said, Here I am, send me." Isaiah 6:8
The Gifts of the Holy Spirit! Part 3
There are many gifts mentioned in the New Testament! They are discussed in Romans, in Ephesians, and in 1 Corinthians. We need to distinguish between all the gifts taught about in Scripture. A gift can be an inherent motivation in a person deposited by God at their New Birth and often, but not always, coinciding with a natural talent they were born with in their first birth. These are the motivational gifts taught by Paul in Romans 12:6-8.
"Having then gifts according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith; or ministry, let us use it in our ministering; he who teaches, in teaching; he who exhorts, in exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness."
This list of gifts above deserves much time spent on elaboration, but time doesn't permit, as these are not the gifts of our study. These are mainly church gifts or Body of Christ gifts. I will share who these persons are though:
Prophecy - The person who speaks out to the corporate congregation, giving Words from God and using some of the 9 supernatural gifts of our study to do so.
Ministry - this is not the Pastor as many think, or the Administrator of a church, this is the worker, the helps person, the person who visits, or prepares, or cleans up, or fixes things, the person who runs behind the scenes programs, the person who goes door to door, inviting, or helping widows and orphans, the person who takes a bag of needed groceries, or ushers, or collects offering, etc, etc, etc!
Teacher - This often is the Pastor, but does not have to be, as teaching is a very important gift that can be in a person not in full time ministry.
Exhorter - This person might greet, or be one who calls those who miss, or one who simply is a very inspirational person in a body of people and is good at uplifting, and hugging and assuring, and highly encouraging.
Giver - This person gives as a ministry, and often has a particular anointing to do so which means they have a particular anointing and gift from God to attract money for His purposes.
Leader - This is the Pastor, Associate Pastor, Administrator, and authority figure. This also might be a cell group leader, or a special ministry leader.
Mercy - This person is merciful, loving, compassionate, and will gravitate to the suffering and the heart broken and be there, giving comfort, and needed love. This person also evangelizes and tried to keep people from Hell.
These are motivational gifts, and sometimes the person had a natural talent that God is tapping for the Kingdom. At other times, the person got the ability directly at their New Birth from God and had no inkling or worldly preparation to do it. In either case, these gifts are from God, are not to be taken lightly, and are to be cherished and respected in churches. The Minister who helps and serves has just an important a job as the Leader or Giver. Many people are misclassified and I'd say well over 70-80% of all churches have the wrong people doing the wrong things, while the right people are not doing what they should. A church and its leaders must be led by the Holy Spirit to get people into their proper positions, and this is not easy. Too many decisions are made on what is logical from man's point of view. God's point of view and man's point of view most often do not agree, unless the man has been in deep prayer and honest searching of God's plan.
The 7 motivational gifts are amazingly supernatural in themselves. These people have often extra dynamic power from God and extra wisdom to perform the functions. You can then see why, when everyone is in their proper place, the church body can really flow with God. I have been a teacher for 22 years, but sometimes, Pastors I have had over me did not recognize it in me, or, if they did, they did not want me in this function. Maybe they thought I wasn't ready, or maybe one thought I was a threat, or whatever. I tried to stay submitted, and didn't argue or debate, as God has called us to a walk of love. I did however usually never let myself be held back, I found my own teaching outlets and just taught, in many situations, and developed my gift anyway. It wasn't uncommon for my Pastor to turn on Christian television and see me there teaching, or hear I was on Christian radio. "A man's gift makes room for him..." Proverbs 18:16a. Never let a person who can't see something you have stop you from sharing it with people who need it. However, this advice is a like a double edge sword. If you are in a person's proprietary domain, like a Pastor's church, you must obey them, as far as the church body is concerned, and forgive them, and love them. If they can't see your calling or ideas, that is their business and God's and you are not to share it with people, and gossip, and you are not to leave a church over such an issue. Example: if your Pastor won't let you preach, take it to the street, or teach family and friends, but do not question the Pastor's wisdom about his stewardship of his church body. You do not get God's leading for his church, he does. You can become very wrong very fast. If you will obey the Pastor, and just walk in your gift on a lower level for a time, God will exalt your gift in time, if you are humble. "God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble." James 4:6 We must not exalt ourselves and should not ever do this.
That un-submitted mindset will start a chain of church hopping and a lack of submission and rebellion, which you do not need in your life. Being told what you cannot do, and taking it humbly and in a Godly and submitted way, will bring about a blessing on your life. There are very few real good reasons to leave a church, and being offended is not one. You need to ask God if you can leave a church. If you do ever leave a church for reasons of dissatisfaction, never take a soul with you, and never split a church body, ever!! If you feel unappreciated as a budding preacher, never open a competing body down the street. Take it across the region and take none with you. Do not steal any part of another man's work, no matter how wrong you think he is about doctrines or ministry things.
Let me just say that the higher callings like leaders, givers, prophecy, (those who give prophetic words) and teachers often began as ministers (helpers) or exhorters or mercy as these last three positions can more easily be done by newer converts than the other first four positions. God watches your serving, and a true servant is who God wants to promote. God promotes by releasing higher gifts in you which were planted in you by Him at your New Birth. It is important to be sober about your current abilities and maturity level and just plug in where you are at, instead of jumping to more mature positions. We will come back to this at another time as a teaching.
The Gifts of Ephesians 4!
In Ephesians 4:11, Paul speaks of gifts Jesus gives to men and women, (verse 8) but it should be made clear that these gifts are not the 9 supernatural gifts. These gifts are positions set in the church by God, and they are people. They are apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers. (see my teaching: The Government of God) These gifts are called the Five-fold gifts. It is important to show distinctions of all the gifts taught on in the New Testament, so that we can then examine closely the 9 gifts of our lesson. The Greek word for gift used in scripture is charisma. The church of Jesus Christ is full of the "charisma" gifts which are to be used for the will of God and the winning of the lost and the building of the Kingdom of God. Now you can see why churches and groups which use these gifts often are called "Charismatics" which is a correctly bestowed name. The apostles of Acts and the early church were the first Charismatic believers. That function of the "charisma" or "gifts" in believers was never meant to leave the church throughout the centuries and it has been restored in the church now. But if people lose the knowledge of something quite important, then their next stop in the process is unbelief. They cannot regain it unless God intervenes by Divine intervention and restores it. All three kinds of gifts we have covered here, the motivational gifts, the five- fold gifts and the 9 supernatural gifts (which we are going to cover now) are all critical to the proper functioning of the end-time church. Open your heart to the Word of God on these.
The 9 Supernatural Gifts of the Holy Spirit!
The 9 gifts are grouped in 3 groups. They are the revelational gifts, the power gifts, and the utterance gifts. There are 3 gifts in each group.
The Revelational Gifts
The word of knowledge
The word of wisdom
The discerning of spirits
These 3 reveal from the Holy Spirit facts or key pieces of knowledge or wisdom for a specific task or circumstance. These three are not beginning gifts. They require more seasoning and yielded-ness to the Holy Spirit.
The word of knowledge - God might tell you a person's name before any flesh and blood can reveal it to you. If you lost something, and prayed to find it, and God showed you where it is, that is a word of knowledge.
The word of wisdom - God might tell a person to tell another person they are in danger and will need to alter some course, and that is a word of wisdom. If God shows you will get a raise next month, and it happens, that is a word of wisdom. (A word of wisdom most often deals with future events or a piece of God's wise plan which alludes to the future)
The discerning of spirits - One instance is that God might show you that a person has a certain specific demon, and that is a discerning of spirits. Another instance is that sickness may be ravaging one's family and God shows you an evil spirit is behind it.
The Power Gifts
The gift of faith
The gifts of healings
The working of miracles
These 3 are not easy to do, but since God does them anyway, they do require less yielded-ness than the first three. Discerning or hearing an accurate word from God is harder than laying hands on someone and seeing them healed.
The gift of faith - The gift of faith is not your normal faith, it is something quite different. It is a larger burst of faith to do a certain thing at a specific moment. It can last a moment or days or years. Abraham received the gift of faith for getting a son after he and his wife were too old. This gift of faith lasted 26 years until Isaac was born. It is spoken of in Romans 4.
The gifts of healings - There are many different "gifts" or ways to heal, therefore we say it plural. There are many kinds of diseases and ailments to heal, hence "healings." I use the plural and the capitalization that I feel is Scriptural.
The working of miracles - The working of miracles is what happened when Moses stretched out the rod over the Red Sea and parted it. He certainly was not in much faith. He cried to God in desperation, and God said do it. Then it parted. There was some faith involved, and always is when a person obeys God, but Moses was not in the gift of faith. When Elijah prayed for no rain, and there was a drought, this was a working of miracles.
There is a testimony of a boy who lost his eye, I have his name and where he lived. He was fitted with a plastic eye. Through prayer, this plastic eye could see. This went on for years. He could cover the good eye and see. It gets even more bizarre. If he took it out, and held it in his hand, it could still see. It is as if God created the first live video feed recorder. This was in the American Midwest, and witnessed by thousands many years ago. This makes you go tilt, right? I believe it. Jesus said with God, all things are possible. You either believe that statement or you don't. In any case, that would be classified as a working of miracles. That eye miracle came through some person's anointing and using the gifts of the Holy Spirit. The person that did that miracle was a Godly woman whose name I don't recognize. Obscure and humble people are doing things like this daily.
The Utterance Gifts
The gift of prophecy
The gift of tongues
The interpretation of tongues
These three require the least yielded-ness or obedience to the Holy Spirit. People can speak in tongues the very day they are saved if they receive the Baptism of the Holy Spirit that same day, which happens all the time.
The gift of tongues - Scripturally speaking, there are two kinds of tongues. There is the unknown prayer language of tongues, but there is also speaking in a known language not known to the person speaking in it, but known to someone in earshot. This was the type on the day of Pentecost. This goes on all the time today in Spirit filled bodies of believers. Neither of these require much yielded-ness, but when a person first gets tongues, they are extremely yielded anyway, because God has immersed them in His Spirit. Later, we must learn to yield more as we mature and practice the use of these gifts. Tongues is a sign of the infilling or the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. It is not required for Heaven, but it is important to do the work of Christ. If Jesus had to be filled with the Holy Spirit, how much more should we need to be filled? In the book of Acts, if someone got the Baptism of the Holy Spirit, and the apostles were not present, they would go check themselves to see if tongues were evident. You go read Acts, it is in there. This also was not on the day of Pentecost, but many weeks or years after. This shoots down the theory that tongues was a one time event and not for modern believers.
The gift of prophecy - Prophecy and interpretation of tongues are equal in Scripture. The people of the world calls prophecy future telling, but the New Testament teaches that it exhorts and comforts and edifies only. The New Testament gift of future telling is the word of wisdom. The person with the Romans 12 gift called "exhorter" may use this gift of prophecy often. If someone interprets tongues, what comes forth is this gift of prophecy. These are more beginning gifts. In the Old Testament the precise and accurate prophets of God were said to give prophecies, but those are more correctly classified as the word of wisdom.
The interpretation of tongues - If someone speaks out in an assembly in the known language after someone has spoken in tongues, and interprets the message, that is the interpretation of tongues. However, Paul said that we should pray to interpret our own tongues. That means Paul would pray in tongues in private, quite excessively, and then ask God what he said, and God would tell him. I have had anointed men of God stand over me and know God had a word for me, but they would pray in tongues right in front of me until they realized from the Holy Spirit what the tongues were. Then they gave the word to me in English. They and I may have been in front of an assembly, and they still spoke in tongues. This was not out of order because it was ministry time. It is not out of order to speak in tongues at the worship time, or the ministry time. The only reason Paul referred to order and tongues is because the Corinthians were interrupting the speakers with tongues during assembly preaching times. Paul however meant no legalism to confuse the modern church, he was only inserting common sense. Just like when Paul said let women keep silent in the church. That was appropriate then in that time and culture, but not for now in the modern church. In God's Kingdom, women are equals to men scripturally and spiritually. If a corporation's janitor can go down to a church and be a pastor or a prophet or an apostle and have authority over the same corporation's CEO spiritually, then a wife can go to a church and have a high calling and in the body of Christ have more authority than her newly saved husband. It is ignorant for men to lord their gender over women spiritually. In Christ there is neither male nor female. In a Christian marriage, men and women are partners, not master and servant. (Galatians 3:28) The prayers of elderly, wise, intercessory women have held up the church for centuries. Christianity must give women their due place. Paul never quoted a law or rule. He only made fatherly suggestions. Some of you will have to throw out some thinking processes as there are doctrines that are many wrong turns and dead end streets the modern church has taken on Paul's teachings. I will cover this more later. It takes awhile to grasp it.
Many gifts can operate at the same time. A person may start out to share a gift of prophecy but may switch over to a word of wisdom in the middle of it, as they yield further into the Holy Spirit and begin to get deeper secrets from the Spirit. The utterance gifts are doorway gifts to go to the higher gifts - revelational and power gifts. Practice them as often as you can. All of the 9 supernatural gifts in my opinion seem to flow out of tongues, the most basic gift which every person on earth may have instantly. Salvation is the only requirement to receive the Baptism of the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues. Tongues is the way we prepare our hearts for God to use us, as tongues stir up your human spirit, and engages it. Flesh has nothing to do with these gifts. You may see their results with flesh, but you will never originate them with flesh. God means for spiritual people to wield these gifts of the Holy Spirit, by revelation and training. It is my privilege to use this ezine to train many, and help you grasp the importance of the gifts and the way they are used and the way you begin to function in them.
Practical Insights and Heart Issues!
These 9 gifts are very different than the gifts of Romans 12 or Ephesians 4. The people with the motivational gifts of Romans and the people of the five-fold gifts of Ephesians all use these 9 supernatural gifts to carry out their callings and ministries. I am hoping with this writing series that many of you are being able to plug these 9 gifts into your callings. When we named our ministry White Fields Ministries, God showed me that we were to lift up, encourage, build, plant and solidify people with ministry callings to get into their rightful place, using the supernatural gifts of Corinthians. So the "ministries" of White Fields Ministries may be your ministry, or any ministry that receives our help and teachings. The fields are white for harvest - white fields, but the white fields of humanity will not be harvested for God without the supernatural realm of God being tapped by people with ministry callings. If you feel a particular calling, inside, from God, and nobody cares about it, let me just say, I care, and so does God. You can do that calling, and you will, but God just has you in preparation stages. I am sure that you and I being connected is by God's Divine design. Just look at Moses if you wish to see a preparation stage; 40 years tending sheep for his father in law. Then one day a bush was burning, God showed him his instructions, and his destiny was sealed.
Another long preparation was that of the Apostle Paul. After his dramatic conversion, he was not set into his calling for 13 years. The seasoning of a man or woman of God takes time. If you have been saved less than 10 years, don't even begin to get frustrated if God does not have you in your final calling. I have been saved for 25 years, and I know I am not yet in my final calling from God. Since I know I am called, I act like I am in my final calling, but God has shown me many times I will be doing more and something else than I am now. Some of you might say, "Jesus is returning soon, so God needs to hurry up with me if I am to serve Him in a big way." God showed me once that some will get into their final ministry callings and serve for 10 days, or a week before Christ comes back. But oh what a difference they will make if they are patient now. God can save all those family members of yours with a huge miraculous brush stroke of God, and He may use you to do it. Learn these 9 gifts now though. Get them into your thinking and into your heart. Also do not forget that your present calling, although it may not be your final calling is a calling too, and God is always measuring your faithfulness in it.
God may have you in your work place by His design and that is your Divine calling. Get the 9 gifts and learn them and build up in your heart the ability to supernaturally do your job. Before you ever leave a place of employment, you need to ask yourself a few things. The mature and seasoned believer thinks like this. 1) Does God want me to leave at this time? 2) Did I do everything God wanted me to do here? 3) Did I learn everything God wanted me to learn here? 4) Did I touch, for Him, everyone God wanted me to touch here? These same questions can also apply to leaving a church, or moving out of a neighborhood. There are reasons why God puts you in places. Do not cut off His will early by brash or presumptive behavior that never considers God's will.
God has helped me to be a real estate agent and serve my clients by the 9 supernatural gifts of the Holy Spirit. But I cannot just muster them or turn them on at my will. That is the way the Jedi Knights of Star Wars do it, that story has them possessing the gift and working it at their own will. But that is just a story. Many today in the paranormal or in psychic phenomena think that they can use the gifts whenever they want. I am sure Satan obliges them on that. Those are not of God. The 9 gifts of the Holy Spirit are the true supernatural gifts, and the Holy Spirit, being a person and not a force is in control of them, and chooses when they are used. To be effective with the gifts of the Holy Spirit, you must be listening to Him all the time.
"But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills." 1 Corinthians 12:11. Get this following statement into your thinking: The Holy Spirit gives these gifts not to keep but to use, in a moment of time, to whomever He wills, whenever He wills, and however He wills. A word of knowledge may pop in on your from the Holy Spirit, a fact of information to solve a certain problem, and then He may not do it again for 5 years. Or, He might do it again in 2 days. But He decides that, not you. I have noticed that it happens more often to those who are available. If a love for people drives you to be around them to love on them and help them, then God may use you very regularly to minister supernatural gifts to them. If you will go out in love and do the work of Christ, and stay prayed up with regular prayer, you will be a highly tapped vessel of the Holy Spirit. I have gone out on prayer walks at times and seen certain situations in my mind that I later found myself in, and I just did what I saw during that prayer. You won't always see everything coming, but often you will. It was promised and predicted by Jesus.
"However, when He, the Spirit of truth has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will tell you things to come." John 16:13
I consider that a promise of God I can accept and stand on daily. The Holy Spirit will show me the future, at times, and He will guide me into all truth. I have believed this for years, and God just keeps revealing more and more to me. Bless His name. Apart from Him, my mind is a corrupt factory of sin, but I do not have to be apart from Him for even a second. He and I are one. I am one with the Holy Spirit. Therefore, I am one with the Father and I am one with Jesus, for they are all one. Notice the verse says He will not speak on His own authority. He is sent by Jesus and the Father. They tell the Holy Spirit what to say to us. He brings us the words of Jesus and the Father. Each person of the Godhead or the Holy Trinity exalts the other two. That is humility, and it is their example to us also.
Jesus said: "He who speaks from Himself seeks his own glory; but he who seeks the glory of the one who sent him is true, and no unrighteousness is in him." John 7:18
If the Holy Spirit spoke from Himself, He would be in pride. If I speak to you of Spiritual things from myself, and not from the Holy Spirit and from God's Word of Scripture, I am in pride. As the Father sent Jesus, so Jesus and the Father sent the Holy Spirit. He came on the day of Pentecost, in a rushing wind from Heaven and men and women were filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke in tongues for the first time. He could not be sent by Jesus until Jesus returned to Heaven to send Him. Now Jesus has sent me and you.
Jesus said: "...as the Father has sent Me, I also send you." John 20:21b
We are sent, and we have been given the Holy Spirit to guide us, lead us, to show us truth and to show us things to come. If the Holy Spirit has a word, or a gift to share with someone, I want to speak from Him, and not myself, for then I know I am speaking for and from Jesus who sent me, and from the Father who originally sent Jesus. We must build the Word of God into our hearts so that we have this desire from the heart, and of the heart, to do His will and speak for Him only and not ourselves. I am trying to show you a correct mindset whereby God can trust you with His gifts of power. This grows in you by revelation and study of things like this writing. But do not embrace these things mentally only. Get the Baptism of the Holy Spirit, if you don't have it. Get around a ministry who can minister that to you. Moving in these gifts without the Baptism of the Holy Spirit would be like trying to paint without a brush, or write without a pen or pencil. I discussed this doctrinally and thoroughly in Part 1 of this writing.
Pray about the gifts of the Holy Spirit and review the teachings part 1 & 2. God wants to use us all. However, many are called but only a few are chosen. (Matthew 22:14) God will use anyone, but cannot, as He can only choose those who prepare themselves. You must do things God's way, and come up the levels of teaching and training by His Holy Spirit. Then, God will be able to trust you with His power. You can be a wonder to your generation, but give God all the glory.
Greg Nichols
Gifts of the Holy Spirit Part 4
What is the Discerning of Spirits?
This one of the 9 gifts of the Holy Spirit mentioned in 1 Corinthians 12:10 is quite fascinating. This is the supernatural ability for a moment - not permanently; to see into the spirit realm and see or discern spirits. It may not be with the physical eyes, but rather the spiritual eyes, or both. God does not give this gift to people to use when they want. Some people think they have this gift permanently and then they see supposed evil in people and proceed to criticize everyone and everything in the name of this gift. That is not of the Holy Spirit. This true gift may enable someone to see or sense an angel, a demon, Jesus Himself, Satan himself, or to see what spirit is in a person, or to even discern the person's human spiritual state and what spirit they are under the influence of at the moment. This gift is just as much for discerning good as it is for discerning evil.
Example: One day Jesus was recruiting disciples and He found Philip. Philip then called another, Nathanael, and they both came to Jesus. Read this: "Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward Him, and said of him, Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile." John 1:47 Jesus didn't know him, but Jesus discerned Nathanael's human spirit right away and knew he was fit to call into ministry. To be told you are guileless by Jesus Himself is quite a compliment. Jesus operated in the gifts of the Holy Spirit. I discussed in part 1 also, that all of Jesus' miracles were of the 9 gifts of the Holy Spirit. Except at this time, there were only 7. Go re-read part 1 when you are done with this one. This instance with Nathanael is a great example of the gift of discernment. In part 2, my story of a demon in my bedroom was the use of this gift by myself. Again, God did it and helped me see it. I have no special power except reliance on the gifts of the Holy Spirit.
Please note Nathanael's reaction to Jesus' words. "Nathanael said to Him, ‘How do you know me?' Jesus answered and said to him, ‘Before Philip called you when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.' Nathanael answered and said to Him, ‘Rabbi, You are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!" John 1:48-49
Jesus used the word of knowledge here also. "I saw you under a fig tree." A word of knowledge is an information bit from the Holy Spirit which is supernatural knowledge for the moment and circumstance at hand. It is not knowledge and does not make one smarter. A donkey was the recipient of the Holy Spirit's voice once with Gideon, and I am sure the donkey was no better for it or smarter for it later.
Please note how the gifts made Nathanael react. Jesus amazed him. He was convinced. I have had this happen to me. People have said, "this really is a great man" even though a donkey has done the same thing. If you operate in the gifts of the Holy Spirit and you let flattery and comments go into your head, you have missed the truth somewhere in my teachings here, and you are on dangerous ground, and possibly in a pride that needs some correction. In the operation of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, the only appropriate response is "God is a great God!" Don't you become a donkey who God uses to speak through. The gifts will not leave this kind of person all at once, they can go far in the error to the destruction of themselves and many people. If you let the fruit of the Holy Spirit build in you as the gifts of the Holy Spirit build in you, this won't happen.
Let's get back to Jesus now in the story of Nathanael. This follower had just told Philip a doubting statement about Jesus.
Read this: "Philip found Nathanael and said to him: "We have found Him of whom Moses in the law, and also the prophets, wrote - Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.' And Nathanael said to him, ‘Can anything good come out of Nazareth?' Philip said to him, ‘Come and see.'" John 1:45-46
This claim of Philip was the ultimate claim. Here was the Messiah, the promised one of Israel. Nathanael doubted Philip and doubted it was "the" One. Apparently, doubt is not guile and not associated with it at all. Jesus said he had no guile, even though he had doubts. God does not condemn doubt, he just wants to cure it. But the sign Jesus gave him about the fig tree was obviously true, and he really must have been under a fig tree because of his reaction. He was now ready to release doubt and throw in with Jesus, even elevating his thinking way beyond what Philip said, from the One written of by Moses and the prophets all the way to the Son of God and the King of Israel. Let me show you a truth about the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Get this for all time. God wants you to cut across human and mental convincing; there is no time for that anymore. Just cut to the chase like Jesus did and demonstrate for people God's power and anointing. If you will use the gifts of the Holy Spirit, you will demonstrate that Jesus is the Son of God, and that He is alive, and that you have His Spirit, and that you are also a son or daughter of God.
Read Jesus' words back to Nathanael: "‘Because I said to you, ‘I saw you under the fig tree,' do you believe? You will see greater things than these.' And He said to him, ‘Most assuredly I say to you, hereafter you shall see the heaven open and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.'" John 1:50-51
Jesus was amused at how little it took for Nathanael to believe. He also knew he was going to blow the minds of His followers and rock their worlds when the miracles really started. His comment about the angels is reminiscent of Jacob's ladder and the supernatural anointing of God on the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. His comment also was to predict His own miracle ministry and the hidden part the invisible angels would have in it. Lastly, this whole statement according to Paul's teachings was a word of wisdom. Jesus, by the Holy Spirit, gave a word or bit or piece of God's wisdom and plan, showing a future event. A word of wisdom is not wisdom, overall, and a person is no wiser after speaking a word of wisdom, for it is God's words, and only a small part of God's wise plan. It is a bit, a morsel. A person who delivers a word of knowledge or a word of wisdom is like an interpreter, who does not know the next words coming, he is only relaying from the originator. The word of wisdom is mostly about the future, as the future belongs to God, and when God gives a word of wisdom, He is revealing a part of His wise plan.
From this whole account, we see three gifts of the Holy Spirit.
•1) discerning of spirits
•2) word of knowledge
•3) word of wisdom
These 3 gifts are the revelational gifts, a 3 gift grouping of the 9 gifts. These 3 are the most difficult to do, and take the most seasoning and experience. The other 6 are easier for people to move in. However, once you grasp and are ready for these 3, you do move in them effortlessly. These 3 gifts simply require the most yielded-ness to God.
You have no doubt moved in these possibly without knowing it. As you come to understand them, you can use them more often. Faith comes by hearing. As you see Jesus operate in these gifts in the Word, know that He is your template of Christian action and activity, and you can operate like Him.
One great man of God called these gifts the weapons of our warfare. We use the gifts of the Holy Spirit to release people from Satan's hold or grasp. We fight off God's enemies and our spiritual enemies with the Gifts of the Holy Spirit.
Don't let any person fool or deceive you. Christianity is altogether supernatural and miraculous, and if you do not see that kind of Christianity in your life, then begin to seek God for it. Pray that God use you as He is using others and as Jesus Himself was used while He walked on the earth.
Bless His Name Forever!
Greg Nichols