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SPIRITUAL GIFTS ~ God's Purpose for Giving Gifts to His Children~ Part Two
The spiritual gifts strengthen and empower God's people to do works for Him.
1st Corinthians 12:1 Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant.
Paul uses the word "spiritual" to describe God's gifts and helps us to understand that the gifts of the Spirit as supernatural in nature.
The Greek word for "spiritual" is pneumatikos (Strong's #4152) and means: spiritual. (Strong's Exhaustive Concordance)
Word Helps defines pneumatikos: in reference to things emanating from the Divine Spirit, or exhibiting its effects and so its character. (Word Helps)
"Now concerning spiritual gifts": the word pneumatika is used to describe the gifts as things belonging to the Spirit. The word, "spiritual" emphasizes that the gifts work in tandem with the supernatural work of the Holy Spirit in our lives and by the power of God.
As we put to use the spiritual gifts on a daily basis, God is preparing us by His power to be equipped for kingdom service as we grow in His grace to do His works here, now, in this lifetime, but also when we will be working in all the fullness of God's Spirit with great power in the Kingdom of God.
In Colossians 1 Paul prayed for the brethren that they would be fruitful in every good work, filled with the knowledge of God's will in the spiritual things of God and that they would be "STRENGTHENED with all might" to enable them to endure with patience; by doing so this would make them fit to be partakers of the future inheritance that God has for them.
Colossians 1:9 For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; 10 That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God; 11 Strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness; 12 Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: 13 Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son.
The Greek word for "strengthen" is dunamoó (Strong's #1412) and means: From dunamis; to enable --see GREEK dunamis, to empower, make (be) able. And dunamis (Strong's #1411) means: (miraculous) power, might, strength Definition: (a) physical power, force, might, ability, efficacy, energy, meaning (b) plur: powerful deeds, deeds showing (physical) power, marvelous works. (Strong's Exhaustive Concordance)
When we have been granted certain spiritual gifts by God (according to how it pleases Him), and we use them well for God's glory and the good of His people, we will then learn, grow, and mature in the faith ourselves. As we grow in spiritual maturity, we will also be strengthened and will become strong Christians. This in turn will help us to strengthen others and if everyone is exercising their gifts, the whole Body will be strengthened and will become STRONG; the kind of "strong spiritual body" that is glorifying to God. This is not the strength that refers to numbers of members, finances, physical assets, number of programs, etc. but to be spiritually strong with faithful obedience to God's commandments, doing the works of God, and fighting and overcoming spiritual foes.
Deuteronomy 31:6 Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the Lord thy God, he it is that doth go with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.
Isaiah 41:10 Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.
We are to become fit and then meet the stringent qualifications it takes to be competent, effective and strong spiritual leaders; the kind of godly leader that leads others to the righteousness of God and that show others the way to salvation by our example and good works (enabled by the spiritual gifts).
Colossians 1:12 which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light:
The Greek word for "meet"is hikanóō (Strong's #2427) From hikanos; to enable, i.e. Qualify -- make able (meet). (Strong's Exhaustive Concordance)
Word Helps defines "meet" used in this passage as: properly, reaching the place of sufficiency and hence making someone qualified, i.e. able (competent). (Word Helps)
Paul prayed that the brethren (which includes all God's children) would live and conduct themselves in a manner worthy of the people of God, ones that show by their character and by their works that they do belong to the LORD; that they would be fully pleasing to and would desire to please Him in all things, being spiritually fruitful in all their works, steadily growing and increasing in the knowledge of the things of God. He further prayed that they would be invigorated and strengthened with all power according to the might of His glory, to joyfully exercise endurance and patience. Then in verse 12 Paul gives thanks to the Father who makes His people qualified and fit to be a part of the inheritance that Christ will bring at His coming, which is His kingdom.
If we have God's Spirit then we are given spiritual gifts that will enable us to do good works now; and as we utilize those gifts we are becoming more and more qualified for whatever position God will allocate to us in the future Kingdom of God.
God's people have always needed to be spiritually strong, but a time is coming when they will need to be very strong and God will empower His faithful saints to do "exploits" in His name. We know and believe that God is going to do a powerful work on earth during the tribulation just before He returns; this will require God's strength in His people, as well as strengthening them by spiritual gifts to enable them to work miracles just like the first century Christians. (Acts 4:24-31, Acts 5:12)
Daniel 11:32 And such as do wickedly against the covenant shall he corrupt by flatteries: but the people that do know their God shall be strong, and do exploits.
The Hebrew word for "strong" is chazak (Strong's #2388) and means: became strong, became mighty, became powerful, stand firm. (Strong's Exhaustive Concordance)
The people that do know their God, (those that are close to Him and who seek to obey Him completely) will become mighty, become powerful, become strong, stand firm by the mighty power of God working in them. And "exploits" means: to take action and to act valiantly.
The Gifts are Freely Given But the Saints Must Still Must Do Their Part
The Bible commands us to "....not be drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit; (Ephesians 5:18).
The Greek word for "to be filled" is pléroó (Strong's #4137) and means: to "make full", to complete (Strong's Concordance) fill to individual capacity, i.e. to the extent it is "meet" (appropriate) (Word Helps)
Christians are commanded to be filled with the Spirit, yet we know that being filled with the Spirit is not something the Christian can achieve through his own efforts but is something that is done for him as he yields his life to the will of God and seeks to follow and obey Him.
To "make full" is in the present tense, indicating that this filling begins when we first become Christians and we need to keep being filled; the filling continues throughout our lives if we remain faithful to God. Also, this filling is a blessing that one may experience and enjoy now; and as we grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord.
The fact that "to be filled" is a command does not leave those who are believers an option in the matter. So even though God does His part in bestowing His Spirit along with the gifts and fruits, we still must do our part in seeking and asking to be filled on a daily basis along with studying God's Word, meditating and seriously applying the things that we learn to our day to day living.
As James mentioned in his post last week "each person may receive their own Gift or Gifts of God, if we ASK for them and diligently seek to receive them, yet not everyone always has the same Gifts. Yet each one of us then has a choice: Do we each seek out God's Gifts and diligently ask for and pursue them? or do we sit back and bury our talent? The Gifts of the spirit are for our good, so that we can use them and be exercised therewith; thus producing spiritual growth for ourselves and the Ekklesia as a whole. Spiritual Gifts are for the purpose of building up the Ekklesia as a whole and for our own personal development as we use those Gifts. We receive the Gifts of the spirit only through diligently studying and applying the whole Word of God in our lives and by actively seeking and requesting these Gifts from God!" (James)
Just after the disciples asked Jesus to teach them how to pray, and after Jesus gave them an outline for what to pray for, He went even further by giving them the parable of the man who asked his friend for three loaves of bread to feed His visitor. Jesus' instruction to them was to: "ask, that it may given to you, seek that you shall find, and knock and it will be opened to you" in our prayers to our heavenly Father. He sums up the parable by saying "If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?"
Along with the Holy Spirit are all the things associated with the Spirit which includes the Gifts of the Spirit and the Fruits of the Spirit, along with being filled with the knowledge of God's will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding.
Luke 11:5 And he said unto them, Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight, and say unto him, Friend, lend me three loaves; 6 For a friend of mine in his journey is come to me, and I have nothing to set before him? 7 And he from within shall answer and say, Trouble me not: the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give thee. 8 I say unto you, Though he will not rise and give him, because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will rise and give him as many as he needeth. 9 And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. 10 For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. 11 If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent? 12 Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion?
Therefore we need to exercise FAITH; and we can ask for these things in faith and believe that He WILL supply us with what we ask for if it is according to His will. We just saw that Jesus wants us to ask for these things and tells us to ask, seek and knock so we know that it is His will that we receive them IF we are staying close to God in our daily walk with Him and seeking to obey Him with all our hearts.
Mark 11:24 Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.
John 14:13 And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it.
1st John 3:22 And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight.
Jesus commands His disciples to go into all the world and to preach the Gospel, warning all peoples to repent and then teaching them to keep all the commandments of God and everything else that He had taught His disciples.
Matthew 28:19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: 20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.
In order to do these things we need to have God's protection and empowerment along with the gifts of the Spirit. Satan would stop us in our tracks without God's special protection and the spiritual gifts that make it possible for us to do as God has commanded.
Mark 16:15 And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. 16 He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. 17 And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; 18 They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover. 18 They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover. 19 So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God. 20 And they went forth, and preached every where, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following. Amen.
God distributes spiritual gifts as He wills and according to what He has determined for each one of His children and as He determines for the benefit of others who are blessed by those who utilize their gifts. God gives His spiritual gifts according to His good pleasure. The gifts, even as they are given to each person of the Ekklesia, ultimately express the Father's sovereign action in the life of each believer and the community of believers as a whole. He knows where He wants each person and what He wants each to do. We are to trust Him in His distribution of His gifts as He sees fits. If we understand the sovereignty of God, it will help us to come to know and believe that God has ultimate control in all the affairs of this life and we will come to trust and rely on Him even more.
1st Corinthians 12:7 But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal. 8 For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; 9 To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit; 10 To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues: 11 But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will.
It is God's plan to equip us thoroughly to enthusiastically carry out His will in our own lives and also in the lives of those we come in contact with. He has appointed specific ministries of service for each one of His children, and He has placed us in the Ekklesia to carry out specific responsibilities.
We should pray to God and ask Him to guide us as to what He would have us to do and to ask for Spiritual Gifts; and also to grow in the Gifts we have already been granted to do our work more effectively.
Hebrews 13:20 Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, 21 Make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is well pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
God's Spirit Produces a Sound Mind
2nd Timothy 1:7 For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.
1st Corinthians 14:33 For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints.
The Bible very clearly teaches that one of the Gifts of the Spirit is a rational, sound, well controlled mind; and that individuals have voluntary control of the gifts.
What we want to make perfectly clear is that what we see in many of the mainstream churches and especially in the Pentecostal movement is NOT the work or Gift of God's Holy Spirit.
Scripture distinguishes the charismata of the Holy Spirit from the psychotic states of trance mediums and pagan psychics, evangelistic side shows of supposed supernatural healings, speaking in babbling incomprehensible speech patterns ("tongues," as they put it), falling backward, false premonitions, astrology, etc. etc. are NOT the work of the Holy Spirit, but rather are the works of another spirit and should be avoided at all costs.
If we have God's Spirit we will be able to know them by their fruits and thereby turn away from all that entices us to seek these kinds of "powers". There are many Scriptures that warn us to turn from the wicked deeds of darkness and expose them for what they are.
The Gifts are Tools to Benefit the Body of Christ
A believer through whom a spiritual gift is manifested is not the only beneficiary of the gift. He is also an agent through whom God can work to bless others and/or to further His Work of salvation here on earth.
Paul said that his own ministry was given to him according to the gift of God's grace, implying that the ministry itself was by the effectual working of God's power within him and not by his own power. God's power enabled Paul to do the work that he did. We may not be given the same ministry as Paul was given, but each of God's children has his own godly ministry and must utilize whatever gift or gifts that have been conferred upon us.
Ephesians 3:7 Whereof I was made a minister, according to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual working of his power.
The giving of spiritual gifts to the Children of God offers them the opportunity to demonstrate genuine agape love and meeting the needs of others without expecting anything in return. God is love, and He is the source of all spiritual gifts. Therefore, God's love is abundantly evident in the effectual workings of the spiritual gifts. It is never for vanity or self-aggrandizement and if a church member begins to believe that they are for such purposes, God will withdraw those gifts from him.
One of the spiritual blessings of God's gifts is the interdependency they generate. First, a converted child of God must lean on his heavenly Father, who grants a gift or gifts and empowers him to use them. Then, the members of Christ's Body must depend on one another and God expects them to cooperate with each other as a team; like the individual parts of a body, using every gift by the grace God supplies, so that the Ekklesia can grow, mature and bring glory to Him.
1st Corinthians 12:12 For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ. 13 For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit. 14 For the body is not one member, but many.
Ephesians 5:27 That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.
From the Scriptures regarding the gifts and the fruits of the Spirit we come to understand that it is very important to strive to cultivate them for our own personal growth and it is also important to learn about and utilize the gifts of the Spirit to build up and edify the Ekklesia, the spiritual body of Christ. We need an awakening to the understanding of what the spiritual gifts are about so that we in these end-time days may be able to recognize them when they are being displayed by others and also to seek the correct application of these gifts in our own service for the Work of God in whatever capacity God places us; to be effective servants, now, and in the coming years ahead.
In summary, a spiritual gift is a God-given ability that is empowered by the Holy Spirit beyond our natural abilities, and is used in our own spiritual growth and also in ministering to others. They are used to fulfill God's purposes and to further His work here on earth.
God gives spiritual gifts to His children who have chosen to obey and to follow Christ, in order that His people will grow and mature in their faith, the needs of the Church will be met, God's work on earth will be done and to bring glory to God, "That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God" (Colossians 1:10)
As the collective Bride of Christ we need to learn about these things according to the biblical definition of them (and not the world's) and then apply ourselves to building up the church rather than tearing it apart. Jesus Christ is preparing and getting His Bride ready for His soon return and that is why it is imperative for those of us who are called to be trained to fulfill the role of the Bride of Christ, to seek to receive the gifts of the Spirit, as it pleases our espoused Husband.
Spiritual gifts are gifts of grace, and an undeserved benefit from God. The spiritual gifts are expressions of God's nature, given to equip His called-out ones to grow in godliness and produce the Fruits of the Spirit, to edify the Spiritual Temple, and to fulfill God's purposes on the earth.
Constance
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