NINE GIFTS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT!
All these nine gifts are major power gifts, and they are all direct, supernatural, miraculous manifestations direct from the Holy Spirit Himself. And any believer can get themselves in proper place to receive these 9 gifts, as the apostle Paul himself tells us not to be afraid to try and stir up these 9 specific gifts with the Lord for the purpose of glorifying the God, Edify the Church, Built up the Church, to share good news gospel and to preach the Word of the God effectively and efficiently.
To build up the Body of Christ; To encourage; To Comfort; To Praise the God; To build yourself up; To win people for Christ and share Good News Gospel
1] The Gift of the Prophecy
Definition: “The Gift of Prophecy is the special ability that God gives to members of the Body of Christ to receive and communicate an immediate message of God to His gathered people, a group among them, or any one of His people individually, through a divinely anointed utterance”.
Example: Zacharias (Luke 1:67-79).
The Greek word for prophecy, “propheteia,” implies that one is speaking for another; speaking on behalf of God. We are exhorted to specifically desire to prophesy (1 Corinthians 14:1,31 Let love be your highest goal! But you should also desire the special abilities the Spirit gives-especially the ability to prophesy.
[31] In this way, all who prophesy will have a turn to speak, one after the other, so that everyone will learn and be encouraged.)
Prophecy is designed by God to:
- Strengthen the Church (1 Corinthians 14:3 But one who prophesies strengthens others, encourages them, and comforts them.).
- Encourage the Church (1 Corinthians 14:3)
- Comfort the Church (1 Corinthians 14:3).
- Instruct the Church (1 Corinthians 14:31).
- To affect unbelievers (1 Corinthians 14:24 But if all of you are prophesying, and unbelievers or people who don’t understand these things come into your meeting, they will be convicted of sin and judged by what you say.)
Prophecy touches the Church at its point of need. It is based on revelation … the revelation of God’s love, care and desire for His people to be built up
(1 Corinthians 12:7-11 A spiritual gift is given to each of us so we can help each other).
[8] To one person the Spirit gives the ability to give wise advice; to another the same Spirit gives a message of special knowledge.
[9] The same Spirit gives great faith to another, and to someone else the one Spirit gives the gift of healing.
[10] He gives one person the power to perform miracles, and another the ability to prophesy. He gives someone else the ability to discern whether a message is from the Spirit of God or from another spirit. Still another person is given the ability to speak in unknown languages, while another is given the ability to interpret what is being said.
[11] It is the one and only Spirit who distributes all these gifts. He alone decides which gift each person should have.
The nine manifestations of these gifts of how God meets our needs in a variety of ways. Obviously, these can operate through any individual God chooses and in any set of circumstances. A person could be used by God in all nine gifts if the need arises and faith is exercised. However, we usually see person used one or set of gifts from all the below mentioned nine gifts.
These nine manifestations of God’s gifts are:
Revelation Gifts:
2] Word of Wisdom
Definition: “The supernatural application of knowledge”
“Wisdom” is “skill, cleverness, the right application of knowledge.”
The Word of Wisdom gives us the skill in knowing how and when to minister accurately by the Holy Spirit into peoples’ lives. It makes the timing right and enables the other Gifts to make a significant impact.
(1 Corinthians 12:8 To one person the Spirit gives the ability to give wise advice; to another the same Spirit gives a message of special knowledge)
3] Word of Knowledge
Definition: “The revelation of facts past, present or future which were not learned through the efforts of the natural mind”
“God-given disclosures”
(Matthew 9:1-2 Jesus climbed into a boat and went back across the lake to his own town. [2] Some people brought to him a paralyzed man on a mat. Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralyzed man, “Be encouraged, my child! Your sins are forgiven.”)
Examples:
- Jesus telling Peter where to find his taxation money – in a fish’s mouth! (Mathew 17:27 However, we don’t want to offend them, so go down to the lake and throw in a line. Open the mouth of the first fish you catch, and you will find a large silver coin. Take it and pay the tax for both of us.”)
The Purpose of the Word of Knowledge:
- To bring supernatural encouragement.
- To give confirmation to what God has already been saying or doing.
- To give insight and understanding of what is ahead in the purposes of God.
- To help in counselling/evangelistic situations.
- To unlock hindrances to healing/unanswered prayers.
- To give strategies in spiritual warfare.
4] Discerning of Spirits
- Definition: “The Gift that gives the Christian insight into the supernatural world. The Gift is to enable the person to know the motivation behind a situation or person” (1 Corinthians 12:10)
- The word “discerning” is from the Greek word “diakrisis” meaning; “a thorough judging” (Young’s); “a distinguishing, discerning clearly, discriminating”;”recognizing or perceiving clearly (the differences)”.
- Example: The Apostle Paul discerned a spirit of divination in a girl (Acts 16:16-18 One day as we were going down to the place of prayer, we met a slave girl who had a spirit that enabled her to tell the future. She earned a lot of money for her masters by telling fortunes. [17] She followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, “These men are servants of the Most High God, and they have come to tell you how to be saved.” [18] This went on day after day until Paul got so exasperated that he turned and said to the demon within her, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” And instantly it left her)
- This Gift is for the discerning of good spirits more than the evil spirits. Someone has said there were only one-third of the angels who fell from heaven with Lucifer, which means that two-thirds are still on God’s good side. Two to one!
- Being aware of good people and the good spirit that motivates them, i.e. gentle, sweet, loving, and faithful, etc.
- Example: Jesus talking of Nathanael (John 1:45-51)
- Counselling situations: discerning the genuine from the dishonest (truth from lies).
- Evaluating the operation of Spiritual Gifts.
Power Gifts:
5] Gift of the Faith
Definition: “The mysterious surge of confidence which sometimes arises within a person faced with a specific situation or need”.
This can apply personally, or for others, or for Christian projects, i.e. finance for church building.
“Faith” here is translated from the Greek word “pistis” meaning; “faith, faithfulness, steadfastness” (Young’s); “firm persuasion, the conviction which is based upon hearing, not upon sight or knowledge; a firmly relying confidence in what we hear from God in His Word”
Examples:
- Daniel in the lions’ den (Daniel).
6] Gifts of Healing
- Definition: “To supernaturally bring cure for the sick, physical, spiritual and emotional; to make whole in the fullest sense of the word; saving from disease and its effects”
- Notice this Gift is in the plural: “Gifts.”
“Healing” The same Spirit gives great faith to another, and to someone else in (1 Corinthians 12:9) the one Spirit gives the gift of healing.
- is translated from “iama” meaning:
- “healing” (Young’s); “a cure, healing” (Strong’s); “healing, (the termination denoting the complete act; the result or product of the act)”
- Healing was a vital part of Jesus’ ministry. He taught His disciples to follow His example and also heal the sick. It should be an ordinary part of our lives and ministries. (Mathew 8: 14-17 When Jesus arrived at Peter’s house, Peter’s mother-in-law was sick in bed with a high fever.
- [15] But when Jesus touched her hand, the fever left her. Then she got up and prepared a meal for him.
- [16] That evening many demon-possessed people were brought to Jesus. He cast out the evil spirits with a simple command, and he healed all the sick.
- [17] This fulfilled the word of the Lord through the prophet Isaiah, who said, “He took our sicknesses and removed our diseases.)
- Example: Paul on the island of Melita (Acts 28:1-9). When snake bit him on the hand and people told him, this murderer surely shall not survive. But Paul was unharmed and safe.
7] Gift Of the Working of Miracles
Definition: “A remarkable or surprising event that happens by the direct intervention of God, not following the general known laws of nature”
The word “working” is, of course, an action word and is translated from the Greek word “energema” meaning; “an energy, inworking”; “to be in work, to be effective, active, operative, to energize or be energized”; The word “miracles” is translated from the well-known word “dunamis” meaning; “act of power”; “special miraculous power (usually by implication a miracle itself); “capability, power to do anything; then, power, might in action … a miracle as wrought by divine power; a work, with reference to the power required for its performance”.
Examples:
- Peter walking on the water (Matthew 14:25-33).
This Gift is desperately needed to impact an unbelieving Christendom and an even more unbelieving world! So here we conclude a very brief overview of the nine beautiful Gifts of the Holy Spirit. If you are desirous of flowing more freely in these Gifts, apply yourself to the following practical pointers:
- Ask God to help you.
- Set aside time so that God can speak to you.
- Confess any sin, fears, doubts or unbelief that is in your life, so you can be a much more effective instrument in His hand.
- Cultivate a strong desire for the Gifts.
- Expect God to use you.
- Work alongside people who are already flowing well in the Gifts. Learn as much as you can.
- Seek an impartation for a greater release of the Gifts.
- Always remain teachable.
- Work within the guide-lines/frame-work set by the Leadership of your local church.
Inspirational or Vocal Gifts:
8] The Gift of the Tongues
- Definition: “The Gift of Tongues is the supernatural ability to speak to others and/or to God in a language or utterance never learned by the speaker”
- There are two approaches:
- That The Gift of Tongues, when coupled with The Gift of Interpretation of Tongues, is equal to The Gift of Prophecy.
- The second approach suggests that tongues is expressing praise to God, and therefore any interpretation is also in terms of prayer, praise or thanksgiving to God Himself. The emphasis is that true Tongues and Interpretation of Tongues are directed toward God rather than directed from God to the Church.
(1 Corinthians 14:2 For if you have the ability to speak in tongues, you will be talking only to God, since people won’t be able to understand you. You will be speaking by the power of the Spirit, but it will all be mysterious.).
(1 Corinthians 14:2-3 For if you have the ability to speak in tongues, you will be talking only to God, since people won’t be able to understand you. You will be speaking by the power of the Spirit, but it will all be mysterious.
[3] But one who prophesies strengthens others, encourages them, and comforts them.)
On the day of Pentecost the tongues spoken were interpreted as (Acts 2:11).
9] The Gift of the Interpretation of Tongues
Definition: “The Gift by which God made intelligible what was hidden from all”.
The word “interpretation” here is from the Greek “harmeneia” meaning “explanation” or “full interpretation”. It is the ability through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit to bring understandable meaning to an inspired public message in tongues. If one accepts that The Gift of Tongues is directed toward God in the form of prayer, or praise, or thanksgiving, or exaltation of the Name and Majesty of God, then The Gift of Interpretation of Tongues will be of the same character.
“We should expect the interpretation to be mainly as an expression of translation of the tongues; if the Holy Spirit reveals to someone that you have gift of translation of tongues and to edify the Church according to the Word of the God. Before you interpret in the Church; practise well before in house prayers, confirm with the Word of the God and see the confirmation of the actual events.
It is a Spirit-inspired declaration of praise, exaltation and honouring of God Himself.