My Reflections

Spiritual Gifts

Prompt
1 Corinthians 12:8-12
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.
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.

What do you believe about spiritual gifts? Are the sign gifts given to people today or were they just for the apostles? Do you believe you have a spiritual gift? If so, what is it?

The church that I am currently a member of believes the sign gifts were just for the disciples and apostles' validation. I personally disagree. I am not telling them that though unless I feel it is a necessity. I intend to keep the peace. I am praying about it. For now, I feel like God has me there for a reason.

I feel like I need to be there even though I don't 100% agree with everything. Maybe God has me there to challenge some of those boundaries. I am not sure. The pastor already tried to find fault with me for teaching a Bible study on here because he believes it is wrong for a woman to teach a man. I have had to miss a lot of church services this year and have hardly been there. When they probably should have voted me out for lack of attendance, they didn't. I truly believe God has his hand in it.

Now that doesn't mean I won’t face conflict there. As you can see, I already have. I am willing to carry the cross with Jesus. I pray I never lose heart to do so.

Anyway back to the spiritual gifts. I felt led by the spirit to read in 1 Corinthians 12 yesterday. He revealed a couple of things to me. I love it when the spirit randomly gets your attention to reveal something to you. I had planned on taking a nap, but I literally heard a quiet voice tell me to go read it. So I did.

The first thing he opened my eyes to was that we Christians need each other rather we realize it or not. In fact, we need our weaker brothers and sisters in Christ just as much as we need the stronger ones. We are all a part of the body of Christ. If I am a mouth, then I need the eyes to see, the nose to smell, the ears to hear, the heart to pump blood, the brain to think and process information, and the feet to walk. I can not function at 100% without the other body parts. We are all important to the body of Christ, and we should all act accordingly with ourselves and with each other.

The second thing is that the love chapter, 1 Corinthians 13, flows right from chapter 12 speaking about spiritual gifts. Everything we do should come from a heart of love for God and others. We can do good deeds according to chapter 13, but if we don't do it with love, it means nothing. It is an empty act. So when you do good deeds, consider your motivation. Are you doing it for the right reasons?

I believe spiritual gifts are still available today. I believe they are only done through the power of the Holy Spirit for the right reasons at the right time. Will everyone see healing? No. Will everyone prophecy? No. Will everyone perform a great miracle? No. Do I believe it is possible for God to work by the power of the Holy Spirit through any believer in any way he desires? Yes. I don't want to limit God. Why bother asking him for healing or miracles if you don't believe he will do it or at least believe he can do it?

I believe that God uses me as he sees fit. I have used the gifts of healing, prophecy, and even speaking in tongues before. God has given me a gift with communication. He has given me a gift of empathy. I sense things spiritually. Maybe that is the gift of discernment. Sometimes God tells me when he is about to do something or I am about to face something. I have had prophetic dreams. I have had visions. I have experienced the Holy Spirit's presence like a cloud. I have felt his presence so strongly that I could not stand before him. It drove me to my knees. I have seen and talked with angels on more than one occasion. When I say that it is a relationship and not just a religion, I mean it. I have experienced him very intimately. He is very real. Even the angels bow before him and worship him in adoration. It is a beautiful thing to witness an angel praising God.