The Power Gifts

Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues. All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and He distributes them to each one, just as He determines. (1 Corinthians 12:7-10 NIV)

In the book Convergence, Jon Thompson identifies three categories of spiritual gifts: the love gifts, the word gifts and the power gifts. The love gifts make real the love of God. The word gifts clarify the nature and character of God. And the power gifts demonstrate the presence and power of God here and now.

The fruit of the Spirit provide the guard rails for the Godly and proper exercise of all the spiritual gifts. The proper motivation for the exercise of the gifts is the love of God for people who will never find the life they were created for apart from a direct relationship with the living God. The proper attitude when exercising the gifts is to exercise the gifts with humility and self-control. The gifts are given to minister to other people, not to build ourselves up. A word of knowledge revealed by God that a person with whom I am speaking should change jobs can be shared in one of two spirits: "Thus says the Lord: you should change jobs!" or "Could God's word to you be to pursue the open door before you in this job opportunity?" I believe the proper exercise of the gift is expressed in the latter.

The first power gift is prophecy. Prophecy might be a word from God that is predictive, but it also might be a word from Him that is simply situational to the matter at hand. In Acts 21, a prophet named Agabus correctly predicted Paul would be arrested, even though he got the details wrong, saying the Jews would have him put in chains. They actually tried to kill him, and he had to be rescued by the Roman guards. The fact that we might not always get the details right in a word of prophecy is a good reason to exercise humility in sharing it. In addition, 1 Thessalonians 5:19-21 urges us to test a prophetic word against Scripture, again keeping us within the guard rails of proper exercise of the gifts.

God also gives the gifts of speaking in tongues and interpretation of tongues. Speaking in tongues is the gift of speaking in a language unknown to the speaker. Interpretation of tongues is just that, the ability to understand the message and translate it into the known language of the church body. At Pentecost the gift of tongues was expressed in the disciples, filled with the Holy Spirit, speaking in the languages of a multitude of nations represented in the crowd who heard them. In 1 Corinthians 13:1, Paul mentions "the tongues of angels", indicating the heavenly language that is not an earthly one.

Paul lays out extensive guidelines for the use of the gift of tongues in public worship in 1 Corinthians 14. Believers with the gift of tongues are to speak in an orderly way, with only two or three expressing the gift. If someone speaks in tongues in worship, an interpretation must accompany it, or Paul indicates we should instead use the gift at home in our own prayer lives. Again, Paul calls for humility and self-control in the exercise of the gift.

In the verses above, Paul says the Spirit gives "...to another faith by the same Spirit..." We become Christians by faith in Jesus Christ and His atoning death for us on the cross to deliver us from sin and death. Every believer must have faith. However God gives a supernatural ability to some members of the body of Christ to discern with extraordinary confidence the will and purpose of God for His work. That spiritual gift of faith leads to deep confidence and peace that God will do what God says He will do.

Discernment of spirits is one of the power gifts. This gift involves Holy Spirit sensitivity to discern the source of what is taking place in the spiritual world in real time. It can be expressed in discernment between what is holy and what is evil, between what is truth and what is a lie, or whether an issue going on in a person's life is physical, spiritual, emotional or demonic in nature. Discernment often operates in concert with other spiritual gifts, pointing out demonic oppression that needs deliverance through the gift of miraculous power, for instance.

Another power gift is the gift of healing. Again, all Christians pray for healing for others. God has given some the spiritual gift of acting as a human intermediary through whom it pleases God to cure illness and restore health apart from natural means. The human being with the gift does not do the healing. God heals through them. While I have never seen God exercise the gift of healing directly through me, I pray all the time for healing and I see God heal by every means possible - through our own agency like diet and exercise, through medicines and surgeries, and sometimes directly and miraculously.

The gift of miraculous power is similar to the gift of healing, but exercised in nature or in the spiritual world rather than in human illness. God gives to some spiritual authority for deliverance from demonic activity to break the chains of evil in people's lives. Sometimes deliverance ministry involves some manifestation of the demonic, such as speaking through the person being afflicted. Other times the deliverance is simply a new freedom to walk away from an addictive behavior. Deliverance ministry is rarely, from my experience, like Hollywood movies portray.

The final two power gifts are the gifts of a word of knowledge and a word of wisdom. Sometimes Holy Spirit reveals information about what's going on with a person directly that one has no direct access to any other way. That would be the operation of the gift of knowledge. At other times the Spirit reveals the next step a person needs to take in very specific ways, such as "go to this place" or "read this book." That would be the operation of the gift of wisdom. In both cases, when someone receives a word of knowledge or wisdom, it is important to ask Jesus whether the knowledge was given to know how to pray and minister, or to share with the other person. If Jesus says to share it, again one is called to share in humility. "Might God be saying this to you?" or "Could it be what I seem to be discerning here is correct?"

The power gifts demonstrate the power, presence and reality of God in the real world. Being related more directly to the signs and wonders described in the New Testament, these gifts can be unfamiliar, uncomfortable or just seem weird to us if we have little or no experience with them. But I believe God desires the everyday congregations of His church to be places of healing and deliverance and intercession and miracles. I believe God still wants to make Himself known in the body of Christ by the exercise of all the spiritual gifts. I hope and trust we will exercise them in humility and deep faith.