GIFTS OF THE SPIRIT
- Thread starter marksman
- Start date
-
Welcome to Christian Forums, a Christian Forum that recognizes that all Christians are a work in progress.
You will need to register to be able to join in fellowship with Christians all over the world.
We hope to see you as a part of our community soon and God Bless!
bbyrd009
Groper
- Nov 30, 2016
- 33,943
- 12,081
- 113
- Faith
- Christian
- Country
- United States Minor Outlying Islands
It's not supposed to be about an individuals life or individual experience--it is supposed to be what the Scripture teaches Only.
This group forgets that "iron sharpens iron". They view if someone bursts their little bubble of misconceptions, the other person that challenges with scripture is viewed negatively as the Party Crasher.
I see no wisdom in that view.
Are you aware there is counterfeit tongues where people think they are speaking a heavenly language but it's not?
Nah..
party pooper! There you go bringing in scripture---again.That there reminds me a little of taking different legos and making them fit together for what they were not intended.
And what results do we see in these United States today? For a nation still supposedly consisting of more than 80% "Christians", how little does what we see in our society remind us of the description of Jesus we read about in the scriptures? Have the great majority of people in churches organized and developed by men simply taken pieces found in scriptures and built their own tower of Babel [confusion] supposedly toward heaven with their own hands instead of letting the building be built without hands?
"Forasmuch as thou sawest that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it brake in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold; the great God hath made known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter: and the dream is certain, and the interpretation thereof sure." Dan 2:45
"In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ:" Col 2:11
Last edited:
Hope in God
Well-Known Member
There are today schools that have been set up to teach Spirit filled believers to learn the role of prophets and apostles. In existence for centuries have been schools established to fill three of the five fold ministries: pastors, evangelists and teachers without much criticism. They are well accepted among both cessationists and continuationists.
Certainly, cessationists would not approve; yet, even as a Spirit filled believer, I am not well convinced a classroom can lead anyone into a role without the gift having been imparted. I would say this even for teachers, preachers and evangelists -- although we have all been given "the ministry of reconciliation", are encouraged to be ready to "give an answer for the reason of the hope that is in us" and to "teach others also".
Certainly, cessationists would not approve; yet, even as a Spirit filled believer, I am not well convinced a classroom can lead anyone into a role without the gift having been imparted. I would say this even for teachers, preachers and evangelists -- although we have all been given "the ministry of reconciliation", are encouraged to be ready to "give an answer for the reason of the hope that is in us" and to "teach others also".
I agree, the gifts can't be taught. Although once given people can be encouraged in the use of them. We don't get to choose our gifts though.
The gifts of healing follow faith. Interesting that is says the gifts (plural), not the gift singular.
1Co 12:9 and to another, faith by the same Spirit, and to another, gifts of healing by the same Spirit,
Is it the gift of healing that is plural or is it that there is a plurality of things that can be healed? I am of the opinion that it is the gift that is plural as I know that some people have a gift of healing for a specific type of illness or problem and another may deal specifically with another sort.
At one stage I was exercising the gift of healing for legs to lengthen but do not do that so much now.
A healing gift is the ability to cure, heal or make whole. So it seems that we are talking about physical healings here i.e. praying for the sick.
An example is a friend of mine whose mother had cancer. She felt her mother should not die of cancer so she prayed for her healing. She recovered as a result and died later of old age.
From my experience of this gift, it is important to know if God wants you to pray and how to pray for the individual. People say I have got this or that can you pray for me. Yes, I can but first I want to know what God has to say on the matter. I am a bit wary of come out to the front and we will pray for you scenario as it seems a bit hit and miss affair.
If you have been given an anointing to do this that is fine, but not on the basis well I always do this. Better that we engage the gift on knowledge and call people out with specific ailments.
Let me say that not everyone is going to be healed and I don't know why. We have to trust God to do his work of healing and if he chooses not to then that is up to him. Sometimes it may not happen because there is a blockage there that needs to be dealt with such as unforgiveness.
1Co 12:9 and to another, faith by the same Spirit, and to another, gifts of healing by the same Spirit,
Is it the gift of healing that is plural or is it that there is a plurality of things that can be healed? I am of the opinion that it is the gift that is plural as I know that some people have a gift of healing for a specific type of illness or problem and another may deal specifically with another sort.
At one stage I was exercising the gift of healing for legs to lengthen but do not do that so much now.
A healing gift is the ability to cure, heal or make whole. So it seems that we are talking about physical healings here i.e. praying for the sick.
An example is a friend of mine whose mother had cancer. She felt her mother should not die of cancer so she prayed for her healing. She recovered as a result and died later of old age.
From my experience of this gift, it is important to know if God wants you to pray and how to pray for the individual. People say I have got this or that can you pray for me. Yes, I can but first I want to know what God has to say on the matter. I am a bit wary of come out to the front and we will pray for you scenario as it seems a bit hit and miss affair.
If you have been given an anointing to do this that is fine, but not on the basis well I always do this. Better that we engage the gift on knowledge and call people out with specific ailments.
Let me say that not everyone is going to be healed and I don't know why. We have to trust God to do his work of healing and if he chooses not to then that is up to him. Sometimes it may not happen because there is a blockage there that needs to be dealt with such as unforgiveness.
Every time a Christian heals someone it is a gift. Greek 'doron' means a gift to one person to benefit another, but a healing is a gift from you to the person who needs healing so the word here is 'charisma'. On your part it is a manifestation of the holy spirit, not a gift.
Christians do not heal anyone. We are only a vehicle through which the Holy Spirit works.
Not so many people it seems in many places consider that special schooling could well be an effort by men to direct the Holy Spirit to where we want to go rather than allowing the Holy Spirit to direct us.
" LORD, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps." Jerem 10:24
"O that my ways were directed to keep thy statutes!" Psalm 119:5
I once belonged to a group of people where most of the ministers did NOT attend any kind of Bible school, but they did know the scriptures. As I see it they missed out in some places and of course from person to person, but many, or at least some, of them have strived to let the Holy Spirit lead them in Bible studies, in teaching and in preaching. As I say, they are men and also misstep on occasion but does it not seem to be a better effort than pre-programming what will be allowed and what will be taught or preached?
Hope in God
Well-Known Member
___________________________
I am assuming, amadeus, you type in a large font because of your reading ability. I understand that well, so I'll keep that in mind.....As a person who was raised in an intense blue collar location full of factories, foundries and mills, it was uncommon for me throughout my "formative years" to encounter a person who was enthusiastic regarding higher education. Many forsook even the upper high school grades knowing they were headset on walking into a mill to make $14 an hour merely by sweeping the floor.
Not in favor of mill work, I too quit high school, left home, and enlisted in the Navy. A GED I earned while deployed to the Middle East. Following my discharge, I immediately enrolled in college. It was tough going since I had no one to pay my way. Even the GI Bill afforded me a mere $220 monthly, a pittance considering the cost of classes, books, living expenses, etc. Still, I kept at it, taking breaks when poverty demanded it to earn enough to return to campus. I hitchhiked to classes and collected soda bottles lying alongside the roadway which I redeemed at a grocery store where I ate my only meal for the day.
For me, education was worth all the effort I put into obtaining a degree. Eight years it took me to complete what normally would equate to four years to complete the earning of a BA in literature, after which, years later, I went on to work on a Masters in Public Admin. None of it came easy for me. I was employed as a landscaper, carpet cleaner, painter, construction worker, and was, to my surprise, elected to the seat of Student Govt. Secretary after a long fought campaign.
I write all of this to give an example of what it means to some folks to desire and obtain an education. Without it, I would not have been able to work the jobs I did over the space of 40 years, and my retirement would be less than it is today. For one to possess this same desire to learn, to dig into books to gain knowledge -- for wisdom and knowledge shall be the stability of thy times -- I am completely supportive, even when it pertains to the study of the Scriptures.
There is so much negativity I read in posts -- more than there is positive input -- when it comes to judgments made against academic pursuits. I see this wall as a very sad prejudicial condition. It shows among both cessationists and continuationists today. Without a doubt, a great anti-intellectual insistence pervades the church world, and, as I write, it is easily discerned by the studied eye.
Yes many become stagnant...I was so hungry for His Truth that in time I outgrew my pastor. (Not trying to imply my pastor wasnt skilled...just his sermons never expanded beyond basic truths.)....i would spend hours reading and studying scripture and I always asked the Holy Spirit to open up my understanding and reveal the hidden wisdom that some never see.
That's me for my reading ability is slowed when I have to concentrate to make out the fine print...so I routinely I increase the font size on each of my posts.
I simply had it too easy in elementary school where nothing was a challenge. In high school work was required so unless I was interested I did not do what was required and finished with mediocre grades. My first try at college I did worse and dropped out less than half way through the first semester. After a couple of years working in concrete, I joined the Army [1963]...
I spent my first year in the army in basic training and Microwave Radio Repair school. From there I was sent to South Viet Nam for a year and then 6 months in the Dominican Republic. When I got out I was ready for college again, but my GI bill only paid me $160.00 a month. I worked in concrete again between classes and on weekends to cover my expenses. I rode a bicycle to classes and lived at home with my mother so food was not a problem.
I started out in natural sciences and ended up with a degree in Spanish Literature with a Minor in German. I was in Mexico City beginning post graduate work and returned to California at Christmas time and met my wife to be... Instead of continuing school, I married her and went to work... concrete, limousine driving and finally with the Social Security Administration. I retired early in 2000.
No politics for me ever.
We've been there and done that, haven't we and now, at least, for me, my life is the Lord and my wife, in that order.
Some people it seems are more interested in winning debates than in other things more essential to living for God, at least as I see it.
Nice to have you here on the forum.
Last edited:
Similar threads
