Gifts of The Holy Spirit
A lot of us are very familiar with the fruit of the spirit but are not au fait with the Gifts of the Spirit, we know of prophecy vaguely but are not certain of how it works and have seen a huge display of this gift in the body of Christ to an extend of erroneous ministration and teachings. Apostle Paul mentions one thing that is so important about the Gifts of the spirit before teaching the church in Corinth, he outlines that he does not want us to be ignorant when it comes to these gifts, we find this in in 1 Corinthians 1:12 “now about the gifts of the Spirit, brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be uninformed."
He deemed it rather imperative that the church knew the workings and dealings of the Spirit, he further says that many have been led astray by their ignorance in this regard.
We also see Jesus speak greatly about the comforter and the promise of the father, he was adamant that the disciples should wait for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in Luke 24:29 “I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.”
The outpouring of the Holy Spirit is a transforming of our spirit into oneness with Christ and an imbuing of power, Mark says in Mark 16:17 "And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues”. These are an outward indication of the infilling of the Holy Spirit.
This infilling of this power is of God and you will notice that some people operate in various gifts of the Holy Spirit some in one gift and others can flow effortlessly in all gifting’s, when going through scripture we see how Jesus could easily move from one gift to the other.
1 Corinthians 12:8-10 “To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, 10 to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues,[a] and to still another the interpretation of tongues."
Let’s have a look at the Gifts in categories to help us with understanding.
Utterance Gifts:
1. Speaking in tongues
Acts 2:4 “And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.” We can say that speaking in tongues is one of the first outward signs of the infilling of the Holy Spirit for the reason that immediately when the Holy Spirit came upon the disciples in the upper room they began to speak in tongues, this however does not mean that you do not have the Holy Spirit if you do not speak in tongues yet. It is however prudent for one to stir up this gift that is within them 1 Corinthians 14:2 says “For one who speaks in a tongue speaks not to men but to God; for no one understands him, but he utters mysteries in the Spirit.”
Praying in tongues will assist you in your secret place Apostle Paul also says in 1 Corinthians 14:14 “For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays but my mind is unfruitful.” Praying in the spirit quickens your soul to be in alignment with your spirit it is at this that Apostle Paul said “The one who speaks in a tongue builds up himself”
There is also the speaking in tongues that is a language of a different nationality unknown to the speaker and this gift is often seen when evangelists went to different countries to preach the gospel in order for them to be clearly understood by the natives, we find this display in the upper room in Acts 2:6 "And at this sound the multitude came together, and they were bewildered because each one was hearing them speak in his own language."
2. Interpretation of tongues
The supernatural ability to interpret in the native tongue what is uttered in the Spirit.
1 Corinthians 14:12 If anyone speaks in a tongue, two—or at the most three—should speak, one at a time, and someone must interpret.
3.Prophecy
Prophecy is a supernatural enabling by the Spirit of God to hear His voice and then deliver the message of what that voice is saying. If you are prophesying without God then you're not prophesying from the correct source. The difference between psychics, sangomas, tarrot card reader's, and the prophets in the Kingdom of God is the source of their revelation. Prophets grounded in the Kingdom of God receive revelation from the Holy Spirit. Apostle Paul mentioned one aspect of prophecy saying that “I would like every one of you to speak in tongues, but I would rather have you prophesy.” in 1 Corinthians 14:5.
Prophecy is directly linked to hearing the voice of God and Apostle Paul was highlighting that this is where you and I should aspire to be, as the resultant effect of this is moving with the Holy Spirit effortlessly.
Now all of us can prophesy because we have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, but that does not mean all of us are prophets. The difference is that if someone is called a prophet then we are looking at a different function. The prophet function in Ephesians 4 is more of a life call. Which is God-given it is part of who you are.