I remember, right after being saved, because God also anointed me (read the post Personal Testimony: New Life), that I became really emotional when seeing the “results” after praying or speaking to people, it had to do with the manifestation of gifts. Other day I was watching my 3 year old son playing with his new car toy. In the beginning he was playing with it as if it was a car toy, but after getting bored (they say a child can concentrate 1 minute for each year they have, 3 minutes in David’s case) he started playing with it as if it was a plane, after that the toy became a ball, he was throwing it all over. This reminded me of what happened to me, in the beginning, concerning to gifts. As I was a child (spiritually speaking), I started using the gifts childishly, driven by emotions, immaturely misusing them. You’re probably thinking: “I didn’t even know it was possible to misuse spiritual gifts. Yes it is! One’s the most chocking stories I ever seen, is about a little girl named Grace, she had (or still has) a condition called “muscular dystrophy”. She started watching a televangelist, you probably heard about Hinn many times, then she asked her mom to take her to his crusade (sounds more like a medieval battle), a the time of prayer for healing (after making sure the offering was “in the plate”, the bigger the miracle, the bigger the offering), Grace asked her mom to take her to receive prayer. They didn't even get near Hinn, probably because of her “visible” condition (muscular dystrophy), she wasn't allowed to receive prayer from Hinn, otherwise if she wasn't healed at the platform, people would wake up from their “spiritual hypnosis” and see that their money wasn't buying the expected healing. At the end of the “show”, they didn't “show” Jesus Christ’s Grace to the little Grace. Why people receive prayer and are not healed? I don’t want to be simplistic, but here are some reasons: It wasn't God’s will to physically heal them to begin with; the “healer” didn't have the gift of healing or enough faith to heal the sick; it wasn't the right time, because through that sickness God was dealing with the person’s heart (read the story of Job); some people won’t be healed through prayer, period (Paul had faith and the gift of healing, but Timothy (1 Timothy 5:23) and Trophimus (2 Timothy 4:20) were not healed). Let’s talk about spiritual gifts. People think I’m a musician, well, I play some instruments and I probably have some hidden talent, once I tried to study music, but it was “greek” to me, way too complicated, because of it I kept playing “by ear”. As a musician, I can understand what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 14:7.That distinction is necessary when using our gifts, there must be “order” in our minds first, then in our churches, otherwise, as Paul says in 1 Corinthians 14:23. There will be evidence to the unbeliever that we are “out of our mind”. We need all the gifts in our churches, but we also need to learn how to use them. God has promised He will give me the gifts of “faith” and “healing”, and during this time (about 10 years), He is teaching me how to use them. 1 Corinthians 14:31-32. Here Paul is teaching how to use a gift in the church, and he says that the spirit of the person is subject to the person (prophet in this case). Paul also says in 1 Corinthians 14:33. If there’s confusion in the work (service), God is not the author of it, and at the end, the work (service) is a mere work (service) of a man. I know, many times I sound repetitive, but, as the Baroness Edith Summerskill said: “Nagging is the repetition of unpalatable truths”. I don’t know about you, but I prefer to listen to a hard truth then a smooth lie.
Conclusion: 1 Corinthians 14:1. If you don’t know what spiritual gift you have, ask the Holy Spirit, He will tell you. But, desire other gifts too. We need to have spiritual gifts and learn how to use them. The spiritual gifts are given to edify (build) the church.
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