Tag: Gifts of the Spirit

On Recognizing What We Already Have

Ephesians 6:10-18 PHILLIPS. In conclusion be strong—not in yourselves but in the Lord, in the power of his boundless resource. Put on God’s complete armour so that you can successfully resist all the devil’s methods of attack. For our fight is not against any physical enemy: it is against organisations and powers that are spiritual. We are up against the unseen power that controls this dark world, and spiritual agents from the very headquarters of evil.  Therefore, you must wear the whole armour of God that you may be able to resist evil in its day of power, and that even when you have fought to a standstill you may still stand your ground. Take your stand then with truth as your belt, righteousness your breastplate, the Gospel of peace firmly on your feet, salvation as your helmet and in your hand the sword of the Spirit, the Word of God. Above all be sure you take faith as your shield, for it can quench every burning missile the enemy hurls at you. Pray at all times with every kind of spiritual prayer, keeping alert and persistent as you pray for all Christ’s men and women.

Ephesians 6:10-18 MSG. 10-12 And that about wraps it up. God is strong, and he wants you strong. So take everything the Master has set out for you, well-made weapons of the best materials. And put them to use so you will be able to stand up to everything the Devil throws your way. This is no afternoon athletic contest that we’ll walk away from and forget about in a couple of hours. This is for keeps, a life-or-death fight to the finish against the Devil and all his angels. 13-18 Be prepared. You’re up against far more than you can handle on your own. Take all the help you can get, every weapon God has issued, so that when it’s all over but the shouting you’ll still be on your feet. Truth, righteousness, peace, faith, and salvation are more than words. Learn how to apply them. You’ll need them throughout your life. God’s Word is an indispensable weapon. In the same way, prayer is essential in this ongoing warfare. Pray hard and long. Pray for your brothers and sisters. Keep your eyes open. Keep each other’s spirits up so that no one falls behind or drops out.”

Observation

Webster’s defines armor as a (1) defensive covering for the body; (2) a quality or circumstance that affords protection; (3) a protective outer layer; or (4) armored forces and vehicles (as tanks).  It defines weapon as (1) something (as a club, knife, or gun) used to injure, defeat, or destroy or (2) a means of contending against another (using a special/unique talent or skill).  We may think of medieval knights, bulletproof vests or Ironman’s indestructible suit when we see the word “armor”. Weapon may conjure up mind pictures of swords, guns, laser beams, light sabers, missiles or battle vehicles. All of these are only effective against tangible, visible enemies in the only warfare we humans understand.

Paul is telling us that our conventional armor, weapons and methods of warfare won’t cut it on the spiritual battlefield.  God’s adversary and our invisible Enemy:

  • is too wily and strong for us to defeat on our own,
  • fights by different rules/methods than our physical battles,
  • uses entirely different weapons, such as fear, hate, resentment, doubt et al. (that have historically been highly effective in defeating us), and
  • battles on an entirely different (spiritual & internal) battlefield.

We are up against and the target of “the unseen power that controls this dark world, and spiritual agents from the very headquarters of evil.”  BUT, God has provided us not only with protective armor, not only His “well-made weapons of the best materials”, but also His presence which commands victory (“In conclusion be strong—not in yourselves but in the Lord, in the power of his boundless resource.”). All we must do is follow Him while putting on the armor and using the weapons He has provided – “Truth, righteousness, peace, faith, and salvation are more than words. Learn how to apply them. You’ll need them throughout your life. God’s Word is an indispensable weapon. In the same way, prayer is essential in this ongoing warfare.” 

These seem strange “weapons” to us because they are not destructive in the normal physical sense; they are protective/defensive for us because they provide an impenetrable armor against the weapons of our Enemy – deception, temptation, sin, chaos, fear, greed, doubt/unbelief, corruption, and every other evil work. How can the Enemy overcome or defeat or destroy us if we stand firm on truth, righteousness, peace, faith and salvation?  What defense does he have against the Word of God and prayer?  How can we even fathom the devastating damage to evil we do by allowing the exercise in and through us of such weapons of warfare as love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, meekness, faithfulness and self-control?  Paul is asking us to exchange the natural – what we touch, what we can see, what we can do in our own strength, and our limited understanding of what really matters – for the supernatural – God’s eternal and indomitable power, insight, wisdom, knowledge, and understanding made available to us in Christ.

Impact on Me

Early on in my Christian walk as I was praying down the list of what I had determined were my needs and how – in my vast and perfect wisdom – God should fix the world, it occurred to me to ask if I had missed anything that should be on the list. I did not hear an audible voice, but the response was as clear and loud as if it had been. “The only thing you really need is to learn what I really did for you on the cross and apply it in your life.”  I began to read the Word looking for what was already mine in Christ and pray for the courage and faith to live in a way that reflects Whose I am and Whom I serve.

Not too long after this incident, I read an excerpt from a prayer warrior’s journal that truly arrested my attention by its simple powerful truth in the light of Jesus’ victory on the Cross – “We do not have to hold out against the Devil; he has to hold out against us.”  So, this passage in 2 Corinthians is key for me. It is one of the truly strategic instructions in spiritual warfare.

  • First, submit to and be strong in the One Who has already secured the victory. 
  • Second, wear the protective armor He provides – truth, righteousness, peace, faith, salvation, His Word and prayer. 
  • Lastly, use often and liberally the weapons against which the Enemy has no defense – love, mercy, grace, forgiveness and all the other graces provided through the Holy Spirit Who lives in us. 

Prayer

Lord, Eternal, Invisible, All-Powerful, Wise God, may I always seek to find my place in Your plan and be faithful to stand therefore in it regardless of the cost to me.  May I be simple, courageous, bold and obedient enough to faithfully submit, put on Your armor and use only Your weapons as I learn to live the victorious life in Christ.

On Proclaiming His Truth

1 Corinthians 14:1-5 NIV Follow the way of love and eagerly desire gifts of the Spirit, especially prophecy. For anyone who speaks in a tongue does not speak to people but to God. Indeed, no one understands them; they utter mysteries by the Spirit. But the one who prophesies speaks to people for their strengthening, encouraging and comfort. Anyone who speaks in a tongue edifies themselves, but the one who prophesies edifies the church. I would like every one of you to speak in tongues, but I would rather have you prophesy. The one who prophesies is greater than the one who speaks in tongues, unless someone interprets, so that the church may be edified.

1 Corinthians 1-5 MSG. Go after a life of love as if your life depended on it—because it does. Give yourselves to the gifts God gives you. Most of all, try to proclaim His truth. If you praise Him in the private language of tongues, God understands you but no one else does, for you are sharing intimacies just between you and Him. But when you proclaim His truth in everyday speech, you’re letting others in on the truth so that they can grow and be strong and experience His presence with you. The one who prays using a private “prayer language” certainly gets a lot out of it, but proclaiming God’s truth to the church in its common language brings the whole church into growth and strength. I want all of you to develop intimacies with God in prayer, but please don’t stop with that. Go on and proclaim His clear truth to others. It’s more important that everyone have access to the knowledge and love of God in language everyone understands than that you go off and cultivate God’s presence in a mysterious prayer language—unless, of course, there is someone who can interpret what you are saying for the benefit of all.

Observation

Corinth was highly influenced by Greek culture, sitting on a land bridge providing a major trade route between Greece and the Peloponnesian peninsula. From the time of Socrates and Plato (about 400 BC/BCE), the Greeks began to preach and teach that laws, ethics and morals should be determined personally rather than by society or government. By the first century AD/CE this experiment in freedom of thought and celebration of individual rights had produced a culture generally known for being argumentative, divisive and polarized around issues. This resulted in the worship of many gods (who treated mortals as expendable pawns in a game), contentious philosophical debates and high incidence of litigation (hmmm, this sounds a bit too familiar…).  

The city’s patroness god was Aphrodite (aka Venus), the goddess of licentious love, whose priestesses served as ritual prostitutes; thus, Corinth became infamous and a byword for sensuality and prostitution.  When pagans in this city converted to Christianity, they had to be completely rewired regarding:

  • freedom and their rights (sacrificing individual rights for the benefit of the Body of Christ),
  • godly love (exchanging erotic for agape),
  • spiritual manifestations (recognizing the difference between demonic and Holy Spirit activity),
  • obedience (learning to trade what seemed right in their own eyes for Scripture as their legal/ethical/moral foundation),
  • submission (living by Christ’s example of sacrificing individual rights to fulfill the will and purpose of God) and
  • so many other redefinitions of cultural, religious and spiritual disciplines.

This passage in Paul’s letter is dealing with a lesson in discernment, and the exercise of humility, submission and good judgment in the operation of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, especially the public expressions of Prophecy and the gift of Tongues (which requires its twin Interpretation of Tongues). 

Impact On Me

Early on in my Christian experience, I was confused about the differences between (1) Tongues as my prayer language and the Holy Spirit Gifts of Tongues and Interpretation and (2) the difference between the prophetic messages of the Old Testament Prophets and the Holy Spirit Gift of Prophecy. I was so blessed to sit under a teaching by Jack Hayford that helped me to put these in proper perspective. You see, because I had grown up in a denomination that did not encourage it, I had never read the Bible for myself. My family were loving, generous, honest, responsible, law-abiding, caring and kind to others, but we had no understanding of how to discern what spirit was responsible for any manifestation, resulting in either considering all manifestations as God-inspired or mistrusting all manifestations just in case one was not. 

When I embraced a personal relationship with Jesus, I was so new to reading the Bible that I didn’t even know the real difference between the Old and New Testaments and needed the Table of Contents to find a book’s location.  Because our first non-Catholic church was pastored by a former tent preacher who had a deliverance ministry, I was highly motivated to learn from the Word about how the Holy Spirit operated so I could discern the true spirit at work around me.  One of the very important lessons was that the gifts and ministries of the Holy Spirit are meant to serve and glorify God, not draw attention to or elevate in status the one through whom they flow. 

Side note:  There is a very distinct difference between magic and the miracle power of the Holy Spirit. Both have to do with the exercise of supernatural power through a person. Magical power serves the person exercising it; it is power that originates from the devil, is used to control others and draws attention to and glorifies the magician. Holy Spirit power serves others; it is power that originates from God, sets people free and glorifies God.  Magic powers operate according to the whim of the magician; Holy Spirit power operates when, where and how the Holy Spirit wills it. Magic powers provide wealth, power, status to the magician; Holy Spirit power brings glory to God.  

Apparently, in their enthusiasm, the Corinthian services had become chaotic and clamorous because of an overabundance of uninterpreted messages in Tongues.  Remember, they come from a culture where the focus is on individual rights and status. So, Paul is instructing them in the purpose behind these vocal gifts of the Holy Spirit and reminding them that they are transitioning to Jesus culture, sacrificing individual rights for the benefit of others to fulfill God’s will and purpose. 

Paul encourages them to privately pray often and long in their  prayer language (Tongues) so that they may deepen their relationship with Jesus and be built up in the power of the Holy Spirit. However, when speaking in public, the Holy Spirit gift of Tongues is only exercised with its twin, Interpretation of Tongues, so that the message can be understood by the audience.

Paul is also instructing them in the use of the Holy Spirit gift of Prophecy, which has a different function and purpose than the prophetic messages of the Old Testament Prophets.  In Christ, we are under a new covenant, one between God and the man Jesus, a covenant that Jesus will never break, and, therefore, when we are in Christ, guarantees us grace. So, the function and purpose of prophecy under this unbreakable covenant is to strengthen, encourage and comfort others (“letting others in on the truth so that they can grow and be strong and experience his presence with you”). 

Prayer

Lord, You are the most amazing and awesome God, Who seeks intimacies with us and even provides the resources, tools, and encouragement to us regardless of where we are in the transition from earthly culture to Jesus culture. I thank you for providing me with a prayer language and for the ways that You reveal Yourself, the mysteries of God, to me as I set aside time to pray.  I thank You for all the gifts and Ministries of the Holy Spirit and ask You to school me (and us all) in the proper use of these. Lord, search me, instruct me in humility, meekness and obedience, and destroy any hindrance to the pure and powerful operation of those gifts and ministries in and through me so that You May be glorified and others may “grow, and be strong and experience His presence”.  I pray this all in the name of Jesus.