The Gifts of the Spirit Part 1

I Cor. 12:1-11
1 Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant.
2 Ye know that ye were Gentiles, carried away unto these dumb idols, even as ye were led.
3 Wherefore I give you to understand, that no man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed: and that no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost.
4 Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit.
5 And there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord.
6 And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all.
7 But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal.
8 For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit;
9 To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit;
10 To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues:
11 But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will.

When it comes to Spiritual gifts most people have little to no understanding, but this is not the will of God. God does not want us to be without knowledge. He does not want us to be ignorant to his will concerning the gifts of the Spirit. That is obvious as we can see here in I Cor. 12:1 that Paul says to the church at Corinth that we are not to be ignorant concerning spiritual gifts. Paul did not say this of his own accord, but through and by the unction of the Holy Ghost.

There are some places where people do not even know that spiritual gifts exist. There are also those who believe that the Spiritual gifts do not exist in this age. The enemy would love for the church to believe his lies concerning spiritual gifts. If people remain ignorant to these gifts the church is weakened, as these gifts are from God himself and and given by the Holy Spirit to profit withal.

In I Cor. 12:31 we are told to covet the best gifts ... thus we understand that the gifts of the Spirit are still for us today, as Paul was operating in the church age that we are now continuing. You may say, "But the rest of I Cor. 12:31 says, "... but I show you a more excellent way." And you are correct, it does say that, however, it does not say leave one out to have the other.

As you continue to read in I Cor. chapter 13, you will see that Love is expounded on. Love being the more excellent way. But the truth is everyone is not yet walking in the God kind of love, meaning that the gifts have not been done away with. Another thing you must understand is that if you have the ability to operate in the gifts but do not operate in the Spirit of Love you are as useless and unwelcome as a sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.

The church should covet the gifts, but the their divine goal is to walk and operate in love at all times, for this is the way people will know that they belong to Christ. Love also activates Faith which gives victory, and love never fails in it's going forth. If the gifts were operated outside of the more excellent way (love), they would not profit others. They would not be a strength to the Body of Christ. But the gifts operating in love and under proper covering and decent order is greatly profitable.

The gifts of the Spirit are exactly that. They are gifts belonging to the Spirit and people can only operate in them as they Spirit of God wills. The gifts can not be turned on and off at will.

You can not just say for example, because I have operated in the gift of the Word of Knowledge before, I can just turn it on or off like water. NO! The gifts flow only at the Spirit's will, not at our choice. The gifts may flow through a person regularly and often, but not at their will. It is only because they have coveted the gifts, the Lord as seen the persons ability to operate in this or that gift and then wills to use them.

To try to operate in a gift on your own accord is dangerous in more ways than one. First of all you will be off in the flesh and offering people words that will end up hurting and/or discouraging them. Second, you will open yourself up to a wrong spirit and the devil himself will come to accommodate you with words that are not the Lord's will.

Anytime the gifts of the Spirit are in operation, they are not disruptive, grieving or hindering. They always operate in love and glorify God as they profit the body of Christ. They do not draw attention to any one person, but they bring peoples attention to Jesus as Lord.

As you can see from I Cor. chapter 12 the gifts are several and diverse. Each having their own place and operation, but by the same spirit. These diversities are listed as:

1. Word of Wisdom
2. Word of Knowledge
3. The gift of (Special) Faith
4. Gifts of healing
5. The working of miracles
6. Prophecy
7. Discerning of spirits
8. Divers kinds of tongues
9. Interpretation of tongues

The best way to understand these are to put them into Categories. The gifts can be broken into three simple groups.

1. The utterance gifts which are: Prophecy, divers tongues and interpretation of tongues
   
2. The power gifts which are: The gift of special faith, gifts of healing and the working of miracles
   
3. The revelations gifts which are: The word of wisdom, Word of Knowledge and Discerning of spirits
   

• The utterance gifts ... say something
• The power gifts ... do something
• The revelation gifts ... reveal something

The best gifts spoken of that we should covet would be of course the one we need most at the time and the given situation or circumstance. However, generally of the three gift groups prophecy is the best (being the Word of God delivered to a people). The Word (written Word of God ... Genesis to Revelations) is the more sure word of prophecy to any person alive.