-- © GodSpeak International 1998 --
-- Do not republish without written permission from <ts@godspeak.org> --
Acknowledgements
Contributing Resources: GodSpeak International http://www.godspeak.org
Christian International Network of Prophetic Ministries http://www.cimn.net
Contributing Authors: Donna Cox, Gary Cox, Jane Fitz-Gibbon, Sally Miller, Ira Milligan, Chris Poole, Teresa Seputis, David White, Jim Wies
Editor: Al Vesper

Prophetic School Training 101

Week 4 - Teaching

Spiritual Gifts

FORWARD

By now, many of you are probably seeing that God is faithfully meeting you in your attempts to step out and do what the Word says we can do. Many of you also may be discovering that moving in the prophetic, which could also be termed simply "hearing God", is accomplished much more easily once you have some idea as to what to do, look for, and expect. In fact, once you begin to recognize how God moves within you, the process can become not only fun and easy but "addictive" as you move in the anointing of the Holy Spirit. Very shortly, we will see why this is true.

Some of you may have found this process of "hearing God" easy all along due to the varying levels of gifting among us all. For those who have not and now are beginning to, ask yourself this question, "Why have I not found this process of moving in the prophetic easier prior to now?" Could the answer lie in that you knew (had head knowledge of) many of the scriptures pertaining to the gifts of the Spirit but you were lacking understanding of how to actually move in the gifts? Consider that scripture tells us not to be ignorant of spiritual gifts (1 Cor. 12:1). If we are not to be ignorant, then how do we become equipped and educated in this area? First, we receive instruction from scripture to build our faith, to believe the truth of who we are in Christ and what He has enabled us to do. Second, we receive instruction in the "how to's" of moving in the gifts and third, the more we use the gifts, the more the gifts manifest through us.

Now let's look at some of the specific things we are admonished to do in the scripture concerning the gifts and then we will look more closely at each area:

Finally, we are to do all of the above in love.

Now, let's look at some of the scriptural truths concerning these various admonishments.

DO NOT NEGLECT THE GIFTS

First, we are to not neglect or despise the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Why are we told this? The Lord knew that we would need, among other things, the gifts of the Holy Spirit to accomplish all that He had commissioned us to do. Look at 1 Tim. 4:14 which says, "Do not neglect your gift, which was given you through a prophetic message when the body of elders laid their hands on you". If we neglect our gift, then we are not fully taking our place as a functioning part of the Body of Christ and there is left an incompleteness since no other person in the Body is called to do exactly as we are called to do. We are all individuals in the sight of the Lord. Scripture tells us that, "The eye cannot say to the hand, 'I don't need you!' And the head cannot say to the feet, 'I don't need you!'" (1 Cor. 12:21). From this, we clearly see that the individual is important to the overall functioning of the Body. If the individual is important but is not a fully functioning part, then we still have a less than complete picture of what the Lord intended for His body. Therefore, it is important that we use all of the capability that the Lord makes available to us, both natural and supernatural.

DO NOT DESPISE THE GIFTS

We are also instructed not to despise the gifts. Now what exactly is the scripture saying when we are told not to despise the gifts (prophecy in this case)? If we look up the Strong's definition of "despise" from 1 Thess. 5:20, we are given "to make of no account" which we might interpret as "deeming not being worth our attention". Can you really imagine deeming words spoken directly to us by the Lord as not being worth our attention? Certainly, every Word spoken to us by the Lord is worth our complete attention. Consider Matt. 4:4 which says, "..Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God". Certainly we would not intentionally disregard anything spoken to our hearts by the Lord, would we? Then why would we intentionally disregard anything spoken by the Lord to us through a prophetic word? If we judge the word as we should and prove it to be a valid word from the Lord, then to disregard it would be the same as disobedience. We have already seen in the teaching from Week 3 that God still communicates with us in various ways. Prophecy is one of these ways.

DO NOT BE IGNORANT OF THE GIFTS OR THEIR USE

Again, as we mentioned in our opening paragraph, we are not to be ignorant of the gifts or in their use. Let's look again at 1 Cor. 12:1, "Now about spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be ignorant". Again, Strong's tells us that the word ignorant means "not to know" and "not to understand". The fact is that much of the Church today does not understand the gifts or how to function in them. In fact, when someone comes along who does have a fluency in the gifts, they are many times regarded as spiritual superstars. How many know that the day of the superstar is over and the Lord is calling us all to come into our proper places in the Lord's Army and KNOW HOW to use our weapons.

What is the reverse of this? Consider Hosea 4:6 which says, "my people are destroyed from lack of knowledge". We are clearly coming to the time where the forces of the enemy will be released in unprecedented proportions and we will simply have to have done our "homework" of allowing the Holy Spirit to make preparation in us. If we do this, then we will see Prov. 2:6 work on our behalf, "For the LORD gives wisdom, and from his mouth come knowledge and understanding".

Having said all of this, how do we manifest the Gifts of the Spirit? We do so by the following: First, you receive the scriptural truth about the gifts to eliminate your ignorance. Please don't be offended by this because we all start out this way in the beginning. That is why scripture tells us to "Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth" (2 Tim. 2:15). Second, faith comes by hearing - that is faith to believe. Next, you appropriate the scriptural promise as your own and it becomes revelation to you. It moves from our heads to our hearts! Now, our faith can rise up and because we are convinced of the truth of scripture and that fact that WE CAN (rather than we can't), we move out in the gifts. Praise God!

STIR UP YOUR GIFTS!

Whose responsibility is it to stir up our gifting? To answer this, let's take a look at the words of Paul to Timothy found in 2 Tim. 1:6 where it says, "For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands". Now again, whose responsibility? Yours! Paul clearly says "I remind YOU TO FAN the flames" (or stir up - KJV) so it is clear he had in mind for Timothy to do this for himself. It is based on our will and not the will of the Spirit or the will of any other. There are other scriptures that also validate this concept.

For instance, look at 1 Cor. 14:14-15:

  1. For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is unfruitful.
  2. So what shall I do? I will pray with my spirit, but I will also pray with my mind; I will sing with my spirit, but I will also sing with my mind.

Notice that in verse 15, it says "I will" clearly meaning a decision on the part of the person involved to involve themselves in the act of praying in the Spirit. Another good example is found in 1 Cor. 14:32, "The spirits of prophets are subject to the control of prophets". Here we see that again, when we prophesy, it is within our control. Now we do choose to yield the control to the Spirit but it is still our choice. We should never be "out of control". If we find ourselves in this position, we need to closely examine what we are doing and make sure we are not in the flesh.

How do we stir ourselves up? Let's take a brief review from Week 1's Activation: First, be convinced that it is the Lord's will for every believer to move in the Gifts of the Spirit. Next, be persuaded that you have at least 1 of the 9 gifts. Eph. 4:7-8 tells us: "But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. This is why it says: "When he ascended on high, he led captives in his train and gave gifts to men." Realize that no believer is perfect and it is OK to make a mistake and remember that we all learn by doing. Praying in the Spirit acts as a catalyst to receive the mind of Christ so that our human spirit can receive thoughts, impressions, pictures, etc. from the Holy Spirit. We activate the gifts by faith and grace, therefore IT IS OUR responsibility.

WE MUST EXERCISE AND USE OUR GIFTS

We covered this already in an earlier lesson but a quick recap will be useful. How many of you play a musical instrument? For those of you who don't, not to worry. We will have another example for you in a moment. Now back to the instrument. Remember when you first picked up the instrument and tried to play it. You may remember seeing people flee from the room you were in. Now if you had talent and were destined to be a great musician, how could this be? You had to learn didn't you? And, as you learned, you became more and more proficient, right? Eventually, people were willing to purchase tickets to come hear you perform on your instrument due to your skill level (those of you who really stayed with the practices).

Another example is working out in the gym. Young men seem to go through a stage where they all have a vision of looking like Arnold Swarzenegger. Most of them start out not looking like Arnold. They have no lack of vision but most of them wind up very short on the number of visits to the gym required to produce anywhere close to that level of development and so few ever wind up looking like Arnold. In the gym, we grow muscles by using them in exercise. So it is with our gifts. We grow in our proficiency by using them. The more we use them, the more developed they become. If you are hungry to be used in your gifting, then as the phrase goes - use 'em or lose 'em!

EARNESTLY DESIRE THE GIFTS

How many of us know that the Lord is drawn to our hunger for Him and what He has for us? It is true! How much you want something from the Lord does have a bearing on your receiving. Desire is a key to receiving! A good example of this was the woman in Matt. 9:20-22 who fought through the crowd to be able to touch the garment of Jesus so she would receive her healing.

  1. Just then a woman who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak.
  2. She said to herself, "If I only touch his cloak, I will be healed."
  3. Jesus turned and saw her. "Take heart, daughter," he said, "your faith has healed you." And the woman was healed from that moment."

The moment she touched Jesus, she was healed. Jesus was not even looking at her but felt the "virtue" flow out of Him as she touched Him. This is an example of how our hunger and desire touches the heart of God.

Are you really hungry for your spiritual gifts to come to maturity? Do you want to see God work through you "with a demonstration of the Spirit's power"? Desire will prove to be a key for this to take place. Jesus gave His disciples a key in the scripture found in Mark 11:24 (KJV) where it says, "Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye DESIRE, when ye PRAY, BELIEVE that ye receive them, and ye shall HAVE them." Do you see the progression here?

Take note of where this progression begins above - desire!

Finally, we do have a direct scriptural command regarding the gifts found in 1 Cor. 14:1: "Follow the way of love and EAGERLY DESIRE spiritual gifts, especially the gift of prophecy". As we said above, the key to manifesting the gifts is to first desire them.

COVET THE GIFTS

Most of us think of a negative connotation when we hear the word covet since this is such a strong word in scripture. "Covet" is found 7 times in the scripture (KJV) and is used in the negative in five verses and the positive in two - 1 Cor 12:31 and 1 Cor. 14:39. Let's take a look at these references:

1 Cor 12:31 (KJV): "But covet earnestly the best gifts: and yet shew I unto you a more excellent way".

1 Cor. 14:39 (KJV): "Wherefore, brethren, covet to prophesy, and forbid not to speak with tongues".

In fact, the only place where we are instructed to covet is in regard to the gifts - as we see above. All other mention of the word covet is negative - "thou shalt not."

If we look up the word "covet" in Strong's, we find that it is used to translate the Greek word "zeloo" which means "to desire earnestly" or "pursue", and "to be zealous in doing good". Since the gifts are for the benefit of others around us, when we covet the gifts, we are earnestly desiring to bless those around us rather than ourselves. Since we are to love God first, others second and ourselves last, this fits the pattern of scripture and we can enter into this with confidence, knowing we will have the blessing of the Lord.

BECOMING DEVOTED TO THE MINISTRY OF THE SAINTS

The teaching up until now has dealt with the Lord's desire for His people to use the supernatural power He has made available to us so that we would manifest a demonstration of the power of the Spirit (1 Cor. 2:4). If we fully avail ourselves of the admonitions already given in this teaching, we are going to see something very exciting begin to take place. We will become devoted to the ministry of the saints! The King James says "addicted"! That's right, addicted! Now you are probably thinking that most mention of addiction these days is negative and you would be right. But even as we are told to covet in regard to the gifts, God clearly shows us that being devoted (addicted) to the ministry of the saints is of Him. Look with me in 1 Cor. 16:15-17 (NIV):

  1. You know that the household of Stephanas were the first converts in Achaia, and they have DEVOTED themselves to the service of the saints. I urge you, brothers,
  2. to submit to such as these and to everyone who joins in the work, and labors at it.
  3. I was glad when Stephanas, Fortunatus and Achaicus arrived, because they have supplied what was lacking from you.

From the King James, let's look again at verse 15:

"I beseech you, brethren, (ye know the house of Stephanas, that it is the firstfruits of Achaia, and that they have ADDICTED themselves to the ministry of the saints..."

Co-laboring with God in the building up of others is an awesome privilege and opportunity. Few things are more exciting than to see God cause His supernatural power to flow through us and work miraculous things in the lives of others. The word says it is more blessed to give than to receive (Acts 20:35). What are we doing when we pour ourselves out for the benefit of others? When the Lord sends blessing our way as a result, it will become easy to become "addicted" to allowing God to flow through us in the Gifts of the Spirit.

At times, there have been different ministers of international stature who were overheard saying that the anointing of God is addictive - and that they strongly desired to remain in that anointing. That desire was in them because this is a good addiction, one the Lord intends for us all to have. This addiction is attainable to each one among us by simply yielding in obedience to what the Word teaches us about the gifts.

DO ALL IN LOVE!

We would be amiss to teach about the gifts of the Spirit and not mention the strongest admonition of all given in scripture about their use - that we must do all in LOVE. Look at the following passage from 1 Cor. 13:

  1. If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.
  2. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.
  3. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.

As we strive to grow in our maturity and proficiency of the gifts, we must also (and always) be asking the Lord to enable us to manifest His love to those He wants to minister to because it is His love, not ours, that will draw a lost world to a saving knowledge of Christ Jesus.

There are many saints who have great ability to move in the gifts, but if the love of God is not mixed in to the equation in the right proportion, then the mark is being missed. As a final admonition, look at one additional scripture from 1 Cor. 8:1-3:

  1. We know that we all possess knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.
  2. The man who thinks he knows something does not yet know as he ought to know.
  3. But the man who loves God is known by God.

If our desire is to build up the Body of Christ, to be used as healing vessels to a hurting world, and to be among those who can bring strong encouragement, exhortation and edification to the saints.., then let LOVE be the underlying motive in all we do as we grow in our giftings and calling in the Lord.


Each lesson is accompanied by an activation exercise, or workshop, designed to help you more fully develop your prophetic gifting. These activations start simple, and each week's activation builds on the previous ones. To see the activation for this week's lesson, click here.


-- © GodSpeak International 1998 --
-- Do not republish without written permission from <ts@godspeak.org> --