Are ALL the Gifts for Every Believer?

Some Christians cite 1 Corinthians 12 to support the claim that the gifts of the Spirit (prophecy, healing, tongues, etc.) are not for all believers. Specifically, note the following verses:

²⁷ Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. ²⁸ And God has placed in the church first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, of helping, of guidance, and of different kinds of tongues. ²⁹ Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? ³⁰ Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret? 

1 Corinthians 12:27-29 (NIV)

The answer to these rhetorical questions is naturally, “No.” So, many Christians determine that, therefore, all Christians won’t have every gift that the Spirit offers, and neither should they expect to receive every gift that the Spirit offers. Besides, the Spirit “distributes [the gifts] to each one, just as He determines.” (1 Corinthians 12:11).

Spirit of Anger

About a week or two ago, I felt myself giving into feelings of anger like I hadn't for years. Understand, I am not an angry person. I am very easy-going and usually, if something bothers me, it brings me to tears -- not rage! So, this particular explosive emotion inside of me was very peculiar to me and unexpected.

Learning How to Speak in Tongues

Does it make sense to learn how to speak in tongues? How can we know for sure that tongues are really from the Spirit of God and not simply from random movements of our own mouths? Although I've been pondering and praying about this for several months now, my mind is not completely settled on what to think. But, I can tell you that at the present moment, I believe that speaking in tongues is something that Christians should pursue. It's such a foreign concept to so many Christians that perhaps it could be helpful if I share my experiences so far. Feel free to share your own experiences or to ask questions below by posting a comment!

How I "Learned" to Speak in Tongues

Speaking in Tongues?

When reading the New Testament, I see a correlation between speaking in tongues and receiving the Holy Spirit. All Scripture is profitable for teaching and training in righteousness, so what am I (or any Christ-following individual) supposed to draw from this correlation?

Some denominations assert that the correlation between tongues and receiving the Holy Spirit existed only during the early church era, when Christianity was in its infancy and was supernaturally validated by tongues when it spread to a new geographical region. Other denominations say that speaking in tongues is a sign of being accepted into the body of Christ through the baptism of the Holy Spirit, and that a person can't possibly be a true Christian without having spoken in tongues. Still other denominations say that speaking in tongues comes as a result of submitting oneself to God, being completely filled with the Holy Spirit, and experiencing the full power that God intended for His children to have on earth. So, we still have the question: what are we to think of speaking in tongues?

Well, my husband and I have become more and more curious about this, so we decided to do an experiment. We followed the instructions of a "Practical Guide to Being Filled with the Holy Spirit" (see the full article here) to see if we would start speaking in tongues spontaneously. Interestingly, Josh and I both had very clear phrases that came to our minds (in a language we didn't know... and we suspected that our minds may have just made up the words in anticipation of speaking in tongues). This happened to Josh before, actually, and at that time he looked up the phrase and found out that the words were Hebrew. So, we decided to do look up the words, and sure enough, they were Hebrew. I also had a couple more phrases come to mind later that day and the next. Here are all the phrases that came to mind after asking the Holy Spirit to fill me (I'll spell them as best I can):

Shekem malak -- Ala asa tum (or tom) -- Oto kaba

So, I don't know if this is speaking in tongues or not, but if it is, it's nothing like I expected it to be. I will keep pursuing God about this and see what happens!

Healing Prayers at Spirit of Life Church

The past two Sundays, we attended Spirit of Life Bible Church in Woodbury, MN (outside of St. Paul, where we have been staying the past couple weeks). Since we've been looking into gifts of the Spirit and other things that are broadly accepted in the Pentecostal denomination, we thought we'd try out a Pentecostal church while we were away from home. I must say that I had a very positive experience there both times that we attended, and I am glad that we went out on a limb to attend.

On the first Sunday, I was struck by the heart-felt worship emanating from the congregation. The style was free and spontaneous (which they managed to do using sound tracks, amazingly!), and the people freely raised their hands in praise to the LORD God. I was already in a somewhat emotional state before we came, but this pushed me over the edge. I was truly worshiping God with all my heart, and tears came down my face as we sang songs of praise. It was the first time in a long time that I felt truly compelled to lift my hands in worship to the Almighty.

After the singing, a missionary to India came to the stage to share about his ministry and the work that God was doing in India. He gave stories of miraculous healings, of witches being released from the grip of Satan, and of the baptism of the Holy Spirit on the new believers there. He recounted one story of a man who spoke two Hebrew words over and over as he came out of the water after being baptized into Christ, and the man didn't know Hebrew! The stories the missionary told seemed so natural, and yet they seemed so different than what I had been experiencing most days of my life. My husband and I had already been conditioning ourselves toward this new paradigm of expecting to see God's power demonstrated on the earth, so this was one more testimony that chipped away from our skepticism.

Josh and I noticed, ironically, that there were several people with injuries or in wheel chairs at the church. Josh prayed for a few of them, including a lady with a sprained wrist. We didn't see any immediate, miraculous healings, but we thought that this would be the perfect environment to try the idea out.

The next Sunday, we attended the same church again. This Sunday, after the time of singing, there was a time for the congregation to share praise reports and prayer requests. I presented the request for healing and wisdom with respect to Josh's dad. Soon after that, a lady stood up to share a praise that a young couple attended the church last week (and that they were here again today), and that the young man prayed for her wrist. I thought she was going to say something spectacular, like that it was completely healed by the time she got home, but that was the extent of the request. I thought that was interesting.

During the pastor's sermon, he mentioned a friend (sister-in-law?) of his that got a terminal disease after she gave her life to Christ. The disease hardens the skin and connective tissue throughout the body, from the outside in, so that whatever area of the body is affected becomes as hard and functionless as stone. I kept it in my heart that I would pray for that lady after the church service was over.

There was an alter call at the end of the service, and about half or better of the congregation made their way to the front. Josh and I didn't go at first, but we went up after the pastor instructed everyone to find someone nearby and pray with them. We made our way to the lady, but she was blocked in by bodies until after the service ended. I caught her attention and asked if I could pray for her. She said yes, and the lady standing by her asked if she could join in. We all laid our hands and started praying for the diseased woman. At first I was thrown off because I forgot that the Pentecostals usually pray all at once, and the lady next to me started praying at the same time that I started praying. Once I got past my distraction, though, I thought that we had a very powerful prayer session. At once point, the lady by me started praying in tongues. I had never heard someone speak in tongues in person before, and I thought it was pretty cool. Nevertheless, after all our powerful prayers, we saw no immediate results. This was only within the first handful of healing prayers that I had prayed in this manner, but I still hoped for the best. As Pastor Curry would say, though, you may need to pray for 20 people or so before you start seeing significant results. Anyway, I'm still expecting to see healing in this woman, whether it be instantaneous or not.

Spiritual Gifts

Today’s verse:

There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in all men.

Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. To one there is given through the Spirit the message of wisdom, to another the message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues. All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he gives them to each one, just as he determines.
I Corinthians 12:4-11 (NIV)

I was so intrigued by the topic of spiritual gifts that I couldn’t help but return to the subject for today’s study. As I read the above passage, I gleaned three points that were new to me:
(1) Paul says that the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one,
(2) the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good, and
(3) the Spirit gives gifts to each one as he determines.
Now you must understand, I grew up under the teaching of cessationalism (that spiritual gifts such as prophesy, speaking in tongues, and miraculous healing ceased after the authenticity of the Gospel message was established across the Roman world during the time of first-century church, after the scripture had been written in its entirety). I always had the impression that the Spirit of God didn’t manifest himself in Christians in miraculous ways anymore, and that people claiming to have had such experiences either had been subject to a hyper-emotional psychological phenomenon, demonic influence, or a bad case of self-deception or straight-out lying. I never had any reason to think otherwise, given my background beliefs and the interpretation of scripture that I had been taught, and I never encountered anyone with a testimony that caused me to question my belief that supernatural spiritual gifts were ancient news. Maybe some of you can relate to my position! Anyway, I believe that God in his providence has started to open my eyes to his power and the reality of his presence in the lives of his dedicated, obedient followers. Let me explain: over the past month or so, God has been providing me examples of testimonies where God used his Spirit to accomplish miraculous wonders to draw people into his kingdom. My husband Josh recently told me of a time when he saw someone stand up and speak in tongues, and as skeptical thoughts began to enter his mind concerning the authenticity of the event, someone else across the sanctuary stood up and began interpreting the words of the one speaking in tongues. That sounds biblical to me! Out of curiosity, I started to question God, “Why hasn’t your Spirit manifested itself in me like that?” He started to reveal many things to me that are relevant not only to the topic of spiritual gifts, but also to what it means to be obedient to God in every aspect of life.

As I was praying with the question “What do I need to do to be used in a miraculous way by your Spirit,” God whispered to me something fairly obvious but that many of us overlook. He said, “You must read and meditate on My Word.” I was surprised and convicted at the same time. I go to church every Sunday, I discuss theological issues with my husband or other academic colleagues pretty much every day, and I’m even part of a prayer group… surely I’m a good Christian! So I thought. I realized, though, that although my mind was constantly entertaining issues presented in the scriptures, and even though I had been presenting requests before God, I was lacking in my relationship with God. It was all one-sided. I hadn’t taken enough time to listen to him. How can you have a relationship with someone if you are constantly talking and rarely allow the other person to interject thoughts of their own? I felt ashamed and foolish. Why would I expect God to grant me with spiritual gifts if I only let him talk to me for about an hour or two on Sunday morning, promptly drifting away into my own little world of thoughts and experiences for the rest of the week, leaving God behind as only a spectator? After God brought my erroneous ways to light, I felt convicted to seek after him. In fact, that is exactly what prompted this daily bible study blog. As I read and meditate upon the Words God has spoken to us, I gain new insight into God that I previously lacked.

Now, back to the topic of spiritual gifts. Paul says that the Spirit manifests himself in each one for the common good (or encouragement, perhaps) of believers. Perhaps he was referring only to the church of Corinth—or maybe to the church of that day—but it is not clear to me that his vision is so restrictive. My instinct is to assume that he is speaking to all believers, so unless I find another reason to doubt this assumption, that’s what I’ll go with. Anyway, he goes on to list several ways in which the Spirit chooses to manifest himself, even ordering them by their greatness. As I read the entire passage of I Corinthians 12, I notice that Paul makes an analogy between the community of believers and the parts of a human body. There are parts that are common, but their work is essential. There are parts that are considered less honorable, but they are treated with special honor. It seems that the point of this analogy is to convey that every part of the body of Christ has a purpose and is essential to the function of the body, so we should value every member regardless of their function. However, at the end of the section, it appears as though he encourages them to desire the greater gifts! Is this contradictory? I don’t think so. My impression is that God gives greater responsibility to those who are responsible with what he has already given; thus, it is an honor to have greater gifts, since it shows that we are very responsible people! I am convinced that responsibility is not the only factor, though, but obedience, depth of relationship with God, and God’s sovereign plan determine whether a believer receives supernatural gifts from the Spirit (and to what degree they receive them).

In conclusion, I see no harm in seeking to deepen my relationship with God in order to prepare my heart for the possibility of receiving a supernatural gift from the Holy Spirit. Perhaps spiritual gifts of this sort are no longer given to believers in this day and age, but if there is even the slightest chance that they are (or can be), then I want to be in a position to receive such gifts for the common good. Thus, I will continue to seek the presence of the Lord and empty my heart of worldly or selfish desires so that the Spirit of God will have a pure and spacious temple to live in and minister from, if he so wishes.

Dear Lord, I invite your presence into my dwelling place and into my heart. I am waiting in silence. Speak, Lord, and I will hear your voice. Guide me in your truth, and draw me close to you. Amen.