The Gifts of the Spirit
“Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant. . . . The manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal.” 1 Corinthians 12:1, 7.
Paul declares that the gifts and manifestations of the Spirit were set in the church . . . “till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.” Ephesians 4:13. All men do not receive the same gifts, but to every servant of the Master some gift of the Spirit is promised.
The Lord has need of all kinds of skilful workmen. “He gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastor/teachers; for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ.” Ephesians 4:11-12.
In immediate connection with the scenes of the great day of God, the Lord by the prophet Joel has promised a special manifestation of His Spirit. (Joel 2:28) This prophecy received a partial fulfilment in the outpouring of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost; but it will reach its full accomplishment in the manifestation of divine grace which will attend the closing work of the gospel. . . .
At this time the special endowment of divine grace and power is not less needful to the church than in apostolic days. God will today endow men and women with power from above, as He endowed those who on the day of Pentecost heard the word of salvation. At this very hour His Spirit and His grace are for all who need them and will take Him at His word. The gifts are already ours in Christ, but their actual possession depends upon our reception of the Spirit of God. . . .
If they are connected with Christ, if the gifts of the Spirit are theirs, the poorest and most ignorant of His disciples will have a power that will tell upon hearts. God makes them the channel for the outworking of the highest influence in the universe. “And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions.” Joel 2:28.
In His Word, God has committed to men the knowledge necessary for salvation. The Holy Scriptures are to be accepted as an authoritative, infallible revelation of His will. They are the standard of character, the revealer of doctrines, and the test of experience. . . . Yet the fact that God has revealed His will to men through His Word, has not rendered needless the continued presence and guiding of the Holy Spirit. . . .
During the ages while the Scriptures of both the Old and the New Testament were being given, the Holy Spirit did not cease to communicate light to individual minds, apart from the revelations to be embodied in the Sacred Canon. . . . And mention is made of prophets in different ages, of whose utterances nothing is recorded. In like manner, after the close of the canon of Scripture, the Holy Spirit was still to continue its work, to enlighten, warn, and comfort the children of God.
God has . . . promised to give visions in the “last days”; not for a new rule of faith, but for the comfort of His people, and to correct those who err from Bible truth. As the Spirit of God has opened to my mind the great truths of His Word, and the scenes of the past and the future, I have been bidden to make known to others that which has thus been revealed. There are those who will be glad to lull you to sleep in your carnal security, but I have a different work. My message is to alarm you, to bid you reform your lives and cease your rebellion against the God of the universe. Take the Word of God, and see if you are in harmony with it. Is your character such as will bear the search of the heavenly investigation? {FLB 292-3}
Dear reader; how do I, and how do you, measure up to this? We have our Master in Prayer and here is just a wee bit of his prayer as found in John 17:13-19 “And now come I to thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves. I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth. As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth.” John 4:24 “God [is] a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship [him] in spirit and in truth.”
If we remain “In the Word” (Christ Jesus) and “Led by the Holy Spirit,” and growing in Grace every day, then we are reflecting the perfect Character of Father God and his son, Jesus Christ; but how well do we reflect?
It is of interest to note that a single person can often and in various circumstances and varying conditions exercise different Spiritual Gifts, as they minister to others. Sometimes they are ministering/shepherding, sometimes healing, occasionally giving a prophetic word as the Holy Spirit directs so it is often not a one only gift that cannot vary, though in a discipled team there is often a specialization of gifts as each member of the team exercises their strongest gift more predominantly, specialization as it were.
