§ The Empowerment Gifts (Part 2)

The Empowerment Gifts (Part 2) : Why We Need Them

Go into all the world ...

“And he [Jesus] said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the good news to the whole creation. The one who believes and is baptized will be saved; but the one who does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will accompany those who believe: by using my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes in their hands, and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover.” (Mark 16:15-25)

But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them, “Men of Judea and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to what I say. Indeed, these are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only nine o’clock in the morning. No, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel: ‘In the last days it will be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams. Even upon my slaves, both men and women, in those days I will pour out my Spirit; and they shall prophesy.’ ” (Acts 2:14-18)

Opened Your Gifts Yet?

“But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. For to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, and to another the word of knowledge according to the same Spirit; to another faith by the same Spirit, and to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, and to another the effecting of miracles, and to another prophecy, and to another the distinguishing of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, and to another the interpretation of tongues. But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually just as He wills.” (1 Cor. 12: 7-11)

My Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

From the above scriptures it is clear that the spiritual empowerment gifts are certainly Jesus’ legacy for all believing Christians. In this article, I intend to briefly discuss them and their practice within the Christian community. However, before entering into a discussion of these gifts, let me first confront the first intellectual obstacle we all face when we first attempt to come to an understanding of these spiritual gifts. This obstacle is the term “empowerment” itself.

This term is generally avoided in most discussions about these gifts. The reason for this is that the term is so theologically tinged that the more politically neutral term, “charisms” is more frequently used.  The term is provocative because it appears to encroach on what is customarily (though incorrectly) thought to be the domain of the ordained clergy exclusively.  This cultural conditioning usually presents a barrier for the average Christian because it hold us back from even thinking that we, the laity, are included in the “Promise of the Father”.  My previous posting was intended, of course, to disabuse us of that concept.

The book of Acts make it very clear that the “Promise of the Father” is for all who believe (Acts 2:38-39) and the Apostle Paul also makes it clear that the responsibility of the ordained or appointed ministries (ie., clergy) is to train, not restrain, the laity in the Empowerment Gifts of the Spirit for the building up of the Body of Christ here on Earth (Eph.4: 11-13). All the pertinent scriptures indicate that this empowerment is distributed amongst all of the believers as the “Spirit wills” and NOT as man wills.

An example of how the Spirit empowers common, everyday believers to accomplish His work amongst us, is the case of Ananias of Damascus (Acts 9:10-18).  He was an ordinary lay member of the church at Damascus around the time when Saul of Tarsus was raiding these congregations to bring the Jewish believers in Messiah to judgment in Jerusalem.

When the Lord stopped Saul in his tracks as he was on his way to Damascus, He rebuked Saul, asking him, “Why are you persecuting me?”.  After the encounter with the Lord, Saul, who was blinded during his confrontation with the Lord, was taken to a certain house in Damascus. The Holy Spirit, working through the Empowerment Gifts in Ananias told him to go to this certain house and to prophesy to Saul, to lay hands on him for healing and to baptize him thus bringing to conclusion Saul’s conversion. A conversion through which the Lord used Saul, who later took the name of “Paul”, to reach the greater part of the gentile world and whom He used to write a significant part of the contents of the New testament.

In the same way that the Lord used Ananias, brethren, the Lord is calling all of us lay persons to put aside our culturally inspired qualms, yield ourselves to the Holy Spirit and accept the empowerment gifts He has destined for us. In this way we open ourselves to be led by the Spirit as was Ananias, so that we also, through the power of the Spirit can participate in the work of God’s salvation on this Earth.

Now, it must also be made clear that these gifts are NOT for personal exaltation or sanctification but are meant for the service to the community. Just as Jesus said: “I have come not to be served but to serve”(Matt. 2:28), so we who accept these gifts are called to die to ourselves so that Christ may serve the community through us. That is why St. Paul (the converted Saul), placed the LOVE chapter (Chapter 13) in the midst of his teaching on the spiritual gifts in his first letter to the Corinthians.

The problem that Paul had with the Corinthian community, and which we have today, is that while they accepted the gifts with enthusiasm (perhaps excessively so), they lacked the spiritual maturity to administer the gifts with love, humility and order. Thus it behooves the leaders of our communities to not only foster and nurture the charisms, but to provide the spiritual guidance, teaching and leadership needed to ensure that the gifts are properly administered in Jesus’ Name under the leading of the Spirit and NOT in response our own whims and fancies.

Without further ado then, let us begin our discussion on the Empowerment Gifts of the Spirit.  While the Holy Spirit blends and combines these gifts as He wills, creating a great variety of manifestations, it is best to begin by considering the nine basic or foundational gifts or charisms that are summarized by Paul in 1 Corinthians Chapter Twelve.  These are the basic gifts that form the foundation or structure for the blended gifts and the ministry gifts that we will consider later.

What we need to remember as we go over these gifts is that these are Jesus’ gifts, NOT ours. These gifts are the same gifts that Jesus received at His anointing and which He practiced during His ministry, only now they have been distributed by the Holy Spirit amongst the members of His Body so that He may continue to minister through us today. In fact, the best way we can observe and study the operation of these gifts in Jesus’ ministry is through the reading of the Gospels.

In order to present a brief yet comprehensive overview, I will summarize and categorize these foundational spiritual gifts or charisms (1 Cor. 12: 7-11) as follows:

The Revelation Gifts

• Word of Wisdom • Word of Knowledge •Discernment of Spirits

The Power Gifts

• Faith • Healing • Working of Miracles

The Utterance or Inspirational Gifts

• Prophecy • Tongues • Interpretation of Tongues

(Other Gifts that are derived from the gift of tongues are, for example, singing in the spirit or praying in the spirit, cf., 1 Cor.14:14-15)

Regarding the Revelation Gifts

The revelation gifts are those manifestations of the Spirit whereby the Holy Spirit infuses a supernatural wisdom, knowledge or discernment to a ministering believer regarding a specific situation where the believer is being led to or is in the process of ministering to another. For instance if one is in the process of ministering healing to a petitioner, the Holy Spirit may, through a word of knowledge, sometimes reveal the existence of a spiritual obstacle to the healing. That obstacle may be a hidden sin, an evil spiritual influence, or an inordinate attachment. Based on the revelation provided the minister may also receive a word of wisdom regarding how best to use the revealed knowledge to pray for the subject requesting healing.  The revelations may also involve promptings from the Holy Spirit regarding the needs of specific individuals in a prayer meeting or in a person’s normal day-to-day activities leading the individual to attend to a personal situation only the Holy Spirit would know about.  It is then the responsibility of the individual so inspired to act in obedience and faith on what he/she has received and thus effectuate the blessing the Lord has for the person under ministry.

For instance, in the discernment of spirits, the ministering believer is given a revelation of demonic forces affecting a person or persons in a specific situation or circumstances. This spiritual insight will usually be accompanied by a word of knowledge or word of wisdom guiding the minister in what action to take in order to dislodge the spiritual oppression from the individual being prayed for.

These gifts are often blended with other gifts such as healing, miracles and prophesy in order for the overall manifestation of the Spirit to have its full effect.

The gifts of wisdom and knowledge manifested here must be distinguished from the sanctifying gifts of the same name. The sanctifying gifts of wisdom and knowledge are also supernatural gifts but these deal with providing knowledge and wisdom into the very mind and heart of God leading to an enhancement of our personal relationship with Him as the Holy Spirit conforms us to the image of the Son.

Regarding the Power Gifts

~ The Gift of Faith:  This gift is distinguished from the other “Gift of Faith” through which we receive salvation through the Word in that the latter Gift is part of the Sanctifying Graces that bring or own person to salvation and sanctification, while the former Gift of Faith, which is under discussion here, is similar to the Word of Knowledge Gift, in that it is a specific faith, for a specific circumstance, given to us so that we may be a channel of God’s grace, like healing or miracles, to benefit another person rather than ourselves.

For this reason this Gift is almost always used in conjunction with another of the Power Gifts. This gift is essentially a revelation in one’s spirit of a work of power that God intends to do – it is this knowing of God’s specific will for a particular circumstance to happen that triggers a certainty in our spirit that if we act on this inspiration it will come to pass. It is this type of faith that the apostle Paul refers to as the faith that moves mountains (1Cor. 13:2).

~ The Gift of Healing: This gift is that gift we also see exhibited in the Gospels where Jesus heals individuals from all manners of disease, sometimes by laying on of hands, sometimes by merely touching someone, and sometimes by, or through, an authoritative command for the illness to leave.

~ The Working of Miracles:  This gift has various manifestations. It sometimes involves walking on water, multiplying loaves and fishes, and raising people from the dead. In our modern world the manifestation of this gift we see the most is that of “creative miracles”, that is, when an arm or a leg is created where only a stump existed, or where people born with deformities or missing eye sockets are immediately healed. Again here, this gift is usually triggered and blended with another gift such as a word of knowledge or the gift of faith.

Regarding The Utterance or Inspirational Gifts

These gifts are mainly provided the Body of Christ to permit the Persons of the Trinity to communicate with the Christian community for the purpose of: exhortation, consolation, teaching, spiritual guidance, discipline, and expressing God’s love and delight for His people. There are instances where actual foretelling of coming situations occurs but, unlike the Old Testament prophetic utterances, the New Testament gift is mainly used for forth-telling to build up the church rather than foretelling.

The inspirational gifts of Prophesy, Tongues, and Interpretation of Tongues are the spiritual gifts through which the Lord communicates with His people or to a particular person to bring about a spiritual change in that individual or individuals for the enhancement of their faith and spiritual growth of the community. That is why the the gift of Prophecy is manifested in the language of the congregation so that it is a direct message to them that will move their spirits to a state that will allow them to act in faith for the benefit of the community.

The gift of Tongues is a prophetic utterance in an unknown language (1Cor.13:1) and as a result requires someone in the congregation to have the complementary gift of Interpretation of Tongues so that the congregation may comprehend the message.

All of the above manifestations of the gifts are intended for the Godhead to communicate with His people. However, the gift of Tongues also accommodates its use as a personal prayer language where individuals may pray, praise, and sing to the creator directly from their spirits, thus bypassing their minds (souls). See a previous post on “Praying in the Spirit”. In such a situation it is man speaking to God (1 Cor.14:2) rather than God to man.

Regarding The Appointed or Ordained Ministry Gifts

In order for the Empowerment Gifts to achieve the purpose for which the Lord intended there are, of necessity certain other overarching gifts that are also provided to impart, nurture, coordinate and guide the practice and use of the charisms within the community. The Apostle Paul lists the five most important of these gifts in his letter to the Ephesians. These are sometimes termed as the “Five-fold Ministry gifts”.

“The gifts he gave were that some would be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ.” (Eph. 4:11-12)

Paul elaborates this list further in his first letter to the Corinthians, saying,

“Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers; then deeds of power, then gifts of healing, forms of assistance, forms of leadership, various kinds of tongues. Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret?  But strive for the greater gifts. … “ (1Cor. 12:27-31)

From this we conclude that the Holy Spirit, through Paul, not only imparted the empowerment gifts upon confirmation to the community in general but also appointed (ie., ordained) leaders whom the Spirit had endowed with very strong specific anointing in certain areas of ministry. These included Apostles (used as a general term which included evangelists), Prophets, Teachers, Ministers of Deeds of Power (Miracles, Faith and Healing), Coordinators of the gifts in ministry and assistance to the community (this was a leadership gift), and Interpreters for the meetings.

These Leadership gifts were an absolute necessity if the community was to grow not only in numbers but in spiritual maturity so that they, with the gifts that were allocated to them by the Spirit would be effective instruments in ministering to one–another and to the outside world. They were also necessary to bring order and submission in agape Love to each other so that they could act in unison as a community. Chapter 13, in the first letter to the Corinthians, is very specific about the role that self-denying, agape Love is to play in the community and the subordinate role of the spiritual gifts to this type of love.  Chapter 14 provides more explicit teaching an guidance from Paul on the practice and use of the spiritual gifts within the community.

Regarding the Role of the Trinity

“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.”

(1 Cor. 12:4-6)

It is interesting to note how Paul, under sacred inspiration, attributes the roles of the Holy Trinity to the Charismatic Gifts. First, he tells us that the diversity and distribution of the gifts is the work of the Holy Spirit.  That is, the types and kinds of Gifts available to the church are His responsibility. Then he indicates that the administration (or ministry) of the Gifts is under the Lordship of Jesus. That is, since the Gifts are a continuation Jesus’ ministry He is the one who establishes specific ministries using the Gifts under His Lordship. Thirdly Paul indicates that the power behind all the workings of the Gifts stems from the Father Himself!

Concluding Prayer

In conclusion, dear family of God, I lift up, on your  behalf, the Apostle Paul’s prayer for the Ephesian Church,

“I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to know him, so that, with the eyes of your heart enlightened, you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance among the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power for us who believe, according to the working of his great power. God put this power to work in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the age to come. And he has put all things under his feet and has made him the head over all things for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.” (Eph. 1:17-23)

May you desire and strive for the empowerment gifts which we have as our legacy in Christ Jesus.  Amen

Your Brother in Christ,

Bartimaeus

(© B.R.Timeo and Bartimaeus’ Quiet Place, [2008-2010])

Recommended  Links

Empowerment of the Catholic Laity

Releasing The Spirit

Praying in the Spirit

The Empowerment Gifts (Part 1)

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