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Receiving from the Lord (Holy Spirit's Gifts)
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Month 7 classes
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Class 1: Receiving from the Lord
Class 2: Application - Praying for In-Filling of the Holy Spirit
Class 3: 1 Corinthians 12-14 Meditation
Class 4: Listening Prayer
Class 5: Journaling
Class 6: Listening Prayer
Class 7: Worship Painting
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Teaching - RECEIVING FROM THE LORD
“John answered them all, “I baptize you with water. But one who is more powerful than I will come, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire” (Luke 3:16). [also Matt 3:11]
“When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.” (Acts 2:1-4)
“After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly” (Acts 4:31).
Notice the same people are filled with the Holy Spirit in Acts twice in two chapters. Being filled is not a one-time event. When you accepted Jesus as your Lord, you received the Holy Spirit. Hear me clearly: you already have the Holy Spirit. Yet, we constantly need renewal in our relationship. We constantly need fresh filling with the Spirit in order to represent him well and do what he has called us to do. We are praying for a fresh filling—an empowerment of who he wants to be for us and how he wants to use us to bring about his Kingdom.
This empowerment often happens through the Gifts of the Holy Spirit.
Faith is the way to release the gifts of the Spirit. Love is the purpose of them. Faith is how the gifts function. Love is why they function. – Mike Bickle
Understanding the Gifts of the Holy Spirit - Teaching by Mike Bickle
I. DEFINING THE GIFTS
A. The Holy Spirit wants the Church to understand the spiritual gifts.
1 Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I do not want you to be ignorant… (1 Cor. 12:1)
B. The manifestation of the Spirit is given to every one. The Spirit will not use us in the same way, so stay open to being used in different ways. The gifts are both residential and situational.
7 The manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all: 8 for to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit, 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healings by the same Spirit, 10 to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another different kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. 11 the Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually… (1 Cor. 12:7-11)
C. All these gifts are supernatural and not natural. There are three recognized categories of the gifts.
Gifts of revelation reveal something: word of wisdom, word of knowledge, discerning of spirits.
Gifts of power do something: the gift of faith, working of miracles, and gifts of healings.
Gifts of inspiration say something: prophecy, tongues, and interpretation of tongues.
D. Everyone is called to prophesy and function in the gifts of the Holy Spirit.
17 In the last days…I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your young men shall see visions, your old men shall dream dreams. 18 And on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days; and they shall prophesy…20 before the coming of the great…day of the Lord. (Acts 2:17-20)
5 I wish you all spoke with tongues, but even more that you prophesied…24 If all prophesy,and an unbeliever comes in…he is convicted…31 You can all prophesy. (1 Cor. 14:5, 24, 31)
E. Prophecy is released in us most often by faint impressions given by the Spirit. Pay attention to the impressions of the Spirit such as symptomatic pains, re-occurring mental pictures, distinct emotional stirrings, or the Spirit touching a specific area of our body (heat or energy).
F. The demonstration of the Spirit follows a declaration of a believer. The Spirit moves as the Word is spoken. We must give expression to impressions. Desiring to prophesy involves three things.
1. Ask the question: “Holy Spirit, what are you saying or doing?” Take time to ask this. I encourage people to dial down to be more sensitive to subtle impressions.
2. Verbalize the impression: We must give expression to the faint impressions of the Spirit.
3. Value small demonstrations: Be faithful in little things (we do not despise the smallness).
II. GIFTS OF REVELATION: GIFTS THAT REVEAL SOMETHING
A. Word of Knowledge (Jn. 4:18; Acts 5:1-10; 9:10-12; 10:9-20; Rev. 2-3): revelation with information related to the past or present. It is not called the gift of knowledge. He reveals a word or “fragment” of information related to people, places, or things. It can be manifested through a vision, angel, dream, or gift of prophecy. The gifts often operate together.
B. Word of wisdom (Acts 9:10-16; 8:26-29; 11:28-30; 21:10-11): revelation with information related to the future. It is not called the gift of wisdom.
C. Discerning of spirits (Acts 9:3-8; 16:16-18): insight into the spirit world. It is to discern or perceive a spirit or the spirit realm both good and bad. It is not called the gift of discernment and it is more than psychological insight into people, especially to see their tendencies and faults.
III. GIFTS OF POWER: GIFTS THAT DO SOMETHING
A. Working of miracles: It is a manifestation of the Spirit to work an instantaneous miracle. A miracle is a supernatural intervention in the ordinary course of nature. This gift works actively. Jesus turned the water into wine (Jn. 2) and fed the 5,000 (Jn. 6:6-14). Paul struck a sorcerer blind (Acts 13:4-12). Moses was used to release the ten plagues (Ex. 7-12).
B. Gift of faith: It is a supernatural manifestation of the Spirit to receive a miracle of protection, direction, etc. Daniel received a miracle in the lion’s den (Dan. 6:16-23). Daniel's faith was passive as he received this miracle. Paul was calm in storms because he expected a miracle by the gift of faith (Acts 27). Elijah expected to be fed by ravens (1 Kg. 17:2-6). The gift of faith will carry a person through the danger without being hurt. The working of miracles changes the circumstances causing the danger.
C. Gifts of healings: In the original Greek, both words "gifts" and "healings" are in the plural. It is the only gift of the Spirit in the plural. Healing is a process, whereas miracles are instantaneous.
IV. GIFTS OF INSPIRATION: GIFTS THAT SAY SOMETHING
A. Gift of prophecy: inspiration to edify, exhort and comfort people (1 Cor. 14:3)
B. Different kinds of tongues: tongues of men and angels (1 Cor. 13:1). There is a difference between the gift of tongues for the body and for private devotion (1 Cor. 12:30; 14:2-4).
2 For he who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God, for no one understands him; however, in the spirit he speaks mysteries…4 He who speaks in a tongue edifies himself, but he who prophesies edifies the church. (1 Cor. 14:2-4)
C. Interpretation of tongues: an interpretation of God’s burden, not only a translation of a language
1 Pursue love, and desire spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy. (1 Cor. 14:1)
The Christian life is a cooperation with God’s grace. God will not do our part and we cannot do His part. If we do not do our part then God withholds some of the help and blessing He would have given us. Our part includes being faithful to be watchful in the Spirit as one essential way of cultivating the spirit of prophecy. God’s part is to give us prophetic impressions and then to release supernatural power when we walk out those impressions with faith and obedience.
MORE THAN MERE BELIEF
I’ve met many in the Church that technically ‘believe’ in the gifts of the Spirit: meaning, they give mental assent to them. They agree the gifts of the Spirit are for today. But they do not function in them. It’s not enough to believe in them, we must desire them.
We desire them in several ways:
Pursuing the spiritual gifts takes risk on our part. We don’t wait to ‘feel’ like it. We recognize that God’s working in our lives has nothing to do with our emotions. Believing God calls us to be his disciples, we do what he commanded his disciples to do (see Matt 12). We don’t wait until the big miracles start happening or revival sweeps through our town; we are revival. We change the lives of the people with whom we come in contact: one person at a time over the course of our lives.
“Some “trust” the sovereignty of God in a non-biblical way by “trusting” God to do the role that He has assigned to us. This is not trusting God, but is negligence and presumption. God has chosen to give us a dynamic role in determining some of the measure of the “quality of life” that we experience in the natural and in the Spirit. There are blessings that God has chosen to give, but only if His people rise up to ask for them (Isa 30:18-19; Ezek. 22:30; Mt. 17:21; Jas 4:2).” – Mike Bickle
THE STORY OF JOHN WIMBER
I had a chance to travel with John Wimber for three years. Some of you know the name John Wimber; he went home to be with the Lord in 1997. He had a very dynamic healing ministry in the Western world for maybe twenty years. I don’t know, some number like that, a long time. He had large conferences of 5,000 and 10,000, all over the Western world, and many people healed, and many leaders would go and get trained for ten days, and then they would operate in healing.
I loved the opportunity to get to travel with him. It was in 1988—1991. He brought me up on the platform and taught me a lot of this. I asked him a lot of questions, got to be with him a lot and pick his brain.
John Wimber’s story is truly amazing. “John, how did you get into healing? Did you go to a healing service?” “No, never went to a healing service!” “OK, did you read a book on healing? My favorite is John G. Lake.” “No, I never heard of John G. Lake.”
I’d say, “Really? He’s like the main guy.” (We’ve got all the stuff in the bookstore; you really want to read John G. Lake, trust me.)
He’d say, “Nope!” “Well, how did you get into it?”
He said, “I read the Bible. You know, that one book...” I’d say, “Oh, yeah...”
He said, “No, I just read Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John over and over and over. I said, ‘I’m going to do it, I’m just going to do it.’”
THE PERSEVERANCE OF JOHN WIMBER
He prayed for the sick. He had never seen healing, never heard anyone teach on it, never witnessed it with his eyes. He just read Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John over and over and over and said, “I want to do this healing stuff.” He always said, “I want to do the stuff.”
John prayed for healing, and—this is remarkable, remarkable—He taught on healing every Sunday, fifty-two weeks a year, every Sunday for two years in a row. He preached a hundred sermons on healing and never saw one healing.
He said, “We called them up, prayed for the sick every week.” I said, “Wow, no healings ever? You never went out anywhere and saw anyone healed?” He said, “No.” I said, “This is a miracle, that you didn’t quit!”
He said, “No, I had to see healing.” He operated under the principle, “I’m going to be faithful in small things; I’m not going to quit.” He had that Canaanite woman’s mentality: “I’m not going to get offended. Seemingly the Lord’s answer is ‘no,’ but I’m going to keep doing it.”
He said, “The only thing that consistently happened when I prayed for the sick is, I got the disease of the person I prayed for. I mean it! Someone had the flu, I would go to their house and I would get the flu. Someone would have a really bad cold and migraine headaches; I would pray for them and get migraine headaches.”
He said, “I was scared to death to pray for a pregnant woman.” He told that joke so many times, drove me crazy. Still works, though.
So, one Sunday, they saw their first healing. It was a great story; not that it was so dramatic, but there were some dramatic things. He went on to see many things: blind eyes opened, deaf ears opened, all manner of diseases were healed after that.
THE LEGACY OF JOHN WIMBER
The legacy of John Wimber was his faithfulness for two years. Every meeting, people were getting angry with him. Every Sunday, for 104 Sundays—“OK, turn to the gospel of Matthew, the healing...”
They would say, “Oh no!” None of them had seen healings. They’d say, “John, we’re quitting this crazy church if you don’t stop teaching on healings.” Little did they know that God was going to look on him and say, “John, I will give you what you desire.”
He gave John what he desired. John had one of the most significant healing ministries in the twentieth century in the Western world. It just started breaking out.
So I would get to be on platforms with John and he would help me do ministry. He would whisper in my ear and tell me what to do or not do. Mostly, what he told me to do was, “Shut up, you’re talking way too much.” He said, “You’ve got to dial down, you’ve got to listen way more than you talk. Listen.”
So I would ask John after the meetings, “John, what were you feeling?” He would say, “I felt as I have always felt.” “What?” He said, “You know my first big conference.”
I said, “What?”
“I felt what I always feel.”
“What?”
He said, “Nothing, ever, never.” He had done some hundreds of conferences. “I’ve never, ever once had a feeling on a platform.”
I said, “No way!”
He said, “You other guys”—we had a ton of different guys—“feel a little of this and that. You feel the Spirit’s presence. That upsets me; I don’t ever feel anything anywhere.” He had the manifestations of power that were continual.
I said, “Really?”
He said, “Yeah; for some reason the Lord just set it up that way.”
LIVING IN UNRESOLVED TENSION
He said, “The way I spell faith is R-I-S-K. That’s how I spell faith. I just say things and get people. I don’t say, ‘The Lord said...’ if the Lord didn’t tell me. I just say, ‘I’m going to pray, and speak things.’ ‘Lady, I’m going to pray for you; I’m going to ask that cancer in your body to leave,’” and he would command it to leave.
Lots of times the cancer didn’t leave, and John was so open about the many, many times it didn’t happen. John was remarkable, because he was one of those rare guys in the healing ministry who didn’t have to answer for it when it didn’t work. Most people who get well-known for healing, after a decade or two, they almost always have to answer for it when it doesn’t work.
John was content to live in unresolved tension.
He said, “I don’t know why it doesn’t work. I don’t want to give that answer. I’m going to live in that tension unresolved.”
John said, “Here’s what I’ve found out: I would rather see one out of 100 people get healed, than zero out of zero.”
I said, “One out of a hundred?”
He said, “Yeah. You get a lot of people healed, one out of a hundred.”
I said, “Really?”
He said, “Yeah. If you’re me, I pray for thousands of people every week. So, if I get one out of a hundred, I get a lot of healings every week.”
John’s point wasn’t to have one out of a hundred; that wasn’t his point. His point was, he said, “I am not going to wait until the number is big and then start.” I heard him say it many times. “A lot of you are content. You would rather have zero out of zero. You would rather have a perfect record than one out of a hundred and pray for thousands of people.”
“When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.” (Acts 2:1-4)
“After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly” (Acts 4:31).
Notice the same people are filled with the Holy Spirit in Acts twice in two chapters. Being filled is not a one-time event. When you accepted Jesus as your Lord, you received the Holy Spirit. Hear me clearly: you already have the Holy Spirit. Yet, we constantly need renewal in our relationship. We constantly need fresh filling with the Spirit in order to represent him well and do what he has called us to do. We are praying for a fresh filling—an empowerment of who he wants to be for us and how he wants to use us to bring about his Kingdom.
This empowerment often happens through the Gifts of the Holy Spirit.
Faith is the way to release the gifts of the Spirit. Love is the purpose of them. Faith is how the gifts function. Love is why they function. – Mike Bickle
Understanding the Gifts of the Holy Spirit - Teaching by Mike Bickle
I. DEFINING THE GIFTS
A. The Holy Spirit wants the Church to understand the spiritual gifts.
1 Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I do not want you to be ignorant… (1 Cor. 12:1)
B. The manifestation of the Spirit is given to every one. The Spirit will not use us in the same way, so stay open to being used in different ways. The gifts are both residential and situational.
7 The manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all: 8 for to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit, 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healings by the same Spirit, 10 to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another different kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. 11 the Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually… (1 Cor. 12:7-11)
C. All these gifts are supernatural and not natural. There are three recognized categories of the gifts.
Gifts of revelation reveal something: word of wisdom, word of knowledge, discerning of spirits.
Gifts of power do something: the gift of faith, working of miracles, and gifts of healings.
Gifts of inspiration say something: prophecy, tongues, and interpretation of tongues.
D. Everyone is called to prophesy and function in the gifts of the Holy Spirit.
17 In the last days…I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your young men shall see visions, your old men shall dream dreams. 18 And on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days; and they shall prophesy…20 before the coming of the great…day of the Lord. (Acts 2:17-20)
5 I wish you all spoke with tongues, but even more that you prophesied…24 If all prophesy,and an unbeliever comes in…he is convicted…31 You can all prophesy. (1 Cor. 14:5, 24, 31)
E. Prophecy is released in us most often by faint impressions given by the Spirit. Pay attention to the impressions of the Spirit such as symptomatic pains, re-occurring mental pictures, distinct emotional stirrings, or the Spirit touching a specific area of our body (heat or energy).
F. The demonstration of the Spirit follows a declaration of a believer. The Spirit moves as the Word is spoken. We must give expression to impressions. Desiring to prophesy involves three things.
1. Ask the question: “Holy Spirit, what are you saying or doing?” Take time to ask this. I encourage people to dial down to be more sensitive to subtle impressions.
2. Verbalize the impression: We must give expression to the faint impressions of the Spirit.
3. Value small demonstrations: Be faithful in little things (we do not despise the smallness).
II. GIFTS OF REVELATION: GIFTS THAT REVEAL SOMETHING
A. Word of Knowledge (Jn. 4:18; Acts 5:1-10; 9:10-12; 10:9-20; Rev. 2-3): revelation with information related to the past or present. It is not called the gift of knowledge. He reveals a word or “fragment” of information related to people, places, or things. It can be manifested through a vision, angel, dream, or gift of prophecy. The gifts often operate together.
B. Word of wisdom (Acts 9:10-16; 8:26-29; 11:28-30; 21:10-11): revelation with information related to the future. It is not called the gift of wisdom.
C. Discerning of spirits (Acts 9:3-8; 16:16-18): insight into the spirit world. It is to discern or perceive a spirit or the spirit realm both good and bad. It is not called the gift of discernment and it is more than psychological insight into people, especially to see their tendencies and faults.
III. GIFTS OF POWER: GIFTS THAT DO SOMETHING
A. Working of miracles: It is a manifestation of the Spirit to work an instantaneous miracle. A miracle is a supernatural intervention in the ordinary course of nature. This gift works actively. Jesus turned the water into wine (Jn. 2) and fed the 5,000 (Jn. 6:6-14). Paul struck a sorcerer blind (Acts 13:4-12). Moses was used to release the ten plagues (Ex. 7-12).
B. Gift of faith: It is a supernatural manifestation of the Spirit to receive a miracle of protection, direction, etc. Daniel received a miracle in the lion’s den (Dan. 6:16-23). Daniel's faith was passive as he received this miracle. Paul was calm in storms because he expected a miracle by the gift of faith (Acts 27). Elijah expected to be fed by ravens (1 Kg. 17:2-6). The gift of faith will carry a person through the danger without being hurt. The working of miracles changes the circumstances causing the danger.
C. Gifts of healings: In the original Greek, both words "gifts" and "healings" are in the plural. It is the only gift of the Spirit in the plural. Healing is a process, whereas miracles are instantaneous.
IV. GIFTS OF INSPIRATION: GIFTS THAT SAY SOMETHING
A. Gift of prophecy: inspiration to edify, exhort and comfort people (1 Cor. 14:3)
B. Different kinds of tongues: tongues of men and angels (1 Cor. 13:1). There is a difference between the gift of tongues for the body and for private devotion (1 Cor. 12:30; 14:2-4).
2 For he who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God, for no one understands him; however, in the spirit he speaks mysteries…4 He who speaks in a tongue edifies himself, but he who prophesies edifies the church. (1 Cor. 14:2-4)
C. Interpretation of tongues: an interpretation of God’s burden, not only a translation of a language
1 Pursue love, and desire spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy. (1 Cor. 14:1)
The Christian life is a cooperation with God’s grace. God will not do our part and we cannot do His part. If we do not do our part then God withholds some of the help and blessing He would have given us. Our part includes being faithful to be watchful in the Spirit as one essential way of cultivating the spirit of prophecy. God’s part is to give us prophetic impressions and then to release supernatural power when we walk out those impressions with faith and obedience.
MORE THAN MERE BELIEF
I’ve met many in the Church that technically ‘believe’ in the gifts of the Spirit: meaning, they give mental assent to them. They agree the gifts of the Spirit are for today. But they do not function in them. It’s not enough to believe in them, we must desire them.
We desire them in several ways:
- We pray for God to release them
- We fast
- We take our hands out of our pockets, step out on a limb and pray for people.
Pursuing the spiritual gifts takes risk on our part. We don’t wait to ‘feel’ like it. We recognize that God’s working in our lives has nothing to do with our emotions. Believing God calls us to be his disciples, we do what he commanded his disciples to do (see Matt 12). We don’t wait until the big miracles start happening or revival sweeps through our town; we are revival. We change the lives of the people with whom we come in contact: one person at a time over the course of our lives.
“Some “trust” the sovereignty of God in a non-biblical way by “trusting” God to do the role that He has assigned to us. This is not trusting God, but is negligence and presumption. God has chosen to give us a dynamic role in determining some of the measure of the “quality of life” that we experience in the natural and in the Spirit. There are blessings that God has chosen to give, but only if His people rise up to ask for them (Isa 30:18-19; Ezek. 22:30; Mt. 17:21; Jas 4:2).” – Mike Bickle
THE STORY OF JOHN WIMBER
I had a chance to travel with John Wimber for three years. Some of you know the name John Wimber; he went home to be with the Lord in 1997. He had a very dynamic healing ministry in the Western world for maybe twenty years. I don’t know, some number like that, a long time. He had large conferences of 5,000 and 10,000, all over the Western world, and many people healed, and many leaders would go and get trained for ten days, and then they would operate in healing.
I loved the opportunity to get to travel with him. It was in 1988—1991. He brought me up on the platform and taught me a lot of this. I asked him a lot of questions, got to be with him a lot and pick his brain.
John Wimber’s story is truly amazing. “John, how did you get into healing? Did you go to a healing service?” “No, never went to a healing service!” “OK, did you read a book on healing? My favorite is John G. Lake.” “No, I never heard of John G. Lake.”
I’d say, “Really? He’s like the main guy.” (We’ve got all the stuff in the bookstore; you really want to read John G. Lake, trust me.)
He’d say, “Nope!” “Well, how did you get into it?”
He said, “I read the Bible. You know, that one book...” I’d say, “Oh, yeah...”
He said, “No, I just read Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John over and over and over. I said, ‘I’m going to do it, I’m just going to do it.’”
THE PERSEVERANCE OF JOHN WIMBER
He prayed for the sick. He had never seen healing, never heard anyone teach on it, never witnessed it with his eyes. He just read Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John over and over and over and said, “I want to do this healing stuff.” He always said, “I want to do the stuff.”
John prayed for healing, and—this is remarkable, remarkable—He taught on healing every Sunday, fifty-two weeks a year, every Sunday for two years in a row. He preached a hundred sermons on healing and never saw one healing.
He said, “We called them up, prayed for the sick every week.” I said, “Wow, no healings ever? You never went out anywhere and saw anyone healed?” He said, “No.” I said, “This is a miracle, that you didn’t quit!”
He said, “No, I had to see healing.” He operated under the principle, “I’m going to be faithful in small things; I’m not going to quit.” He had that Canaanite woman’s mentality: “I’m not going to get offended. Seemingly the Lord’s answer is ‘no,’ but I’m going to keep doing it.”
He said, “The only thing that consistently happened when I prayed for the sick is, I got the disease of the person I prayed for. I mean it! Someone had the flu, I would go to their house and I would get the flu. Someone would have a really bad cold and migraine headaches; I would pray for them and get migraine headaches.”
He said, “I was scared to death to pray for a pregnant woman.” He told that joke so many times, drove me crazy. Still works, though.
So, one Sunday, they saw their first healing. It was a great story; not that it was so dramatic, but there were some dramatic things. He went on to see many things: blind eyes opened, deaf ears opened, all manner of diseases were healed after that.
THE LEGACY OF JOHN WIMBER
The legacy of John Wimber was his faithfulness for two years. Every meeting, people were getting angry with him. Every Sunday, for 104 Sundays—“OK, turn to the gospel of Matthew, the healing...”
They would say, “Oh no!” None of them had seen healings. They’d say, “John, we’re quitting this crazy church if you don’t stop teaching on healings.” Little did they know that God was going to look on him and say, “John, I will give you what you desire.”
He gave John what he desired. John had one of the most significant healing ministries in the twentieth century in the Western world. It just started breaking out.
So I would get to be on platforms with John and he would help me do ministry. He would whisper in my ear and tell me what to do or not do. Mostly, what he told me to do was, “Shut up, you’re talking way too much.” He said, “You’ve got to dial down, you’ve got to listen way more than you talk. Listen.”
So I would ask John after the meetings, “John, what were you feeling?” He would say, “I felt as I have always felt.” “What?” He said, “You know my first big conference.”
I said, “What?”
“I felt what I always feel.”
“What?”
He said, “Nothing, ever, never.” He had done some hundreds of conferences. “I’ve never, ever once had a feeling on a platform.”
I said, “No way!”
He said, “You other guys”—we had a ton of different guys—“feel a little of this and that. You feel the Spirit’s presence. That upsets me; I don’t ever feel anything anywhere.” He had the manifestations of power that were continual.
I said, “Really?”
He said, “Yeah; for some reason the Lord just set it up that way.”
LIVING IN UNRESOLVED TENSION
He said, “The way I spell faith is R-I-S-K. That’s how I spell faith. I just say things and get people. I don’t say, ‘The Lord said...’ if the Lord didn’t tell me. I just say, ‘I’m going to pray, and speak things.’ ‘Lady, I’m going to pray for you; I’m going to ask that cancer in your body to leave,’” and he would command it to leave.
Lots of times the cancer didn’t leave, and John was so open about the many, many times it didn’t happen. John was remarkable, because he was one of those rare guys in the healing ministry who didn’t have to answer for it when it didn’t work. Most people who get well-known for healing, after a decade or two, they almost always have to answer for it when it doesn’t work.
John was content to live in unresolved tension.
He said, “I don’t know why it doesn’t work. I don’t want to give that answer. I’m going to live in that tension unresolved.”
John said, “Here’s what I’ve found out: I would rather see one out of 100 people get healed, than zero out of zero.”
I said, “One out of a hundred?”
He said, “Yeah. You get a lot of people healed, one out of a hundred.”
I said, “Really?”
He said, “Yeah. If you’re me, I pray for thousands of people every week. So, if I get one out of a hundred, I get a lot of healings every week.”
John’s point wasn’t to have one out of a hundred; that wasn’t his point. His point was, he said, “I am not going to wait until the number is big and then start.” I heard him say it many times. “A lot of you are content. You would rather have zero out of zero. You would rather have a perfect record than one out of a hundred and pray for thousands of people.”
Application - RECEIVING FROM THE LORD
Pray for students to be empowered by the Holy Spirit.
Meditation - RECEIVING FROM THE LORD
“Now about spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be ignorant.” (1 Cor. 12:1)
“Follow the way of love and eagerly desire spiritual gifts…” (1 Cor. 14:1)
“In the last days, God says,
I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
your young men will see visions,
your old men will dream dreams.
Even on my servants, both men and women,
I will pour out my Spirit in those days,
and they will prophesy.” (Acts 2:17-18)
Today we will look at a larger section of Scripture than normal, 1 Cor. 12:1 – 14:25.
We’ve spent quite a bit of time talking about how to develop a relationship with and listen to the Holy Spirit. Now I think it appropriate to address the Holy Spirit’s gifts. As you read, pay special attention to the gifts. Part of eagerly desiring involves asking for them. Today as you read, ask the Holy Spirit to stir up the gifts in your life.
Remember, everything in the Christian life happens through the vehicle of faith. By faith, we are saved. By faith, we received the Holy Spirit. By faith, we hear from the Lord. By faith, we ask for and receive the Holy Spirits gifts and by faith, we operate in the gifts.
[Note 1: In addition to teaching about the gifts of the Spirit, Paul teaches on the proper use of the gifts in a corporate setting (i.e. prophecy and tongues). I would rather you focus on stepping into a gifting then studying the guidelines for something you have not experienced.
Note 2: A ‘gifting’ is different from a ‘calling’. Two different people may be called to the same task but gifted differently to achieve that task. Two different people may have the same gifting but the expressions of that gifting show up very differently based on situation and calling.]
“Follow the way of love and eagerly desire spiritual gifts…” (1 Cor. 14:1)
“In the last days, God says,
I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
your young men will see visions,
your old men will dream dreams.
Even on my servants, both men and women,
I will pour out my Spirit in those days,
and they will prophesy.” (Acts 2:17-18)
Today we will look at a larger section of Scripture than normal, 1 Cor. 12:1 – 14:25.
We’ve spent quite a bit of time talking about how to develop a relationship with and listen to the Holy Spirit. Now I think it appropriate to address the Holy Spirit’s gifts. As you read, pay special attention to the gifts. Part of eagerly desiring involves asking for them. Today as you read, ask the Holy Spirit to stir up the gifts in your life.
Remember, everything in the Christian life happens through the vehicle of faith. By faith, we are saved. By faith, we received the Holy Spirit. By faith, we hear from the Lord. By faith, we ask for and receive the Holy Spirits gifts and by faith, we operate in the gifts.
[Note 1: In addition to teaching about the gifts of the Spirit, Paul teaches on the proper use of the gifts in a corporate setting (i.e. prophecy and tongues). I would rather you focus on stepping into a gifting then studying the guidelines for something you have not experienced.
Note 2: A ‘gifting’ is different from a ‘calling’. Two different people may be called to the same task but gifted differently to achieve that task. Two different people may have the same gifting but the expressions of that gifting show up very differently based on situation and calling.]
