My assignment from the Lord today is to introduce you to a Biblical truth that will shake your beliefs about spiritual gifts. This is one of those messages that you will have to take home and chew on it.
What I’m saying is I am going to challenge your thinking today. This will require you to study the Word of God so you can verify this truth for yourself.
Are you ready to be challenged? Let’s go.
Last Sunday, I was up at 5:30 am, walking around my pool and talking to the Lord. This is part of my daily rhythm, and on Sundays, I always take time to pray for the service ahead.
Part of my prayer goes something like this, “Holy Spirit, as leader of this church, I welcome your gifts. I desire to see all of them in operation. But I know you are the one who decides what gifts we will see today, and I submit to Your will.”
I’ve prayed this probably hundreds of times without any indication that my prayer was unbiblical. But this time the Lord interrupted me as soon as I finished uttering those words.
His voice invaded my thoughts like a flash of lightning and here’s what He said, “I decide which gifts you get. You decide when to use them.”
I was so stunned that I stopped walking and said, “What? That can’t be right.” And then immediately 1 Corinthians 12 came to mind and I ran inside to get my Bible.
This is where nine spiritual gifts are listed: word of wisdom, word of knowledge, special faith, gifts of healing, working of miracles, prophecy, discerning of spirits, different kinds of tongues, and interpretation of tongues.
After these gifts are listed, here is what it says:
1 Corinthians 12:11 NLT - It is the one and only Spirit who distributes all these gifts. He alone decides which gift each person should have.
Notice how this scripture confirms what the Lord said to me. The Holy Spirit decides which gift each person should have. But it does not say that He decides when they are used.
Let me say it this way. The Holy Spirit decides which gift you get. You don’t have a say in that. But once you get the gift, it's up to you to decide when you will use it.
If you are like me, this wrecks your doctrine. All this time, I’ve been waiting on the Holy Spirit to allow me to use the gifts. It sounds holy and gives me an easy out if nothing happens. “I guess the Holy Spirit didn’t want to do anything today.”
This raises questions like “Why do we only see the gifts in operation on Sundays at church?” Well, that tends to be the only time we allow the gifts to operate. Turns out, we are deciding when they are used.
To further verify this point, notice how some churches operate in spiritual gifts, whereas others don’t. There are even churches that once operated in spiritual gifts, but now they don’t. Why? Because they decide when they are used.
So. The Holy Spirit decides which gifts each of us gets. But we decide when to use them.
I’ve only shown you one scripture so far to verify this. And I hope you expect me to give you more before you latch on to what I am saying. Do you want more proof?
Turns out, the Lord led me to read first and second Timothy for more reasons than what I shared with you last week.
Last week, I told you how I was invited by the Tulsa World to share my views on LGBTQ. When asking the Lord what I should do, he led me to first Timothy where I found this:
1 Timothy 6:20 NLT - Timothy, guard what God has entrusted to you. Avoid godless, foolish discussions with those who oppose you with their so-called knowledge.
Okay, got it. No Tulsa World interview.
As I was reading through Timothy, I also wrote down the other things that stood out to me. This is something I wrote down four days before the Lord interrupted my Sunday morning prayer:
Once your spiritual gift is revealed, you must throw yourself into the tasks that develop the gift. People should see your progress.
This is my paraphrase of this scripture:
1 Timothy 4:14-15 NLT - Do not neglect the spiritual gift you received through the prophecy spoken over you when the elders of the church laid their hands on you. Give your complete attention to these matters. Throw yourself into your tasks so that everyone will see your progress.
Timothy was instructed not to neglect his spiritual gift. This tells me that we tend to neglect the gift. Or should I say, “wait for the Holy Spirit to allow us to use our spiritual gift?”
According to this scripture, we aren’t waiting on anything. The Holy Spirit is waiting on us to throw ourselves into the spiritual gift He has given us. We are to give it our complete attention.
Oh, and don’t forget, people should see your progress. This isn’t something you do in the closet during your prayer time. This is something you do in front of people.
Three days later, I wrote something else down:
When it comes to spiritual gifts, we must not be afraid or too shy to use them. We must put them into action with the power, love, and sound mind God has given us. Be bold!
This is my paraphrase of this scripture:
2 Timothy 1:6-7 NLT - This is why I remind you to fan into flames the spiritual gift God gave you when I laid my hands on you. For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline.
Apparently, we tend to let the fire go out on our spiritual gift. Probably because we sit around and wait for the perfect Sunday morning when the Holy Spirit allows us to use it.
We like this manmade doctrine of the Holy Spirit being responsible for the lack of spiritual gifts because it allows us to be shy and keep our gifts in hiding.
But it is not God who makes you afraid to use your spiritual gift. Satan is the author of fear. He doesn’t want your gift in operation, so he will make you afraid to use it.
It’s time to punch satan in the throat. And it’s time to repent for believing his lie that we are waiting on the Holy Spirit to give us permission to use our spiritual gifts.
Do not neglect your spiritual gift. Fan it into flames! Throw yourself into the tasks that develop your gift! Do it in front of people because God has given you power, love, and a sound mind.
Wow. This is really good. The Word has confirmed twice what the Lord told me when I was walking around my pool that morning. Now, let me show you one more.
Romans 11:29 NKJV - For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.
Once you get the gift, you have it for life. It’s not like God gives you the gift of healing, takes it back, and gives it to you again. No. He gives you the gift, and it's yours to keep forever.
The Holy Spirit decides which gift you get. But once you have it, you decide when to use it.
Some of you don’t know what your spiritual gift is yet. And that’s okay. Don’t stress it. Just keep preparing yourself by studying the Word of God, so you are ready when it comes.
Some of you think that spiritual gifts are for other people - like the leadership of the church - but not for you. Well, I hate to burst your bubble, but check this out:
1 Corinthians 12:7 NLT - A spiritual gift is given to each of us so we can help each other.
God’s plan is for every single one of us to be operating in spiritual gifts. No one is exempt. So get with the Holy Spirit every day until you find out what yours is.
Some of you already know what your spiritual gift is and this message today is going to unleash it. So I’ll repeat what Paul said to Timothy:
Do not neglect your spiritual gift. Fan it into flames! Throw yourself into the tasks that develop your gift! Do it in front of people because God has given you power, love, and a sound mind.
