Spiritual Gifts (Manifestations)
I was going to do a series of posts on Healing in the Atonement, but in perusing the blogosphere, it appears that there is a dearth of knowledge of spiritual manifestations or gifts. So, I plan to cover those.
When discussing spiritual gifts, the first issue to cover is how they operate. According to I Corinthians 12, these manifestations are as “the Spirit wills.” They do not turn on the fruit of the spirit as identified in Galatians 5. They involve the sovereignty of God and cannot be earned and do not result from any kind of merit. Also, they cannot be turned off and on as a person wills. God demonstrates to us, however, in His Word that certain manifestations will found to accompany certain five-fold offices. For instance, in Acts we see that Philip was an evangelist who had the gifts of healings present in his ministry. There is no record that he had the word of wisdom, discerning of spirits, etc. also in operation.
The gifts are a fascinating part of God’s dealing with man. Recently, I sat under a man who sits in the office of the evangelist. During the meeting, there were manifestations of the dunamis power that we see in Acts and also gifts of healing as we see in I Corinthians. This particular minister has been villified by some because some of his teachings push the envelope on the doctrinal side. Because of that, the critics say that he is a fraud and a huckster. What they miss is the proper application of the Word. If God could manifest based only upon the character or integrity of the preacher, we would never see Him move. Hence, he has reserved these gifts to manifest as He wills without regard to merit or fruit. So, as believers, we graciously receive the manifestations of the gifts, while also scrutinizing the doctrinal teaching of the minister to ensure its accuracy with the Word.
The more we look into how God has set up the gifts and their operation, we see just how brilliant He is.