On the gifts of the Spirit (the third and final part)

“The power to work miracles” – We see this supernatural gift of the Spirit operating, for example, when Jesus turns water into wine (John 2:1-11) and multiplies the bread in John 6.

“The gift of prophecy” – 1 Cor. 14 in its entirety deals with the importance of this gift. The verses of particular interest are 1, 3, and 29 to 33. This is the one gift of the Spirit we “can desire” from God. We can therefore ask God to use us more and more in this gift in people’s lives. The other important passages of Scripture in this regard are 1 Thess. 5:19 to 21 and 1 John 4:1 and 2.

“The gift of discerning between spirits” – This is about the supernatural ability that God gives to be able to distinguish who is at work in a particular situation. Is it God or is it demonic? Eph. 6:12 is therefore important here.

“The gift of tongues” – Here it is about what we usually refer to as a “heavenly language,” which is usually unintelligible sounds that God’s Spirit supernaturally gives us to speak or pray with. Cf. 1 Cor. 14:2,4,15 and 18 and Rom. 8:26 in this context.

Sometimes God’s Spirit also supernaturally gives believers other existing “languages” that they can then speak even though they never learned them anywhere themselves. We read about this, for example, in Acts 2 for example.

But among these supernatural “tongues” also falls the gift that God’s Spirit supernaturally gives when He gives a word in an unintelligible language through a believer or two, in the gathering of believers. But then He will also give the next gift, the “gift of interpreting it”. Cf. 1 Cor. 14:26,27.28 and 39.

“The gift of interpretation” – 1 Cor. 14:13 and 28 is important here. Verse 25 then shows what God’s intention is with it in the gathering of believers.

I hope I have helped you to have more clarity about this.