What about that Gift?

REAL CHANGE // TRADEMARK CHURCH

WHAT ABOUT THAT GIFT

When the Holy Spirit came at Pentecost, the Bible mentions that “All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them” (Acts 2:4). Just a few verses later, we witness Peter—who just a few weeks earlier was afraid to tell a little girl that he was a friend of Jesus—addressing a crowd of thousands. We know it was thousands, because 3,000 of them were saved that day. (It wasn’t everybody in the crowd who were saved, but only “those who accepted his message.”)

There are many spiritual gifts associated with the Holy Spirit that are listed in the New Testament. Spiritual gifts shouldn’t be confused with the fruit of the Spirit (love, joy, peace, etc.). Rather, a spiritual gift is a special supernatural ability that God gives to each of his children, so that together we can advance his purposes in this world.

Of course, any gift given by God will be beneficial in the context of the fruit of the Spirit and always used in a way that honors the other person. Let’s put it this way: How you say what you say is just as important as what you say, and how you do what you do is just as important as what you do. For example, if it seems right to pray for someone for healing, it would be appropriate to ask their permission first.

We mentioned earlier that it’s common today for people to be turned off by the packaging that the Holy Spirit is brought to them in, which is understandable! But people can also be turned off by one gift—the gift of tongues. Of all the gifts listed in the New Testament, none is as controversial as this one. There are two separate mentions of tongues in 1 Corinthians. The first is in 1 Corinthians 12:28, where Paul talks about “different kinds of tongues.” The phrase “different kinds” generally means there’s more than one kind, just like this same verse mentions “gifts (plural) of healing.” Not everybody has all of those gifts. Some people have some kind, and some another.

It is critically important to always find out what the Word says. Don’t take somebody else’s word for it. Paul encourages us in First Corinthians 14 to “earnestly desire gifts of the Spirit, especially prophecy.” And he goes on to prefer prophecy over tongues, as “anyone who speaks in tongues edifies himself, but the one who prophesies edifies the church.” In this passage, Paul is not condemning tongues, but if he had to pick between the two, he would pick prophecy.

In fact, Paul brings clarity in the same chapter, beginning with the mention in verse two that anyone who speaks in tongues does not speak to people but to God. He continues by challenging the reader in verses 14–15 to pray two different ways—in the Spirit, which edifies your spirit, and with understanding, which edifies your mind. Both are important. In praying both ways, you feed both your soul and your spirit man. Later, in verse 18, he brags a little that he “speaks in tongues more than all of you.” But he also explains that its highest and best use is edifying the person who is using the gift—commonly called a private prayer language.

Many people have been taught to avoid that gift, but why would we avoid a gift just because someone has told us to avoid it? You don’t need to avoid something God has given you, even if you don’t fully understand it. Never treat any of God’s gifts as a repulsive experience. If God gives it, it is good. At the same time, Paul challenges us not to focus on just one gift.

When we are free to look beyond confusing packaging and consider the greatest gift that Jesus freely gives to normal, everyday believers—the gift of the Holy Spirit—we find that when we have the power of his presence both in us and on us, we will be able to have victory over the enemy where we haven’t had victory and empowered to be his ambassadors to a hopeless and dying world.

In Ephesians 3:16–19, for what purposes did Paul pray for the Ephesians to be filled with the power of the Holy Spirit?

What was the purpose for being filled with the power & the Spirit of God in Micah 3:8?

For what purpose in Acts 1:8 did Jesus express to the disciples to wait to be baptized in the Holy Spirit?

Rewrite 2 Timothy 1:7 in your own words.