OBTAINING SPIRITUAL GIFTS

1Corinthians 12:1-11; Ephesians 4:1-11; John 3:3-8

God is thoughtful towards us. In His foreknowledge and plan, He has given us the Holy Spirit with accompanying precious gifts. This He has done to enable us to fulfil the ministry of the Church as true witnesses to our Lord Jesus Christ. If we lack these gifts, we miss a lot and we would be ineffective in the ministry committed to us by Christ. We would lack the fullness of Joy that Jesus promised. These gifts are free and can be received only after people have been baptised with the Holy Spirit. So before seeking spiritual gifts it is essential to be filled with the Holy Spirit. To be filled with the Holy Spirit it is essential for you to be born again. That is the basic qualification. Than you can tarry – wait upon the Lord so that your heart will be purified by faith and you will then be filled with the Holy Spirit. Then spiritual gifts will follow. The process is not necessarily meant to take a long time – I mean being saved, purified (which we call sanctification), and being baptised in the Holy Spirit. As soon as your heart is prepared, you will be blessed with these blessings. Remember Cornelius and his household. Their salvation, sanctification and baptism in the Holy Spirit  appeared to happen instantaneously. But when you read his life history you notice that he had been preparing for some time for these gifts without knowing it.

DOING THE GROUNDWORK FOR SPIRITUAL GIFTS

Salvation Essential (John 3:3-8)

Sanctification Necessary (1Thes.4:1-8)

Baptism With The Holy spirit (Luke 24:49; Acts 1:8)

Some of you may know about what is called to Roman Road to Salvation. For the benefit of those who do not know and as a reminder for those who already know, the Roman Road to salvation a collection of bible verses from the book of Romans showing a step by step path to salvation for the sinner. Please mark them in your bible if you have a paper Bible. You can also mark them in your electronic Bible. They are (Romans 3:23; Rom.6:23a; Rom.6:23b; Rom.5:8; Rom.10:13; Rom.10:9,10; Rev.3:20a).

All have sinned (Rom.3:23, 10). You do not need to be convinced that there is sin in the world and that everyone is involved in sin! Sin has even affected you yourself.

The wages of sin is death (Rom.6:23a; Ezekiel 18:4, 20; Heb.9:27). It is a declaration of God that any soul that rejects God’s provision of salvation and chooses to go her own way will be judged and sent to hell, the place of her choice.

God has provided life for instead of death (Rom.6:23b; Eph.2:8-10)

Christ has paid for our sins by His death and resurrection (Rom.5:8; 1Cor.15:1-4)

Whosoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved (Rom.10:13). Everyone can call on the name of the Lord. The poor can call, the rich can call. The educated can call, the illiterate can call. The young can call. The old can call. It is so simple to be saved that there will be no excuse for not getting saved. If you do not get saved, you will go to hell and you will have yourself to blame.

Confess Jesus and believe what He has done for you (Rom.10:9,10; rev.3:20). Know today that Christ is waiting for you and if you take this simple steps you will be saved and begin to enjoy eternal life.

Sanctification can be called purity of heart, circumcision of heart, holiness. Let’s look at some bible verses about sanctification (John 17:15-17; 1Thes.5:22-24; 2Cor.5:17). Contrast these with the works of the flesh (Gal.5:19-21)! In your sanctification, you have a part to play (John 14:15; 1Cor.9:27; James 1:22; 1Pet.1:16).

Baptism in the Holy Spirit is God’s free gift to the believer. Jesus told us the great truths about the Holy Spirit – the third person in the Trinity (Luke 24:49; John 14:15-23; Acts 1:8; 2:1-4).

DEMONSTRATION OF SPIRITUAL GIFTS

Revelatory Gifts (1Cor.12:8, 10b)

Word of (Wisdom/Knowledge), Discerning of spirits

Power Gifts (1Cor.12:9, 10a)

Faith, healing, Working of Miracles

Prophetic Gifts (1Cor.12:10)

Prophecy, Tongues, Interpretation

All these gifts of the Holy Spirit are meant for the Church. Every believer should have some gifts with which to serve the Lord in the Church.

Word of wisdom manifested by Jesus (Mat.22:15-22); Word of knowledge (Acts 9:10-17); Discerning of spirits (Acts 16:16-18); Faith (Mark 11:12-14, 22-24); Healing (Acts 3:1-8); working of Miracles (Acts 16:25-31); Gift of tongues (Acts 2:4-8).

Our need is not if we can see examples of these gifts manifested in the bible. Our need is to be filled with the Holy Spirit and to receive and manifest these gifts given freely to all who believe and obey the Lord.

DESIRE FOR SPIRITUAL GIFTS

P – Purge Your Vessel (2Tim.2:21-22)

R – Recommit Yourself (2Sam.15:15)

E – Empty Your cleansed Vessel (2Kings 4:3-4)

P – Present Your Vessel (Rom.12:1-2)

A – Ask Him To fill The Vessel (Luke 11:9-13)

R – Receive The Fullness Into The Vessel (Mark 11:24)

E – Expect His Outpouring On The Vessel (Jer.29:11)

Covet the best gifts (1Cor. 12:31; 14:1-3, 24-25, 39). How do you understand that statement? Is there any gift of the Holy Ghost that is not good enough? This simply means the best gifts suited to your personality and that will benefit the Church most. You must desire the gifts. The only place in the whole bible where to covet is good is in 1Cor.12:31.

 Every gift of God is good. But rather than the whole church spending the whole day speaking in tongues, we are commanded to seek that we all may prophesy instead. Since prophecy is direct revelation from God either through what is already written ion the scripture or fresh revelation about particular issues, it would indeed be best for the Church that we all prophesy.

Whatever gift you are desiring, you will first need to prepare yourself. We have spelt the word to prepare in a way that will focus our mind on how to prepare to receive spiritual gifts.

The promise of the Spirit and His gifts is unto us and our children and to as many as the Lord our God shall call. Let the month of March be a defining month in our lives as we seek God for a mighty outpouring of His Holy Spirit and gifts.