Episode 50: Why the Holy Spirit Gifts?

NOTE: My last post for awhile . . . read below for more info. Love, Pandora

When I started out on this podcast journey, I wanted to help other people find the gifts in the hard things we were all going through. I didn’t want the podcast to be religious. Religion is a man-made construct, rooted in fear, designed to control ourselves and others.

But I can’t help anyone through these times. Not in my own strength anyway. My story. My broken cycles, my gifts, this podcast. It’s all about God – the Father, the son, and The Holy Spirit. God is THE cycle breaker. He is the one who turns our trials into gifts. And he gives us the very gift that empowers us to live wholehearted lives and to help other people.

Through this journey I was given the most special, most powerful gift of all, a deeper understanding and connection to God’s Holy Spirit living within me. And a new belief in all the gifts of the Holy Spirit – not just the ones I can wrap my mind around.

I’m not sure where I’m going next with this podcast. I’m waiting for fresh direction and insight from God on if I should continue and if so, what to share.

For now, I want to conclude this season by sharing a two things I’ve learned this past year as I studied the supernatural gifts.

First, the purpose of the gifts is to benefit the common good.

1 Corinthians 12: 4-11 says:

“There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord.  There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work.

Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues. All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines.

Again, we are given gifts of the Holy Spirit for the purpose of the common good. Why? The second point I’ve learned builds on the first.

The purpose of the gifts is so that we can display God’s love to other people.

1 Corinthians 14 says:

“If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.  If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.”

Jesus’ greatest commandment was to love.

Loving other people is hard and seems to get harder every day. We can’t do it in our own strength. Being able to love is a gift from God. And can come only from spending time with him and tapping into his supernatural power within us.

That’s what Matthew 6:33 “to seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well” means to me right now.

When I seek God and spend time with him, growing in my identity as his child, I grow in the fruits of the spirit that are listed in Galatians 5: 22 love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, gentleness, and self-control.

I now see that the fruits and the gifts are connected. If I’m filled with love, joy, peace, and other fruits of the Spirit, when God pours out the gifts of his Spirit like it says in Joel 2:28, I will be able to channel all the gifts God pours out on me, to do His will (i.e. display His love).

I’ve spent this past year fascinated that this understanding of the Holy Spirit gifts isn’t taught in some churches. I don’t mean that as a dis to those churches. I’m very aware of who the real enemy is – it isn’t the well meaning people in those churches.

There has been an agenda from the enemy to keep the full power of God from us. If he can keep us focused on our behavior and how we look to other people, that is religion, than we aren’t focused on the power and authority God has given to his children through his spirit.

We shouldn’t be surprised that the enemy has used religion in this way.

Consider the stories of the religious attacking Jesus for healing on the sabbath. The religious have never accepted the supernatural gifts of the spirit. Again, this isn’t to attack any church but the spirit of religiosity that has us focused on the wrong things instead of a relationship with God that is so much more powerful and exciting than we’ve been taught.

So where do we go from here?

If you’ve been a believer but haven’t felt the power of God working in your life, ask God to show you. Spend time in his word. This year I re-read the bible. Every day I prayed to see God’s Holy Spirit in his word, to correct any false teaching I believed, and to love God and others more deeply. God answered all those prayers.

Spend time thanking him and worshipping him for all he has done and he will do immeasurably more in your life and in your heart than you can imagine.

Thank you for taking the time to listen to the podcast and to read this blog. Prayerfully, God will have me produce more episodes but if not, I’ve enjoyed the time we’ve spent together. I pray God’s blessing and love over your life. In Jesus’ name!

Love, Pandora