Miracles – otherwise known as "signs and wonders." This manifestation seems to appear most often with missionary activity. In foreign countries where there are many "gods" to deal with, God can graciously provide what is needed to help convince non-believers that He really is THE ONE TRUE GOD. There appears to be three major time frames through the ages, where miracles were necessary: the time of Moses, the time of Elijah, and the time of Jesus and the early church. In all cases, His mighty power was needed to authenticate His purposes and to confirm that He had sent the men He chose to proclaim Him. This does not mean that miracles don't happen in this day and age as well or that none of us can be used in this gift ever. We can be used in this gift. But it will be just as the other manifestations are used, in God's timing and for His specific purposes. But the bible also warns us that false miracles will be done by those who do not want to bring glory to God but to themselves, and we are to be aware of this most certain eventuality. I believe this is already something that we are witnesses to, at times, today and because of which, the Spirit graces us with the much needed manifestation of "discernment" as well.
Prophecy: By now you should have a pretty clear idea of what prophecy is. This manifestation is one in which that same "speaking of God's Word" is given suddenly to one who normally doesn't function in that gift primarily. God is no respecter of persons. He will use whomever He chooses, in whatever gift or manifestation He chooses to use. In this case, it is a manifestation that comes upon one suddenly, as it did with the men Paul laid hands on in Acts 19:6 who began to speak in tongues and to prophesy. In this spontaneity, it is different than the divine enablement of prophecy which is with the one gifted for the remainder of his life, as all the seven "gifts" are irrefutable. (Romans 11:29)
Discernment – The manifestation of the Spirit that the church needs perhaps most of all at these end times is that of discernment. Paul spoke of false teachers entering in the church even while he was still alive. How much more is this gift of discernment needed, and frequently, today? Discernment is being able to determine whether what is being said or done is true or a lie, whether it is divine or demonic, spiritual or carnal. At critical moments, God will supply one in our midst whom He will use to discern in order to protect His Word, and I believe, to protect His church. Perhaps this is what happened with Paul when he called out the spirit of divination from the girl following him and Barnabas while they were in Phillipi (Acts 16:16-18). It is interesting that the Word says Paul "being grieved" turned towards her and spoke to the spirit within her. I think this is part of discernment as well. It is through the Holy Spirit within us that evil is recognized and through the Holy Spirit that we are grieved by it as well.
Tongues – There is no getting around the fact, whether you choose to believe it or not, that tongues is the ability to speak a language that is foreign or undecipherable to the one speaking it. Some argue that it is a divine language, others that is a language that is just foreign to us. In other words, perhaps you are speaking Swahili and just don't know it, as that is not your native tongue. In either case, God is glorified and we are not to "shun" this manifestation any more than we would "shun" any of the other manifestations. God forbid that we do so!
The most misunderstood and abused manifestation of the Spirit in the church today must be tongues, so I will spend a little more time on this subject than I have on the others. The abuse lies in the fact that many within the church have made tongues a "confirming sign" of the baptism of the Holy Spirit. From my studies, I believe this is a biblical error, and a grievous one as it lays a heavy burden on new believers that is unbiblical and unnecessary. Somewhere along the line, "experiences" became more important within the church than the sound doctrine of the Word. This should never have been so. But then again, it should never have been so that the church had become so cold towards God that the "fire" had to be re-ignited in it from time to time, known as "revival." I am not talking about the baptism of the Holy Spirit, which is biblical and necessary to us all, and should happen soon after our conversion to Christ. I am talking about those special ignitings of fire that must be brought about by the Holy Spirit because we have grown cold towards God; one of which was Azusa Street in the early 1900's after which tongues became, sadly, a "popular" manifestation. Revivals are a re-lighting of the passion of the church by the Holy Spirit, with the intention, as is always the case with the Holy Spirit, of glorifying Jesus Christ, the Word of God. Problems comes about when spiritually immature Christians, such as the Corinthians were, begin to place more emphasis on the manifestations of the Spirit, or in this case, ONE manifestation of the Spirit – tongues – rather than on ALL gifts and ALL manifestations of the Spirit, and that those who do this tend to neglect the Word, which is Who this is all about anyway. Tongues is given even more emphasis in the body, by the spiritually immature, than the seven gifts of the Spirit (the divine enablements we have studied) the most important of which, to Paul's thinking, is prophecy: speaking forth the Word of God so that many may be encouraged and comforted by the sound doctrine of the Word (1 Cor. 14:1-3).
In addition, the same people who insist that tongues is a manifestation of the Spirit that MUST appear if one has been truly baptized in the Holy Spirit, seem to disregard the scripture in which Paul lays hands on twelve men who immediately are filled with the spirit and begin to speak not only in tongues, but to also prophesy. Why is not prophesying therefore a "confirming sign" as well? The truth is, neither should be a confirming sign. The Spirit will use whom He chooses to use in whatever manifestation He chooses to reveal the power of God through.
To my understanding, there is a very distinct difference between the long-term divine enablement "in us" of the first seven "gifts" that we began this study with, and the spontaneous action or "manifestation" of the Spirit "through us" that tongues is, along with all the other manifestations that make up Paul's list of nine in 1 Corinthian 12:7-10. I think it is important that we view it in this way, so that we will not over-empasize one that is at the occasional and spontaneous bidding of the Holy Spirit, to the neglect of the other that is placed within us specifically for service to the Lord and is to be used primarily and most often.
Additionally, there is the scripture in which Paul says that "if I pray in an unknown tongue, my spirit prayeth, but my understanding is unfruitful." (1 Cor. 14:14) This seems to indicate that tongues is a prayer as well as a speaking-out manifestation of the Holy Spirit. Paul mentions speaking with "the tongues of men and of angels" (1 Cor. 13:1), thereby causing us to believe that there is a "heavenly" language; perhaps this is when it is a prayer.
Paul also goes on to say that in a gathering of believers and non-believers, it is important that this manifestation of tongues be followed by one who can "interpret" the tongues that are spoken (1 Cor.14:27). He tells the Corinthians: "Wherefore let him that speaketh in an unknown tongue pray that he may interpret" - to desire the ability to interpret themselves, as well as desiring the tongues. Perhaps this is the "speaking out" side of it, rather than the "prayer" side of it. But then he adds: "if there be no interpreter, let him keep silence in the church; and let him speak to himself, and to God" (1 Cor. 14:28) which takes it from being a "speaking out" language back to a subdued or even internal "prayer" language.
But what was it that happened on the Day of Pentecost? Foreigners heard the disciples speaking in a language that was foreign to the disciples but not foreign to the ones listening because "every man heard them speak in his own language" (Acts 2:6). No interpreter was needed. So, is it a spontaneous speaking manifestation, or a prayer language? Or can it be both? While I tend to think that it is both, there is much debate about this particular manifestation within the church. It is important, however, to know that our lack of complete comprehension of this manifestation does not by any means discredit the manifestation, for it is of God, not of us, therefore NOT something we should be able to comprehend completely. What we can be sure of is that this manifestation is a "sign to unbelievers" of the glory of God. (1 Cor. 14:22). [Tongues is mentioned only in Acts and in 1 Corinthians 12-14, so if you wish to study it further, there are only a few chapters that you will need to focus on to do so.]
Interpretation of Tongues - As described above, and by Paul in 1 Corinthians 14:27-28, when the manifestation of tongues is used in a gathering where there are believers and unbelievers both, there should also be an interpreter of those tongues. In other words, there will be someone in the church who is given sudden understanding of those tongues, and can then speak it out in the language that is native to him and also to those gathered there, so that all will receive the blessing of God through His message, especially unbelievers. Often the one who spoke the tongues is also the one who interprets, but not always. I have seen less and less manifestation of this gift within the church. I believe this is due to a combination of lack of understanding of the nature of the manifestation as well as to a lack of courage to speak out in church (also due to a modern day biblical error, as in the early church all were free to speak out – with the exception of the women of the church of Corinth who were doing things that were highly irregular and out of order - results of the pagan culture they were surrounded by in which women were given dominance over men - and so they had to be stopped from speaking out in the church.)
When our churches decide to function less according to traditions of men, and more according to the traditions of the Word of God, there will be more freedom within the church, and it will all be organized by God Himself.
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