Your spiritual gifts were not given for your own benefit but for the benefit of others, just as other people were given gifts for your benefit. ~Rick Warren
My Lord has been guiding me to the most interesting places, not places of geography but spiritual places, and the more steps I have taken on this guided path the more I find that what I have believed, what I have held back in my heart because I knew so many fellow Christians could not accept those things, was exactly what my Lord wanted me to believe and put into action.This part is so clear to me now. My Lord called me out of my former church because it so terribly limited the workings of Holy Spirit to the point the church seemed almost spiritually neglected, even abandoned and dying off. People want to believe but are afraid to believe...actually, afraid to put into practice what they believe would be more accurate. I wanted to be a healer and God made me a healer, not because I am holier than anyone else, but because I desired it or it was His desire that I would desire it (such things always mess with my head); I asked for it, I actually sought the gift because I did not want anyone to suffer; and He knew that my desire to take away suffering and heal people was so strong that I would use the gift for His glory. What good would it be to have the gift of healing and not heal anyone?
There is no place in the Bible were it is written that God would stop giving spiritual gifts or that they were meant only for prophets and disciples or that people to whom God had given spiritual gifts were to resist using them. Just how did this doctrine leak into the churches and taught if not from the pulpit then in practice? How did it become believable that God's power through believers was turned off long ago and how did this falsehood get ingrained in me? This has been my internal battle: believing it, yet not at the same time. I mean I had this gift so how could I really not believe in spiritual gifts?
Let me ask you this: If God had given you a gift like healing or visions or seeing the spiritual realm or words of knowledge or prophecy, do you think He then would say not to use it? Now, you might be one of the believers who do not believe in gifts because you are unaware of having one or perhaps one has not been given to you, but have you ever asked for a gift or would you use it as God directed you it if you had one? Would your church's doctrine or fellow Christians' fear hold you back from using it?
That is where I have been for about eighteen years, hiding a gift yet still using it...cautiously. That was so wrong. This is God's world. We are to be fearless, courageous, and joyful Kingdom dwellers right here and right now. My Lord has always told me He has given me far more than I have used...probably every Christian has the same condition!
I came across another interesting man of God. The first video tells about him and his gift for discerning spirits as a seer. This is an amazing gift. The second is a sermon/seminar he gave, one of many on YouTube, that is so very powerful and resonated so much with my spirit. It is long but so worth it.
~ My Lord, let those who read here be blessed and see that which You wish them to see. ~
