[center:f2d527f3d7]What Does the Bible Say About.... the Gift of the Holy Spirit?

By Betty Miller[/center:f2d527f3d7]

Acts 11:14-17:

"Who shall tell thee words, whereby thou and all thy house shall be saved. And as I began to speak, the Holy Ghost fell on them, as on us at the beginning. Then remembered I the word of the Lord, how that he said, John indeed baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost. For as much then as God gave them the like gift as he did unto us, who believed on the Lord Jesus Christ; what was I, that I could withstand God?"

God's gift of the Holy Ghost is promised to us today and not just for the saints back in the time of the early church, as we find Peter saying, "...Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call" (Acts 2:38-39). The Holy Ghost is God's gift to us. As we are baptized in His Spirit we will find that we will experience the gift of speaking in tongues, plus all the other gifts when needed, if we continue to follow Him (1 Corinthians 12, 13 and 14). These are God's gifts of power to enable us to accomplish the task to which we have been commissioned. Although the gift has been abused by many, we should not take lightly the Lord's words to us in John 7:37b-39,

"...Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)"

[center:f2d527f3d7]ZEAL WITHOUT KNOWLEDGE[/center:f2d527f3d7]

A "Balanced Christian Walk" is something that each of us needs to strive to attain since our eagerness and zeal can create problems for us. The Scripture talks of this in Romans 10:2, "For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge.'' We need the zeal, yet it must be balanced according to the knowledge of God's Word. The Scripture says in Hosea 4:6a, "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge." Dangerous heresies, erroneous teachings and false doctrines can destroy God's people unless they have a complete knowledge of God's Word. Just memorizing a few Scriptures will not keep us from error. We must study the Word of God and apply it to our hearts if we are to remain free from error and extremes. John 15:7 says, "If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you." This is a powerful promise of God, but it is conditional as we notice two "if" in this Scripture. These are if His words are abiding in us, and if we are abiding in Him. He states we can ask anything and it will be done if these two things are existent in us.

In looking at this Scripture, we can deduce that if our prayers are not being answered, we either do not have God's complete Word abiding in us, or we are not fully abiding in Him. We would be receiving answers to all of our prayers if we had all of God's Word in us and we were completely controlled by the Holy Spirit. The way for us to be overcomers and get our prayers answered 100 percent is to allow the Word of God to dwell in us and change us until we are conformed to the image of Jesus Christ. Then we would never pray for anything that would not be the will of God for we would know and obey the will of God. God's Word is His Will. If we are not receiving the answers to our prayers, we need to allow the Word of God to change us. The Word of God never changes, and Jesus never changes; so if there is any changing to be done, it must be on our end. "For I am the Lord, I change not" (Malachi 3:6a). "Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever" ( Hebrews 13:8 ).

Jesus is the Rock. He is solid and stable and will not change. For this reason we can trust Him and believe the Words He has spoken to us. If He said it, then that settles it. It is truth because He cannot lie. If He said it and we believe it, then faith in His Word will produce those things that are promised to us in the Bible. Knowing only portions of the Word can cause us to become imbalanced. We must seek to know the whole truth and be completely surrendered to the will of God for us to be victorious and successful Christians. Stressing one portion of God's Word will invariably produce prayer failures. This is the reason for many "faith" failures today. It is not so much people's lack of faith that fails to produce the answers they are seeking, but their failure to apply other portions of God's Word.

Are you saying that the only way to know if someone is born of the Spirit, is by the Gift of Tongues? Do you considers this as a sign of discipleship where you worship? What do you do about the ones who aren't?

I read this post twice and I don't see where it states or implies this, aremessenger?
Please point out where you see this.

Great thread! awesome word!

"Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. To one there is given through the Spirit the message of wisdom, to another the 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 prophesy, 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 gives them to each one, just as he determines." (1 Cor 12:8-11).

Two points (based on the verses I've cited):

1) Not every born again Spirit filled believer receives the gift of tongues. And if you check 1 Cor 14, you'll find that Paul would rather we prophesied because prophesy builds up the church.

2)The Spirit distributes the gifts when and how he pleases, which means that he uses us to bless others through the gifts, but we cannot claim ownership of any of them They are his gifts alone and always. In the 22 years of my walk as a born again Spirit filled believer God has used me to deliver prophetic words and words of encouragement quite a few times and there've been a few times when he has used me to bring physical healing to folks through the laying on of hands.

I can back up my statement that I don't have permanent possession of any of the gifts by telling you this: If I had the gift of prophecy and the gift of encouragement in my possession, I'd have people lined up for blocks waiting to get to me for guidance. That is not happening. And, if I had the gift of healing in my pocket, I'd go down to our local hospital, start laying hands on patients, and have that place cleared out in an hour. That's not happening, either.

SLE

Good response SpiritLedEd, let's don't mistake the gift of Tongues ( needs to be interpreted)with praying in tongues (intercession by the Holy Spirit)

SpiritledEd, I'm with you 100%. How ever, I have watched the gift of tongues misused many times, with many people getting hurt. Wisdom is a key thought here I believe.

Rick

"As we are baptised in the spirit we will find that we will experience the gift of speaking in Tongues, plus all the other gifts when needed." I have no problem with tongues, but when I see that listed above and first ahead of the others, then my previous question comes to mind. I know of many charismatic churches where that is the only evidence that matters. And many folks get hurt in the process.

I agree that many have been hurt and that there seems to be a lot of emphasis on speaking in tongues (prayer language) But there is a difference between born of Spirit and baptized in the Spirit. They are both seperate experiences.

The best evidence of the Spirit are the fruits of the Spirit.

Please elaborate if you would Jiggyfly; my opinions concerning this subject are somewhat intense. Since watching people "leave" God permanently because being judged as "spiritually inferior"; I have great difficulty in presenting to anyone what should be "Spirit Baptism" for them. To me this is a personal thing that is between only God and them, and no one else, ever.

Please do not take this as a personal attack, it is not meant to be as such in anyway. I have real problems with people trying to determine for other people, what their "Spiritual" filling should be. No one should ever attempt to be the "Holy Spirits" stand in for another, ever.

And believe it or not, I also have real problems with folks trying to "make" them believe in a particular doctrine, one way or the other. Lord bless you in your walk with Him.

Rick