The Spiritual Gifts Are For Everyone

John14:12  I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.

Do you really believe this?

I’ve been seeking spiritual gifts because I want to love the way Jesus loved, in supernatural power and action.  I want to know God’s will, to help people know God, and to demonstrate that God has power today.   I guess I got kind of burned out on “God is love”.  Yes, God is love, and power is nothing but dangerous if not motivated by love.  But love is also impotent if not accompanied with power.  What I’ve been coming to realize is that the American church experience typically does not match the clear biblical model.  Jesus and the early disciples didn’t just talk about love, they demonstrated it by helping people.  And not just helping people in the natural like feeding the hungry and taking care of orphans and widows, though it is right to do these things, but they also had faith that God was all-powerful, and so they helped people in the supernatural by healing and casting out demons.  I don’t believe the gospel would have spread around the world if Jesus did not heal.  If Jesus simply said, “I’m sorry you have leprosy.  Really, I feel for you, so have peace that God loves you just the same!”.  If that’s all he said and then moved on to the next person, would that person accept Jesus as the Messiah?

I guess you could say that I’m in a phase of testing.  Testing myself and testing God’s Word.  I hear radical stories of miracles happening in far away mission grounds, but I’m lucky to be part of a church that believes those things are necessary and available today in America too.  Our church is seeing more and more of these miracles, and as a body our faith is growing very quickly.  I’m sharing my piece of that experience.

When I talk to someone about Christ, I want to fully know that God is willing and able to do something in their lives to demonstrate His love.  I don’t want it to be head knowledge or faith.  That is why I’m seeking the gifts.  But more importantly, after that person has been the recipient of a personal, supernatural touch from God, I want them to receive God’s love in a personal way that transforms them.  Over the last year or so, I’ve had a few encounters with the supernatural as it pertains to God’s love for others.

3. I had an opportunity to be a part of a healing prayer team for a young man.  My role in this was intercessory prayer, nothing more.  During this time I saw a vision of Jesus entering the room and sitting down beside the young man.  I didn’t share this at the time, but the leader asked the young man if they were feeling/seeing anything.  The young man announced that he felt some tingling/burning in his right leg.  You can imagine my excitement when I shared that I had just seen Jesus sit at his right side.  When you consider that Christ is so personal that he was blessing this young man with a physical touch, what a mighty God we serve.
4. During small group prayer for an individual, I received a prophetic word in my spirit: “Yash asha senequia” which I interpreted to mean “the Lord doesn’t just mend”.  The Lord makes new.  2 Cor5:17.
5. During a prayer and praise I felt anointed for deliverance.  After giving a testimony I invited anyone who felt like they needed to be set free from something to come to me for prayer.  The individual I prayed for unloaded some baggage and received healing in a big way.  He was so on fire that night after receiving that healing that he later ended up giving an alter call for the deliverance of others.  Halleluiah!
6. A large family was parked in a suburban.  The car wouldn’t start, and it was warm outside.  The engine turned too slowly, the car sounded ill.  After observing several attempts I prayed for the car and to my relief the car started and the family was on their way.  Was it natural or supernatural?  I don’t know, but prior to my prayer I didn’t think there was any way that suburban was going to start.
7. I received a prophetic word for a woman in church that “today you would be filled with the Lord completely”.  I didn’t know what that meant really, she is already a spirit-filled woman, but I felt like it was a life-giving word worth sharing.  The next time I saw her she was so excited to share that that at12:30am that same night, she woke up with a powerful “revelation from the Lord and received an outpouring of righteousness that freed her from long standing issues”.  She said she laid in bed laughing and rejoicing with tears of gladness.
8. I’ve been fortunate to be apart of 3 physical healings.  In all three instances I saw no immediate evidence of the healings.  However, in all 3 instances, the recipient of the prayer told me in coming days that their ailments healed that same night.  So it is by their testimony, not my own, that I say praise God!
9. One night at prayer and praise I had a pain in my jaw.  I had no pain earlier that day, so I thought it might be a word from the Lord.  I asked anyone who was experiencing a pain like this to come to me for prayer.  To my surprise, I ended up praying for 4 people that night.  One of those women received incredible blessing that night, including a word of knowledge from another member of the congregation.
10. That same night at prayer and praise, I felt the Lord was telling me to walk out of church and head to the nearby bus stop.  To my surprise, as soon as I stepped out of the church, I saw a man pushing his son in a wheel chair across the church parking lot.  I had a dilemma.  I really thought I was supposed to go to the bus stop, and yet common sense says the opportunity to show God’s love was right in front of me.  Maybe it was an excuse, but I decided to keep on towards the bus stop.  It was empty.  I spun around and went back to look for the man and his son, but couldn’t find them.  I told my pastor I chickened out, but he reminded me that Peter wasn’t a failure for sinking; he was the only one who stepped out of the boat!  He was excited that I was listening for the voice of the Lord and obedient to it even when it seemed unconventional.
11. I received a word of knowledge for a woman at church that I didn’t know and had never spoken to before.  The word of knowledge came first as a vision, then an interpretation to that vision, then the knowledge of who it was for.  I don’t know how I knew who it was for her, I just felt like God wanted to reach out to her.  The vision was essentially some swirling playground swings.  My interpretation was that she had some emotional scarring that revolved around playground swings.  She confirmed that she used to receive much physical and emotional harassment as a child around the playground swings, and it was an area of pain in her childhood memories.  I then shared with her a message from God, how he sees her, and how he adores being with her, like a father gently pushing his daughter on the swings.  She was very thankful for that personal touch of love from God the Father.

I hope this is only the beginning.  I share these things only to give testimony and encourage you that the supernatural gifts of the Holy Spirit are for all believers!  We should walk with power and authority, claiming hearts and territory for the Kingdom of God.  I want to speak truth and life into people’s lives.  I want to make good on Jesus’s promise that we too will minister in the same way he did.  And I want to spread the word that love conquers all, even death.  Christ has risen, and he has given us new life!

Amen.