Footsteps #135

There was a time in my life when I engaged in a church plant with 12 others. When we did a spiritual gifts inventory on our group, we discovered that our major gift was hospitality and our prevailing talent was music, so we successfully built the church on those gifts. 

Regarding spiritual gifts, we need to remember that whenever something true appears, the enemy supplies a counterfeit. The master of deception has a counterfeit for every Biblical doctrine. Spiritual gifts are no exception. For instance, divine healing is all too easy to falsify. Speaking in tongues is a perennial problem for many churches. Outbreaks of self-proclaimed prophets and apostles cause incredible difficulties in many church communions. What did Paul say about authenticating spiritual gifts? (1Thess.5:19-21, 2Thess9,10.) What did Jesus say about counterfeit signs and wonders? (Matt.24:24, Matt.7:21-23). What did John say about this problem in the last days? (Rev.13:13,14) 

Spiritual gifts are always governed by the revealed Word of God and must be exercised only within the boundaries set by the Bible. One problem with contemporary Christianity is that people’s subjective experiences often replace the Bible as the final authority in their lives. The Bible expressly teaches that the existence of these gifts is as necessary to the church of Christ, as the different members are necessary to the well-being of the body. While, therefore, the Bible recognizes the gifts of the Spirit, these are not given to supersede the Bible, nor yet to fill the same place as the Bible. “test everything” Paul said(1Thess5:21). “Test the spirits to see if they are of God,” John chimed in (1John4:1). And the words of Isaiah: “Look to God’s instructions and teachings! People who contradict his word are completely in the dark.” Isa.8:20NLT 

Given the wide variety of spiritual phenomena in the modern world, the church today has a special need for the gift of “discernment” to be manifested in our midst (1Cor.12:10). This gift is generally understood by specialists in this field to be the ability granted by the Holy Spirit to some members of the church to know with certainty whether a teaching or behaviour is truly inspired by and approved of God.