i believe in them. I pray in tongues every night, and i serve on my church's prophetic team. I dont quite understand the gift of healing, as it often just appears to be an anointing for healing, which i guess one could call the gift. I also would like to understand what God was talking about when he mentioned discerning of spirits, but all in good time.
I recently heard Pat Roberts (700 Club) explaining the gifts of the Spirit. He said the gift of discerning spirits was not one for the faint of heart.
There are many spirits in the world (not all good). Demons are real, as we all know, and with this gift sometimes you may be able to actually "see" the spirit behind the actions of a person.
I know, as believers, we all have a certain amount of discerenment. We are told to try the spirits to see if they are of GOD.
1 John 4:1 "Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of GOD: because many false prophets are gone out into the world."
The gift of discerning spirits goes much deeper that just being able to discern between good and evil.
I'm praying GOD will give you understanding and a revelation of this gift.
When it comes to us today discerning spirits more often than not the bible means that we are discerning people, not specifically demonic spirits behind them. When we are discerning false prophets for instance, we know that there are evil forces at work in their lives, yet we are entreated to judge them against scripture. So on the one hand scripture is our aid, and on the other the Holy Spirit empowers us to rightly discern false prophets. Not that there is a time and place for discerning some other than fleshly spirit, but we have plenty of in the flesh spirits in which we can exercise this gift upon.
"Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places."
Romans 11:29 For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.
Like I said earlier about tools, they are gifts to minister. We just need to keep plugged into the power source, HIM.
Here's a funny for those of us who get immediate quizzes or tests every time we speak: a friend (22 yrold handmaiden) came over and we have been cleaning my 20 x 40 swimming pool. For three days, we have been working with pumps and pressure washers. The pool was real nasty because of where I live the winds just dump dirt and leaves. So, three days in the muck and mire. Thank God for power tools! buckets (in the flesh is hard work) are back breaking.
More lessons from the Holy Spirit. Those big tools are pretty powerful for us, girls at 120ish lbs.
The night before Jesus' passion, He told His disciples several important things. One of those statements has been used by Pentecostals and Charismatics as a "proof text" to support the idea that spiritual "gifts" were meant for all believers of all generations. In the English translation, John 14:12 may appear to indicate that the promise of doing "greater works" is for every believer of every generation. Not so in the Greek. Jesus carefully chose His words. The verb tenses tell a much different story.
John 14:12
12 "Most assuredly, I say [present indicative] to you, he who believes [present participle] in Me, the works that I do [present indicative] he will do [future indicative] also; and greater works than these he will do [future indicative], because I go to My Father.
(NKJV)
The phrase "he who believes" is a present participle. The present tense in Greek indicates continuous present action. A participle is a verbal adjective. Sometimes it is used to stress the verbal force (action). In such cases, the time element (tense) becomes relative to the time element of the main verb,1 which is "say" in this sentence (I say unto you...). The verb "say" is present indicative, referring to the time Jesus spoke the words. If Jesus meant to stress the verbal force of the participle, the sense would be "the one (right now) who continues believing."
However, in this case, the participle is used as a substantive (like a noun) because it has the definite article.2 It identifies a class of people, "the ones who are believing." The tense of the participle is not subordinate to the tense of the main verb, but functions independently in its aspect of time. Since the participle is present tense it also indicates Jesus had in mind the present "believers" rather than those who would believe in the future. Jesus was referring to those who believed at that moment � that is His own disciples (minus Judas). The whole context bears this out. "Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father. And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in My name, I will do it." (John 14:12-14 NKJV).
We might wonder why Jesus switched between the third person plural (he who believes) and the second person plural (you). The reason seems to be He wanted to place emphasis on the continuation of their faith (that they did not abandon their faith in Him during His passion). His promise is for them, but it is conditional on their remaining "in Me." Jesus almost immediately expressed the necessity of their continuing to believe in the True Vine parable (15:1ff). Jesus warned them that they must CONTINUE "in Me." Otherwise they would end up in the fire (15:6). He had in mind the ordeal they were about to face during His passion � that they would not fall away during the ordeal. He even prayed for Peter that his faith not fail. In the passage before us, Jesus told them what those of them who CONTINUED to believe WOULD do in the future � the works Christ did, and even greater. If Jesus was referring to all those who WOULD believe in the future, He would have used the future tense or the aorist participle as in Mark 16:16. Compare:
Mark 16:15-18
15 And He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.
16 "He who believes [aorist participle] and is baptized [aorist participle] will be saved [future indicative]; but he who does not believe [aorist participle] will be condemned [future indicative].
(NKJV)
This verse refers to those who would believe in the future. "Aorist participles usually suggest antecedent time to that of the main verb."3 But in this case, the aorist participle has the article. It was being used as a substantive (just as "he who believes" in John 14:12). It describes a class of future "believers" due to the preaching of the Apostles. The difference between this use of the participle and that in John 14:12 is simply time (future in Mark 16:16 vs. present in John 14:12).
In John 14:12, had Jesus meant those who would believe in the future would do "greater works," He would most likely have used the aorist participle or the future indicative for "he who believes." It is simply wrong grammatically to apply this promise to all future believers. Jesus did not indicate that in this text. He only spoke about the present "believers" (probably those sitting with Him at the table).
Notes:
1. Wallace, Daniel B., Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics, p. 614
I KNOW the gifts of the Spirit are just as real today as they were in the book of Acts. Many of God's children use them on a daily basis.Satan would love to spread the lie that the gifts are not for today;he wants a dead church!;But, WE'RE NOT DEAD!:yay:
