February 21, 2021
Sunday AM
1 Corinthians 12:7 But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit with all.
Man left to himself will self-destruct. He is limited by his intellect. This is why God gave us a teacher – The Holy Spirit. He is the Spirit of truth. God wants us to be informed. We usually limit these gifts to a church service. And they are more prevalent there, but you can’t limit these things to just in a church service. They are for believers and given to all of us.
1 Corinthians 12:8-11 For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit;9 To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit;10 To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues:11 But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will.
These things work only as the Holy Spirit wills. It is not something you can do just because you want to. Once you start learning about God and knowing Him for yourself, you see that He is always willing. But He has to have a vessel. God would rather you doubt His ability than His willingness. He is ALWAYS willing.
There are 9 gifts. They are manifestations of the spirit of God. Each of them have a particular purpose and each of them are different. They are all supernatural.
1 Corinthians 12:18 But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him.
1 Corinthians 12:27 Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular.
We are all the body of Christ, collectively. Like the human body, there are many members. Fingers, toes, arms, legs, internal organs, etc. None of us are the whole body. We are only a part. There are parts of the body that are more out front and some internal, but they are all equally important. God sets everyone in the body where it will please Him. Meaning, you don’t choose where you go to church. Did you choose the members of your body and where they would go? No. Most of the time, people choose wrong. They choose to their liking. But God knows what you NEED. He knows what you need because He knows what He has called you to do, and you do not. He knows if He can get you in the right environment, He can help you go faster and find your place in the body.
Jesus is Jesus. The church is Christ. When Jesus was on the earth, He was the embodiment of the anointing of God. Everything He did here was as a man from Nazareth anointed by the Spirit. But He left and went to Heaven, and when He did, He gave gifts to men. Christ stayed here. Jesus is in Heaven. We are here on Earth. Jesus is the Head; we are the body. In other words, if the body of Christ could come together and find their place, there would be enough of Jesus in that building to meet any need that any person has. No one man has it all.
1 Corinthians 12:28 And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues.
These are the eight operations of the spirit. The nine gifts, empower and qualify these offices. Until you are empowered, you are not qualified to stand in that office. It’s very important that these ministry gifts are in the church because they have a function to help equip and prepare you for your place in the body. Every person in the body of Christ fits in one of these eight operations. Want to know what you’re called to do? It’s narrowed down to eight options right here in this verse. There is a process of maturity that must happen before you step into your office. This is why He has given us the gift of diversity of tongues. It processes you to be ready to step into your office.
1 Corinthians 12:29-30 Are all apostles? are all prophets? are all teachers? are all workers of miracles?30 Have all the gifts of healing? do all speak with tongues? do all interpret?
The answer to all of these questions is no. What some people get confused about is the “do all speak with tongues?” part. He is speaking about tongues for interpretation in this context. Not all will give tongues for interpretations, but we are all called to speak in our own heavenly prayer language. The tongues for interpretation is a tongue that presents itself in the public assembly for the sole purpose of being interpreted so that the people will know the mind of God. You can’t operate in intercessional tongues, sign tongues, nor tongues for interpretation any time you want to. Tongues for personal edification, you can use any time you want to, any place you want to, any volume you want to, as long as you want to. God made it like that so that if you would use this supernatural gift, He could do some things in your life and move you to get in your place in the body. Move you into the place where He can begin to equip you and empower you to stand in your place in the body. People who sit in any church for years and years and never know where they fit, is because they do not use this gift. You can’t operate this gift and NOT find your place in the body. It is impossible! See the vital importance of your prayer language? God gave it to you as a supernatural means of administering help to you. God designed this gift so that you can do it while you do other things! You can drive a car and pray in tongues. You can use a vacuum cleaner and pray in tongues. You can do most things & pray in tongues at the same time. You do have time to do it! He made it in a way that you can whenever you want.
1 Corinthians 14:2 For he that speaks in an unknown tongue speaks not unto men, but unto God: for no man understands him; howbeit in the spirit he speaks mysteries.
God already knows what He has planned for you. But you don’t. Not in the beginning. If He told you, you’d mess it up! Because of immaturity. He left it in a mystery. It is hidden FOR you, not FROM you. If you speak it out, you’ll pray out your life. If you don’t pray, it won’t ever come to pass. There are things God has prepared for you, already fixed in place for you, that if you’ll pray it will come to pass. If you won’t, it CAN’T. The saying, “What’s meant to happen will happen” is common, but it is a lie! God has purposed many great things to happen to people and they did not because it was not prayed out. The reason you have to pray it out, is because God has to use your tongue, your authority here on earth! People often say, “God is in control.” This is another lie! God is only in control when His people allow Him to work through them! God put man in charge in the earth and gave Him authority. He doesn’t come down here and just do what He wants to! If He was going to be that way, He would have done it with Adam! When Adam got that fruit, He would have knocked it out of his hand and told him how he was about to destroy the human race. But God gave us that authority to choose and when He gives a gift, He does not take it back. When God decided what He had planned for your life, He will never change His mind no matter how bad you mess it up. We are all unique, meaning, no one can be who you are called to be. No one can say it like you can say it. No one can sing it like you can sing it. We are all unique! God made us that way, just as our fingerprints, not one is the same. God has a plan and if you’ll pray it out, you’ll walk it out. Don’t focus on time lost, focus on time remaining. Know that God is a big God and He can make up time. The sooner you start, the better. It starts with a decision. When you pray in the Holy Ghost, GOD is praying for you! He can fix you! He can work everything out! He can heal you on the inside! He can straighten out your thoughts! Why won’t you let Him pray for you? God gave you keys and tools to help you get where He wants you to go. One of them is praying in tongues. It is so vital! It will take you into the truth of God’s plan for your life. If you’ll pray in tongues, you can’t stay ignorant and deceived. It is impossible. You will stop believing lies about yourself! You’ll start to understand who you are and who God is to you! God wants to make you a success in everything you do that’s in line with His plan! God wants you to know His plan more than you want to know His plan. He’s not trying to keep it from you! You can’t pray in tongues and stay mean, miserable, and bitter. It’s impossible! The Holy Spirit always teaches in line with the Bible.
1 Corinthians 12:31 But covet earnestly the best gifts: and yet shew I unto you a more excellent way.
The best gifts are the gifts that empower and qualify YOUR office. It starts with diversities of tongues. It all starts there.
1 Corinthians 13:13 And now abides faith, hope, and love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
Go after this like you go after the things in the world and the things that you want, here’s a shortcut.
Pursue God’s love like you have the things in the world! Nothing is more important than love. Pursue it because it is elusive. Stay with it until it’s yours! Every person who has ever been born again, the seed of agape has been put in them. We have the capacity to love like God does! It is a self-denying love that puts the needs of another before itself. Human love is the opposite! Have you ever heard the saying, “you have to love yourself before you can love anyone else?” This is ANOTHER lie! The bible does not teach to love yourself. You will find it nowhere in your bible. What it does teach, is to love God and other people. Not yourself. Why not? Because you don’t have to love yourself if you know that HE loves you. It’s that simple! Pursue love!