But if we can overcome our fear and doubt, and choose to trust in God, our faith can be strengthened and we will have a greater measure of faith when the next crisis comes. It may also be necessary during some of the hardest times in your life when faith simply seems impossible. We can only be saved from the power of sin by faith in the sacrifice of Jesus, and we can only withstand temptation through our faith in God’s power and ability to deliver us from it.Įveryone possesses some measure of faith, but it must be put into practice regularly in order to strengthen it. To this end, we should practice the gift of knowledge so that we can understand and interpret Scripture properly in the way that God intended for it to be given.įaith is a major topic of Scripture and is critical to the life of the believer. While we should not seek out arguments to enter or argue for the sake of winning, we should always be willing to give a defense for the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. The word means “defense of the faith,” and usually pits the believer against a non-believer in a debate about what Scripture says. In scholarly circles, this area of study and practice is called apologetics. It is important for all believers to be able to articulate what they believe and to defend their faith to others who may want to learn more or who may challenge the Bible. The word of knowledge is slightly more practical in nature, and typically refers to the right knowledge and interpretation of Scripture, or of doctrinal issues. This is not reinforced by the rest of the Bible, as we believe that God has distributed both the spiritual gifts and the path to salvation to everyone equally. This doctrine has been abused in the early church through the practice of Gnosticism, which states that there is “secret knowledge” available only to a select few believers. This can apply to a new job, whether or not to marry someone, the best way to confront or forgive someone who is inflicting harm on others, or any other circumstance that requires discernment and wisdom to apply the Scriptures properly. They may be circumstances in our own lives, or in the lives of those around us if we have the gift of wisdom, we will almost instinctively know what God would have us do. Viewed in this light, the spiritual gift of the word of wisdom is understanding how to apply the truth of God in situations that may arise in life. Wisdom typically means the proper application of knowledge. The word of wisdom and the word of knowledge are closely related but just as they are listed separately in Scripture, they should be understood separately. No matter which side of that debate someone falls on, the fact remains that all nine of these gifts were present in the early church, and are given to us as real and specific ways that the Holy Spirit moves in our lives. There is a current debate on whether or not some gifts have disappeared from the world today, or whether all are present and active among believers. All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, Who apportions to each one individually as He wills.”įrom this passage we can pull nine distinct spiritual gifts: For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. “Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God Who empowers them all in everyone. The nine gifts of the Holy Spirit are given in 1 Corinthians 12:4-11, which says: In addition to His direct work in our hearts and in our circumstances, the Holy Spirit passes on the power of God to us, which manifests itself differently and in different proportions in each of our lives. The apostle Paul talks about them in his letters to the early churches, and they are passed down to us in Scripture to inform us how the Holy Spirit works in us for the good of the earthly church. A frequent topic in the church today is spiritual gifts.
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