The Operation of the Gifts

Like all other things in Christian life, the gifts of the Holy Spirit also must be taught to be practiced. Paul told the Corinthians that he does not want them to be ignorant of spiritual gifts (1 Cor. 12:1). In teaching on the orderly function of gifts, Paul pointed out to two groups of people: the unbelievers and the unlearned or untaught (1 Cor. 14:23, 24). The unlearned are those believers who have not been taught concerning the flow and the function of the gifts.

We pray that fewer Christians would fall into this category. May all Christians be among those who understand and know the operation of all the gifts of the Holy Spirit.

The Manifestation of the Holy Spirit

· The revelation gifts - the word of wisdom, the word of knowledge, discerning of spirits;
· The power gifts - the gift of faith, the working of miracles, the gifts of healing;
· The vocal gifts - the gifts of prophecy, varieties of tongues, interpretation of tongues.

The gifts of the Holy Spirit are not called up at the fancy of the vessel He chooses to use. The Holy Spirit manifests as He wills (1 Cor. 12:7, 11). He reserves the right to choose not to manifest or to manifest. He is still the Boss. We cannot separate the gifts from the Giver. We have to relate closely to the person of the Holy Spirit if we want to function in the gifts.

The manifestation of the Holy Spirit will not bypass our free choice, our intellect, our emotions or our bodies. Evil spirits try to manifest by subjugating the will, mind, emotions of a person and possess the body. The Holy Spirit is a perfect Gentleman. He waits for us to choose Him; that is, to yield our wills to Him.

The most important part of our being is the power of free choice. It is highly regarded by God and by the angels of God. Even demons are not allowed to violate our free choice. The human will is the battleground of the spiritual realm. Demons seek to cause us to choose evil by temptations.

The Holy Spirit will never manifest until we choose Him. As we learn to yield our wills to the Holy Spirit, He manifests more and more. The Lord Jesus yielded so much to the Holy Spirit that The Holy Spirit was at liberty to drive Him (Mk. 1:12). Paul yielded to the Holy Spirit so utterly that he even said that he was going to Jerusalem bound in the spirit (Acts 20:22, 23). There are various degrees of yielding to the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit manifests in proportion to our yielded ness.

After we have yielded our free wills to the Holy Spirit, He seeks to renew our minds by the Word of God. He gently imparts revelation and understanding of the things of the spirit realm. Unless we understand His manifestations, we can never channel His gifts. As our minds become more Spirit-controlled, the volume and intensity of His manifestations become more frequent. We must learn to mind the things of the Spirit (Rom. 8:5).

The third stage of His manifestation is through our emotions. Our emotions play an essential part in communicating with others. All our daily actions have a certain level of emotions involved. Some people show less emotion than others but they still conduct their daily lives with emotions. By emotions, we do not mean just the outbursts of tears or anger.

Emotions are what life is about. They are the taste buds of the soul. It is the soul’s emotion that gives us the sense of well-being, the zest for life, the desire to achieve, the enjoyment of life. These are positive emotions. The negative emotions would be the reverse of these.

Sometimes in some individuals, the Holy Spirit begins to work on the emotions of a person before the intellect. At other times He works simultaneously. But the first area of the soul He requires is always the voluntary surrender of the will of man. The Holy Spirit manifests from our spirits, through our souls and then through our bodies.

Once the Holy Spirit has control of our spirits and our souls, He can manifest in powerful ways through our bodies. Some Christians have supernatural oil flow through their hands. Others have a special halo-like light over their heads. Even the shadows of human bodies can become transmitters of the power of the Holy Spirit (Acts 5:15).

Relating Gifts to Ministries

There are three categories of diversities as expressed in First Corinthians: diversities of gifts by the Holy Spirit, diversities of ministries by the Lord Jesus Christ, and diversities of operations by our Father God (1 Cor. 12:4- 6). Diversities of gifts refer to the nine gifts of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 12:8- © Copyright 2008 Peter Tan Evangelism. All rights reserved. 6 10). Diversities of ministries refer to the fivefold ministries and the nine ministries of believers (Eph. 4:11; Rom. 12:6-8; 1 Cor. 12:28).

The gifts of the Holy Spirit are related to the ministry gifts. This can be illustrated through the relationship between talents and offices. For example when a person functions as a secretary, the person may require three talents to function in one office. The three talents required may be a good command of English, knowledge of shorthand and an ability to type. The person needs three talents to function in one office.

When God calls a person to function as a prophet, He requires that the person function in two revelation gifts and one vocal gift. He requires three gifts to function in one spiritual office. An apostle will require a combination of the revelation gifts and the power gifts.

Just because a person has a talent in typing does not make the person a secretary. Similarly, just because a person operates in the gift of prophecy does not make the person a prophet. The office requires those gifts but the gifts do not guarantee the office. It is God who sets people in spiritual offices and not men (1 Cor. 12:28).

The Right Atmosphere

There is a minimum requirement of prayer level, faith level and worship level before the Holy Spirit manifests. Before we can have electric light we need the right filament, the right amount of electricity and the right electrical connections. When all these are in place, light results.

When Jesus first went into Gennesaret, the country of the Gadarenes, the people rejected Him and told Him to go away after seeing the demoniac delivered (Mk. 5:17). The delivered man wanted to follow Him but Jesus told Him to share his testimony to the whole region (Mk. 5:19, 20). By the time Jesus came back to that region, the faith level and expectation of the people were so high that the gifts and power of the Holy Spirit easily manifested. As many as touched His clothes were healed (Mk. 6:53-56).

When the worship level of the priests reached a high point in Solomon’s time, the glory of God came into manifestation (2 Chron. 5:13). Paul and Silas went to Philippi and were beaten, imprisoned and locked in stocks. At midnight as they were praying and praising God, the power of God came into the prison. It shook the whole prison and set them free (Acts 16:25, 26).

The prayer level, the worship level and the faith level of the apostles were so high that they brought the manifestation of the Holy Spirit.

Quenching and Grieving the Holy Spirit

When we do something which the Holy Spirit does not want us to do, we grieve the Holy Spirit (Eph. 4:30). The Holy Spirit is a very sensitive person and He is saddened or grieved when we do things that He has not told us to do. It could be a wrong thought, a wrong word or a wrong action. All these cause Him grieve. David, after he fell into sin, cried to God not to take the Holy Spirit from him (Ps. 51:11). He knew that he had grieved the Holy Spirit.

We quench the Holy Spirit when we neglect to do what He commands us to do (1 Thess. 5:19). It is like the fire of the Holy Spirit being kindled in our lives and we quench it by the waters of unbelief and doubt. Whenever the Holy Spirit desires to manifest, He causes a stirring in our spirit man. We must be sensitive to His stirring in our spirits. If we sense His stirring and do not response, we quench the gifts that He wants to manifest.

Paul said that he served God with his spirit (Rom. 1:9). All the work of the Holy Spirit will always flow through the human spirit. The Holy Spirit dwells in our spirits the moment we are born again (Eze. 36:26, 27). Everything He does will be through our spirits, then through our souls and then the bodies. Paul said that the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets (1 Cor. 14:32).

All the manifestation of the gifts will come subject to our spirits sensitivity and to the permission of the free will. Learn to yield fully to the Holy Spirit.

Corresponding Growth Characteristics

Each of the spiritual gifts of the Holy Spirit has corresponding spirit man characteristics that are similar in essence and quality but differs in function. In a true sense, these characteristics are growths rather than gifts. We will list them here but further explain them in the subsequent chapters.

Gifts	Growths
1. The word of wisdom	1. Spiritual wisdom
2. The word of knowledge	2. Spiritual knowledge
3. Discerning of spirits	3. Discernment
4. The gift of faith	4. Growing in faith
5. The working of miracles	5. Believing for miracles
6. The gifts of healings	6. Believing for healing
7. The gift of prophecy	7. Exhortation
8. The gift of tongues	8. Praying in tongues
9. Interpretation of tongues	9. Private interpretation