We have graduated from Legos to Swedish furniture. As we all know, putting together Swedish furniture is not something we put together without the directions. The first thing we do is to lay out all the parts to make sure we have everything. We even count all the hardware. The people who excel at putting together Swedish furniture are people who can follow directions. The people who try to bypass the directions usually undo and redo a few times. More importantly we want to make sure we are not outside the kingdom of heaven because we used the name of Jesus and the gifts of the Holy Spirit illegally. There will be many people who skip the directions and run ahead to the gifts. They don’t know Jesus Messiah and they assume they can operate the gifts of the Holy Spirit on their own without the Operative. Jesus would not have warned us about not entering the kingdom of heaven if this wasn’t going to happen to people. The individuals using the gifts and the name of Jesus illegally are saved and may be in the kingdom of the Elohim, but not the kingdom of heaven.
Matthew 7:21 G3756 Not G3956 all G3588 G3004 saying G1473 to me, G2962 O Lord, G2962 O Lord, G1525 shall enter G1519 into G3588 the G932 kingdom G3588 of the G3772 heavens; G235 but G3588 the one G4160 doing G3588 the G2307 will G3588 G3962 of my father, G1473 G3588 the one G1722 in the G3772 heavens.
22 G4183 Many G2046 shall say G1473 to me G1722 in G1565 that G3588 G2250 day, G2962 O Lord, G2962 O Lord, G3756 [2not G3588 4 in G4674 5your G3686 6name G4395 1did we 3prophesy], G2532 and G3588 in G4674 your G3686 name G1140 [2demons G1544 1cast out], G2532 and G3588 in G4674 your G3686 name G1411 [3powerful works G4183 2many G4160 1do]?
23 G2532 And G5119 then G3670 I will acknowledge G1473 to them G3754 that, G3763 At no time G1097 I knew G1473 you. G672 Retreat G575 from G1473 me! G3588 O ones G2038 working G3588 G458 lawlessness.
The three gifts here are prophecy, casting out demons, and miracle power. Working lawlessness is the illegal usage of these operations. No one will ever want to hear Jesus Messiah say the words “depart from me”, therefore we have to read the directions, and operate the gifts as the Operative suggests. Let’s read all the directions.
There is another element that hinders our building of Swedish furniture, it is our emotions. Emotions can hinder everything we do. Once emotions enter in, we are hindered in our ability to think logically, we are hindered in our ability to be calm, and we are hindered in our ability to enjoy the journey of Swedish furniture building. In all things related to Spiritual matters we need to be more emotionless and not overly emotional. Our emotions hinder us from hearing from the Holy Spirt, making rational decisions based on the written word, and torment us with our fragile ego. If we take the emotions out, we have a working plan for the operation of the gifts of the Operative, the Elohim.
1 Corinthians 12:6 “And variety operations they are but the same Elohim the operative all in all.”
Our first step is to know where to find the Operative. Where does the Operative of the gifts reside? How can we connect with the Operative so that we can minister to people in need? We are first supposed to be spiritual brethren, meaning we are to be dedicated disciples. While we all, individually, are the temple of the Elohim, some people put off sins and pursue holiness and some do not. The people who do put off sin and strive to be holy are the spiritual brethren. This is our start.
1Co 3:16 Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?
1Co 3:17 If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.
The Holy Spirit dwells in us and we are temples of the Elohim. All operators must understand this. There should be no defiling of our temple, we should be holy. The spiritual brethren are usually mature in this area. We all reach spiritual maturity at different times.
1Co 6:19 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?
1Co 6:20 For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.
The reality of Jesus Messiah being crucified on the cross is always in the forefront of our mind. Our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, we live with the Holy Spirit dwelling in us. This is where we find the Operative, in the temple, in us.
2Co 6:16 And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
2Co 6:17 Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you,
2Co 6:18 And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.
Spiritual brethren are separated out from the carnal church. Spiritual brethren are separated from the unclean things and recognize that they are sons and daughters of Yahweh Almighty.
Eph 2:20 And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone;
Eph 2:21 In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord:
Eph 2:22 In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.
Spiritual brethren are the product of the apostles and prophets, who are our foundation with Jesus as the chief corner. We are part of a larger building, the entire Body of Christ, but individually we are temples. When we put all the pieces together, like Swedish furniture, we have what we labored to build.
Finding the Holy Spirit is easy because the Holy Spirit is always with us and in us. This is why we should understand the fellowship of the Holy Spirit. Koinōnia means fellowship, communicate, or joint participation. We are to jointly participate with the Holy Spirit operating free gifts on the earth. Therefore we should start by fellowshipping or communicating with the Holy Spirit.
2 Corinthians 13:14 G3588 The G5484 favor G3588 of the G2962 Lord G* Jesus G5547 Christ, G2532 and G3588 the G26 love G3588 G2316 of God, G2532 and G3588 the G2842 fellowship G3588 of the G39 holy G4151 spirit G3326 be with G3956 you all. G1473 G281 Amen.
Once we grow our personal relationship with the Holy Spirit, the Operative on the earth, the operations of the free gifts will flow easily. How do we do this? We talk to the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit will talk back. Make the time for fellowship.
1 Corinthians 12:1 “But about the spiritual brethren, not wish you not to know.”
1 Corinthians 12:4 “But variety free gifts they are but the same Spirit.”
1 Corinthians 12:5 “And variety service they are and the same Yahweh”
1 Corinthians 12:6 “And variety operations they are but the same Elohim the operative all in all.”
1 Corinthians 12:7 “But everyone given the manifestation the Spirit towards the bring together.”
1 Corinthians 12:8 “That truly for by means of Spirit give logos sophia (word wisdom) but another different logos gnōsis (word knowledge) downwards the same Spirit.”
1 Corinthians 12:9 “But another different kind (eteros) faith in the same Spirit but another different free gift healing in the one Spirit.”
1 Corinthians 12:10 “But another different energēma dunamis (operation power) but another different prophecy, but another different judicial estimation spirits but another different kind (eteros) genos glōssa (kinds/race unacquired tongues) but another different explanation unacquired tongues”.
1 Corinthians 12:11 “But all these things operate the one and the same Spirit distribute one’s own, each one just as intends.”
Another Different- Allos: Wisdom, Knowledge
Another Different Kind- Eteros: Faith
Another Different- Allos: Healing, Miracle Power, Prophecy, Judging Spirits
Another Different Kind- Eteros: Unacquired Languages
Another Different- Allos: Explanation of Unacquired Languages
One thing we should note, the Holy Spirit will never contradict the written word the Holy Spirit gave us. We are obligated to understand the written word, our Bible, so that we do not lead people incorrectly. The Holy Spirit is the Operative of the gifts and operations, working on the earth for our benefit. The Holy Spirit is not here to make us famous or make the Holy Spirit famous, but to make the Messiah known. The Holy Spirit came to indwell us because of what Jesus did. We, jointly, together, are making Him famous. Healing and prophecies are not our center focus. Jesus Messiah is our center focus. Healing and prophecies are a nice benefit along the journey, which can help make disciples. Yet even if we are never healed we should still be of the mindset that we will serve Him no matter what.
Ministering to the laity is also not our central focus. While there are many healing ministries that have people waiting in line to have hands laid on them, we can just as effectively minister to the people we know, who are in our churches, Bible studies, and small groups.
Knowledge and wisdom are our first two operations. Usually these two operations are part of prayer for someone in need. We might have someone who asks for prayer and as we pray for them the Holy Spirit gives us a word of knowledge or wisdom. How does the Holy Spirit communicate with us so that we communicate with the person we are praying for? Everyone is different. Some ministers of operations are visual, they see an image. As they describe the image that they see to the person they are ministering to, the Holy Spirit gives the minister more information. People who “see” images simply speak them. If there are two people ministering, both will usually “see” at the same time, whatever the Holy Spirit wants to communicate with the person being ministered to. This doesn’t mean both people “see” the same thing, they see whatever they understand, so that as one speaks it, both ministers know.
An example would be if two people are ministering to someone and the Holy Spirit wants a demon cast out of the person in need, the ministers are shown what they understand. The Holy Spirit shows one person something that looks like a cartoon ghost, laying in an old fashioned canvas sling beach chair, made with a wooden frame and canvas seating, napping under an umbrella, with a drink, and a straw, on a side table. While the other person sees a cartoon ghost in a bedroom, laying in a bed with covers over it while it sleeps, next to a nightstand with an alarm clock. Both people immediately know that they are to cast out a spirit of slumber. As one minister speaks it, the other agrees. Both people saw what the Holy Spirit wanted, and both people understood what it was, but the images communicated to the ministers were a bit different. This would mean that if two people are ministering together, afterwards they should compare notes, which is a great way to learn. What is interesting in this case is that the two ministers grew up during the years of Casper the Friendly Ghost cartoons, so that their “ghosts” looked like Caspers friends. Obviously this is not what the demon looks like. If we saw what they really looked like we would head for the hills and never minister again. So in this way the visual image is not an exact representation of the demon, but it is something understandable to the minister.
If the minister is more auditory, they will “hear” what the Holy Spirit wants the minister to say. As we develop our fellowship with the Holy Spirit “hearing” becomes easier. We will trust the Holy Spirit. Knowledge and wisdom are not for our (the ministers) benefit, it is for the person we are ministering to, so whatever the Holy Spirit wants us to say should not hinge on our determination of what we “think”. We have to stop ourselves from inserting ourselves into someones word of knowledge or wisdom. We are also not fortunetellers, we don’t make predictions, we simply are the middle man between the person we minister to and the Holy Spirit.
When we pray for an individual, a couple, or a family, we generally lay hands on a shoulder if we are in the same place. We then ask the Holy Spirit what we are to pray for. Then after we pray we ask the Holy Spirit if there is anything else. Whether we ask the Holy Spirit out loud or silently does not really matter. If there is something we speak it, if there is nothing we are done.
Remember that faith is our internal free gift which is our foundation for the next four operations of the Holy Spirit. Faith is different because it is something that in within us, inside our temple, that the Holy Spirit works in us. We trust that whatever the Holy Spirit says to do. The inner working of the operation of faith grows in us as we minister. It is portioned to us as the Elohim wills. The more we minister, the more our internal spiritual faith grows. It is the balance of the heart and mind together. With external faith we start with the mind, and we believe based on what we have read or seen, then it grows until we believe Jesus is Messiah in our heart. With the free gift of faith, our heart is activated first, and our mind follows along.
Ministering healing means any kind of healing, physical, emotional, or mental. It is whatever the Holy Spirit wants to heal at that time. We know people want healing for specific things, but we only minister the free gift of healing as the Holy Spirit directs us. We can pray for someone to be healed, but we are not allowed to command healing by the power of the Elohim in Jesus’ name if the Holy Spirit did not tell us to. We cannot make the mistake of illegally using the name of Jesus because we are compassionate. We have to take our emotions out of the equation and do what we are told to do. Sometimes the Holy Spirit wants someone emotionally healed before they are physically healed. Sometimes the Holy Spirit wants someone to learn how to control their mind before they are healed. Healing can be instant or a process, but whatever the Holy Spirit wants, we do, because we are simply the middle man between the Holy Spirit and the person who wants healing.
Just as if we are going to pray for someone we might lay hands on their shoulder and sit quietly listening for the Holy Spirit to reveal what is to be done. Do not rush the Holy Spirit. You can pray in your prayer language while waiting. You can pray over the person you are ministering to while waiting to hear from the Holy Spirit, but don’t get impatient. Wait for direction. When the Holy Spirit shows us something we speak to it, not to the person, but to the thing. If the Holy Spirit shows us a right foot, we speak to the right foot. If the Holy Spirit shows us an internal organ, we ask what organ it is. When we get the answer we speak to it. We might say “Liver in the name of Jesus, I command …….”, or we might say “Liver I command you to ……. in the name of Jesus”. The Holy Spirit knows the human body better than we do, so all we do is declare what we are told in the name of Jesus. This activates our spiritual faith. We are seeing or hearing something and we are speaking to it. Then the Holy Spirit does the healing.
Now from a practical standpoint, if someone is a medical doctor, the Holy Spirit can tell that doctor things in more detail than if someone is not a medical professional. But at the same time the medical professional may not think the Holy Spirit’s direction is correct, which is something the medical professional who chooses to minister has to avoid. Again, we are the middleman, not the author of the healing. The Holy Spirit is the operative, we are the operators.
There are times when someone who wants to be healed is blocking their own healing. It sounds silly but for some reason people let demons scare them into closing themselves off from the healing power of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit will reveal this to us, and if the Holy Spirit wants them to change we simply have to let the person know that they are blocking the Holy Spirit and to come back another time when they want to be healed. We have to remember that it is not up to us to convince someone to receive healing, and it is not up to us to force healing on someone. If they are conscious and coherent then they have a responsibility to want to receive the free gift of the Holy Spirit.
Miracle power is next on Paul’s list. We would say that all instantaneous healings are miracles, but not all miracles are instantaneous healings. Miracle power, dunamis, is power that changes something in our dimension. It comes from another dimension, the dimension of the spiritual realm of the Elohim who is above all dimensions. There are no magic words, or spells, or incantations. There is simply speaking into existence something that the Holy Spirit says to speak. We have our spiritual faith in operation to say whatever it is that we are supposed to say knowing that it is coming from the Holy Spirit. Therefore we speak. It may be that we speak to a car that is not starting or we speak to a dangerous situation that the Holy Spirit wants stopped. Then again we may speak to a tumor to shrink and leave someone’s body. All of these are miracle power.
When we are speaking from the Holy Spirit we should have the boldness to demand whatever it is we are to say. We are not timid when we demand a demon leave. We are not shy when we command a bone to mend. We are not afraid to stop a tornado headed for us. Miracle power is strength, might, force, and ability. Dunamis is a feminine noun. This is the power of the Holy Spirit arranging things on the earth as the Holy Spirit sees fit. It is the inherent power of the Holy Spirit. People make the mistake in thinking that dunamis is inherent in people, it is not, it is inherent in the Holy Spirit. It is the power that resides in the Holy Spirit by virtue of the nature of the Holy Spirit. Again we speak what the Holy Spirit wants spoken and the dunamis power issues forth. We do not have dunamis in us because of us, it is because the Holy Spirit dwells in us and we have supernatural faith. However we cannot utilize the dunamis power apart from the Holy Spirit. There are a lot of people who attempt to use dunamis on their own, it simply does not work that way.
Luk 9:53 And they did not receive him, because his face was as though he would go to Jerusalem.
Luk 9:54 And when his disciples James and John saw this, they said, Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven, and consume them, even as Elias did?
Luk 9:55 But he turned, and rebuked them, and said, Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of.
Luk 9:56 For the Son of man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them. And they went to another village.
Jesus was going to Jerusalem where he would be crucified. Jesus traveled through Samaria many times. The Samaritans actually loved Jesus but they disagreed with Jesus going to Jerusalem because they knew he would be killed. It was not that they didn’t receive him because they didn’t like him, it was because they loved him and wanted him to live. James and John, the sons of thunder, thought they should extinguish the Samaritans with fire.
Elijah burnt up one hundred men with fire when Ahaziah went to the god of Ekron, Baalzebub. Technically the two groups were supposed to take Elijah to Ahaziah and Ahaziah would have him killed. The third captain with his fifty men actually bowed to Elijah. Elijah had extra supernatural faith for fire type miracles. The sons of thunder were overly emotional. Burning up the Samaritans would be an emotional reaction. The dunamis of the Holy Spirit could tell us to call down fire, we don’t know, but it is pretty safe to say that it would not be over a disagreement and if our emotions are involved it would probably not be from the Holy Spirit.
Prophecy is a very important subject and is very misused in the church. Prophets are one hundred percent on target. There is no excuse like “Well we prayed and God changed his mind”. Prophets who prophesy are always on target. The Elohim does’t give a prophecy and relent. The Elohim may give a word of knowledge, a word of wisdom, a warning, an encouragement to change, but that is not prophetic. Jonah was sent to Nineveh to tell them that in forty days Nineveh would be over thrown. This is a word of knowledge. How do we know? The people repented and they were not overthrown. If there is a way to change the direction of things then it is not a prophecy it is a word of knowledge. Prophecy is a decree from the Elohim.
Compare Jonah to Isaiah’s many declarations of the coming Messiah. Born of a virgin, visage marred more than any man, the Spirit of the Lord on him, he would open blind eyes. None of this was optional. If Jesus could opt out of those declarations then Isaiah would be a false prophet and Jesus would not be Messiah. Jeremiah warned Judah repeatedly that she would go into captivity. Jeremiah then prophesied seventy years of captivity. Jeremiah warned, but they didn’t listen, so the prophecy was declared, seventy years of captivity. The angel of the Lord told Daniel the exact day that the Messiah would ride into Jerusalem on a donkey. The exact day. The calendar was a three hundred and sixty day solar calendar at this time. It changed after captivity. The Assideans/Essenes kept the solar and the lunar calendar along with the Greek and Roman calendar and they knew exactly when the Messiah was born, when he would ride into Jerusalem, and when he would be crucified.
We tend to think that a prophecy can be dissected, as to one part being from the Holy Spirit and another part not from the Holy Spirit. It is either all from the Holy Spirit or none of it is from the Holy Spirit. If human error is in the prophecy then it is not from the Holy Spirit. Prophecy has an integrity problem in the Body of Christ because the people have integrity problems. Prophecy from a prophet, working in the office of a prophet, is a decree from the Elohim. In the church it will be edification, exhortation or comfort. In the church prophecy is for those people at that time. Unlike Isaiah’s decrees that are for the entire world. In the church, prophecy is for the bringing together or calling near of the Body to the Holy Spirit. It is to bring us to the the Holy Spirit, not to the pastor, or the person speaking the prophecy. It is for the people to draw near to the Holy Spirit, with building up, calling near like a summons, or calming consolation. These three things can either be right or wrong. It is not right or wrong for the Holy Spirit to call us, comfort us, or edify us. But to declare that “there will be storms in the south” is not prophecy.
Because we have lauded the office of a prophet over any other office, we have made mistakes in our handling of prophecy. The office of a prophet is someone who makes decrees. Think about the old testament prophets. They were always on target. Today when someone has a prophetic decree they seem to think they have to always have a prophetic decree. Prophets are not popping out prophecies like a Pez candy dispenser. But by declaring themselves as prophets they feel forced to perform, like a seal at a circus. Potential prophets start to act strangely and put a lot of emotion in their voice and shoot out P.T. Barnum vague generalizations. None of which are from the Holy Spirit, but are from the pressure to perform. This is all fake, they are pseudo-prophets. There might be a person who only speaks one prophetic decree, one time. So even though that prophet had one prophetic decree he or she may never have another one.
In the church, someone might have a word of prophecy, an edification, exhortation, or comfort. This does not make the person that is speaking a prophet or have the office of a prophet. They are simply spiritual brethren speaking in the church. In our churches all spiritual brethren can speak edification, exhortation, or comfort in the church, not just one or two favorite people. However they are not prophets, they are spiritual brethren. Paul wanted people to speak from the Holy Spirit to the church body.
1Co 14:24 But if all prophesy, and there come in one that believeth not, or one unlearned, he is convinced of all, he is judged of all:
1Co 14:25 And thus are the secrets of his heart made manifest; and so falling down on his face he will worship God, and report that God is in you of a truth.
Not only is prophecy in the church for the entire body, it is also for the unbeliever who strolls in by chance one day. Paul is encouraging the Body of Christ to become spiritual brethren. He is also encouraging unbelievers to become part of the Body of Christ. But the spiritual brethren are to judge those prophecies in the open before all people. People have to learn to be led by the Holy Spirit as to speaking in the church and we have to promote an environment for that. Yet pastors are scared that they will lose control of the service if someone says something wrong. Well Paul has an idea.
1 Corinthians 14:29 G4396 And prophets, G1161 G1417 [2two G2228 3or G5140 4three G2980 1let 5speak], G2532 and G3588 the G243 others G1252 scrutinize!
30 G1437 But if G1161 G243 to another G601 [2it should be revealed G2521 1sitting by], G3588 [2the G4413 3first G4601 1let] be quiet!
31 G1410 For you are able G1063 G2596 one by one G1520 G3956 all G4395 to prophesy, G2443 that G3956 all G3129 should learn G2532 and G3956 all G3870 should be comforted.
32 G2532 For G4151 spirits G4396 of prophets G4396 [2to prophets G5293 1submit].
33 G3756 [3not G1063 1For G1510.2.3 2he is G181 6of commotion G3588 4the G2316 5God], G235 but G1515 peace, G5613 as G1722 in G3956 all G3588 the G1577 assemblies G3588 of the G39 holy ones
Let the other spiritual brethren scrutinize the prophecy. If a prophecy is revealed to someone as incorrect, then first and foremost all the others should be quiet. No one needs forty opinions, one is sufficient. I was in many meetings like this where the preacher would call out “there is a message out there”, and someone would either speak in tongues with interpretation (someone would interpret), or someone would prophesy. I always found it interesting that people didn’t all speak at once. It was because everyone was taught to listen to the Holy Spirit. Everything was always decent and orderly. One time someone started to speak and the preacher cut her off and said “awww that’s nothing”. As long as it is an environment where people feel that they can make mistakes no one would be hurt to be corrected. As long as the leader is truly listening to the Holy Spirit and is willing to lead people into becoming spiritual brethren, this can be done.
In the church if someone claims to be a prophet, in the office of a prophet, and makes a decree, then someone should record it and write it down. No one would know if someone was a true prophet working in the office of a prophet if we cannot remember what was said. There have been so many false decrees, regarding everything from Israel, wars, the Day of the Lord, the rapture, and politics, that no one can remember all the silliness being said. When we write things down we hold people accountable for what they said, we then know if someone is a false prophet. If the prophesies are so vague that they can apply to anyone, anywhere, at any time, then we will know that too. This way if someone stands up to make a decree and claiming to be a prophet in the office of a prophet, but they have had a poor track record, then we can ask them not to speak and correct them regarding their past mistaken prophecies.
As we grow into our role in the church regarding the gifts of the Holy Spirit we will need to take time to edify our own temple. We will have to make time to read and pray and fellowship with the Holy Spirit. The church will always be in the process of building Swedish furniture. We will always be looking for the next cam lock. Next week we will continue with the rest of the gifts.
