Can you explain what that means? We do have gifts, I believe that. We each have our own talents for our churches and for our personal life. But it's not talking about receiving the Holy Spirit gifts in our day. There is no reason to speak in tongues or to raise the dead. We now have the complete scripture.
I mean the gifts of the Spirit that Paul specified in 1 Corinthians 12.
- Word of wisdom
- Word of Knowledge
- gift of faith
- gifts of healing
- working of miracles
- prophecy
- discerning of spirits
- divers kinds of tongues
- interpretation of tongues
What kind of spirit are you talking about? The Spirit of God? Scripture tells us that God's Spirit IS in us. But that has nothing to do with us receiving the Holy Spirit gifts.
Of course I mean the holy Spirit of God if I capitalize the S.
God's Spirit is not in us unless we receive the holy Spirit. That is how you have the Spirit in you. Many Christians don't have the Spirit. They just think they do.
If I have faith, which I do, what type of miracles will I see? Not really sure what your implying. Are you saying, if I have faith, I"ll see people talk in tongues and heal people? I hope not.....
So explain why you wouldn't want God to heal people please?
You will see whatever kind of miracle that is needed if you have enough faith.
No?
No, what holds people back from believing that we still have the HS gifts today is understanding what the HS gifts were really meant for.
Look at the people who think that they can speak in tongues. Do you understand them? Do you know what "speaking in tongues" actually means? I'll give you an example.... I dont speak French at all. If I go to France to preach, speaking English, alot of French people wont understand me. But If God gave me the power of speaking in tongues, and gave me the ability to now speak French, which I never did before, now people can understand me. I"m speaking in a language that I never knew... that... is what speaking in tongues means, not babbling in made up words in their church, jumping up and down!!
Look at what the scriptures themselves say about the gift of tongues. It is not so that you can preach to people in French.
First of all we must differentiate between the gift of tongues and the tongues that come when people first receive the holy Spirit.
The tongues they received on the day of Pentecost was for all of them. (Acts 2:1-4) Everyone got that.
But that is not the "gift of tongues". The gift of tongues is in addition to that.
The gift of tongues is what Paul speaks of in 1 Corinthians 12.
Which is why he asks -rhetorically- in verse 30 "Have all the gifts of healing? do all speak with tongues? do all interpret?"
So you can see that not everyone has the gift of tongues. It's a special gift.
What is the purpose of the gift of tongues?
It is for the purpose of prophecy. It is like the gift of prophecy but it needs an interpreter which is one of the other gifts of the Spirit.
1 Corinthians 14:5 I would that ye all spake with tongues but rather that ye prophesied: for greater is he that prophesieth than he that speaketh with tongues,
except he interpret, that the church may receive edifying.
In 1 Cor. 15:5 you can see that anyone who prophecies is greater than someone who speaks in tongues; unless they interpret the tongues for the church. IN which case it is like a prophecy.
So that is the most obvious purpose of the gift of tongues. It is to be interpreted and to edify the church like a prophecy.
The second purpose of the gift of tongues is also outlined in scripture.
First of all in 1 Cor. 14:18 Paul claims he speaks in tongues more than them all(speaking to the church in Corinth). So, Paul often in tongues. But he did it in his personal prayer time. Notice what he says in verse 19.
"
Yet in the church I had rather speak five words with my understanding, that by my voice I might teach others also, than ten thousand words in an unknown tongue."
So, Paul did not like to just speak in tongues in church. He wanted to edify people and so he spoke clearly. But in private, he would pray often in tongues.
Therefore, we can conclude that the gift of tongues is also given to help us in our personal prayer time. If you have the gift of tongues you can pray more easily in the Spirit.
Paul said:
"
He that speaketh in an unknown tongue edifieth himself; but he that prophesieth edifieth the church."
"For if I pray in an unknown tongue,
my spirit prayeth, but my understanding is unfruitful."
"
For thou verily givest thanks well, but the other is not edified."
So in conclusion; for personal prayer time in your own prayer closet you can use the gift of tongues for edifying yourself, praying with your spirit an giving thanks and worshiping God.