Don’t Be Ignorant

Maybe you are like me and have seen the gifts manifest in a weird or flaky way through some well-intentioned, but zealous Christian sometime in the past. That tempted you to shy away from the gifts for fear you might demonstrate them in a similar way and influence someone in a negative way. There is no need to fear this at all. God’s Word will guide you on how to operate in the gifts. He will use them through you to influence others to be drawn closer to Him rather than turn away from Him. 

These nine wonderful gifts of the Spirit are just that: gifts from God for us to use to minister His love, mercy, and grace to hurting people. Paul’s instruction to the Corinthian church and the present-day church—you and me—teaches us about how to operate in these gifts. He begins this instruction in his first letter to the Corinthian church in chapter 12. 

Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I do not want you to be ignorant (1 Corinthians 12:1). 

I can certainly identify with this verse. I was so ignorant of this dimension of spiritual life prior to being filled with the Spirit. Even after I was filled with the Spirit there was still so much I was ignorant about. What are the gifts and how do they operate? Which demonstrations are appropriate and biblical, and which are not? How could I begin getting involved operating the gifts?

At the outset of 1 Corinthians, God tells us He does not want us to be ignorant about the gifts of the Spirit, the supernatural, and things of the Spirit. Yet I don’t know a single principle of the New Testament that the present-day church is more ignorant and dysfunctional about. You can visit ten Spirit-filled churches in any city today and you would be hard-pressed to find even one of ten that either promotes or allows any type of demonstration of the Spirit in their Sunday morning service. There is also a similar void in the lack of teaching or giving people opportunity to receive the Baptism in the Holy Spirit or healing. 

So many Spirit-filled, Charismatic, and Pentecostal churches who taught about the gifts of the Spirit and allowed these gifts to function in their services failed to establish biblical guidelines for their members to follow. The result was chaos, confusion, and people who were unfamiliar with these precious gifts turned off by the way they were demonstrated. 

In order to compensate for this problem many pastors and spiritual leaders have established guidelines that do not allow any expression of the gifts at all. There are actually entire movements and networks of churches today whose leaders are personally filled with the Spirit but they refuse to allow any manifestation of the Spirit in their Sunday morning or public services. I have heard some of these leaders justify this decision by sharing their heart to reach the lost. They typically will share how they have observed in their past someone who manifested one of the gifts in a weird, flaky way.

They will use Scriptures like the following verse to establish their case: 

Therefore if the whole church comes together in one place, and all speak with tongues, and there come in those who are uninformed or unbelievers, will they not say that you are out of your mind? (1 Corinthians 14:23). 

I agree with this verse completely, but it does not make the case for allowing no expression of the gifts in the church. If that were true how do you explain verse 39? 

Wherefore, brethren, covet to prophesy, and forbid not to speak with tongues (1 Corinthians 14:39 KJV). 

Many of these leaders are not only forbidding the expression of the public gift of tongues but all other expressions of the nine gifts of the Spirit in the name of reaching more lost people for Christ. I cannot relate to this at all. The Holy Spirit is my everything. He is the Spirit of truth who knows all things and will reveal all things to me I need to know. He will also show me things to come. I depend on Him 24/7. I could not function in ministry and remain sane without Him. I know the same thing is true for all of God’s people. I refuse to be embarrassed by or ashamed of Him, nor of the demonstrations of His precious gifts to the church! 

Now let me make it clear, in each case I have heard a contemporary church leader use this reasoning, I don’t doubt the good intention of their heart. Nor am I judging them for their decision. Each of us has to stand before God for how we lead the people the Lord has entrusted us with and to follow the vision He has given us for His church. I simply want to challenge the basis for their decision by the clear instruction of God’s Word. I used First Corinthians 14:23 that refers to the use of tongues causing confusion in the church. I want you to look at verse 22 with me now: 

Therefore tongues are for a sign, not to those who believe but to unbelievers; but prophesying is not for unbelievers but for those who believe (1 Corinthians 14:22). 

Wow! This verse declares exactly the opposite view of some of these contemporary church leaders. God says here tongues are for a sign to unbelievers. He didn’t say it would run unbelievers off!

When you study chapter 14 of 1 Corinthians, you find the two primary themes are edification and order. The Corinthian church was one of those churches where the gifts were operating abundantly, but there was also much abuse and confusion. Paul is correcting this by establishing order for the public use of the gifts. In verses 22 and 23, he is making a distinction between tongues operated in biblical order and tongues operated out of order. In verse 22 he says tongues operated in order—one person giving a message in tongues and one person interpreting that message in public—is a supernatural sign to an unbeliever. This means when a public expression of tongues and interpretation of tongues is demonstrated in the way God intended, it will draw people to the Lord, not turn them away. 

In verse 23, Paul is describing a public demonstration of tongues that is out of order and will cause unbelievers to think you are weird or crazy. If the whole church comes together and all speak with tongues out loud at the same time it will create confusion among unbelievers or unlearned believers. These two verses are describing two distinct and different public demonstrations of the gift of tongues. One is in biblical order, verse 22, and the other is not, verse 23. So many leaders and churches have gone the “seeker sensitive” route of either forbidding the gifts or putting them in a closet because they do not understand the difference.

In First Corinthians 12:1, the Lord tells us He doesn’t want us to be ignorant of spiritual gifts. Then He spends three chapters—12, 13, and 14— “de-ignorantizing” us, or informing us.

This is not a condemnation to any pastor or leader, rather a challenge to return to the foundational patterns and principles of the early church and the book of Acts—maintaining a balance of the Word and the Spirit.

Kenneth E. Hagin, a true prophet of God and excellent teacher of the Word, spent the last 7-10 years of his life and ministry urging the pastors and graduates of the Bible school he founded to give place to the move of the Spirit and the gifts of the Spirit in their churches and ministries. 

My observation is many Christians and churches are in that condition Brother Hagin saw and warned of—ignorant of the gifts and supernatural power of God available to them. They have a form of godliness but deny the power thereof. I have good news for you! It’s not too late. God is still moving, and we can turn the tide of ignorance about the gifts of the Spirit and move the pendulum back into balance where it belongs. 

As you spend time in God’s Word and study the gifts of the Spirit, you will be equipped and empowered to flow in the supernatural. My prayer for you is you will learn to flow in the supernatural and operate the gifts in confidence and biblical order. I believe together we can restore a genuine move of God in the church and world today!  

Adapted from Greg Mohr’s book, Flowing in the Supernatural

Watch Pastor Greg’s television series on Living a Supernatural Life to learn more.