All posts tagged: Spiritual Gifts

Jesus healing woman with an issue of blood by Paolo Veronese

What are the gifts (plural) of healing?

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In 1 Corinthians 12, the Apostle Paul lists the various spiritual gifts that the Holy Spirit hands out to Christians, and he specifically states that each believer has received at least one of these gifts. This includes the gift of prophecy, the gift of tongues, the interpretation of tongues, the working of miracles, the gift of faith, the word of knowledge, the word of wisdom, and the discerning of spirits. However, Paul does something odd in 1 Corinthians 12:9, when he says this also includes ‘gifts of healing’. Notice how ‘gifts of healing’ is in the plural. Paul says that there are multiple ‘gifts’ of healing. It suggests that people may be given several gifts of healing, but also implies that a believer may have one particular gift of healing and another Christian will have a different kind of gift of healing. So, what exactly is the Apostle referring to when he says there are many ‘gifts’ of healing? Some suggest this refers to the varying methods of healing we see in the Bible. For …

Three women wearing hijabs

A word of knowledge for a woman wearing a hijab

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Over the years, the church has depended on Evangelists and full-time ministers to lead people to Christ, however, I believe God has important roles for all of us to play. This involves first allowing the Holy Spirit to guide us through such gifts as the word of knowledge, and secondly realizing we are simply one step in the process of a person becoming a Christian. It’s a process As Paul explains in his letter to the Corinthians, “I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. (1 Corinthians” (3:6 ESV) In this verse, Paul states that people have different roles to play. He was planting seeds, Apollos, a dynamic speaker in the early church watered, and ultimately God was responsible for the growth. Though Paul used this principle to describe the growth of believers in their faith, I believe the same principle is at work in the process of people coming to faith in Jesus. God needs people who are willing to plant seeds in people’s lives. They are not individuals who ultimately lead a …

A home in the suburbs for the Liver Fluke. Photo: MTSOfan/Flickr/Creative Commons

Video: Sheep ignore all the other voices until the real shepherd calls

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Jesus told His disciples, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me” (John 10:27). The verse tells us that when we become believers, God speaks to us regularly through the Holy Spirit that is now resident inside us (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). However, though God regularly speaks to us, we are not always recognizing the voice of God, in the 6,000 or so thoughts that pop into our heads on an average day. We need to learn to identify the voice of God, whose tone will be different. We need to be like the sheep in the video above, who know the voice of their shepherd, even when several people try to mimic the call of the shepherd. The sheep ignore all those other voices, and then the real shepherd calls them to come in. Like these sheep, we need to discern when the Holy Spirit is speaking to us. This ability to consistently differentiate God’s voice from the thousands of other thoughts that clutter our mind is the key to …

Woman holding a gift

You need to discover the spiritual gift the Holy Spirit has given you

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I remember very clearly the day, over 40 years ago now, when the Holy Spirit revealed what spiritual gift he had given me. My wife and I were living in a small, 600-square-foot, orange-colored home with a flat roof. It was our first home. I was watching an NHL hockey playoff game on a small TV that I had propped up on our kitchen counter. I can’t remember who was playing, but as I was watching the game, the Holy Spirit quickened one particular player to me and I got this distinct impression that he was going to score on his own goal. A few minutes later, this is exactly what happened. Now, scoring on one’s own goal can easily happen in a hockey game when an opposing player takes a shot and the puck deflects off a defending player into the net. But this is not what happened in this case, the defensive player was actually trying to clear the puck from in front of his team’s goalie, and so misfired the puck that …

Lee Grady shares seven ways we can encourage a move of the Holy Spirit in our churches

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In an article for Charisma News, Lee Grady shares seven ways how we can encourage a greater move of the Holy Spirit in our churches. He starts out by sharing how he recently spoke at an Anglican Church men’s conference in Uganda where he quips, ‘these were not your grandmother’s Anglicans’ because they were singing, dancing in the aisles, speaking in tongues, and prophesying. If we want the Holy Spirit to move in our Western churches, here are the seven things that we should be doing: I am excited by this article because as the days grow darker, we will need more of the Holy Spirit in our lives: How to Encourage a Move of the Holy Spirit in a Dry Church

Feet of new born baby wrapped in mother's hand

The gift of prophecy not only saved Jonathan David’s life but called him to the ministry while he was still in the womb

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If I am honest, it has been discouraging watching the gift of prophecy being battered and mocked because of the dozens of false prophecies stating that Donald Trump would be reelected as President of the United States back in 2020. I believe in this gift because several years back, my wife and I briefly attended a church, led by what I would describe as a prophet. We had been involved in a church that had gone through some extremely difficult times but had moved to another city because of work. During the first service at this new church, my wife and I received a prophetic word from the man. It so accurately described what had happened to us in our previous setting, that I felt he must have had inside knowledge about our previous situation. The next week, I actually phoned people in our previous church to see if anyone knew or had spoken to this man. The following Sunday, we returned to the church and something unusual happened. This prophet had received a second …

How God had prophetic words for some new-agers

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In an interview with popular Christian speaker Cindy Jacobs, Cindy McGill shared the interesting story that led to the start of her ministry, which focuses on helping people find their purpose in life and healing from trauma, God TV reports. It goes back to the late 1990s when McGill was working in a dentist’s office and her boss wanted staff to manage his booth at a New Age fair. McGill told her boss that she did not feel comfortable doing that, but she changed her mind after friends encouraged her to attend, so she could be a light in the darkness. When it came to her turn to manage the booth, something very strange happened. Unexpectedly, the Holy Spirit began to give her words for the people who were dropping by and McGill boldly began to release these words and pray for people. As news spread about what was happening, a line began to form at her booth of people seeking a word from God as McGill was providing them for free. It eventually caught …

A word of knowledge and live stream prayer leads to the healing of two Alabama shooting victims at a Sweet 16 party

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Six people have been arrested after gunfire erupted at a Sweet 16 party in Dadeville, Alabama on Saturday, April 15, 2023, resulting in four deaths and 32 injured that included four hospitalized in critical condition. One of the deaths included the brother of the young woman who was celebrating her 16th birthday. But in the midst of this tragedy, evidence is emerging of the miraculous healing of two girls who had been critically injured during the shooting, God TV reports. Michael Koulianos who pastors Jesus Image Church in Orlando, Florida was speaking at a Friday evening service on May 5, 2023, and during the worship service the word ‘shooting’ repeatedly started coming to him. Koulianos sensed that the Holy Spirit was wanting to heal someone who had been injured during a shooting and began praying for their healing during the live stream of the service. The connection to the two Dadeville shooting victims was made when a woman who was watching the live stream, believed that Koulianos’ word of knowledge and prayer was intended for …

Word of knowledge reveals the name of a woman’s unknown birth father

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The word of knowledge is one of the nine gifts of the Holy Spirit that is distributed to believers mentioned by the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 12. 8 For to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, and to another the word of knowledge according to the same Spirit; (1 Corinthians 12:8 NASV) It is defined as receiving revelatory information about a person or situation, either past or present, that a person would have otherwise not known about. And in a story on God TV, Deanna Shrodes shared the remarkable story of how God revealed the name of her birth father, through a word of knowledge. Deanna works in the ministry with her husband Larry where they pastor a church outside of Tampa, Florida. She had been adopted as an infant and never knew her birth parents When she was 27 years old, Deanna was finally able to track down her biological mother. Though they developed a relationship over the next 20 years before her mother died of cancer in 2019, she …

Prove all things

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By Rick Renner

I once bought a violin that I was sure was an authentic Stradivarius violin. Of course, if it was real, it was worth several million dollars. Before I purchased it, I studied documents about how to recognize a real Stradivarius compared to a well-made copy. After convincing myself that I had found a real Stradivarius in a remote antique shop in Russia, I purchased it. But after an examination by a violin expert, it proved to be nothing more than a very old, fabulous fake.

How a misfiring gun, turned a gang member to Christ

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In 2016, Javier Torres was a member of a Mexican gang in Northern California, until God intervened in an unusual way, causing him to become a believer in Jesus. According to AG News, he and members of his gang were involved in a confrontation with a member of another gang. Torres pulled his gun and unloaded his pistol, a .357 magnum revolver, on the man. However, instead of shots ringing out, there were only six clicks as the gun didn’t fire. Stunned, Torres and his gang fled. Once back at their home base, another gang member checked Torres’ gun. When he noticed that the bullets had not misfired, he told Torres that it must have been God who stopped the pistol from firing. Shook by the experience, for the next three months Torres turned to cocaine. But one day, when he was unable to get cocaine for his daily fix, Torres turned to God in prayer. “God, if this is you helping me get me out of this pain and hurt, I want a new …

Deion Sanders shares how he called out to God during a medical crisis

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Former NFL star, Deion Sanders, shared how he called out to God for help, which included speaking in tongues, during a serious medical crisis in 2021, the Christian Post reports. Saunders, 55, who is now the head coach of the Jackson State University football team, had to go to the hospital last year after experiencing blood clots in his legs that resulted in the amputation of two toes. Fearing the loss of his leg and possibly his life, Deion shared his experience in an interviewed with Chris Neely of “Thee Pregame Show,. In her article for the Christian Post, Jeannie Ortega Law provides more details: “It was a blessing. Because I could have lost my life very easily. It was there. It was a thought process of losing my leg from the knee down. It was almost there,” the legendary cornerback continued. “So when I look up and say thank you, Jesus, it’s because I know the quiet cries at night that were in that hospital.”Ā […] “I know all the speaking in tongues, and the …

When is the last time you spoke in tongues?

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When is the last time you spoke in tongues? I am directing this question to myself, as much as I am to anyone else, because based on a recent survey I know at least a quarter of us have spoken in tongues. But are still continuing this spiritual practice today? A recent study conducted by Infinity Concepts and Grey Matter Research (ICGMR) in early August 2022 found that 25% of American Christians have spoken in tongues. Included in this percentage were people who did not consider themselves charismatic or did not attend a Pentecostal church. The survey entitled, ā€œThe Renewalists: Pentecostal and Charismatic Evangelicals,ā€ also found that 13% of those surveyed attended a Pentecostal/Charismatic church and of those who did 55% had spoken in tongues, which means 45% had not. So, back to my original question, if you have received this gift of the Holy Spirit, when was the last time you used this gift? I ask this because, despite the controversy, the gift of Tongues is an important part of our walk with God. …

A Friendly Word to My ā€˜Cautiously Charismaticā€™ Colleagues

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By Dr. Michael L. Brown In recent years, I have heard Christian leaders describe themselves as ā€œopen but cautiousā€ when it comes to the gifts and power of the Spirit for today, including tongues and prophecy and healing. Others have described themselves as ā€œcharismatics with seatbelts.ā€ But is that really a biblical position to hold? Is it a healthy spiritual perspective? To speak directly to my ā€œcautiously charismaticā€ colleagues, are you ā€œopen but cautiousā€ when it comes to following Jesus? Or believing Godā€™s Word? Or giving yourself to the Great Commission? Or loving God? Why, then, when it comes to the gifts and power of the Spirit for today are you ā€œopen but cautiousā€? When it comes to your overall devotion to the Lord, do you wear those same seatbelts? Or do you wear them when you get alone with God in prayer? Or when you engage in corporate worship? Or when you share the gospel with the lost? Why put those seatbelts on only when it comes to the things of the Spirit? I …

Hold Fast to That Which Is Good

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By Rick Renner

Years ago I was invited to have lunch with a man who said he wanted to talk. As I sat with him, he began to tell me the many reasons why he had abandoned believing in the gifts of the Holy Spirit. At first, I thought maybe he just needed someone to talk to about his doubts, but soon I realized this man was deeply bitter. I finally understood he had asked me to lunch in an attempt to dissuade me, and whoever else would listen, from believing in the gifts of the Holy Spirit.

How actor Michael Sheen’s great-grandfather went from town drunk to street preacher

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Welsh actor Michael Sheen is best known for playing roles of famous people during his acting career, including British Prime Minister Tony Blair, in The Deal. He also played the role of journalist David Frost in Frost/Nixon, a movie about Frost’s 1977 interview with US President Richard Nixon. Though I am uncertain of Sheen’s faith, in April 2011, the actor led a modern retelling of The Passion in Port Talbot, Wales, the home of his great-grandfather. The play performed outside over three days involved the dramatic retelling of Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection. On the first day of the play, which started at 5:30 am on Good Friday morning, it drew a crowd of a few hundred people. By Easter Sunday, the crowd had grown to an estimated 13,000. But Port Talbot also serves as the backdrop to the remarkable spiritual transformation of Sheen’s great-grandfather. His great-grandfather was basically the town drunk, but Sheen says that all changed when one night, after being thrown out of the local pub, he was lying on his back in …

How God helped a US Congresswoman’s unborn baby survive a condition, that none survived before

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An amazing story has emerged on the remarkable healing of Congresswoman Jaime Herrera Beutler’s (R-Wa) baby. Faithwire reports shortly after announcing that she was expecting, doctor’s informed Beutler that her 22-week-old unborn baby would die because she was suffering from a lack of amniotic fluid and as well had no kidneys. It is a very rare condition called Potter’s Syndrome, and one that no baby had ever survived. ā€œ[The doctors] said ā€¦ ā€˜Your baby has no kidneys, which means thereā€™s no amniotic fluid in there, which means your baby is going to die. There is no chance your baby will live. No baby has ever survived this,’ā€ Beutler told Faithwire. ā€œThere is nothing to describe getting news like that.ā€ The doctors recommended an abortion. But abortion was not an option for Beutler and her husband, David, who are Christians, and they turned to prayer. A day after her diagnosis, Beutler received an email devotional discussing healing, and at that moment she felt God wanted her to ‘contend’ for their unborn child. Beutler sensed the Holy …

God gave Cooper Kupp a ‘vision’ of his MVP award and team’s Super Bowl win

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A strange story has emerged out of this year’s Super Bowl game won by the Los Angeles Rams, who defeated the Cincinnati Bengals 23-20. After the game, the Rams’ outstanding wide-receiver, Cooper Kupp, was named the game’s most valuable player, after catching eight passes for 92 yards, and two touchdowns, including the game-winner. Cooper, who is an outspoken Christian, had also won the NFL’s most valuable player award earlier this year, as he broke the previous NFL receiving record with 145 catches, 1,947 yards, and 16 touchdowns. Cooper is, so far, the only player in NFL history to win both awards in the same year. But there is more to this story. Sports Spectrum reports that Kupp shared how God told him three years earlier, that not only would his team win the Super Bowl, but when it did, Kupp would also be named the game’s MVP. But just as mysterious was the way God revealed this prophetic word to the wide receiver. Kupp received this revelation through a ‘vision’ he had while his team …

Why Do People Sometimes Collapse in the Presence of God?

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By Rick Renner And when I [John] saw him [Christ], I fell at his feet as deadā€¦ā€” Revelation 1:17 Over my years of serving God, I have noticed that often when people have encounters with God, they physically fall. Sometimes they fall forward, and at other times they fall backward. Still at other times, they simply collapse onto the ground. I have seen this in many meetings ā€” and I experienced it as a young man. I can tell you, the experience was real. My experience occurred the first time I ventured out from my Baptist church and attended a Pentecostal type of service. Just prior to that, I had been released from the hospital where I had been diagnosed with a kidney condition ā€” one that I was born with ā€” that was very serious. It was so serious that to try to correct it required surgery that was considered life-threatening. When the man praying for the sick in this Pentecostal meeting invited the sick to come forward, I went to the front to …

The Importance of Finding Your Calling

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By Dr. Michael L. Brown Can you imagine walking everywhere standing on your hands? Or writing a book using your toes? Or typing out text messages with your forehead? The fact is that our body was designed by God with great beauty and precision, with each part of the body having an important and unique role. Itā€™s exactly the same with the Body of Christ. Every believer has an important and unique role. And that means if you are a believer, you have a calling and a mission. Not only so, but rightly understood, every believer has an indispensable role, since the Body can only function at its full capacity if every member of the Body is functioning properly. Do you see yourself in this way ā€“ as someone called and graced by God ā€“ or do you consider yourself of no spiritual or practical value? ā€œAfter all,ā€ you might think to yourself, ā€œIā€™m just a businessman.ā€ Or, ā€œIā€™m just a home-schooling mom.ā€ Or, ā€œIā€™m just a young person in college. What can I do?ā€ …

Actor Kristoffer Polaha shares his life changing ‘but God’ moment

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In a recent interview on Pureflix, Hollywood actor Kristoffer Polaha shared the amazing experience that turned his life back to God. He has appeared in several TV shows since he broke into acting in 2001 including CSI Miami, Bones, Hawaii five-0, and Castle and as well several Hallmark Mystery 101 TV movies where he plays the role of Travis Burke. He has also had several movie roles, including his most recent, “Wonder Woman 1984”. Kristoffer is also co-starring in “Jurassic World Dominion” that is scheduled for release in 2022. Born in 1977, Kristoffer grew up in a Christian family, but as he entered high school, he decided to take a break from his faith, but God’s miraculous intervention while he was in his second year of college caused him to renew his faith. He and a friend were walking down a street in New York City. Kristoffer, who was on the side nearest the traffic, suddenly got a strange feeling that he should be walking on the other side. He switched places, telling her, “I …

Did a personal prophecy play a role in actor Stephen Baldwin becoming a Christian?

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With all the mockery Christians have received on the dozens of false prophecies given over the past couple of years, that then President Donald Trump would win a second term as US president, it is nice to see that legitimate prophecies have impacted people’s lives. Because it appears that a prophetic word played a key role in the salvation of actor Stephen Baldwin and his wife, Kenya, a Brazilian graphic designer. Their daughter, Hailey, also a believer, is married to mega pop star Justin Bieber. Stephen is also brother to actors Alec Baldwin and William Baldwin. Though, Stephen became a Christian shortly after the September 11, 2001 attack in New York City, in an interview with CBN, Stephen stated that the real transformation started before that tragic day, after they hired a young Brazilian woman, Augusta, as a nanny for their children. Within a week of her arrival, Augusta was singing songs about Jesus in Portuguese to the Baldwin children. Stephen said: ā€œSo we hired this lady from Brazil named Augusta, and the whole first …

Disturbing reaction to Jeremiah Johnson’s apology on Trump prophecy

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UPDATED: On Jan 20, 2021, Joe Biden was inaugurated as the 46th President of the United States. This was in complete contradiction to dozens of prophecies given in 2020 and earlier, that Donald Trump would win a second term as U.S. president. And I have to confess I was sucked into this prophecy vortex. (For the record, I believe in prophecy and I have received some very specific prophecies that came to pass.) However, when their prophecies about Donald Trump winning the Nov 3, 2020 election failed, citing election fraud, several doubled down and stretching out their prophecies stating that it would all turn around by the end of November. When that didnā€™t happen they prophesied it would be straightened up in December and when that didnā€™t happen, they pointed to the electoral college vote on Jan 6, 2021 and said Trumpā€™s victory would be sorted by then. Other than a riot on Capitol Hill, it didnā€™t come to pass. But then they pressed ahead stating that God would pull out a miracle in the …

How a prophetic word changed Gemma Hunt’s life

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Gemma Hunt, 36, is not well known on this side of the ocean, but in Britain she has gained a significant media presence as a children TV presenter on BBC. It was a career sparked by a prophetic word she received as a teenager. She currently is the lead presenter on CBeebies’ Swashbuckle, a pirate theme BBC game show targeted at two to seven-year-olds and also on the BBC’s program Songs of Praise. Since she was hired by BBC in 2002, Hunt has not been shy about her faith in Christ. She was raised in a Christian home and attended a local Baptist church, but admits she was a bit of rebel. In an interview with Premier Christianity, Hunt said that changed while attending Hill House, a Christian summer camp, where she made a decision for Christ at the age 11. But it was while attending a summer camp five years later, that she received a prophetic word that would set the course for her life. She was 16 and attending a Christian camp called …

Denzel Washington says being filled with the Holy Spirit ‘scared’ him

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In a recent Instagram interview with A.R. Bernard, who pastors Christian Cultural Center in Brooklyn, N.Y., actor Denzel Washington shared the moment that he was filled with the Holy Spirit. Denzel said that there were three times in his life, when he committed his life to Christ, and on the third time, while attending the Church of God in Christ in West Angeles, Denzel was filled with the Holy Spirit. He added that this supernatural experience “scared him:” “Three timesā€¦I think we all go through that. I was filled with the Holy Ghost and it scared me. I didn’t want to go this deepā€¦I want to party. It was a supernatural, once in this lifetime experience that I couldn’t completely understand at the time.” […] ā€œI went to church with Robert Townsend and when it came time to come down to the altar I said, ‘You know this time, I’m just going to go down there and give it up and see what happens.’ I went in the prayer room and gave it up and …

The ‘secret’ power behind speaking in tongues

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I read an interesting testimony by James Alford who serves as an Apostle of the Righteousness Ministries International Church based in Marietta, Georgia. His testimony on Charisma revealed the secret power behind speaking in tongues. Tongues is one of the gifts bestowed on believers when they are baptized in the Holy Spirit. A few years ago, Alford was sitting in a passenger jet getting ready for take off. The pilot had just announced there would be a delay and at that very moment the Holy Spirit told Alford to start speaking in tongues. Though, he wasn’t sure why God wanted him to do this, Alford started exercising his spiritual gift. The plane ended up sitting on the runway for an hour and a half, and when he felt like quitting, God told Alford to keep speaking in tongues. It is difficult to do something like this when you don’t have the complete picture, but Alford obeyed this prompting, because that is really all it was. How many times have people received similar promptings but shook …