So we finally hit our 1 month point!
One month of ministry
One month of living in community
One month of eating tortillas
One month of learning more about Jesus
One month of living life in Guatemala
Coming into the race I had grown up in church basically my whole life learning stories in the Bible. One thing here though that I’m learning more on is the gifts of the Holy Spirit…some of you are probably like “YES SO AWESOME, LOVE THEM” some of you are probably like “uhh what?” The second was me(: My mentor at home had mentioned them to me and taught me about them about a year ago but I still didn’t quite “get it”
So for those that are and still in the same boat as me. 1 Corinthians 12-14 really gets into it. The gifts of the Holy Spirit are wisdom, healing, prophecy, speaking in tongues, interpretation of tongues and discernment
Now what do all of those even mean you’re asking?
Wisdom- essentially you can bring any worldly thing or topic someone is talking about right back to the word and what the Bible has to say about it
Healing- this looks different I’m learning for people but it’s the gift of healing which is super cool because the Lord will heal people through that person laying hands on someone and praying for them (here it has happened in many different ways of eyesight improving, tumors shrinking, headaches vanishing, stomach pain going away, and more!)
Prophecy- this looks different for many people and it’s ultimately not a burning bush like in the Bible but I’m sure it can happen but people can get encouraging words for someone, visions that have meaning, and colors and feelings.
Speaking in tongues- this is a way some people are just able to speak to God in their own language that He can understand, the people I know that have this only do it when they are alone with the lord and it is very sacred and special
Interpretation of Tongues- means what you think…some people are able to know what that person is saying to help them understand better
Discernment- is a feeling essentially, that you can feel out a room and the people in it to know exactly how and what they are feeling. For these people it is easy to feel spiritual warfare that is happening and it is a way for them to start praying away anything not of the Lord. Also in ATL (ATL is what I have kinda talked about before in “asking the Lord” who we should encounter that day and who we are looking for) it is a way some of us are able to know where to go and where maybe we shouldn’t go
There are other gifts such as hospitality, I’m just not going to talk a lot about those because they are pretty explainable.
No one has all of these gifts though and that’s how it’s supposed to be because if we all had them we wouldn’t need each other. But we do need each other and we need community to build the kingdom because we need all these gifts and everyone has something different to bring to the table.
If you don’t know what your gift is or if you have one it says we can ask for a certain gift and we may receive it also you may already have a gift and you just need to pray about it that it is revealed to you
Something that has been pointed out to me during ATL and being here is that I personally have the gift of discernment. I’ve always thought it was just a gut feeling and never really talked about it. But being here I can really feel the heaviness in rooms or when I’m with someone that is going through something in a way that others have no idea what is happening. During ATL I am one of the people that can usually tell where we are suppose to go by a feeling I get (I can’t totally explain it very well yet because I’m still learning myself what it is). By looking at someone I can usually feel what they are feeling and ask them if they are feeling anxious, sad, upset, in pain and then pray for them in that way. Like I said I am still learning what feelings are what and what they even mean and also look back on life and see where this has been all my life and how I’ve handled it.
Thank you for reading and I hope you have a great day(:
-Sydney
