This is a blog I should have written months ago, from Nicaragua, but I wasn’t able to be this vulnerable back then. Not only was I worried what people would think, but truly I didn’t know what exactly I was talking about until just recently. You see in the 7 years that I attended Catholic schools and in the 6 years of CCD and youth group, I was never asked to open a Bible. I can remember feeling so embarrassed when my North Carolina students, who attended public school, could quote the Bible and I couldn’t. Reading scripture was not something I’d ever been encouraged to do. So when I was exposed to spiritual gifts I didn’t know what to think.
1 Corinthians 12 talks extensively about the spiritual gifts. I love the introduction given in The Message: “What I want to talk about now is the various ways God’s Spirit gets worked into our lives. This is complex and often misunderstood, but I want you to be informed and knowledgeable.” Right from the beginning, God wants us to be in the know about the existence of these gifts. But how can I wrap my head around something that is so incredibly foreign, not to mention supernatural?
When I teach the seven types of conflict in a plot, character versus the supernatural is one of them. It’s also the one we use to describe those stories about aliens or ghosts. After all, supernatural means beyond what is in our natural world. With that comes a negative connotation. Supernatural means the bad guy, a drooling alien or demon ghost. Little did I realize it can also refer to our Holy Spirit.
With the death and resurrection of Jesus came the ability for us to receive the powers of the Holy Spirit. Acts 2:1-4 explains: “When the Feast of Pentecost came, they (apostles) were all together in one place. Without warning there was a sound like a strong wind, gale force — no one could tell where it came from. It filled the whole building. Then, like wildfire, the Holy Spirit spread through their ranks, and they started speaking in a number of different languages as the Spirit prompted them.” This shares specifically the gift of tongues. The other gifts are listed in 1 Corinthians 12:4-11. Then later in 1 Corinthians 14:1 Paul writes that we should “desire spiritual gifts.” Ok, but why? Why are these so important?
Aside from strengthening our relationship with God, these gifts are important to strengthen God’s church. Too many of us misinterpret this word church just like the word supernatural. God’s church is NOT a brick and mortar building. It’s the people who follow Him. It’s a community of believers who come around each other to support and encourage one another based on the love of Christ. It could be three people meeting in a home or 300 people meeting in a warehouse. The point is, are we, as a church, functioning in a way that supports and encourages? Or are we “punching the clock” every Sunday morning? Ephesians 4:11-14 reads, “He handed out gifts above and below, filled heaven with his gifts, filed earth with his gifts. He handed out gifts of apostle, prophet, evangelist, and pastor-teacher to train Christ’s followers in skilled servant work, working within Christ’s body, the church, until we’re all moving rhythmically and easily with each other, efficient and graceful in response to God’s Son, fully mature adults, fully developed within and without, fully alive like Christ.”
As I mentioned before, this was all new to me; but now that I know I can’t imagine my life without it. God continues to amaze me. When He gave me the gift of prophesy it was invigorating. Getting the gift of tongues in the middle of the night was unexpected, but then the best sleep I’d had since being on the race. He continues to challenge me with developing these gifts, hence the last few blogs.
It continues to be my prayer that the readers of my blog are able to experience some of the same things I am, even if they aren’t here with me. Maybe you have always thought speaking in tongues is weird or the gift of prophesy is the same as a phony fortune teller. I know that’s what I thought. Until I let God show me what He intended when He asked the apostles to write about these gifts and how we should use them. If you believe God is bigger than anything you can understand in this natural world, let Him show you His supernatural powers.
