DAILY DEVOTIONAL    FRIDAY MARCH 15, 2002
(1 Corinthians 12)

And now, brothers, I want to write about the special abilities the Holy Spirit gives to each of you, for I don't want any misunderstanding about them. You will remember that before you became Christians you went around from one idol to another, not one of which could speak a single word. But now you are meeting people who claim to speak messages from the Spirit of God. How can you know whether they are really inspired by God or whether they are fakes? Here is the test: no one speaking by the power of the Spirit of God can curse Jesus, and no one can say, "Jesus is Lord," and really mean it, unless the Holy Spirit is helping him.

Now God gives us many kinds of special abilities, but it is the same Holy Spirit who is the source of them all. There are different kinds of service to God, but it is the same Lord we are serving. There are many ways in which God works in our lives, but it is the same God who does the work in and through all of us who are his. The Holy Spirit displays God's power through each of us as a means of helping the entire church.

To one person the Spirit gives the ability to give wise advice; someone else may be especially good at studying and teaching, and this is his gift from the same Spirit. He gives special faith to another, and to someone else the power to heal the sick. He gives power for doing miracles to some, and to others power to prophesy and preach. He gives someone else the power to know whether evil spirits are speaking through those who claim to be giving God's messages--or whether it is really the Spirit of God who is speaking. Still another person is able to speak in languages he never learned; and others, who do not know the languages either, are given power to understand what he is saying. It is the same and only Holy Spirit who gives all these gifts and powers, deciding which each one of us should have.

Our bodies have many parts, but the many parts make up only one body when they are all put together. So it is with the "body" of Christ. Each one of us is a part of the one body of Christ. Some of us are Jews, some are Gentiles, some are slaves and some are free. But the Holy Spirit has fitted us all together into one body. We have been baptized into Christ's body by the one Spirit, and have all been given that same Holy Spirit.

Yes, the body has many parts, not just one part. If the foot says, "I am not a part of the body because I am not a hand," that does not make it any less a part of the body. And what would you think if you heard an ear say, "I am not part of the body because I am only an ear, and not an eye"? Would that make it any less a part of the body? Suppose the whole body were an eye--then how would you hear? Or if your whole body were just one big ear, how could you smell anything?

But that isn't the way God has made us. He has made many parts for our bodies and has put each part just where he wants it. What a strange thing a body would be if it had only one part! So he has made many parts, but still there is only one body.

The eye can never say to the hand, "I don't need you." The head can't say to the feet, "I don't need you."

And some of the parts that seem weakest and least important are really the most necessary. Yes, we are especially glad to have some parts that seem rather odd! And we carefully protect from the eyes of others those parts that should not be seen, while of course the parts that may be seen do not require this special care. So God has put the body together in such a way that extra honor and care are given to those parts that might otherwise seem less important. This makes for happiness among the parts, so that the parts have the same care for each other that they do for themselves. If one part suffers, all parts suffer with it, and if one part is honored, all the parts are glad.

Now here is what I am trying to say: All of you together are the one body of Christ and each one of you is a separate and necessary part of it. Here is a list of some of the parts he has placed in his church, which is his body:

Is everyone an apostle? Of course not. Is everyone a preacher? No. Are all teachers? Does everyone have the power to do miracles? Can everyone heal the sick? Of course not. Does God give all of us the ability to speak in languages we've never learned? Can just anyone understand and translate what those are saying who have that gift of foreign speech? No, but try your best to have the more important of these gifts.

SOURCE: (1 Corinthians 12:1-31a) The Children's Living Bible, ©1970 Tyndale House Publishers, Wheaton Illinois 60187

Spiritual gifts. This is by far one of the most controversial issues in the church today. One of the things that grieves the heart of God most, is the division within His body. Perhaps, nothing has divided the Body of Christ more then the issue of spiritual gifts. The sad fact is, it is a lack of understanding of this issue that has caused this division. Those who worship in a Pentecostal or Charismatic style church, embrace this issue, often too much so. Those who worship in more mainline denominational style churches such as United Methodist, Presbyterian, or Baptist, often ignore this issue, often too much so. Like in most issues of division, the truth is usually somewhere in the middle, and the issue of spiritual gifts is no different.

Let me first clear up some beliefs that are 100% incorrect. Many who do not embrace spiritual gifts take the position that they are not for this day, that at some point they stopped to exist. NOTHING could be farther from the truth. There is NO, ZERO, Biblical support for this. Jesus told his followers that they would do even GREATER things then He did. He healed people, raised the dead, fed multitudes with a few loaves and fishes, among other miracles.

Likewise, those who hold to the belief that those who do not operate in certain gifts are not saved, or not spiritual, are just as wrong. The biggest issue in this area are those who claim if you do not operate in the gift of tongues you do not have the Holy Spirit. WRONG. The Bible CLEARLY says that EVERYONE who is saved, receives the gift of the Holy Spirit. Being YIELDED to the Spirit of God that resides within you, is the issue. When you hear of people being baptized in the Holy Spirit, if they are saved, they already possess the Holy Spirit. What is actually happening is that they are YIELDING to the power of the Holy Spirit that is within them. THAT is something that each person must do every day to allow the power of the Holy Spirit to flow through our life. This hotly debated issue is really not a problem at all, it is more an issue of semantics.

As for Spiritual Gifts. These are special gifts that God gives to His children at specific times, for VERY specific purposes. God does not do ANYTHING by accident. Likewise, you can not just activate the Gifts of God like you turn on a light switch. The biggest abuse of this is probably in the area of healing. YES, God does use human instruments to heal people. I will say that 99% of his human instruments are DOCTORS! Can someone rent a 20,000 seat arena, have a 200 voice choir an orchestra majestically lead the crowd in 1 hour of praise and worship, at the height of this emotional experience spend 45 minutes taking an offering, then open the alter for people to come forward and be healed, and people are actually healed? Yes. But even in this kind of situation it is God using the faith of the individual, in accordance with HIS plan, that brings about the healing. Never forget, in EVERY instance in the Bible when Jesus healed, He said, "go, thy faith has made thee whole"!

The point is you do not have to go to a big crusade, or be in the presence of a certain person to be healed. It is JESUS who heals, through our faith, and in accordance with God's ultimate plan, which of course nobody really knows. I have over 100,000 emails from people that have sent in healing requests to Liveprayer over the last 30 months who have been touched by God. Was there something magical about the prayers they got from here? NO. But God did hear those prayers and used the faith of the person in accordance with His perfect plan that brought about their healing. All Bill Keller, or any other person can do is to pray with you and challenge you to believe and to put your faith in God. God is still in the healing business in 2002!

The other gift that is greatly abused is that of prophet. A prophet for the most part is someone who declares the oracles of God. A prophet is not a psychic, though God can give a prophet direction for a person or situation in advance. Most who call themselves prophets however, speak in lofty language, and much like the psychics, speak in generalities that can apply to almost ANY situation. I have always challenged ANYONE who wants to claim this gift in two things the Bible says about a prophet. For one, the Bible says the meal of a prophet is cow dung. More serious however, the Biblical mandate for anyone claiming to be a prophet is that the FIRST time they are wrong, they are to be taken to the edge of the city and stoned to death. I wonder how many prophets and prophetesses there would be with this as their penalty if they are ever wrong.

The bottom line to this sadly divisive issue is that spiritual gifts DO EXIST. They are NOT a sign of spiritual superiority but special gifts that God gives to His children at specific times for VERY specific purposes. The fact is that EVERY believer has at least one gift, and no believer has ALL of the gifts. The Bible says we should desire the gifts of God so that we can better fulfill our purpose of serving Him. The purpose of this Devotional is not to get into a theological debate over this issue. I am not here for that purpose, and I refuse to allow myself to get entangled in that kind of exchange.

I realize that there is much teaching on this issue, and possibly your church teaches things that might contradict what I have said. I will say this. One reason I rarely deal with this issue, is that like prophecy, people can get so focused on this one issue, that they forget the most important issue of all and what Liveprayer is here to do. Help you translate your faith into your every day life and fulfill all God intends for your life to be. I have preached in churches of every denomination and the one common bond in every church--no matter WHAT position they take on issues like Spiritual Gifts--is that there are people hurting, looking for answers in their day to day life.

I love you and care about you very much. I will be praying for you today, especially that you don't allow an issue like Spiritual gifts divide you from other parts of the Body of Christ. Like Paul writes, we each are a different part, of the SAME Body. I will pray however that you open your heart to all that God wants to do with and through your life. To accomplish that, He will often give you special gifts to carry out His work. I pray that you open your heart to His will, and His plan for your life, and never limit what God can do with your life.

In His love and service,
Your friend and brother in Christ,
Bill Keller

If I can help you in any way you can contact me through my personal email at bkeller@liveprayer.com.

***I am excited to let you know that the Liveprayer Daily Devotional is now available via audio each day. Simply go to http://www.liveprayer.com/DailyDevotionalAudio.html. Click on "Search by Category", then locate DAILY DEVOTIONAL. I want to thank Ed Morando for making this service available for FREE to Liveprayer.com.

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