Be Well-versed

1 Cor.12:^4-5 “There are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but the same Spirit is the source of them all.  There are different kinds of service, but we serve the same Lord.” (emphasis added).

Over the next few days, we will be examining an aspect of the Holy Spirit that is so fundamental and pivotal to our faith. It is also an aspect that perhaps a lot of Christians really do not understand. However, to be all that God had called us to be as Christians, we need to understand the aspect of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. It is fundamental to our faith. Interestingly, there are Christians that are satisfied that they are Christians and do not want to have anything to do with the gifts of the Holy Spirit. And the reason is, spiritual gifts are spooky. Another reason is, spiritual gifts have been abused and men always push things over the cliff.

However, I have not seen anyone who says because fake rice exists, he or she is not going to eat rice anymore. It does not even make any sense. The fact that there is a fake proves that there is an original. If someone gives you one thousand Naira note today, will you check if it is an original or a fake? If you are running a business and you receive cash, you should have a machine that checks if the cash you receive is original because there are fakes. But if someone brings a ten thousand Naira note to you today, do you even have to put it through a machine? Not at all and the reason is, the original does not exist. The existence of a fake is proof of the existence of the original. The fact that there are fake manifestations of the Spirit is proof that there are original manifestations of the Spirit. We need to understand this as believers.

We cannot turn a blind eye to the gifts of the Holy Spirit. In fact, it is so indispensable. We cannot be all that God has created us to be without the person and the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Our ability to remain spiritually strong depends on how much we rely on God the Holy Spirit. We are going to be spending a lot of time on 1 Corinthians 12 where Paul explains the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Paul started by saying, 1Cor.12:¹ “Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I do not want you to be ignorant” (KJV, emphasis added). Ignorance is a big part of many people’s problem when it comes to spiritual gifts. The enemy is excited when Christians are ignorant about spiritual things. But God does not want you to be ignorant. When you walk in the gifts of the Holy Spirit, you truncate the work of the enemy and frustrate his plans completely.

A shadow-story was given in 2 Kings 6, where the king of Israel always knew where and when the king of Aram would attack, thereby foiling his attack even though it was planned in secret. The king of Aram called his generals together, probably with sword drawn, because he was convinced that there was a traitor in their midst. One general spoke up, “Don’t kill us, the culprit here is not one of us. This man hears what happens in your bedroom.” It does not make sense to think you can catch such a person. But the enemy will keep trying and failing. When we [Christians] operate in the gifts of the Holy Spirit we frustrate the enemy completely.

Prayer: Holy Spirit, open the eyes of my heart, teach me, guide me, in Jesus Name. Amen!