Are you ready to elevate your ministry gift to the next level? If the answer is YES! Then allow me to show you how to activate your spiritual gifts instantaneously and with confidence. But first, let me refer to what King Solomon said in Proverbs 4:7 urging us to “get understanding”. So before we dive in, let’s explore what the gifts are and how they operate.
How the Gifts Operate
Manifestation Gifts (I Corinthians 12:7-11)
There are nine spiritual gifts which we are calling here Manifestation Gifts:
- Word of Wisdom
- Word of Knowledge
- Faith
- Gifts of Healing
- Miracles
- Prophecy
- Distinguishing between Spirits
- Tongues
- Interpretation of Tongues
Let me give you some insight into how to Recognize Your Spiritual Gift by breaking them down into three categories:
- Revelation Gifts
- Power Gifts
- Inspiration Gifts
REVELATION GIFTS: Gifts that REVEAL something
The Word of Wisdom: the communication of spiritual wisdom, seeing life from God’s perspective.
OPERATION: It is an impression, a thought, a mental picture, or a still small voice of the Holy Spirit showing what to do or how to deal with a specific situation. It is wisdom about that one matter at that one time.
The Word of Knowledge: the supernatural comprehension of Christ and His Word.
OPERATION: An impression, a thought, a mental picture, or the still voice of the Holy Spirit giving knowledge of facts about a person, or situation, that one could not possibly have known naturally.
- It is not accumulated or acquired knowledge, it is Revealed knowledge.
- It is knowledge about past situations and experiences, or about current situations. It uncovers what is happening.
Discerning of Spirits: to recognize what is of God versus the world, the flesh, and the devil.
OPERATION: It is knowledge given by the Holy Spirit that reveals what spiritual power is operating in or behind a person or situation.
POWER GIFTS: Gifts that DO something
Faith: a function on the behalf of the believer to have an unusual reliance on God to perform something impossible by ordinary human efforts.
OPERATION: It is not the normal measure of faith for daily walking with the Lord.
- It is a gift that comes in a moment that enables you to get the job done.
- It is an impartation of the ability to confidently know God’s provision is sure.
- How can you know? – there is an inner knowing that faith gives.
- It is the gift of power enabling a believer to obtain supernatural results.
- An impossible situation exists. A gift of faith is given. A solution is seen/known and power is released for the person to accomplish the task.
- A person with a gift of faith for a specific action will have boldness and confidence about the outcome that is completely unreasonable.
- Different Kinds of Faith we steadily grow and increase in:
- Saving Faith. (Ephesians 2:8)
- Walk of Faith. (Hebrews 11:6)
- Faith – Fruit of the Spirit. (Galatians 5:22)
- Gift of Faith – a Gift of the Spirit. (I Corinthians 12:9)
The Gifts of Healing: a function of removing diseases from the spirit, soul, and body for restoration of life.
OPERATION: It is a supernatural ability imparted by the Holy Spirit to bring about healing in a person without any natural means (for example) of medicine, or a doctor.
- The healing may be immediate (a miracle) or it may be progressive (for example) the person recovers in a way that cannot be explained naturally. (Mark 16:18)
The Working of Miracles: natural or supernatural events not explicable by natural or scientific laws with precise timing to bring glory to God.
OPERATION: A miracle occurs when natural laws are broken by supernatural intervention.
- The working of miracles is a specific effect that comes when the Gifts of the Holy Spirit work together to override or invade natural laws; to do something impossible naturally.
- The working of miracles operates alongside the Gift of Faith and Gifts of Healing.
INSPIRATION GIFTS: Gifts that SAY something
Prophecy: the ability to bring to light secret motives of the heart.
OPERATION: Prophecy is a spontaneous message given by the Holy Spirit to a believer to speak to a specific person or group of people at a specific time.
- ‘Prophecy’ – to spontaneously speak forth the mind and counsel of God; to speak under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
- ‘Moved’ – to bring forth a burden; to be carried by the wind.
Divers Kinds of Tongues: the ability to speak languages unknown to the speaker, glorifying God through language and or music.
OPERATION: It is a supernatural utterance given by the Holy Spirit spontaneously in a language the believer has not learned.
- It is NOT the prayer language of the believer, but it is an anointed message that should be accompanied by an interpretation. (I Corinthians 14:13).
The Interpretation of Tongues: a supernatural ability to interpret languages of the diverse tongue.
OPERATION: The interpretation of tongues is a supernatural ability given by the Holy Spirit, to enable the believer to understand a language being spoken, earthly or heavenly, without having first learned it.
- It is not a translation (example) not an exact word-by-word explanation of the message.
- It is an interpretation – it catches the spirit and intent of the message.
- Used in private and public worship, and public ministry, as led by the Holy Spirit. (I Corinthians 15:5).
Spiritual Gift Activation
Now that you have an understanding of how these spiritual gifts work, let’s dive right in and see how to activate them.
By paying close attention to the operations of each gift, you’ll uncover which gift the Lord is using you in or which one He wants to activate in you.
Let’s take for example one of the Revelation Gifts, The Word of Knowledge which is the gift I operate in. I had started to notice when I prayed for people, the Holy Spirit almost immediately would give me:
- An Impression
- A Thought
- A Mental picture
or give me knowledge of facts about the person or a situation that they’re in.
Imagine this – you’re in the grocery store and you just so happened to notice the expression on a lady’s face as if though she was troubled by something. Being moved with compassion you walk over and ask if she wouldn’t mind if you pray for her.
Because you have an in-depth understanding of how your gift operates and believe you and the Holy Ghost are in tune with each other, you’re trusting that your gift will work. Right!
Now, even though you have all of this knowledge about the REVELATION GIFTS, and how they operate, it still boils down to this one thing, and that is you opening your mouth, using your vocal cords, and SAY (Reveal Something) what the Holy Ghost is revealing to you about that person. This is what we call – Activating your Spiritual Gift. Acting on what you know/believe.
For example, at times when I’m praying for people, I’ve notice tears streaming down their faces because they’re moved by what I’m telling them. And at other times, people have taken a step back, staring at me in amazement. Knowing that there was no way I could have known what I told them unless it was a divine revelation from God.
All this comes from me having an understanding of the gifts and acting on the Holy Ghost prompting what to SAY.
But wait! Sometimes it goes a little further than this. I’ve experienced where He also wanted to use me in the gift of healing at the same time and prompted me to LAY MY HANDS (Do Something) on the person.
The point I’m trying to make is, the more knowledge you have about how the gifts operate the more effective you will be in activating them. This also came from my journaling on a daily bases to help me recognize hearing God’s voice from my own thoughts.
Conclusion
I want to encourage you to practice. Yes, I said practice. Every time you pray for people you’ll be practicing. (Practice makes Perfect).
After a while, you’ll become more comfortable and learn how to relax, yield your spirit to the Holy Spirit, and act on what He’s giving you. Learn how to do this every time you pray for people.
I just want to reassure you AGAIN! By having an understanding of the gifts, and acting on the Holy Ghost prompting, will build up your confidence, to the point where you will be more effective in bringing to light how real the Kingdom of God is to a person’s life.
