Keys to Flowing in the Gifts

Introduction

In Paul’s discussion on Spiritual Gifts to the church in Corinth, he starts out with an important statement:

1 Corinthians 12:1 (ESV), “Now concerning spiritual gifts brothers, I do not want you to be uninformed. “

This verse should be at the heart of the church. The Fivefold ministers should be teaching and equipping the church to grow and operate in the 9 supernatural gifts of the Holy Spirit, but are we really doing that great of a job?

A paper I read from an Assemblies of God University said, “Since the outpouring of the Pensacola revival, the fear of inauthentic demonstrations of the Holy Spirit has grown exponentially. Since the outpouring of Pensacola churches across the united states have experienced a 58% decrease in the supernatural demonstrations of the Gifts of the Holy Spirit.”

This disapoints me and deeply saddens me. If anything it shows that instead of equipping the saints for ministry, we, as fivefold ministers have been so scared of the inauthentic that we have quenched the gifts of the Holy Spirit.

I don’t believe that this is on purpose, but that it has been because of a lack of knowledge in the lives of Gods called ministers.

I understand why Paul did not want the church to be ignorant of spiritual gifts and that is my heart today. I desire to see God do supernatural things in the lives of His people again, and it frustrates me so much to see a lack of power in the church. It was never meant to be this way.

Today I just want to talk about a few basic keys to flowing in the Gifts of the Holy Spirit.

Be Full of the Holy Spirit

Anytime you read an account in the book of acts about someone flowing in a supernatural demonstrationn of the Holy Spirit you will find their name and then the words, “Full of the Holy Spirit.”

So, if the key then is to be full of the Holy Spirit, how do we be full of the Spirit as scripture tells us?

There is not one single shortcut. We must be people devoted to the Word and Prayer above anything else, but there is another key found in the book of acts.

Acts 1:8 (ESV), “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you.”

We must seek and receive the baptism in the Holy Spirit. This is a gift from God that comes after salvation. It is when the Holy Spirit annoints you for ministry and gives you a prayer language to use in your personal devotional time.

You can not be full of the Holy Spirit until you have been baptized in the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues.

Receiving the Baptism in the Holy Spirit.

You must understand that this is something that you don’t work for. It is FREE. Simply ask for this gift.

Then just begin to praise Him and worship Him.

Then you will feel the presence of God. Open your mouth and speak whatever comes to you.

It is really that simple.

After you have received the Baptism in the Holy Spirit you can stay full of the Holy Spirit simply by spending time with God and praying in that prayer language that He has given you.

Many people will tell you that you have to work for the anointing, but this is simply not true. We are not and can never be worthy enough to purchase anything from the Lord. The anointing of the Holy Spirit is the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. After you have received this, you have everything you need to operate in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Learn

I believe the reason we don’t see the Gifts of the Holy Spirit operating in the church today like we did in the book of Acts is because we have a church full of people who have no knowledge.

If you don’t know how to do something how can you be expected to do it?

we must spend time learning about the Gifts of the Holy Spirit.

Scripture says, in 1 John 2:20 (ESV), “But you have been anointed by the Holy One, and you have all knowledge.”

You know what this means? This means that because you have been anointed by the Holy Spirit; you have access to all the knowledge that you need.

In another passage Jesus says this in John 16:13 (ESV), “ When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth....”

What I am telling you is that you must learn how to talk to the Holy Spirit, ask Him questions, and allow Him to teach you all of the things that you need to know. If you aren’t learning from Him its not because He’s not trying to teach you; its simply because you are the one who is not listening.

I want to tell you that if you want to flow in the gifts of the Holy Spirit you must learn about them. This learning comes from listening to annointed teachings on the gifts, from prayer, and studying the word of God.

You Must Pursue Love

In 1 Corinthians 14: 1 (ESV) Paul first tells us to, “Pursue Love.”

The word for love here is “agape” and it is a greek word for a kind of love that produces an outworking. Meaning that it is a kind of love that causes you to reach out and show it to those around you.

This applies to the spiritual gifts because we are to use them out of a desire to bless those around us instead of desiring to use them for our own greed.

In 1 Corinthians chapter 11 Paul says that many are sick and dying because they have failed to discern the Lords body. We have been taught that this means because they took comunion without repenting of sin, then they were drinking judgement upon themselves.

What Paul was talking about was that they were being so selfish that many were sick and dying because they were neglecting each others needs.

This is why love is important. Because when we are loving we are actually seeing the needs that are present in the lives of those around us.

Earnestly Desire Spiritual Gifts

The second part of 1 Corinthians 14:1 is, “And Earnestly Desire Spiritual Gifts.”

The Greek word for “Earnestly Desire” is the same word that is used for being zealous. That means that we are to be actively seeking the gifts of the Holy Spirit.

I used to think that this meant just seeking after the Gifts in prayer until my last year at SUM.

I was connected with a professor who changed my life forever. Her name is Dr. Vicki Farina and she is an AG Minister with a PHD. Her and her husband were both pastors and are now evangelists. That means she not only has the knowledge, but she also has the experience.

Her job was to teach me about and train me in the gift of Prophecy. At first I was really weirded out about her method.

For 11 weeks I had an assignemnt that was due at the end of every week. This assignemnt was where I had to operate in one of four spiritual gifts: The Word of Knowledge, The Word of Wisdom, Discerning of Spirits, or Prophecy. Understand that if I did not have an experience where I operated in one of these gifts each week and couldn’t write at least two pages on using these gifts; then I would have failed the class.

In the first week I was so nervous and I just knew I would fail. This is what she was teaching me by stretching me and if you haven’t been listening up to this point, you need to be paying attention right now.

She taught me that earnestly desiring the gifts isn’t just praying for them. You must actively stay in a place of prayer and communication with the Holy Spirit. Earnestly desiring the gifts is when you walk in a room and you begin speaking to God saying, “Lord, is there anyone in here who needs a prophetic word? Do you need or want to share a word of knowledge with me? What about a word of Wisdom? Does anyone need healed?”

Simply put, earnestly desiring the gifts of the Holy Spirit means that you are constantly giving God the opportunity to manifest that gift through you.

For example: When we want to see the Gift of Healings operating through us, What do we do? “Are you sick, or injured? Come here and let me pray for you!” What do we call that? We call it discerning a need and asking the Lord to manifest a gift that will fulfill that need.

walk into church and allow worship to have a moment where nobody is singing. A moment where everyone is praying and worshipping. Without any preaching. If one of you would ask God to use you in tongues andninterpretation and step out; I promise you that you would be used of God simply because you gave Him the opportunity to use you.

For this 11 week period of class, there was never one time where I missed the mark. Never one week where I didn’t have two or three testimonies to share with my professor on how God used me in a gift.

I’ll give you one more story okay!

Awhile back Glenn Dorsey came in the office and as he was leaving he said something that was messing with me. He said, “How come you get a word from God for everyone else, but you never get anything for me?”

I was super convicted; so then I went home and I began to pray. I said, “Lord, I beleive this man needs encouraged. Would you give me a word for him that I may encourage him?” The Lord spoke to me specifically for him. I told him that because the seed he has sown God was not only going to provided for his future ministry, but He would give him surplus. I also told Him that God said the miracles he wouldn’t give him years ago would begin to show up in his ministry. He got tears in his eyes and cried for a moment.

I didn’t miss the mark. And you won’t either!

Altar call:

If you are in this room today and you want to receive the baptism in the Holy Spirit; I want you to move, and come to the left side over here. If you say that you want God to show you opportunities to manifest the gifts of the Holy Spirit, I want you to come on the right side over here. I am going to pray for you, and watch God encourage you.