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Moving in the Gifts of the Holy Spirit
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Pentecost Sunday marks the day when the Spirit of God was poured out on the church—the day we became empowered and transformed. Though we're celebrating this a week late due to being away at a festival, every day is an opportunity to remember and operate in the power of the Holy Spirit.
The Christian faith is fundamentally supernatural. Jesus' entire ministry was sandwiched between miracles—either heading toward one or coming from one. Yet many churches have a mixed or muted experience when it comes to the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Some reject them entirely, while others embrace them in unhealthy ways. The question is: Can we have a healthy, balanced, and powerful expression of the Holy Spirit's gifts without the abuse or the strange behavior? The answer is yes.
In 1 Corinthians 14, Paul highlights two specific gifts: prophecy and tongues.
Prophecy is uttering the words of God—speaking words you wouldn't otherwise know, speaking on behalf of God. Tongues is speaking in a language you haven't naturally learned. This can be a human language you've never studied or an angelic language unknown on earth.
One powerful example: A woman in a meeting spoke in tongues in a beautiful, unknown language. Afterward, another woman came forward and said, "How do you know Tajik?" The speaker had never learned that language, yet she spoke it fluently when praying in the Spirit.
Another memorable experience involved a new believer named Sarah. When someone spoke in tongues during worship, I asked Sarah if it was amazing. She had no idea what had happened—she heard it in English and proceeded to translate word-for-word what the person had said about Jesus. She had unknowingly operated in the gift of interpretation of tongues.
First Corinthians 12 makes clear that the Spirit distributes many gifts: wisdom, knowledge, faith, healing, miracles, discernment, administration, and more. This list likely isn't exhaustive. When you come to Christ and are filled with the Holy Spirit, you are plugged in—electrified and elevated to another level. God imparts supernatural gifts into your life.
Some churches focus only on the fruit of the Spirit (character), while others focus only on gifts. The answer is both. Paul says: "Pursue love and earnestly desire spiritual gifts."
These aren't competing priorities. Mature believers grow in character and operate in supernatural power. If you have one without the other, you're not producing maturity.
I once prayed for a man's healing at a conference. His back was completely restored—he could touch his toes in front of a thousand people. When I tried to return his blue back brace, he refused it. In his eyes, I saw genuine faith in God's healing. In my own heart, I saw cynicism—a doubt that the healing would last. He had the character; I merely had the gift. We need both.
This is where many churches go wrong. When people forget that gifts must flow from a foundation of love, things get distorted.
If you love people, whether you're exercising a practical gift, a leadership gift, or a supernatural gift, you cannot go wrong. Love is the foundation that prevents abuse.
Verses 4-5 state: "The one who speaks in a tongue builds himself up. But one who prophesies builds up the church."
Gifts are shovels in your hands, not medals on your chest. So many people want the platform and profile but don't want to serve. True gifts strengthen the church in ways nothing else can.
My friend Andrew Wilson tells aspiring preachers: "Go teach kids' ministry for a year, then come back." No one returns. But that's how he learned—explaining things to 8-year-olds teaches you to explain anything clearly. The gift is about service, not status.
Paul writes: "If the whole church comes together and all speak in tongues, and outsiders or unbelievers enter, will they not say, 'You are out of your minds'? But if all prophesy and an unbeliever enters, he is convicted by all...the secrets of his heart are disclosed, and falling on his face, he will worship God."
We must get used to explaining what we do—communion, spiritual gifts, and worship practices. What seems normal to us looks completely mad to outsiders.
I once had a first-time visitor at our church. During worship, a woman was touched by God's power and fell to the floor right next to him. Afterward, he didn't ask about that—he asked, "Why do so many people put their hands in the air?" We forget how strange our language and practices sound to the unchurched.
This verse has been foundational for my ministry: "If all prophesy, and an unbeliever or outsider enters, he is convicted by all...and falling on his face, he will worship God and declare, 'God is really among you.'"
This is what church should be. Yes, have great coffee, great worship—but people should encounter God's presence and declare, "Surely God is among you."
I witnessed a powerful prophetic word: A man said to a woman, "I feel God speaking about you. Does the name Lucy from Narnia mean anything?" She burst into tears. That was her name. As he prophesied over her, she came as an unbeliever and encountered God's presence. She fell into her mother's arms weeping.
Another story: Steve Wilson was praying for a woman on the street while her atheist boyfriend mocked him. Steve told the man, "You're going to get knocked down but get straight back up again." Two days later, the man got hit by a bus but was completely uninjured. Weeks later, he found Steve again: "Do you remember what you said? I got hit by a bus and didn't get hurt. I can't be the same person." He didn't yet know Jesus, but he knew something beyond himself existed.
"When you come together, each one has a hymn, a lesson, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation." As John Wimber said, "Everyone gets to play."
There is no junior Holy Spirit. At a festival with 4,000 people, we had kids pray for words of knowledge. An 8-year-old boy read from his paper: "There's someone here with a blue tent. Your name is George. You have a shoulder injury. Could you please stand up?" George stood, got prayed for, and was totally healed. Everyone gets to play.
So many discount themselves: "That's for people on the stage" or "That's for holier people than me." No. We all need maturity and growth, but we also all get to operate in gifts.
The Corinthian church was chaotic. Yet Paul didn't say, "Stop all the gifts until we get control." Instead: "Do not forbid speaking in tongues. Let all things be done decently and in order."
I've seen churches shut down all gifts because one prophetic word hurt someone or something went wrong. That's not God's design. Yes, mature. Yes, use gifts wisely. But we need more gifts and more maturity together, not less of the gifts.
Paul's final point: "Earnestly desire to prophesy. Earnestly desire the greater gifts."
There's passivity in many churches: "If God gives me a gift, great. If not, that's fine." That's wrong. We're called to actively seek the gifts God wants to give us.
When our church had no one praying for the sick, our best prayer was, "Lord, guide the surgeon's hand." That's not New Testament Christianity. We began praying corporately: "God, give us gifts of healing and miracles. We don't care who you give them to. We need these gifts."
"Earnestly desire spiritual gifts. Ask God for wisdom in your workplace. Ask for gifts of healing. Ask for gifts of administration. These are your birthright. Jesus died to release the promise of the Father so we can ask for these gifts."
Don't be passive. We prayed for years for the gift of word of knowledge with little response—lots of cynicism. Then one Sunday, a woman stood up and said, "I see you writing." A journalist came forward in tears. That breakthrough changed everything. Finally!
Don't be passive with this. Earnestly desire the greater gifts—not so you can boast about having gifts, but so the church can be built up. So when people come on Sunday, they encounter electricity and power. People prophesying in the car park, prayer for the sick in kids' ministry, encounters with God everywhere—not because a few are gifted, but because the whole church is turned on and mobilized.
Some of the greatest words I've heard didn't come from the platform. They came from people in the foyer. A couple once waited through an entire service to pray for someone in ministry who was burned out and broken. That's what we're looking for. We all need it. When I'm low, you lift me up. When you're low, I lift you up. That's how the church works.
As we close, don't be passive about this. Tell the Lord: "God, I'm earnest for the gifts you have for me. Pour out fresh gifts on your church, on me, on the people around me."
If you've been too passive about this area, repent. Begin again today with a heart of hunger. The church needs these gifts. We need to cry out to God for them. It's not greedy or selfish—it's your birthright through Jesus' death and resurrection.
Use gifts as a shovel to do God's work, not as a badge for status. Let's serve the church in power. Let's see God's presence break into this world.
