Spiritual Gifts

Today my friend came over, and she and I had a good chat over tea. She told me all about what she's been learning regarding the Spiritual Gifts.

In case you don't already know what those are, they're mentioned in the Bible in 1 Corinthians 12:4-11...

"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. God works in different ways, but it is the same God who does the work in all of us.
A spiritual gift is given to each of us so that we can help each other. To one person the Spirit gives the ability to give wise advice; to another the same Spirit gives a message of special knowledge. The same Spirit gives great faith to another, and to someone else the one Spirit gives the gift of healing. He gives one person the power to perform miracles, and another the ability to prophesy. He gives someone else the ability to discern whether a message is from the Spirit of God or from another spirit. Still another person is given the ability to speak in unknown languages [tongues], while another is given the ability to interpret what is being said. It is the one and only Spirit who distributes all of these gifts. He alone decides which gift each person should have."

So, to sum up, these are the gifts:

• wisdom


• knowledge


• great faith


• healing


• miracles


• prophecy


• discernment


• speaking in tongues


• interpretation of tongues

Now, my friend was talking about how she has come to believe that the Spiritual Gifts are only given to a person when someone who is 'anointed' lays hands on that person.

My friend was quick to clarify that, each person who calls on Jesus and becomes "Born Again" receives the Holy Spirit at that moment of conversion. But, it's not until the 'laying on of hands' that the person receives their "Gift".... this is what she is starting to believe.

My friend also backs up her claims with both Scripture (see below), and with personal experience. She says that she knows a few people who've claimed to want the gift of speaking in tongues, and then they've had someone lay hands on them, and were blessed with just such a gift!

The Scripture she quoted was:

Acts 19:5:
"As soon as they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then when Paul laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke in other tongues and prophesied."

Now, I'm not sure what to believe. On the one hand, because she's had *experience* with watching people be blessed with a Gift after the laying on of hands, I want to believe that it's true. And, when she first brought the verse in Acts to my attention, I believed it to be pertaining to what she was talking about. If the Scripture says it, it must be true!

But, now I'm a little skeptical. I mean, what about all of those books about "discovering your spiritual gifts"? What about all of the courses offered through churches that help you discover your gifts?

And, this verse in Acts says "the Holy Spirit came on them" before it says anything about gifts.

This second one, though, is something my friend talked about. She said that, when someone lays hands on you, you're, in a sense, "topped up" with the Holy Spirit -- you already had Him since your conversion, but when you are given the Gift(s), you *overflow* with the Holy Spirit. It's hard to explain, and hard to understand. :-?

In 1 Corinthians 14, it talks about the gifts of Speaking in Tongues, and Prophecy. It says we should *desire* the gifts that the Holy Spirit gives. This tends to lead back to what my friend believes ... as if they're not immediately with the believer upon conversion. That you have to *desire* them, and *ask* for them ... and then you'll be blessed with them.

Anyway. It requires more thought, and lots of prayer. I'll be praying for clarity on this issue. :o)

Personally, I at one point wanted the gift of Tongues. I've seen several of my friends speak in tongues, and this friend that was over today has the gift of Tongues. It's really cool! And, the ability to commune with God in His own language just seems wonderful! So, I think that, yes, I'd like to have that Gift.

But, I've always wondered whether or not I have the gift of Prophecy. Reason being is that I have a lot of "prophetic" type dreams. A lot of my scary dreams have come true in one way or other (one very close to the tragedy of the WTC attacks!), and that makes me curious. That's another reason why I question the idea of the Gifts only being bestowed upon having hands layed on the believer. I've never had anyone lay hands on me... :-?

Well, anyway. Enough for now. I need to "chew" on this a bit more. ;o)