1 Corinthians 12:1
Now about spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be ignorant.
The concept of spiritual gifts must be re-established in order for the church to be built up. Just like in a computer, hardware and software are both important; the church that we see is like the hardware, and collaboration of brothers and sisters is like the software. If a church wants to well-developed, not only does it need a solid organization, but also the collaboration of the spiritual gifts. A.W. Tozer has said that the biggest tragedy for church today is that we have lost our spiritual gifts. Why are they lost? The first reason that Paul mentioned here is that we are ignorant to the work of the Holy Spirit.
The problem with the church at Paul's time was not with the spiritual gifts, but rather how to exercise the gifts. Lack of understanding results in misunderstanding, and misunderstanding results in abuses and creates much fear. For example, it's really nothing to see people struck by the Holy Spirit and fall to the ground. Back in 1703, during meetings conducted by John Wesley, Holy Spirit filled the congregation and many people couldn't remain standing and fell on the floor. Between 1703 and 1758, God worked mightily in the meetings conducted by Jonathan Edward, and many fell in the Holy Spirit; between 1792 and 1875, the work of the Holy Spirit was witnessed during meetings conducted by Charles Finney, where many could not remain standing and many experienced God's presence and healing. The most important thing is not whether you fell or not, but rather it is what the Holy Spirit has done in your heart.
We must learn to treat these phenomena with the right attitude. After falling, some are greatly filled by the Holy Spirit and experience a complete turnaround in life. If you hear others speaking in tongue, you might get rather nervous, but Paul clearly discussed all the gifts that God established in the church in 1 Corinthians 12:28-31. Tongue is actually the least of the gifts, so there's no reason to make a big deal out of it; if you have the gift, praise the Lord; if you don't, you can also thank the Lord. It is a gift, thus it's something that God gives to us according to His will. We must learn to treat the Spiritual gifts with a healthy attitude, otherwise erroneous teachings that we might have received in past will deprive us from truly enjoying Holy Spirit's blessings from these gifts. May God help us, and let us seek guidance from the Holy Spirit to understand the truth accurately, so that the whole church can receive blessings from God under the truth from the Holy Spirit.
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