Imrah Ministries

By Sidharth Mohandas

As we continue to study the spiritual gifts, I want you to know that each gift is a facet of Christ Himself. Therefore, the elimination of any one of the gifts would be equivalent to putting a veil over of a particular facet of Christ. Today, we will deal with one such facet — the manifestation of prophecy.

Many people see prophecy as a gift to foresee and foretell the future. While the gift of prophecy does include this ability, a prophet is much more than a person with this ability. The Hebrew word for prophet, “navi” comes from the term “niv sefatayim”, meaning “fruit of the lips” which implies that the major role of a prophet was forth-telling what was on Abba’s heart at a given point of time.

A person who has the prophetic gift is one who is, first of all, a listener — one who shares heart to heart with God in prayerful intimacy. He hears and speaks the words that emanate from His very Presence.

By Sidharth Mohandas

These two gifts are unique in the fact that they had never manifested before the coming of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost. And just like the other gifts of the Spirit, not everyone can operate in these gifts (1 Corinthians 12:29-30 ESV). They are given freely as the Spirit wills (1 Corinthians 12:11). 

As mentioned in an earlier article, the gift of tongues differs from the evidence of tongues in the fact that spiritual gifts entail ministry (1 Corinthians 12:7 NASB). In this article I will be using 1 Corinthians 14 as my reference to share with you the various functions of the gift of diverse tongues. The ministry of tongues is two-fold: first of all, it involves ministry to God and self, and secondly, it involves ministry to men. The former is personal–the latter is public. It is abundantly clear from Paul’s writing that his main concern was that the gift should be used wisely and orderly within the church or public setting. (Notice the words “church” and “when you come together” in the following references: 1 Corinthians 14:4, 5, 12, 19, 23, 26, 28)

Ministry to God and Self (Personal) 

Prayer

Paul says in 1 Corinthians 14:2 NKJV, “He who speaks in an unknown tongue, does not speak to men but to God. Indeed, no man understands him; he utters mysteries with his spirit.”  

In the above verse, Paul makes a clear statement: one who speaks in tongues speaks to God. This is the first function of speaking in tongues–prayer. Later Paul confirms this when he says, “For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is unfruitful.” (1 Corinthians 14:14) What is so special about this kind of prayer?  

(1)   It is not hindered by the limitations of the mind

(2)   Like normal prayer, praying in tongues is not one-sided either. God speaks to our spirits in the form of revelations and unravels mysteries in the process.  

(Please refer to the article Praying in the spirit for more details)

Praise

Tongues can also be used in praise. Many times when I can’t contain my praise for Abba in known words, I often burst forth into praising Him in an unknown language. 

Paul says, “I will sing praise with my spirit, and I will sing praise with my mind also.” (1 Corinthians 14:15b). He then says, “If you are praising God with your spirit, how can one who finds himself among those who do not understand say, “Amen” to your thanksgiving, since he does not know what you are saying?” (1 Corinthians 14:16). Paul is not discouraging believers from praising in tongues here, but rather he is instructing them on how to use this gift wisely in a gathering or group. Just imagine: if a few of us agree together in prayer, and one person suddenly raises their voice and starts praying in tongues, how can the others agree with him/her and say “Amen”? But please note–Paul was certainly not speaking against the use of tongues in prayer, praise, or worship. In fact, he said “I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you” (1 Corinthians 14:18). Paul prayed in tongues–he praised God and worshipped Him in tongues. However, he goes on to say, “Nevertheless, in church I would rather speak five intelligible words to instruct others than a ten thousand words in a tongue” (1 Corinthians 14:19).

Ministry to Men (Public)

The gift of diverse tongues used in the church edifies those assembled together only when there is an interpretation of the tongues. Paul instructs believers who had the gift of tongues to pray for the gift of interpretation for this very reason (1 Corinthians 14:13).  

What many do not realize is that the gift of interpretation of tongues is not just simply translating what was spoken in tongues–it is exactly what it is called–an interpretation. Sometimes what is spoken in tongues may only be one line, but the interpretation may be very lengthy. On the other hand, that which is spoken in an unknown tongue may be very long, and the interpretation could be just a line.

The ministry of tongues and interpretation has somewhat of the same effect as the gift of prophecy. But unlike prophecy, tongues are a sign for unbelievers (1 Corinthians 14:22). How is it a sign for unbelievers? Paul explains it in the very next verse. He says, “If therefore the whole church be come together into one place, all speak with tongues, and there come in those who are unlearned or unbelievers, will they not say that ye are mad?” (1 Corinthians 14:23). As you can see, tongues serve as a negative sign for unbelievers because they are separated from God and do not understand what is happening. This goes for a person who has not been educated in the Word of God as well. Sadly, there are countless Christians around the globe who are uneducated in the Word. When God tells us that this sign would follow believers (Mark 16:17), who are we to say it has ceased? 

Practical Instructions

Paul gives some instructions on how to use the gift of tongues and the gift of interpretation in 1 Corinthians 14. He says, “If anyone speaks in a tongue, two- or at the most three - should speak, one at a time and someone must interpret. If there is no interpreter, the speaker (one who speaks in tongues) should keep quiet and speak (speak in tongues) to himself and God.” (1 Corinthians 14:27-28) The instruction Paul gives is quite clear: two or three could speak in tongues in an assembly, but one by one–not all together–and there should be someone to interpret. Now notice again, Paul is speaking about the ministry of tongues to men, not devotional tongues. When no one in the assembly has the gift of interpretation, the one who has the gift of tongues may quietly speak in tongues to himself and God. Paul is permitting devotional tongues here in the church, however it should be done in a manner that does not disturb the order of the church. I have been to countless assemblies where everyone starts operating in only the gift of tongues and there would be no interpretation. This is exactly what Paul was speaking against! If an unbeliever or an unlearned person came in, he or she would think that these people were mad, and they would leave feeling out of place and disgusted. We must use the gifts wisely in the Spirit and not foolishly in our flesh.  

Final Exhortation  

The gift of tongues is a priceless one–if used rightly. Do not back away if you have had some bad experiences with people who have misused this gift, but rather, seek Abba for this gift.

In conclusion, I say with Paul: forbid not speaking in tongues. (1 Corinthians 14:39b) 

By Titto Thomas

CAUTION: As I mentioned in the first post, gifts are very essential to us. We at Imrah consider the spiritual gifts to be a foundational topic. When we are young in Christ, we usually depend on God through the faith of others. And while there is nothing wrong with that, God does not want you to stay in that place forever. He wants you to grow and become mature (so that you may help others). Many times, people seek those with the gift of knowledge or wisdom, wanting to know what to do next, or the will of God for some major decision. Some people do it all their lives. When they hear that a minister with such a gift is in town, they will run after them. My friends we need to come to a point where we are receiving such things from the Lord himself. You should be asking for this gift for yourself to help others come to maturity. I hope you see my point.

Having been introduced to the gifts of the Holy Spirit by Paul, let us now examine each of them in-depth. In this post, we will look at the revelatory gifts: the word of wisdom, the word of knowledge, and the discernment of spirits. These gifts are caused by revelation or supernatural illumination. Let us consider each gift separately:

Word of Wisdom

Notice that this gift is called the “word of wisdom”. It is not called “words of wisdom”, which implies that God is not revealing all of His wisdom. This gift is given for specific instances where wisdom concerning a matter is needed. The gift instructs us on how to deal with a particular situation. To better understand this gift, all we need to do is to look at Jesus’ ministry on earth. Consider these two instances: one in which a prostitute was brought to Jesus (in John 8:3-11), and the other being when the Pharisees tried to entangle Jesus with talk on taxes (in Matthew 22:15-22). In both of cases, we find the Pharisees (the spiritual leaders of the time) attempting to trap Jesus in His words using complex questions. But through the wisdom of God, Jesus saw through their traps and was able to answer, leaving them astonished and amazed. 

Word of Knowledge

A Hindu friend of mine went to church one day. The guest speaker that day was a preacher from Sudan. It was the guest preacher’s first visit to India, and he hardly knew any English. But at the end of the service, he asked the huge congregation if there was anyone who hadn’t met with the Lord. No one moved. Suddenly he pointed to my friend who was sitting silently at the back and said “my son, I know you haven’t. If you come up here, I will pray for you.” This is an example of the word of knowledge gift. Jesus used this same gift to get Zacchaeus off the tree in Luke 19:2-5. The word of knowledge is a revelatory gift that God gives us for His glory. This gift can manifest in many different forms, from spiritual insight to finding your car keys. Most people say that the word of knowledge is followed by a word of wisdom, and that the word of wisdom tells us how to handle the word of knowledge.

Spiritual Discernment (the Discernment of Spirits)

In Acts 16:16-18, we find a very peculiar story. A slave girl follows Paul and Silas around proclaiming them to be messengers of the Most High. After just a casual glance at 1 Corinthians 12:3 and as I explained in the last post, we can be led to believe that it was the Holy Spirit at work here–but it was not. After many days, Paul gets annoyed and  casts the fortune-telling spirit out of her. From this passage we can extrapolate an idea of how gifts work. Gifts are an inherent part of you. Paul didn’t sit, pray and seek counsel from the Lord about it, but rather he sensed that the spirit was not from God. I have heard about this gift being used during interpretation of tongues, when the interpreter was saying something untrue. I have also experienced it when wrong doctrines were being taught.

Spiritual discernment is also necessary during teaching. If someone asks you a question, in the middle of your class, there can be two possibilities, either that person is legitimately in need of an answer, or it is a distraction from the devil. A person with this gift can discern what that person needs and act accordingly for the glory of God.

Take note that the topic here is not the discernment of a spirit, but that of “spirits”. This implies that God gives this gifting to distinguish between spirits and help know when demonic activity is involved. 

Similar to what I mentioned in the gift of knowledge, God does not want you to be looking for some person with this gifting all your life. Rather, He wants you to be so acquainted with Him so that our experience with Him causes us to identify everything that is not of Him. Again, this is the most ideal of circumstances, and it takes many years to reach that. I myself am not there yet, but I need this gift.

God gives these gifts to be used. If any of you have hidden a spiritual gift under your bed, I encourage you to start using these mighty weapons. In 2 Timothy 1:6, Paul encourages Timothy to fan into flame the gift that was inside him. It is an analogy that is well fitting. As you know, if a fire is left unattended, the flames will die down and reduce themselves to burning embers. But the embers could be fanned and the fire revived with a little effort. If you have kept your gift dormant, I encourage you to fan it back into a flame.

Hopefully, this article will leave you with a basic understanding of revelatory gifts. But in closing, these gifts are not meant to be talked about, but are rather meant to be used. A deeper understanding will only come through experience. In the next post, Sidharth will take you into the verbal gifts.