The Gifts of the Holy Spirit: What They Are, How They’re Misused, and What the Genuine Looks Like

Introduction

Most Christians have heard about the gifts of the Holy Spirit their entire lives, but most couldn’t name them. A lot of people keep their distance from the whole subject, usually because they saw something that was done in the Holy Spirit’s name that just felt really off.

Confusion about these gifts has caused harm, and once I’ve finished this teaching on spiritual gifts, you’ll know exactly what they are, what the fakes are, and how to act if God is prompting you to exercise them.

The Biblical Basis of this Teaching: 1 Corinthians 12

Let’s start by looking at what Apostle Paul said about the spiritual gifts in the first chapter of 1 Corinthians.

Start at verse 7. A spiritual gift is given to each of us so we can help each other.

Two things. Number one, every single believer has a spiritual gift. This includes you. Even if you don’t feel like you have a spiritual gift, and even if you don’t know what your spiritual gift is yet, God has given you a spiritual gift. Notice also that Paul the Apostle writes that we’re given these spiritual gifts so that we can help each other. So, we’re given these gifts not for status, but for service. Not to puff ourselves up, but so that we can help each other out.

Now, in verse number eight, Paul begins to list the various spiritual gifts, and this list will be the framework from which I teach:

• The word of wisdom
• The word of knowledge
• The gift of great faith
• The gift of healing
• The power to perform miracles
• The ability to prophesy
• The gift of discernment
• The gift of tongues
• The gift of interpretation of tongues

It is the one and only Spirit who distributes all these gifts. He alone decides which gift each person should have.

Now, notice there in verse 11 that it’s the Holy Spirit who decides which gift each believer has. So, he has selected a spiritual gift for you. These gifts are for today. These gifts are to help build the church. These gifts are powerful demonstrations of the Holy Spirit’s involvement here and now. And so, you and I have the responsibility to not only discover our spiritual gifts, but also to operate in our spiritual gifts.

Now, also note that no one spiritual gift is more important than the other. Each spiritual gift is necessary for the advancement of the kingdom of God. So, cherish the spiritual gift that God has given to you, and honor the spiritual gifts that God has given to your fellow believer.

The Word of Wisdom

The word of wisdom, simply put, is supernatural wisdom. It’s divine reasoning within you. That inner pull, the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

Now, it may look something like this. Perhaps there’s a difficult circumstance that someone’s trying to navigate, and they’re calling their friends, they’re asking for advice, they’re trying to figure this very difficult circumstance out, and no one has a solution. But then the one with the gift of the word of wisdom can enter that situation, and it’s almost as natural as breathing for them. They just begin to see the situation from an entirely different angle, and they begin to present solutions that actually yield results that are meaningful not just for the people involved, but ultimately for the kingdom of God. That is the word of wisdom.

Now, this may not at face value seem supernatural or grand. Often when we think of the spiritual gifts, we think of healing or prophecy because those are more demonstrative in nature. They show what we would think is a greater intensity of a manifestation of power, but the word of wisdom is very powerful because, as I said, it is divine reasoning. Think about that. God can give you the ability to think as he thinks.

Counterfeits of the Word of Wisdom

Now, the word of wisdom can be counterfeited because wisdom looks like wisdom. The difference is the source. Not every thought that is clever, not every strategy that yields results, not every angle that’s presented from someone’s brilliant mind is the word of wisdom. It is determined by its source. If it proceeds from man, though it may yield some results, it is not the word of wisdom. But if it comes from the depths of the spirit, the source, which is divine, then it is the word of wisdom in action, and you can tell the true word of wisdom because the word of wisdom always aligns with the word of God.

The Word of Knowledge

Next, let’s take a look at the word of knowledge. Simply put, the word of knowledge is supernaturally received knowledge. Now, much like the word of wisdom, the word of knowledge is best identified by its source.

You see, you can gain knowledge in all sorts of different ways. You can read information in a book. You can find out information about someone’s past and present, their preferences, their personality, on social media. You can gain knowledge through experience, what you see, what you hear. But that information is not what makes the gift supernatural. That’s information about people’s present, people’s past, people’s experiences. What makes the word of knowledge supernatural is that it was supernaturally received knowledge. In other words, they had no way of knowing what they know about you. They had no way of knowing what they know about your circumstances.

Think about Jesus and the woman at the well. That was the word of knowledge in action. He knew things about her past that he had no other way of knowing. It wasn’t available to him in a book. She didn’t give him her testimony, her life story. He just knew it by the Holy Spirit. So, though the information itself isn’t supernatural, the way that information was received is supernatural.

For example, while praying a mass prayer over the sick in our services, often I’ll receive words of knowledge about people who are getting healed. As I pray for people, sometimes the Lord will show me a spine that’s straightening out, a tumor that’s disappearing. Maybe He’ll tell me somebody to my right is having their left ear opened, and so forth. That word of knowledge is the revelation of something. That word of knowledge is me getting information from God about someone’s present.

Now, here’s something to note about the word of knowledge: it primarily deals with the present and past, and prophecy, as we’ll get into in a moment, has more to do with the future.

Watch Out for the Counterfeit

Be careful, because there are many abuses with this gift. There’s outright fakery, where people nowadays can just get information about you from your social media accounts. Someone actually tried this on me one time. I was deeply offended by it, and the information they were giving me was actually outdated because I hadn’t yet updated my Facebook. So, I knew for a fact where they were getting that information from.

Also, here’s another thing when it comes to the word of knowledge: recognize that anytime man is glorified instead of Jesus, that’s a red flag. Anytime the gift is glorified rather than Jesus, that’s a red flag. Giving words of knowledge just for the sake of making people go, “Wow, how did you know that?” — to what end? What does that prove? How does that help?

Anytime we see the word of knowledge in action in Scripture, it always resulted in something. It was given for a purpose. It was given so that someone would be saved or healed or delivered or transformed in some way. So, these demonstrations of people just knowing your bank account number or just knowing what kind of car you drive or just giving you your birthday, just for the sake of doing that — be cautious with that. I’m not saying God never speaks to those kinds of details in our lives; he often does, of course. But be careful if that demonstration alone becomes the entire focus of the use of that gift.

The Gift of Faith

The gift of faith can’t just be me having my faith boosted. The gift of faith, by looking at the context, we see is to be able to stir and build faith in one another supernaturally.

This is a powerful gift because it helps to break through even the most stubborn discouragement. It helps you to break through even the most difficult doubt — to where others may advise, others may pray, no one’s getting through to that person — and someone with the gift of faith comes along, and as they speak, even by their mere presence, because it’s a gift of the Holy Spirit, that doubt begins to break. The heart begins to soften. They begin to respond. It’s like they gain this life in the Spirit now, and now they begin to think and believe according to faith because they had an interaction with someone with the gift of faith.

Now, we mustn’t confuse the gift of faith with just pure hype. Look, I’m charismatic. I believe in the gifts of the Holy Spirit, and I know that you believe in them too. But let’s be very clear: one of the issues which we have in our community is the confusion of hype for the power of the Holy Spirit. What does that faith result in? How does that bring forth transformation, even if just incremental? How does that actually cause effect in the life of the believer?

The Gift of Healing and the Gift of Miracles

Next, I want to take a look at two different spiritual gifts at the same time simply because they’re very similar in nature.

Now, first of all, what’s the difference between a healing and a miracle? Well, biblically speaking, we see that a healing has to do with the physical body primarily. So, it could be a deaf ear opening, maybe a skin condition is cleared up, blind eyes open, etc. A miracle has more to do with everything else. For example, the multiplication of food in the feeding of the 5,000, and various other demonstrations of God’s power that seem to go against the laws of physics.

I believe this has to do with focused assignment. Certain believers are given grace and favor in these areas. And so, I would say — and though this might offend some, I know we’re all equal; we’re all just as valuable as one another, but God wouldn’t give us anything useless — so, of course, it should be said that the one with the gift of healing just has a more potent healing ability in their life. The one with the gift of miracles just has a more potent demonstration of God’s power in that area. Again, we all have the Holy Spirit; we’ve all been given faith, but these individuals God chooses to use more frequently and more intensely in these specific areas of grace.

Common Misunderstandings

Now, obviously, healing and miracles can be counterfeited. People pay actors, people tell lies, they make up stories. So, that’s one of the more obvious ways that there is a misunderstanding or abuse of these gifts.

Another abuse or misunderstanding surrounding these gifts is the idea that simply because someone is operating in these gifts, they must 100% be genuine. Well, that’s not always the case, because we see in Matthew 7 that there were those who performed miracles that Jesus didn’t even know. So, God will back his word with power at all times. That doesn’t mean that everything the person does and says is endorsed by God. So, be careful of someone trying to use miracles alone to teach something or say something or to live in a way that’s contrary to the word of God.

Another misconception surrounding the gift of healing and the gift of miracles is that the one who has this gift or these gifts can just use them at will. Often you’ll hear people ask, “If you have the gift of healing, why don’t you just go to the hospital and empty out the hospital?” Simply put, the gift of healing and the gift of miracles, like everything else, still work under subjection to the sovereignty of God. It is not one’s ability to heal or one’s ability to perform the miraculous — it’s God’s sovereign ability through them that brings forth healing and miracles.

The Gift of Prophecy

Prophecy primarily focuses on the future, though not always. This could be given through a dream. The Holy Spirit can speak to your heart through an impression, but he’ll give you a divine message for someone concerning their future.

If anyone ever tries that with you, I pray that the Holy Spirit today would open your eyes to that religious, overbearing, demonic manipulation. Because people will try to do that. They’ll give you a word, and they’ll try to control your life with it, and they’ll keep you coming back to them as your source of direction for your life.

Usually — I should say always — when someone prophesies, it’s going to align with the word. So, there’s going to be this agreement. There’s going to be this confirmation. This inner knowing is what I call it. This peace about what they’re saying.

But even then, even though you emotionally feel peace, be very careful and make sure that you’re not basing your whole life on one person’s prophecy. Someone gives you a word, and then you’re confused about it, or it doesn’t come to pass. Now you’re losing sleep, you’re getting anxious, you’re wondering if you missed God. Just trust in God’s ability to speak to you. We thank God for prophecy, but do watch out for those counterfeits.

The Gift of Discernment

Next, we look at the gift of discernment. Simply put, it’s the ability to distinguish the source of a spiritual influence — whether something is demonic, divine, of self, or of the world. I like to say there are four different categories of spiritual influence:

1. Self
2. Secular
3. Satanic
4. Spiritual

The gift of discernment is the ability to distinguish between them, and it’s going to be precise. It’s going to be based on the Word.

The gift of discernment is not the gift of criticism. The gift of discernment is not the gift of suspicion. The gift of discernment is not the gift of cynicism. The gift of discernment is the ability to see the source of a message, of a demonstration of power, of a ministry, an expression, or a work or project. Whatever’s behind that, you’re going to be able to tell. And so God gives this to people to help protect the body.

Now, we have to be especially careful these days because of social media. Everything is hyper-emotional. Everyone is so reactive. And we’ve got to guard our hearts to make sure that we’re not just going along with the mob and calling it discernment. We have to be grounded. We have to be mature. We have to be properly, actually discerning. And in order to be discerning, you have to be level-headed. You have to be rooted in the word, not in you. And again, he gives us this gift to help protect the body from pollution or sources that are not of his spirit.

The Gift of Tongues and the Gift of Interpreting Tongues

An interpretation is not a translation. Translation is word for word. Interpretation is the giving of the message in general. That’s how those two gifts operate. The gift of tongues is the language of the Spirit, and the gift of tongues interpretation is the interpretation of that language of the Spirit.

The Way to Recognize and Apply Your Spiritual Gift

Here’s a tip for you: your purpose is often linked with your passion. God usually places a desire for a specific gift in you to draw you toward that gift. But, as I said, this is something you have to pray through.

Now, once you have determined what your spiritual gift is, check your motives, because the flesh can destroy the influence of the Holy Spirit in your life.

And then, once you believe that the Holy Spirit has spoken to you about a particular gift, step out in faith and start to see the demonstration of his power.

• If you believe he’s given you the gift of healing, go lay hands on the sick.
• If you believe that he’s given you the gift of tongues or tongues interpretation, make use of that, but you’re going to have to be the one who opens your mouth.
• If you believe God has given you the gift of prophecy, share this with a mature believer and let them help you walk through this process. Share with them what you believe God is speaking, and check the accuracy, of course, in everyday experience and, most importantly, with the word of God.

A Closing Prayer

They desire to serve and help your body, the church. And I pray in the name of Jesus, Lord, that you would begin to speak to them clearly. That you would reveal that gift that you deposited in them. And give them the bold faith to step out and make use of what you’ve given them. And Lord, when they step out, let there be great power that comes upon them. Use them for your glory. In the mighty name of Jesus, we pray.

amen.