PERVERTING THE GIFTS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

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PERVERTING THE GIFTS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

Let me begin by sharing a few words regarding a statement I made in a small group setting years ago so that it will open up your thoughts and self reflection.

Meditation and Self Reflection

I once asked a small group to meditate on this and it goes for all of the saints and even church leaders.

I asked them to reflect on this statement and I told them: “If I never preach, never prophecy, never lay hands on the sick, never have a ministry Jesus is enough for me and Jesus is my portion”. When they heard this the room went silent because it was something never mentioned to them before and they had never contemplated this before.

I proceeded to expound. If Jesus is not enough and your “portion” your spiritual gifting will never be enough for you. The focus of your heart will be based on your gifting as the measurement of spiritual success and not your relationship with Jesus! Your heart will be misaligned and the enemy will pull you away from Christ Jesus and personal pride will become your motivation not the Holy Spirit. The gifting and calling is irrevocable so a person may be gifted but that doesn’t make them Christ like. All of the spiritual gifts of Jesus must operate out of HOLINESS, nothing of us and ALL OF JESUS.

When Jesus was on the cross what was spoken to Jesus through the inspiration of the devil through a man: “If you are the King of the Jews remove yourself from that cross”. He wanted a demonstration of power AND it went against the will of the Father for Jesus to remove Himself from the Cross! What happened to Jesus in the wilderness when Satan tried to get Jesus to demonstrate His power and divinity? Did Satan not use Psalm 91 provoking Jesus to demonstrate His power, what about turning the rock into bread? We must not associate power or gifting with Spirit and Truth of Christ Jesus! Jesus spoke to the Devil “IT IS WRITTEN” for what is true godly power without The Holy Spirit and Truth! What did Jesus say to Peter when Peter said he would not let Jesus be taken captive? Jesus said get behind me Satan! It was contrary to the will of the Father.

I mention this because of what the Lord showed me and spoke to me about spiritual gifting as the Lord was revealing HIS gifting in me just after my salvation. I can not over emphasize that this was so liberating and almost as powerful as the gift of salvation! Spiritual gifts are not about performing or performance, it’s about revealing Christ Jesus! I don’t want you to deny the gifts of the Holy Spirit in fact I wish everyone would operate in the fullness of the gifts as when you allow Christ Jesus to operate through you, you grow in the knowledge, faith, trust and intimacy with Jesus. What I can’t stress enough is following the will of Jesus as stated above with Jesus on the cross, in the wilderness and Jesus rebuking Peter. I DO NOT QUESTION THE MOTIVE OF PETERS HEART as we ourselves would lay down our lives for loved ones and Christ Jesus. We must know the will of the Lord in all things before we act and only act or respond as the Holy Spirit leads us.

As I proof read this the Lord prompts me to write more. For those of you who are becoming aware of your spiritual gifts the Lord has prompted me to tell you DO NOT BE AFRAID TO ASK THE LORD QUESTIONS REGARDING WHAT HE HAS SPOKEN OR PROMPTED YOU TO DO OR SPEAK. The Lord is not offended by your desire to be obedient! He will answer you, so if you don’t fully understand just ask the Lord Jesus. Also remember that the words of knowledge or prophecy are not about you they are about the person receiving them and this may lead to your uncertainty. Using your “head knowledge” can taint, block and limit what the Lord wants spoken. When these situations arise just ask the Lord, how do you want me to speak this or apply this, what is my responsibility. Lastly and very vital, surrender the outcome! We are only responsible to do or speak what the Lord asks us. The Lord holds the outcome! That is why Jonah went through what he did. It is liberating and very freeing to surrender the outcome. We are not the Alpha and Omega, Jesus is!

We must not seek to perform or demonstrate the gifts but rather be led by the Holy Spirit to manifest and reveal Christ Jesus by letting Jesus work through us. It is by the power of The Holy Spirit that reveals Christ Jesus.

Gifting without the HOLY ONE is not operating in HOLINESS and the gifting is then corrupted and not of the Lord Jesus. This reminds me of what Isaiah spoke:

Isaiah 55:11 (NKJV)

So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.

“My” is capitalized as it means the word of God inspired by the Lord.

Jesus will not share His Glory with humanity and when the spiritual gifts have become perverted, twisted and quite frankly demonic in nature and characteristics. They do not reveal Christ Jesus. The divine purpose of the Holy Spirit is to reveal Christ Jesus and bare witness and testify of Christ Jesus. When we operate in the gifts without the prompting or leading of the Holy Spirit we do not reveal Jesus!

John 15:26 (NKJV)

“But when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me.

Do not be misled by what people speak or claim they need such as prayer, healing or other needs. Stop and seek the Lord and ask the Lord, what do you say they need Lord, what would you like to do for them. This principle also applies when someone comes to you and says brother so and so, or sister so and so needs prayer because of this or because of that. DO NOT PRAY WITHOUT SEEKING THE LORD. If you are uncertain what to pray simply pray that the Lord’s will would be done and that the Lord would be glorified by His will being done. If you follow the words of what others say you might very well be cursing that person in the form of a prayer! Yes many prayers are actually witchcraft in disguise! I know first hand of this by personal experiences.

These are the words Jesus spoke to me about using spiritual gifts.

John 5:19–21 (NKJV)

19 Then Jesus answered and said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner. 20 For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself does; and He will show Him greater works than these, that you may marvel. 21 For as the Father raises the dead and gives life to them, even so the Son gives life to whom He will.

If we are to reveal Christ Jesus it MUST be Jesus doing the work through us, not us “performing” the gifts. There is a HUGE difference. This is Satan attempting to get us into PRIDE thinking it is us doing the work! As I refer to Satan’s trinity of ME, MYSELF and I. It is a snare as pride comes before the fall!

What I have written applies to ALL of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. There is another point I would like to mention regarding the gifts especially the gift of prophecy and words of knowledge. Just because the Lord gives you a prophetic word or word of knowledge does not mean that is the time to speak it or share it. You may be called to intercession verses speaking the prophetic word or word of knowledge. If there is no unction from the Holy Spirit to speak do NOT speak the prophetic word or word of knowledge as it is the POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT that fulfills that prophetic word or word of knowledge. Therefore it must be spoken only by the unction and prompting of the HOLY SPIRIT that leads you to speak, otherwise the adversary can easily twist and manipulate what is spoken or prophesied. Another example would be praying for an individual. For example, I love to read my bible in public while having coffee and quite often the Lord will have me pray for people. If the Lord puts it on your heart to pray for someone that doesn’t always mean you go to the person unless the Holy Spirit gives you the unction. You can pray for them from your seat. I have done this in public many times as well as approach the person as led by the Holy Spirit. What matters is that you prayed! Praise the Lord. You see quite often the delay is because the Lord is preparing them to receive the word of knowledge, prophecy or prayer that is why we must rely on the Holy Spirit to lead us and guide us on how we approach these matters.

I hope this helps some of you to stop striving and just let the Holy Spirit lead you and guide you. Don’t fall snare to the enemies schemes. I know I was blessed and thankful that the Lord spoke and revealed this to me early on in my walk with the Lord. Jesus kept me from the pitfalls of this. Don’t use the spiritual gifts because you can, do it because it is the will of God under the unction and prompting of the Holy Spirit. This will allow you to walk in greater spiritual peace, faith, trust, revelation and intimacy with Christ Jesus.

As I was talking with the Lord about writing this article He placed it upon my heart that this writing is critical be able to have spiritual discernment in these last days as the TWO WITNESSES will be coming forth in the near future. We must discern what miracles are of Jesus and what miracles are of the Antichrist. Oh, how the body of Christ needs spiritual discernment.

John 4:24 (NKJV)

God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”

1 John 4:1 (NKJV)

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world.

If you have been blessed by this writing please feel free to share as the Lord Jesus leads you. Grace to you from our Lord Jesus and may you walk in peace and revelations of Christ Jesus.