Supernaturally empowering others to fulfill destiny is one of the most important roles of kingdom leaders. The tools which they use to help others discover purpose and motivate them to fulfill destiny include the empowering gifts. These gifts reveal God’s purpose for his people and inspire them to accomplish his purpose by fulfilling destiny. In this study, you will discover how you can operate in the empowering gifts of God’s Spirit to help others fulfill destiny.
God’s Spirit is the great gift from which all the other gifts flow. Speaking in tongues, which comes from the gift of the Spirit, is the gateway to the spiritual realm where the presence of God resides. It is the sign and evidence that a person operates in the gifts of the Spirit. It is the beginning of all the gifts. By speaking in tongues, a person is catapulted into a higher realm where he/she has a greater understanding of God’s word and a better grasp on the important things in life.
Why is it important for leaders to speak in tongues and operate in the gifts of the Spirit? By yielding to the Spirit and praying in tongues, they enter the supernatural realm and bring forth the mysteries of heaven. As they speak these mysteries to others, they are operating in the gifts of the Spirit and sharing God’s presence with them. These gifts bring hope, encouragement, and direction to the people.
Introducing the Empowering Gifts
The empowering gifts are supernatural manifestations of God’s Spirit and his grace. These gifts reveal God’s mind, will, and purpose and inspire people to accomplish his purpose. They are not character traits or natural abilities. Each gift provides evidence of the Spirit’s presence and power.
Revealing Gifts
The revealing gifts are the words of knowledge and wisdom and discerning of spirits (1 Corinthians 12:8-10). The word of knowledge reveals divine knowledge from the mind of God. It makes a fact known which was not known in the natural. God is all-knowing. “Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight” (Hebrews 4:13 NIV). He knows every heart and every situation. Through a word of knowledge, the Spirit may reveal a sickness in a person’s body so that he/she can be healed. When we had a mission for the homeless, the Spirit often revealed diseased livers in words of knowledge so the people could receive new livers, and they did.
The word of wisdom gives supernatural direction to a person or group. It explains how to accomplish God’s purpose. “The wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy” (James 3:17). In general, wisdom gives understanding on how to use knowledge. The word of wisdom may be operated independently or in conjunction with the word of knowledge. Together, the word of wisdom shows how to apply the knowledge given by the Spirit.
The gift of discerning of spirits lets a person see into the spiritual realm. With this gift, a person is able to discern the spirit of man, assessing whether it is right with God. The spiritual person judges all things by what God’s Spirit reveals (1 Corinthians 2:15). This gift manifests both angels and demonic forces. Some of the angels are sent to carry people from this world to the next (Luke 16:21). They stand ready in hospital rooms and bedrooms waiting for those whose lives here are about to end. Even when angels come to take a person home, there is still time to reverse the situation if he/she believes. “All things are possible with God” (Mark 10:27). Warring angels carry swords and are ready to war against the forces of evil. Michael and his warring angels fought against the devil and his angels and overcame them (Revelation 12:7-9).
Demonic forces bring sicknesses, diseases, mental illnesses, etc. God anointed Jesus with his Spirit and with power, and “he went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil” (Acts 10:38). Jesus gave his disciples “power and authority over all the demons and to heal diseases” (Luke 9:1). The Spirit will show believers what to say and what to do to take authority over the demonic forces. The gift of discerning of spirits often operates before believers cast out an evil spirit showing them what to do to get rid of it. This gift can show the root cause of a sickness or other problem.
Inspiring Gifts
The inspirational gifts motivate people to believe in God and accomplish his purpose. By operating in these gifts, a person speaks what was heard in the supernatural realm. These gifts include prophecy, speaking in unknown languages and interpreting these unknown languages (1 Corinthians 12:10). These gifts strengthen, encourage and comfort the people (1 Corinthians 14:3 NIV). The gift of speaking in unknown languages is a public utterance of a heavenly language. It communicates directly to God, bypassing the understanding of both the natural man and the devil. It has to be interpreted for the people to understand it. In contrast to these gifts, the believer’s prayer language is generally considered as a private prayer language used to build up his/her own faith. “But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit” (Jude 1:20). Any believer who is filled with the Spirit can pray in the spirit without having to interpret the message.
The New Testament gift of prophecy is a supernatural utterance in a known language. It is based on an individual’s spontaneous, personal revelation. Prophecy flows from one person to another one or to a group of people. It is not conceived by human thought or reasoning. It is not a foretelling of future events. It is not a sign of spiritual fitness or maturity, because children can prophesy. King Saul had murder in his heart desiring to kill David, but he could prophesy when he was with the prophets (1 Samuel 10:11). Prophecy is to be judged by others who are spiritually mature as to whether it is of God. Prophecy is equivalent to speaking in unknown languages and interpreting these languages because prophecy can be understood by the people. It builds up faith in the people.
Years ago, I gave a prophecy about new territories that the Lord wanted his people to conquer. There are unexplored continents in the Lord, which speaks about the riches of his glory available to those who diligently seek them. His riches can never be fully searched out, but the things he shows believers belong to them. This message continues to resonate in my soul, propelling me to move forward in the Lord. Sherry trained her spiritual ears to hear from the Spirit, and she has prophesied to many individuals bringing them hope, comfort, salvation, and deliverance.
Receiving the Empowering Gifts
God is more eager to give the empowering gifts to believers than they are to receive them. Rather than trying to convince God to give out the gifts, believers are instructed to desire the gifts themselves. “Earnestly desire the greater gifts” (1 Corinthians 12:31). The greater gifts are the ones needed at the time. For example, desire to prophesy when it is prophecy that is needed. “Pursue love, yet desire earnestly spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy” (1 Corinthians 14:1).
Empowering gifts can be received by a person acting in faith on the word of God and asking others to pray for him/her to receive the gifts. Paul said in Romans 1:11 that he desired to come to the people that he might impart some spiritual gift to them so they might be established. Paul also described how spiritual leaders prayed for Timothy and imparted a spiritual gift to him. They prophesied over Timothy and laid hands on him so he could receive the gift. “Do not neglect the spiritual gift within you, which was bestowed on you through prophetic utterance with the laying on of hands by the presbytery” (1 Timothy 4:14). Believers have to be willing vessels for the empowering gifts to operate through them. Without faith, it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6). Natural thoughts about personal inabilities and limitations will hinder the flow of the empowering gifts through a believer. The vessels through which God chooses to deliver his gifts are frail, but the source of these gifts is holy and perfect. “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights” (James 1:17 NIV). Recognizing every good and perfect gift is from above will help believers operate in the empowering gifts. As believers allow the Spirit to use them in the gifts, they become more confident and more accurate.
Activating the Empowering Gifts
By faith, believers can expect the empowering gifts to operate through them. When the gifts are being activated at first, they can ask for instructions and help from spiritual leaders, pray for divine guidance for themselves and put a demand on the empowering gifts within them. Spiritual leaders have insight on the gifts within the people and how to activate the gifts. “For this reason, I remind you to kindle afresh the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands” (2 Timothy 1:6). It is important to have supportive leaders around people as they are learning to operate the empowering gifts to show them when and how to operate the gifts. It is God’s intention for his Spirit to be manifested through several believers whenever they come together. “When you assemble, each one has a psalm, has a teaching, has a revelation, has a tongue, has an interpretation” (1 Corinthians 14:26).
Personal Story on the Empowering Gifts
It is one of our deepest desires to see believers live and move by God’s Spirit. We help young people develop and activate the empowering gifts by providing a safe environment in which they can prophesy and pray for people. Small group settings work well for these spiritual efforts. We instruct them about prophecy, give them opportunities to prophesy to one another and give kind but honest feedback on their efforts to operate in the supernatural realm. Their initial efforts may seem small, but such efforts can help them gain confidence that they are hearing from the Spirit and prophesying those things which empower others.
Conclusions
Pray in tongues, speak the mysteries of heaven, and the supernatural realm becomes close to you. Yield to the Spirit and flow in the empowering gifts to reveal God’s purpose and inspire the people to accomplish his purpose. These gifts help people experience the presence of God and the supernatural realm. The gifts reveal the mysteries of heaven and encourage the people. They help build up the people in faith and cause them to draw near to God. The gifts are the living word of God and contain enough power within them to bring forth God’s purpose. The person receiving the gift has a responsibility to believe and act on the word.
Study Questions
Expect to be used in the empowering gifts each day. Different gifts are needed to impact the people you encounter each day. How do you know which gifts will flow through you on different days? Only by asking for the Lord’s guidance can you know which gifts God’s Spirit wants to manifest through you.
#1 Why is it important for you to operate in the supernatural realm?
#2 Who could you help if you operated in the empowering gifts?
#3 What hinders you from being a free-flowing vessel of the empowering gifts?
#4 How can you establish an atmosphere in which the Spirit manifests the empowering gifts through you?
#5 What are your plans for helping others to desire the empowering gifts and to effectively operate in them?