The Gifts of the Holy Spirit

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Agabus was prophesying to Paul, more details were supplied as to what wasgoing to happen. Agabus added the detail that Paul will be delivered to theGentiles (Acts 20:11). The prophecy edified Paul. It confirmed to Paul whathe had already received and prepared him for what was to come.The second operation of the gift of prophecy is in exhortation. The word‘exhortation’ comes from the Greek word ‘paraklesis’ which means ‘to becalled alongside.’ Sometimes in obeying the Will of God, Christians feelthat they are walking alone. In such times, a word of prophecy may come totheir lives to exhort them - to encourage them with the fact that God iswalking alongside them. When the gift of prophecy operates in exhortation,it brings a stronger presence of God into the life of the recipient of theprophecy. It imparts a blessing - an additional boost - to the one prophesiedto.The third operation of the gift of prophecy is in bringing comfort to thebody of Christ. The word ‘comfort,’ in reference to the gift of prophecy,comes from the Greek word ‘paramuthia’ which means ‘to come alongsideand console’ (1 Cor. 14:3). Sometimes as a person walks along the path ofGod’s Will for his life, he turns aside or stumbles along the way. It is at thispoint that the gift of prophecy comes in its third operation to comfort aperson. The purpose of this comfort is to soothe the pain of missing themark and encouraging the person to go on with God. Most people whostumble and became grieved are tempted to give up.The Spiritual Growth of ExhortationThe gift of prophecy manifests as the Spirit wills but the ability to giveexhortation is inherent in all believers. If we are filled with the Word ofGod, we will be able to teach and admonish one another in psalms, hymnsand spiritual songs (Col. 3:16). This is quite a similar work to the gift ofprophecy except that this ability is gradually developed rather than aninstant manifestation of a gift. It is the outworking of the anointing withinrather than the anointing upon.Through spiritual development, we are to learn to use our words foredification so that the body of Christ will be built up by our lives (Eph.4:29). As each member of the body of Christ speaks the truth in love, everyjoint supplying its part to the whole body, the church of Jesus Christ willedify itself in love (Eph. 4:15,16). It is important for us to understand thedifference between the gift of prophecy and the spiritual ability to exhort.One is a gift of the Holy Spirit while the other is a growth.The Gift of Tongues© Copyright 2008 Peter Tan Evangelism. All rights reserved. 22
The Bible calls this the gift of various kinds of tongues (1 Cor. 12:10).There is a vast difference between the gift of various tongues and the gift ofpraying in tongues. The gift of various kinds of tongues is a supernaturalutterance given by God through human vessels in an unknown language.Because it is in unknown tongues, it needs to be interpreted for theedification of the hearers.Note that the gift of tongues is a message from God to men while prayerin tongues is spoken by men to God. As God understands every language,there is no necessity for any interpretation. However, when it is a messagein tongues from God to us, we need the interpretation because we do notunderstand all languages spoken. When Paul said that there was a need tointerpret the gift of tongues, he was referring to this gift of tongues and notprayer in tongues (1 Cor. 14:5, 27, 28).Paul instructed that when the gift of tongues is exercised, there must be aninterpretation after every three messages in tongues (1 Cor. 14:27). Somepeople misinterpret this verse to mean that there must be no more than threemessages of tongues per meeting. But a close examination of this scriptureshows that Paul was not referring to three messages per meeting. He wasemphasizing on the need for interpretation. He was explaining the necessityof not allowing too many messages in tongues to go without interpretation.Praying in TonguesWhilst the gift of tongues is the result of a manifestation of the HolySpirit, praying in tongues is the spiritual development of the spirit man.When we pray in tongues, it is our spirit man who prays (1 Cor. 14:14).Many people cannot differentiate between the gift of tongues and praying intongues. As a result they thought that when Paul said that not all speak withtongues, he was referring to praying in tongues (1 Cor. 12:30). Paul wastalking about the gift of tongues and not praying in tongues, which is theright and privilege of the newborn spirit man. When the newborn spiritprays, it will be tongues (1 Cor. 14:14).Paul said that he prayed more in tongues than all the Corinthians puttogether (1 Cor. 14:18). Can you imagine how much he must have prayed intongues to surpass all the Corinthians? The major key in moving into theoperation of the gifts of the Holy Spirit lies here. It is as we pray much inthe spirit that we are spiritually ‘charged’ to operate in the gifts of the HolySpirit. Praying in tongues is the starting place for all who desire themanifestations of the Holy Spirit.© Copyright 2008 Peter Tan Evangelism. All rights reserved. 23
Page 3 and 4: PREFACEIn this book we seek to focu
Page 5 and 6: The Holy Spirit will never manifest
Page 7 and 8: Quenching and Grieving the Holy Spi
Page 9 and 10: THE REVELATION GIFTSThe revelation
Page 11 and 12: The word of knowledge is a revelati
Page 13 and 14: vision. Precisely, it is seeing wit
Page 15 and 16: The power gifts of the Holy Spirit
Page 17 and 18: The gift of the working of miracles
Page 19 and 20: Exercising our faith for miracles i
Page 21: THE VOCAL GIFTSThe most common and
Page 25 and 26: CHAPTER 5HOW TO FLOW IN THE GIFTS©

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