Saturday, January 9, 2010

Understanding the Gifts and Ministries of the Holy Spirit

This ministry highly recommends Lester Sumrall's "Gifts and Ministries of the Holy Spirit". Acts 1.8 "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you." (NIV)

There are 2 foundational stones: Unity and Love
Gifts of the Spirit are given when UNITY with our Lord Christ Jesus as Savior Lamb of God and our Father God Creator happens in our hearts with LOVE!

Reason for gifts of the Spirit are for our use as weapons of spiritual warfare to show our LORD GOD is invincible! (pretty cool reason!)

There are 9 gifts of the Spirit and they are broken into 3 groups....

The groups are Revelation, Power, and Inspiration

Revelation Gifts= word of wisdom, word of knowledge, discerning of spirits

Power Gifts= gift of faith, gifts of healing, the working of miracles

Inspiration Gifts= gift of prophesy, the gift of tongues, the gift of interpretation


The word of wisdom is the revealing of the prophetic future under the anointing of God. In OT every seer (prophet) foretelling the future was endowed with this gift.

The word of knowledge is the revealing of a fact in existence that can only be supernaturally revealed. It can't be seen or heard or known naturally.

The difference in these is: wisdom reveals of the future, knowledge reveals of a fact that exists now!

The discerning of spirits has to do with the comprehending of the human spirit, supernaturally revealed by the Holy Spirit. It is not the discerning of demons, but the discerning of the human spirit- good and bad.

The gift of faith is God's bringing to pass a supernatural change. No human effort is involved.

The gift of working miracles does work through a human instrument. It is a person doing a supernatural act by the divine energy of the Holy Spirit.

The gifts of healing is God supernaturally healing the sick through a ministry anointed by the Holy Spirit. A person may be given a gift from the Spirit of God to pray for a particular kind of sickness or disease. There are many ways to be healed and this is the only gift that is plural for this reason. There might be as many gifts as there are diseases.

The gift of tongues is the ministry of proclaiming in a public meeting a message from God in a language not understood by the person giving it. It does NOT come from their mind, but from the Holy Spirit.

(I have yet to be given a public message in tongues and only a few spirit filled people that I know have. BUT you can have a prayer language that is used in prayer to our LORD that is in a tongue that you are not familiar with! This is the prayer language used at most alter calls in spirit filled churches. This is usually birthed when people are baptized in the HOLY GHOST, as evidence HE is there within that person.)

The interpretation of tongues will follow the operation of the gift of tongues. The message that has been given in another language is interpreted supernaturally by the Holy Spirit through another person, without that person's mental faculties being involved.

The gift of prophecy is the anointed speaking forth of words of edification, exhortation, and comfort- words supernaturally given to the church from God.

Friday, January 8, 2010

How to Be Perfect in our Generation (PIOG by my Brother in Christ, Andy Plumlee

How To Be Perfect In Our Generation


Like Noah, we can be perfect in our generation. We can -
...remain undefiled if we will simply pursue holiness in all that we say and do
...be without blemish if we will fill our hearts and minds with God's Word.
...be upright if we keep ourselves in the love of Jesus.

Genesis 6:9 says - "...Noah was...perfect in his generations. .."

That word perfect means "undefiled, without blemish, and upright." So, in other words, we can say that Noah was undefiled in his generation. He was without blemish and upright.

What kind of generation did Noah live in? One where "the wickedness of man was great" and "every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually" (Genesis 6:5) - a generation that "was filled with violence" (Genesis 6:11).

Sounds like the one that we are presently in, doesn't it?


Jesus told us that the generation before His Second Coming would be just like that of Noah's day. We are that generation, and it certainly is like that of Noah's day. Look at all the evil, wickedness, and violence that permeates our society. And it is only going to get worse - "But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived" (2 Timothy 3:13).

How do we remain "perfect" or undefiled in our generation?

What is the opposite of wickedness? It is Holiness!
What is the opposite of a heart filled with evil thoughts? It is a heart filled with the Word of God.
What is the opposite of violence? It is love and compassion.

In order to be "perfect" or undefiled like Noah, we must -
pursue holiness (Hebrews 12:14),
keep our hearts (from evil thoughts) with all diligence (Proverbs 4:23),
and keep ourselves in the love of Jesus (Jude 21).

What are you doing in your attempt to pursue holiness?
What necessary changes are you willing to make?
What are you willing to give up in your life that is ungodly or stands in total opposition to the Character of Christ?
What disciplines are you willing to engage in in order to stay on track?

Is your heart filled with thoughts that are pure, lovely, and of a good report?
Are you filling your mind with God's Word?
Do you hate vain thoughts?
Are you bringing all of your thoughts into captivity to the obedience of Christ?

Are you -
...keeping yourself in the love of Jesus?
...rejecting bitterness, hatred, and malice from taking root in your heart and mind?
...rejecting all envy, jealousy, and strife in your relationships with others?
...walking in humility before God and men?
...preferring others rather than being overly concerned with yourself?

Like Noah, we can be perfect in our generation.
We can -
...remain undefiled if we will simply pursue holiness in all that we say and do
...be without blemish if we will fill our hearts and minds with God's Word
...be upright if we keep ourselves in the love of Jesus.

It's a tall order, isn't it?
But it's the only way to remain unspotted from this generation and to be spared of the judgment of God like Noah and his family were.


May God Bless His Word,

Thursday, January 7, 2010

The Three Amegos of Satan

I was flipping through my notes looking for something the other day and ran across the following in a side margin: The Amegos of Satan: Lost Hope, Paralyzing Fear, and Deep Depression! Wow! I had totally forgotten about these and how closely they work together in a tight woven net of tangled destruction to our souls!

Yesterday and even up into the night, I was clearly under conviction and unction to produce a work about this. The Lord brought the scriptures to my mind where HE told Ezekiel to be a watchman on the watchtower and to prophesy to the people what he could see coming to attack them. I have suffered at the hands of these friends of Satan and I know very well what they can do without the Blood of Jesus to protect us! Therefore, I feel it is of great importance to shout out to our brothers and sisters, "HEADS UP! THE ENEMY ARMY IS IN THE LAND!"

So, let's understand what these three very dangerous spirits really are. When we comprehend Christ is our "HOPE", to loose HIM would be to leave the flock and stray away. Or to leave the anchored ship and dive out into the storm infested waters. But why would we ever do this? The only answer possible is the spirit of rebellion.

The spirit of rebellion is fed by jealousy (coveting), desire (lust) of worldly corruption and pride (vain glory). It is those moments when we say to our LORD... "Hold on, I got this!" or "I know what I am doing. I will handle it!" or "Stay in your lane. I know how to drive!" While I don't know many Christians that would literally speak those words out to the Lord... out attitudes and actions exhibit otherwise! Those feelings and attitudes speak those things into our Lord's ears and eyes!

Did you know when we get this type of contemptuous haughtiness about us, the LORD turns us over to the jailer! The JUDGE sentences us to serve jail time until we sincerely repent for our crime. Guess who the jailer is? Ummm, that's right the Devil! But why would HE do that to us? He does it so that we will be tormented and shown without HIM is a bad spot to be in. He does it to show us HE loves us and doesn't want us to get away from all the goodness that is in HIM! He allows us to get a big dose of where we are headed if we don't straighten up!

Anytime we feel as though we are loosing our HOPE, our Christ, our ROCK, our Anchor, our FIRST LOVE... we should stop and remember why! There is a spirit of error to tempt you to do just that through this spirit of rebellion. Rebuke it with every fiber of faith you have! Call it out by name and demand it leave from your presence in the name of CHRIST JESUS THE PASSOVER LAMB SLAIN! Plead the blood of Christ Jesus. Repent for anything you did in listening or even temporarily entertaining this spirit for a moment or a day or how ever long! Allow THE DOOR to life open for you again to be safely protected under the blood covenant of Christ Jesus.

Next we see this paralyzing fear coming into play. Oh, this guy is wicked evil and is a plague to our people! The spirit of fear is one of the Devil's top dogs, if you will. The spirit of fear causes it's victims to pause and freeze up. They cease from production! They start to question and in vision the "what if's" and "oh my's" and "but if I's"!!! That is when this spirit of fear will shout for back ups to come on in and begin to flog you! Remember the scripture... "Idol hands are the devil's workshop"!!! Those hands were no doubt frozen with fear.

Fear of what? I mean where does this fear really come from? To fear something there has to be a SOMETHING to fear! We believe this fear is of REJECTION! No one enjoys being REJECTED! We all freeze up when we think we are about to be REJECTED!!! It is like a "normal" feature of these flesh bodies! Why even the root of a bully, is the fear of being rejected!

This is the disease of our people that prevents the work of our LORD from going forth. It is the fear of rejection that stops ministries from blossoming. It is the fear of rejection that stops the prophets from delivering a message. It is the fear of rejection that pursues God's children the most... because it prevents the Gospel from going out to the world and offering them the only escape from the corruptions therein.

Keeping in mind, the Bible tells us that Satan is angry with a wrath because he knows that he has but a short time. Why wouldn't he try to slow the public broadcasting of good seed made to fall in various places??? (Parable of the Sower and Parable of the Tares) Remember, Christ said if it weren't for HIM interceding to speed up the time... even the VERY ELECT would be deceived! This should put us on HIGH ALERT (RED in Home Land Security terms). The devil is very sly and cunning to beguile those trying to remain spiritual virgins until our LORD returns for us. (Parable of the 10 Virgins)

Then last but certainly not least, we see this deep depression. So many people suffer from depression. I am not sure statistically how many people are actually taking anti-depressant medications but I am quite sure the numbers are astounding! And I would dare to say the number of "Christians" on them is probably in a large percentile of those.

It is my belief that this spirit of depression is caused by the spirit of guilt which is fed by un-worthiness! We self condemn! We refuse to forgive ourselves! Then we choose to wallow in all our failures that this spirit is quick to remind us of. This depression (spiritual crushing) cripples us to believe that guess what? All HOPE is truly gone! And thus the web of deceit is complete!

As I stated earlier... I have suffered at the hands of everyone of these 3 Amegos of Satan! As I tried to battle them with medications, therapies, and even suicide at times... I only fed them and opened deeper portholes in my soul and heart for them to open up shop and show themselves at will every time I started to get back on track! At last, my dear husband came into my life and told me those were giants and I had to slay them. Well, guess what I did with the power of Christ Jesus as my strength! It was awesome to be free from these negative influences in my life. He showed me that when we take something out we have to refill with something good. The Holy Spirit is the only thing we need to do that with. So, I did! I received the Holy Spirit to fill those places that had been cleaned out and prepared for Him.

I feel led to also state, we can go back and give CPR to bring them back to life! You can do this. We have the ability to CHOOSE to miss the familiar spirits we cast out of our lives and bring them back IF we so decide! So, we have to beware of what we are breathing life into! I have found I have to be careful not to CLAIM those as a part of me when I speak. Rather, focus on what is in me NOW!

I can't help but think about Lot's wife. Here were 2 angels sent by our LORD to save this family from the destruction coming onto their community and specifically told DO NOT LOOK BACK! Yet, this woman that was only moments ago found worthy to be led out by the MIGHTY HAND OF GOD is now turned to stone in a flash because she looked back. Why did she do that? What was there she was thinking of? Was she going to miss something about this evil place she was being delivered from?

I think when we focus on the wrongs of yesterday we do become hardened in our hearts and discouraged in our goals of tomorrow. The expression, "Keep your eyes on the ball!" just seems relative to me here. We have to watch where we are stepping! Spiritually today in this world there are "land mines" everywhere! There are detours, deep ditches, snares, nets, traps, and all very well disguised.

I pray this has helped at least one person in their walk of understanding the spiritual warfare we are in. I pray this lesson will soften and wise a heart lost. I pray this will pierce the shell or wall you have hidden behind. Circumcise your hearts with the blood of Christ. We have to fear no man but our LORD GOD only. For HE has the ability to kill the soul and the body. NOT THE ENEMY! I pray this awakes someone from their slumber and causes them to fall on their face for the only help we have... our HOPE CHRIST JESUS! I pray this will stir the need for the HOLY SPIRIT to dwell in those cleansed places of your heart today.

May our LORD GOD bless everyone of us this day and in this hour with all we have need of! Praise be to our Deliverer, our Comforter, our Savior, our FIRST LOVE!!!