Holy Spirit
5 min read
27 A young man ran and told Moses, “Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp.”
28 Joshua son of Nun, who had been Moses’ aide since youth, spoke up and said, “Moses, my lord, stop them!”
29 But Moses replied, “Are you jealous for my sake? I wish that all the LORD’s people were prophets and that the LORD would put his Spirit on them!”
Numbers 11:27-29
When people receive and share the word of God, that is the gift of prophecy in action. But prophecy is a spiritual gift. It comes from the Spirit of God. Without the Spirit of God, receiving and sharing the word of God is not prophecy in action. In fact, without the Spirit of God, nothing that we do “in the name of Jesus” is a spiritual gift in action.
And yet, every believer receives the gift of the Holy Spirit when they receive Jesus as Savior and Lord through faith. The spiritual gifts are readily available to every believer—especially the gift of prophecy, given that the word of God is readily available 24/7.
But the spiritual gifts being readily available and the spiritual gifts being exercised are two different things.
It’s interesting (and sad) that the elders prophesied only once. It was not by the will of God that they prophesied only once. The elders themselves must have resisted the gift after that first encounter, for whatever reason. I’ve witnessed believers becoming so scared of their growing involvement in church that they suddenly withdraw from church altogether. In doing so, they are essentially rejecting the gifts of the Holy Spirit.
The spiritual gifts are available through the Holy Spirit for God’s people to build up the church. The church is built up when God’s people use their spiritual gifts to exercise the greatest commandment (Mark 12:30) and to fulfill the great commission (Matthew 28:19-20; Acts 1:8).
More than anything, though, the Bible tells us that the spiritual gifts are not merely tasks that we perform (1 Corinthians 12:7-11). What matters more in the exercising of the spiritual gifts is the fruit that is born (Galatians 5:22)—both in the giver and the receiver of the gifts. In that way, the body of Christ grows (in maturity) and builds itself up in love (Ephesians 4:16).
I know that the Lord has put His Spirit on all the saints here in Canvas. Would it be that all the Lord’s people exercised the gifts of the Spirit here with joy and love.
Father, Your Spirit is ever present in my life. I confess that I often disregard His presence. Forgive me. But let each day be a day that I walk with Him so that I might be used to build up Your church, bear witness to Christ, and to bear the fruit of the Spirit in my life. In Jesus’s name. Amen.
