Personal Statement : Spiritual Gifts

In chapter four of, Gracious Christianity, it covers the spirit of life. Basically, the Spirit that is given by God gives us life mentally, physically, and spiritually to all Christians (78). One concept the authors talk about was powerful, “Instead, we

through the protection of God, that all gifts are presented from God, and that a Godly man is

Ryrie has organized his book clearly with various sections in bold letters. He utilized some diagrams for the reader to better teach on the Holy Spirit. These organizational methods helps the reader to better understand the points that Ryrie is trying to get across about the Holy Spirit. The book includes discussion on who the Holy Spirit is. It focuses on the Holy Spirit’s part in creation, revelation, and inspiration. The book focuses on the Holy Spirit of both the Old and the New Testaments. It covers grace, gifts, and the activities of the Holy Spirit. It covers the ministry of the Holy Spirit in the future and concludes with the history of the Doctrine of

It is apparent that the Holy Spirit was mainly involved in empowering believers to become a witness of Christ and spreading the gospel. Therefore, Luke highlights that the Holy Spirit was a gift to the apostles whose function was to permit them to perform miracles and communicate the Gospel in various languages. Further, the Holy Spirit is vital in lives of believers today as he speaks to them, guides the believers on how to lead a holy life, and preach the word of God. Currently, most believers honor and acknowledge the presence of the Holy Spirit in their

The Seven gifts of the Holy Spirit are wisdom, understanding, knowledge, counsel, fortitude, piety, and fear of the Lord.

Each person’s gift or gifts are very unique. They are never equal or the same, but some are similar, and yet not the same. 1st Corinthians 12:4-6 “Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same spirit, and there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord, and there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all”.

The Gifts of Prophecy and tongues are still important Gifts that the Holy Spirit uses within us today. Prophecy is a message inspired by God and used to encourage, strengthen and build up people in their faith by the Holy Spirit, 2 Peter 1:20-21. It’s a way for God to communicate to His people however we must be aware at how people translate prophesy’s because it must show the love of God, Corinthians 13:2. Acts 2:4 shows us the power of tongues and that when we are filled with the Holy Spirit we are able to connect to God on a spiritual level and communicate and worship Him. However, Paul gives the church a warning saying that it is better to prophesize in church than to speak in tongues, because if there is no one to interpret the tongues then it would introduce an element of confusion where prophecy is a more effective way to lead non-believers to God 1 Corinthians 14:24-25.

God has blessed each of us with our own set of gifts. These gifts, ultimately for his glory, exist to help us help others in some fashion. In week two of this course, an assignment to assess and discuss our own gifts was completed. In order to fulfill the assignment an assessment was completed. According to the assessment, my gifts are craftsmanship, exhortation, helps, encouragement, giving, and wisdom. Each gifts holds a purpose and connects to other similar gifts.

C. Peter Wagner (2012) defines a spiritual gift as attribute given to each member of the body of Christ, according to God’s grace to be used for the church. Every believer possesses unique God given spiritual gifts. These gifts are given to us to further His kingdom and to bring Him glory. The Biblical reference to Spiritual gifts are found in four passages: Romans 12:6-8, 1 Corinthians 12:8-10; 28-30, Peter 4:9-11, and Ephesians 4:11. They are Leadership, Administration, Knowledge, Teaching, Exhortation, Faith, Wisdom, Prophecy, Discernment, Shepherding, Evangelism, Faith, Serving, Pastoring, Apostleship, Hospitality, Mercy, and Interpretation of Tongues. And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, helping, administrating, and various kinds of tongues (1 Corinthians 12:28, ESV).

• Acts 1:8 (ch. 17)- But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come

Peter H. Reynold’s children’s book, “Ish”, touches upon one gift of the Holy Spirit as explained in the in-class presentation. Specifically, the gift of the Holy Spirit that this story most clearly defines is wisdom. Wisdom, as defined in the presentation, is “to know that you need to love spiritual things more than material things”, and the story “Ish” clearly shows that through its initial recognition of the level of importance of the physical drawing that the protagonist, Ramon, is frustrated due to his incompetence and lack of proficiency in artistic ability. However, as the story progresses to the point where Ramon gives up due to repeated failure to “draw it right”, his sister, through her act of collecting the drawings that Ramon deemed as failures, where his sister understands the underlying picture and the more real spiritual meaning behind the artwork that Ramon, understands and explains to Ramon that it isn’t whether the physical drawing is “real” or not, nor is it the literal artwork, but rather the spiritual meaning and story that each drawing has to tell that truly makes a difference, and that he should not drown in whether the artwork looks “right” but rather learn to love and appreciate that every picture he draws tells a story.

Something important I found when I read a little more about the novel, is that it was banned and censored in various parts of the world, but especially in the southern United States. The south was offended not only by the crudity, but realistic way Twain portrayed the pre-Civil War American society. Racism, slavery, superstition and morality are some of the most important topics of the novel. Here, Huckleberry Finn is portrayed as an outlaw, some kind of outsider who has grown in complete freedom and therefore a person who neither knows nor applies the rules of society. Huck is a person who does not distinguish what is right or wrong, but who is carried away by his particular way of understanding the world.

Wisdom-Wisdom is the highest gift of the Holy Spirit. When we have wisdom we value things

Many Christians today can talk highly on different topics dealing with the Bible yet, when asked to give a definition of certain topics one can find themselves stumbling to put words to their thoughts. This is the case when it comes to spirituality. Biblically, the author defines spirituality as “a

The various gifts of the Holy Spirit as listed in Scripture are conveyed according to the will of the Holy Spirit to every man for the eventual purpose of the edification and building up the church body.