At first Pennie felt as though she should talk about intimacy with the Lord, but all of the gifts of the Spirit about intimacy with the Lord. They come from intimacy with Him.
1 Corinthians 12:1-11 talks about all of the gifts of the Spirit:
1 Now about the gifts of the Spirit, brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be uninformed.
2
You know that when you were pagans, somehow or other you were influenced and led astray to mute idols.
3
Therefore I want you to know that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, “Jesus be cursed,” and no one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit.
4
There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them.
5
There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord.
6
There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work.
7
Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.
8
To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit,
9
to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit,
10
to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues.
11
All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines.
These are all the work of the Holy Spirit and they are gifts that Holy Spirit gives.
Human beings by nature have discernment - we are able to discern things throughout life, but often this comes down to wisdom, so how do we know the difference between discernment and wisdom? The greek word for distinguishing is diakrisis, meaning judicial estimation, so asking "what is the source?".
Practicing discernment often starts with "something doesn't feel right". So you look at it's fruit (is it good or bad fruit?) then ask God a lot of really specific questions about the situation.
Pennie gave a few examples of this:
She shared that at one time in life there was a family member who would speak a lot of vile things to Pennie that did not have any grounding. The Lord showed Pennie that this was a spirit of defilement - when something is clean but is being called unclean. So the next time this situation arose with that family member, instead of arguing, Pennie responded with "I don't receive that. That is the spirit of defilement talking." then the person went blank and said "I don't know why I was saying that or what I was saying - that's not even true!"
Then next example, Pennie shared about a coworker that had a hopelessness and negativity about her in every conversation. Each time Pennie talked with this person, she left the conversation feeling so defeated. The Lord showed Pennie how to stand against this spirit of negativity in authority. Whenever this coworker would call, Pennie would answer, put her on hold and pray "In the name of Jesus I say no to the spirit of hopelessness and negativity. In my conversation, you are not allowed. I will always listen to the Spirit of God who brings hope." From then on, her conversations stayed positive, light and hopeful.
Pennie shared a third example about the spirit of offence and accusation that can come up in marriage. Whenever she and her husband feel that spirit rising, the pause and pray "spirit of accusation and offense, we see you and you are not welcome here. The only thing welcome is the Spirit of God in our midst." And that shifts the conversation, realigning focus.
Next, Pennie shared and example from a friend who has a ministry teaching young kids about Holy Spirit. At a birthday party, her young daughter was around 5 years old. At the party she ended up at the back of a yard with an older boy who started acting inappropriate towards her. As the young girl later told her mom, she said that in the moment, she felt that something wasn't right, so she did what her mom taught her and asked Jesus what he thought about it and he said "No, that is wrong." So the young girl said that to the boy and the boy ran off. It is so important that we teach young kids how to walk with Holy Spirit!
Next John shared his testimony of the Lord calling him to walk in authority over the spirit of fear of man. John worked at a school with at risk students who would speak offensively to him, argue, mock, and be violent. That was very hard for John at first, but he continued to stand on the truth that God has given us not a spirit of fear, but power and love and self control. He began to walk in the authority that the Lord has given him. He would not respond to the offenses and mocking but would love on the kids. The kids eventually began to love and respect John as he showed the love of Christ to them.
We have to walk in the authority that we've been given - the power that raised Christ from the dead lives in us.
Pennie and John then led a ministry time of prayer and activation. To watch the full service, click here.
0 comments:
Post a Comment