May 26, 2010

Chapter Ninety-six: more on manifestations of The Holy Spirit

As Jack continued to seek God and wait upon the Lord, he brought the class to ask for the gifts of the Holy Spirit by faith based on the following verses:
1 Corinthians 12:7 But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all:
Romans 12:6 Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith;
Galatians 3:5 Therefore He who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you, does He do it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?—
For the first lesson on this subject, the class practiced their faith by asking the Holy Spirit to manifest Himself through His gifts as described in 1 Cor. 12:8, "for to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit". The class then divided into two persons per team and took turn to practice the gifts.
The goal of the class was to edify and encourage each other to build up the body of Christ in the most holy faith. The participants were encouraged to pray in the Spirit while waiting upon the Lord to reveal His word of knowledge and word of wisdom. Where they did not receive any specific revelation in the form of Bible verses, they could follow the leading of the Holy Spirit to speak words of comfort and encouragement.
At the end of the practice of faith in action, there were some encouraging feedback. The Holy Spirit responded to their prayers and revealed His knowledge and wisdom to the encouragement and edification of the participants. Some participants were able to receive verses from each other which confirmed their specific situations.
The exercise helped the participants to experience the faithfulness of God and the reality of God's words.
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Personally, Jack has been blessed with a family who share the same zeal in seeking God and wanting to know God and His will with the heart to obey. When they gather together, they could pray and intercede together. They prayed in the Spirit and listened to the still small voice. Recently they met and prayed for a number of people (mostly family members not present) and it turned out to be a Spirit-filled meaningful session.
They took turn to name someone to be prayed for. Then they prayed in the Spirit. When the prayers in tongues stopped they took turn to report what they had seen or heard from the Holy Spirit and what they were led to pray for, or what Bible verses they saw. There were four participants. Each one saw a different mode of presentation of the same message! For example, one saw a verse, another saw a vision, yet another sang a hymn, and another received word of knowledge. When they compared notes they found that the same message was imparted to them. They continued to intercede for people in need as well. It was a wonderful time interceding as led by the same Holy Spirit in them.

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