The voice of Excellence

Prince Handley

HOW POWER GIFTS OPERATE


    Now that you have studied more about the baptism in the Holy Spirit, let us review and, at the same time, study some extra benefits of this wonderful gift of God.

    The baptism in the Holy Spirit makes you a candidate to receive one or more of the "gifts" of the Holy Spirit. (Read about them in 1 Corinthians 12:4-11.) Three of the nine gifts may be categorized as "Power Gifts", which are as follows:

  • Faith
  • Gifts of healing
  • The working of miracles


    These gifts of the Spirit operate through you to enable you to: 1. Do God's work; 2. Help other people; 3. Llive in victory; and 4. Build up the brotherhood of the believers. Now we will study how they operate.



FAITH



    The Bible tells us that "God has dealt to every man the measure of faith."  [Romans 12:3]   However, the "gift" of faith is a special gift or ability (which God imparts to some people) to do exploits ... or to reach out in faith to do great works for God: for example, to evangelize every nation, tribe, tongue, and dialect of the earth for Christ.


GIFTS OF HEALING

   

We read in I Corinthians 12:9, "The gifts of healing [given] by the same Spirit."  The person who receives healing may be looked upon as receiving the gift. But in another sense, the person through whom God works as an instrument to heal the sick has received a definite "distribution" of God's Spirit called the "gift of healing".

    Notice, the Bible says "gifts" of healing; not just one gift of healing.  The Holy Spirit is God's agent on earth to supply the healing power of Christ. You must know God's compassion in healing.   He  wants to make men whole in every area of their lives: spiritually, mentally, physically, materially, and socially.

     The gifts of healing operate to let people know that God cares for them and that he has made provision to help them here on earth as they walk with him, even before they get to Heaven.  To learn more about healing, go to the unabridged (full) book by Prince Handley titled  Health and Healing Complete Guide to Wholeness.



THE WORKING OF MIRACLES



    Sometimes physical healings in the body are really the result of the working of creative miracles:  such as eyeballs, ear drums, or voice boxes being created by God where there were none before, or where they had been destroyed. Healing may be slow or fast, but miracles (which produce healing) are usually instantaneous.

    The working of miracles, however, is not just related to healing alone. Miracles are supernatural (extra-natural, "outside of nature") events to change the force of nature: as when Elisha caused the ax head to float, and when Elijah parted the Jordan river.

    A few years ago the Lord directed me to go to the top of the Student Union at one of the largest universities in the USA and to preach from the roof with a loudspeaker. There was no way for my loudspeaker horn to be directed to the crowd below.   I  knew God had sent me there to preach and that I needed a miracle. I prayed for the same! 

    God blew the wind currents down in such a manner that the sound was on the ground where the people were.  They were looking for me outside the building on the ground level ... but I was not there!  Later, when the police came looking on the roof top, I asked them:  "Could you hear me down there?"  They answered,  "We were looking all over for you on the ground - we thought you were down there!"

    On another occasion, I was baptizing a man in the ocean at night near some very dangerous rocks. I prayed and asked God to help me as I did not know the waters. As soon as our feet touched the water, a brilliant "under water" LIGHT came on - so that we could even see the ocean bottom.

    God kept the light on during the baptism and until we reached shore again. As soon as we took our feet out of the ocean, the light went off.  The working of miracles may happen as a result of your faith, or simply because of the sovereignty of God:  either way, it is a gift from God!




    All of the gifts of the Spirit operate through the channel of faith. The INPUT to build your faith (so you have a channel, or conductor, through which the gifts may operate) is the Word of God. "So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God"  [Romans 10:17].

    The OUTPUT to release the gifts (from the channel of faith) is love. "Faith ... works by love"  [Galatians 5:6]. So the Word of God builds your faith and gives you a channel through which the gifts can flow; then, love motivates you to allow the gifts to operate:  whether you "feel" like it or not!




    Study the following sections to learn:


     Read this book to learn more about the Holy Spirit: How to Receive God's Power with Gifts of the Spirit.



HOW POWER GIFTS OPERATE