Friday, May 12, 2017

Opening the Gifts—Part 8 (Deliverance, Celibacy)


The spiritual gift list is almost complete. You may be surprised when you discover your true gifts!

May’s Awakening, Day 12

Philip went down to a city in Samaria and proclaimed the Messiah there. When the crowds heard Philip and saw the signs he performed, they all paid close attention to what he said. For with shrieks, impure spirits came out of many, and many who were paralyzed or lame were healed. (deliverance) Acts 8:5–7 NIV 

 

I wish that all of you were as I am. But each of you has your own gift from God; one has this gift, another has that. Now to the unmarried and the widows I say: It is good for them to stay unmarried, as I do. But if they cannot control themselves, they should marry, for it is better to marry than to burn with passion. (celibacy)

1 Corinthians 7:7–9 NIV 

 

            Deliverance. The gift of deliverance, sometimes referred to as exorcism, is the distinctive ability to cast out demons and evil spirits, thus releasing Satan’s control over those afflicted. Deliverance should always be accompanied by the Gospel message and leading those afflicted to Christ, for without the indwelling Holy Spirit those same individuals are still exposed to evil possessing them once again, and maybe even more so (Matthew 12:43–45). Also, deliverance requires much faith and much prayer and prayer warfare, and even fasting (Matthew 17:19–20a and Mark 9:28–29 NKJV). The casting out of evil spirits was very common throughout the ministry of Jesus and later of the apostles and still is a viable ministry even into today, especially in other countries where Christianity is minimally present and Satan has his stronghold.

 

“When an impure spirit comes out of a person, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, ‘I will return to the house I left.’ When it arrives, it finds the house unoccupied, swept clean and put in order. Then it goes and takes with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that person is worse than the first. That is how it will be with this wicked generation.” Matthew 12:43–45 NIV 

 

Then the disciples came to Jesus in private and asked, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?” He replied, “Because you have so little faith. Matthew 17:19–20a NIV 

 

And when He had come into the house, His disciples asked Him privately, “Why could we not cast it out?” So He said to them, “This kind can come out by nothing but prayer and fasting.” Mark 9:28–29 NKJV

 

            Celibacy. The gift of celibacy is the distinctive ability to remain single, or not remarry, and enjoy it as a lifestyle (or possibly for a time or season), without suffering any undue sexual temptation, usually to commit one’s self fully and wholly to God and His service. Most notably we of course see this in the order of monks and nuns. Additionally, along with celibacy among monks and nuns, we often find volunteer poverty as well, and some scholars include this as a spiritual gift also. For our purposes, I have not specifically included this as it is probably not a gift we would eagerly or earnestly desire, yet it certainly has God’s special use and purpose to again separate one’s self from the ways of the world and focus solely on Him.

            In that same vein of thought, some scholars would also suggest martyrdom as a spiritual gift too, but for obvious reasons I have not included that either, but one can see how God could use that to empower those individuals to persevere to the end. As you research and study and undertake various spiritual gift assessments to determine your gifting, you will find a few of these differences in the various explanations and lists. Tomorrow we will look at the final two spiritual gifts stemming back from the Old Testament.

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