During worship last night I felt in my spirit to pray for more faith. Almost immediately, the gift of faith was released, and I experienced God in a whole new way!
In 1 Corinthians 12:8-10 Paul reveals the nine gifts of the Holy Spirit, and the third one is the gift of faith. The Amplified actually says it’s a “wonder-working” faith. This seems to be a gift that is often overlooked, but after last night, I have grown a whole new appreciation for it.
Faith is one of the core principals in Christianity. Without it, there would be no way of surviving this world. You can believe all you want, but without faith, the tiniest pebble in the road will cause you to fall. It is by faith in the unseen, that our natural realm begins to transform.
I believe it’s the supernatural gift of faith that opens the door for the other gifts of the Spirit to operate in our lives. Without faith, who would attempt to speak in tongues? Without faith, who would lay hands on a person so that they may be healed? It is only with the release of faith that our incapable beings become capable of carrying out God’s will.
After the Holy Spirit imparted this “wonder-working” faith, wonders did indeed happen! I received specific words from God, and I felt the extremely heavy and tangible presence of the Lord. I saw in my spirit that there was something coming down from Heaven and flowing towards my friend Lisa. As I explained what I was seeing, she was obviously feeling it. I don’t know what she was feeling exactly, but it almost made her cry, and she started to fall backwards. It was as if this unseen force was pushing her down.
I love when my Heavenly Father plays with me like this. It makes me feel like a child again, and it brings joy to my heart. Wouldn’t it be nice if I could put that feeling in a bottle, and drink it whenever I wanted? His presence comes so unexpectedly though, and if I could control it, it would be too easy for me to say, “I’m doing this.” Knowing that I can’t activate His presence whenever I want confirms that it is not by my power, but it is by the power of the Holy Spirit!
It all goes back to faith. So what can you say about this gift?
There is a difference in the Greek language between the “gift of faith” and the “faith that was received as a gift”. The Greek word for “gift” in “gift of faith” is “charisma” while that in the latter is “dorea”.
The charisma gift is not offered to all- yet it is a pre-requisite as you said for many of the gifts, though not all. Especially , the gift of healings and working of miracles…if you did notice, the gift of faith precedes both these manifestations of the Spirit.
I have related how I received the Holy Spirit baptism in an article called It’s Real!.
It doesn’t take the gift of faith to receive the Spirit baptism with the evidence of speaking in other tongues. What I received in this article was not the gift of tongues, but just the evidence. I received the gift of tongues one year later though, when an old lady called me to her and laid her hands on me without saying a word. Ever since I have operated in the gift of tongues which Paul mentions in 1 Cor 12 and 14 [this is different from the evidence of tongues seen in Acts 2, 10 and 19]
These topics are so interesting to learn…! =)
Sidharth
TWJ Ministries
Comment Submitted: January 19th, 2008 at 12:47 am