Beyond a Shadow of a Doubt (9 page)

9
The
Lack of Gifts & Anointing Doubt

This doubt is commonly found among those who are maturing Christians. It keeps them from attempting healing or makes their attempts half-hearted. This doubt says I don’t have the gift of healing or miracles, therefore, I cannot expect to see much happen in this realm. This doubt comes from two basic things: A misunderstanding of spiritual gifts and a long Christian experience with little experience with spiritual gifts.

Will God Give Gifts That We Seem to Lack?
The idea that one either has a spiritual gift or does not have it ignores several important New Testament truths about spiritual gifts. First of all, God is continually giving gifts through equipped human vessels. Gifts that you didn’t have yesterday, you can have today. For instance, the apostle Paul wrote to the Church at
Rome
:

For
I
long to see you in order that I may impart some spiritual gift to you, that you may be established… Romans 1:11

It is clear that Paul believed that he could impart spiritual gifts and that the spiritual gifts would help those believers become established in the Christian faith. Likewise, Paul wrote to Timothy these words:

Do not neglect the spiritual gift within you, which was bestowed upon you through prophetic utterance with the laying on of hands by the presbytery. 1Timothy 4:14

Timothy had received spiritual gifts from God through the laying on of hands of the presbytery and prophetic utterance by them. Apparently Paul was part of this presbytery since he wrote to Timothy these words also:

And for this reason I remind you to kindle afresh the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands. 2Timothy 1:6

Paul obviously believed that he could impart spiritual gifts to believers. This is good news. This means that gifts that we lack presently are not out of our reach. Other Christian believers can impart them. Shadows of doubt should retreat. God wants us more gifted than we are presently.

Secondly, the New Testament encourages us to desire and seek for spiritual gifts. The New Testament would never tell us this if God wasn’t willing to give more gifts to those who ask. Paul writes to the Corinthians:

But earnestly desire the greater gifts. And I show you a still more excellent way. 1Corinthians 12:31

And a little later in the same book…

Pursue love, yet desire earnestly spiritual gifts
… 1Corinthians
14:1a

It is clear that if Paul believed that if we earnestly desired spiritual gifts that God would grant them. It is clear that God will not withhold any good thing that we earnestly seek from Him. So what is the proper motive for seeking spiritual gifts? Paul says:

So also you, since you are zealous of spiritual gifts, seek to abound for the edification of the church.

1Corinthians 14:12

We are to abound to the edification of the Church. What does this mean? It means that the spiritual gifts are given to help the Church. In other words, healing and miracles and other gifts are given by a loving God to help people. Anyone desiring to serve God and help suffering people has the right motives for seeking spiritual gifts. There is another wonderful promise in the Scriptures that certainly fits the situation of seeking spiritual gifts. Christ tells us this:

If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him! Matthew 7:11

God will not withhold good gifts from His children any more than an earthly parent refuses to give good gifts to his or her children. The spiritual gifts are good by definition.

Christ
Within
Us the Hope of Glory.
Thirdly, misunderstanding exists as to the nature of the gifts of the Spirit. Healing, for instance, is simply the Holy Spirit revealing Christ the Healer within us. Any believer can manifest the gifts of the Spirit at times. Gifted individuals simply do it more often as an ongoing ministry
Some
seem to forget that as believers, Christ through the Holy Spirit indwells each of us. Paul reminds us of that fact in Galatians. He writes:

I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me… Galatians 2:20a

Christ lives within Paul. This is the truth of the indwelling presence of Christ. Paul confirms this truth in other places. He writes in Colossians:

…the riches of the glory of this mystery...which is Christ in you, the hope of glory…Colossians 1:27b

Because Christ lives in us, the power of Christ is present always along with all His gifts. This is despite the fact of the weakness of our humanity. This is where many believers misunderstand. They assume that since they are weak that Christ’s power must be absent. They are relying upon their feelings rather than upon God’s Word. The divine fact is that Christ Himself indwells each believer. Those who are confident of that fact and rely upon Christ within them will regularly have powerful evidence of His presence. The apostle Paul reveals this in 2 Corinthians. He writes:

…I will rather boast about my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may dwell in me. 2Corinthians
11:9b

Because Christ is within us, He is always capable of healing and doing miracles through us. The only thing that is required is bold faith that this is true. While we are severely limited in ourselves, Christ within us is unlimited.

The Anointing or
The
Anointed One?
Finally, some believers are concerned about whether or not they are anointed for the task of healing and miracles. This is an unfortunate side effect of teaching about the anointing. When teaching about the anointing gets disconnected from Christ Himself, this is the result. The anointing becomes a thing to be obtained rather than a Person that already indwells us. Doubt is the result.

The term
Christ
is transliterated from a Greek word that simply means
the Anointed One
. The word
Christ
is used in the New Testament more than 500 times. Each one of these 500 references could have been translated as
the Anointed One
. When we say,
Christ within us
, we are actually saying
the Anointed One
within us.

So which is better being anointed or having the anointed one living within you? Many who doubt their anointing to do the miraculous have failed to note that the Anointed One lives within them. They have what they need to heal the sick already within them, Christ Himself. Nothing more is necessary. The New Testament tells us this:

These signs will follow those who believe… they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover. Mark 16:18