Chapter
11 : Secure in Ministry - Gifts
“Follow
the way of love and eagerly desire spiritual gifts, especially the gift
of prophecy”
(1
Corinthians 14:1)
In the previous chapter we considered a number of aspects
of preaching that affect the security of the church. Within this chapter
we'll go on and consider a number of other aspects of ministry that
also contribute to or detract from the sense of security within the
church.
11.1
Stay with me
I am aware that as I go into this chapter I am moving on
into more charismatic aspects of ministry which may make certain parts
of the church feel uncomfortable. I would simply ask that you bear with
me and read what I have to say before giving this chapter a miss (you
have, after all, tolerated my other references to charismatic things
so far). Perhaps I may be able to say things that touch the reasons
why you are unhappy about a charismatic dimension to the church.
A little while ago my wife and I were travelling on a ministry
trip in the States and had been invited to a small church with some
beautiful people. As we shared with the leader and his wife before
the meeting started we found we had a number of things in common and
the Lord had taken us down similar paths. The meeting progressed, I
preached and the Lord gave me a number of prophetic words for the people
there. To my mind there was nothing out of the ordinary.
However at the end of our time together the leader and his wife came
up to us and said, “That was beautiful” and went on to explain how they
had been down the prophetic path but it had gone badly wrong. Yet, in
the way we ministered, they regained a sense of security in this ministry
and particularly in the use of the gift of prophecy.
I believe many of us are fearful in respect of charismatic
gifts and therefore run down the path that says it is no longer for
today, not because we are intellectually convinced that that is what
Scriptures shows, but because we fear abuse, we fear obnoxious people
who seem to flash spiritual gifts around like a laser sword from Star
Wars!
Perhaps for some of us, we have run across imperfect
people using a gift imperfectly and we have assumed it couldn't be of
God. As we said near the end of the previous chapter, the Scriptures
show us that God uses imperfect people, even an Ass! In fact the
reason we know so much about spiritual gifts is that the church in Corinth
was a classic illustration of God's kids running amok with God's gifts.
The amazing thing was that God didn't withdraw the gifts. He knew
they had to learn, they had to grow up. So it is with us.
11.2
The Use of Prophecy in the Church
Three times in his first letter to the Corinthians, Paul
exhorts them to “desire” spiritual gifts. Some people suggest
that it is not spiritual to desire spiritual gifts, that it is seeking
after experience. That was not how Paul viewed it. To these
Christians who had some experience of gifts he said, “eagerly
desire the greater gifts” (12:30). After he had placed
the gifts in the context of love he then said “Follow the way of
love and eagerly desire spiritual gifts, especially the gift
of prophecy” (14:1). When he was explaining about the gift
of tongues he said, “try to excel in gifts that
build up the church” (14:12).
What
Gifts really are
If we worry about eagerly desiring such gifts, we need to remember
that when you seek the gift you'll find the giver, for gifts are not
something separate and distinct, they are simply Jesus expressing himself
supernaturally through a believer. Let's see that in two of the main
New Testament passages on gifts:
1
Cor 12:4-11 (gifts of
abilities on occasion)
Wisdom
is
Jesus showing you how to proceed in a difficult or impossible situation.
Knowledge
is Jesus
revealing what you could not know naturally.
Faith
is Jesus
giving you the ability to believe for the naturally impossible.
Healing
is
Jesus releasing the power to physically restore through you.
Miracles
is Jesus
simply doing the impossible through you, for the breakthrough of his
kingdom.
Prophecy
is Jesus
speaking God's heart for a person or situation through you.
Discernment
is Jesus revealing
the spiritual background of a person or situation through you.
Tongues
is Jesus
releasing your inner spirit in prayer to God for personal blessing.
Interpretation
is Jesus
giving you understanding of that unknown tongue for personal and corporate
blessing.
Rom
12:6-8 (gifts of abilities
on occasion, with a sense of regular usage)
Prophesying
is allowing Jesus
to speak his heart for a person or situation through you.
Serving
is allowing
Jesus to minister practically through you to bless others.
Teaching
is allowing
Jesus to impart knowledge and understanding through you to teach,
strengthen, upbuild and equip others in the body.
Encouraging
is allowing Jesus
to speak upbuilding words through you.
Contributing
is allowing Jesus
to provide resources through you.
Leadership
is allowing
Jesus to provide direction and order through you for others to follow.
Mercy
is allowing
Jesus to bring his love and grace to the needy through you for their
blessing.
Human
and Divine
Many of us don't doubt God, but we doubt the human vessel
that carries the divine. The trouble is that whenever God expresses
Himself through us, the human is not overridden but is still very much
there. For instance we have the choice:
•
whether to respond to God (He will
not force us) and
•
how we will let Him express Himself
through us (we may catch the sense of
the word He wants to bring but we may bring it harshly and ungraciously,
which would not be good.)
Yes, there may be some who fear to let God be God and be Lord
over all their circumstances, and most of us probably aren't put off
by God, but we fear less than perfect people!
11.3
Checks and Balances for Prophecy
Let's consider some of the Biblical checks and then some
practical things we can do to create a sense of security when the gift
of prophecy is being expressed in the church.
The
Context of Love
Before Paul moved on to speak about prophecy, tongues
and interpretation, we have the well-known Chapter 13 on Love. What
he says there is that if you have the gifts but don't have love, you've
missed the point!
When Jesus wants to express himself he also wants to express
his character (God IS love - 1 Jn 4:8). Therefore whatever gift we express
should always come with the love of God. Whoever is on the receiving
end of a spiritual gift ought to come away with a sense of being loved
by God, because every gift is an expression of the Loving God.
As far as we are the vessel through whom God is moving,
our part is to ensure our heart is open and full of love towards God,
and open and full of love towards the person or people before us. Because
we have free will, we need to choose to be a loving vessel to this person.
God is for them even if He's coming to bring correction to them. When
we come full of love for the people before us we will not come with
any desire to harm or expose them, in fact quite the contrary. We'll
say more of this in the next section.
Remember
the Purpose
Paul said, “Everyone who prophesies speaks to men for their
strengthening, encouragement and comfort.” (1 Cor 14:3). We are
not Old Testament prophets speaking to a God-called nation. Any message
to non-Christians is “repent and believe the Gospel”. Salvation is their
first need. Yet God does speak prophetic words and words of knowledge
to non-believers sometimes as part of His means of drawing them to Himself.
We have had on occasion prophetic words that have cut non-Christians
to the core (see 1 Cor 14:24 ,25).
However, mostly prophetic words in church are for believers.
Paul said in verse 4 of chapter 14, “ he who prophesies edifies
the church ”. Edifies means to strengthen and build up the church.
The primary purpose, therefore, of prophetic words brought in the congregation
are to strengthen, encourage and comfort people.
It is most unlikely therefore that God will give you a
word that exposes publicly a sin in someone's life. Gal 6:1-
indicates that our aim should always be to restore a sinner gently.
Jesus, in Mt 18:15-17 gave an escalating order for dealing with sinners
and it starts with confronting them privately, taking a witness
and only then taking it to the church. For most of the time, therefore,
prophecy does not haul people out into the public glare but simply builds
and encourages etc.
There will be the rare occasion when because
•
there is a mature ministry (because
of the danger of pride creeping in), and
•
God knows there will not be repentance,
and
•
God knows the church needs to have a
new sense of His holiness,
rebukes will
occur publicly, as we find in Acts 5:1-11 when Peter confronted Ananias
and Sapphira. It might be argued that these early chapters
of Acts were what we would today term ‘Revival' and such powerful corrective
rebukes are only likely to occur in such similar situations today.
Correction should only be carried out under the direction of the elders
(minister, leader, call him what you will).
Maintain
Accountability
In 1 Cor 14:29 Paul said “Two or three prophets
should speak and the others should weigh carefully what is said.”
Now note that he speaks about prophets, whereas earlier he said he wanted
everyone to be able to prophesy (14:5) and not everyone will be a prophet,
merely someone who can bring a word from time to time.
What this indicates is that there are different
levels of significance in respect of what is bring brought. There
may be:
•
general encouragement,
•
general declaration of future intent,
•
simple instructions for the present,
•
clear guidance instructions.
The greater the level of significance, the greater the
need for it being checked. Paul's word indicates that where it is a
case of significant words from established prophets, it should be limited
to two or three at a time to give opportunity for it to be assessed
by others with similar gifting in the meeting.
If words are not clearly checked then this is a source
of undermining the security of the congregation. If it is a complex
word or even a word slightly off target and it is not publicly checked,
then the people are left wondering or even led astray. The ways that
we create this sense of security in the congregation by publicly checking
out words does not need to be heavy, over bearing or of a manner that
makes the person who brought the word appear a fool.
In our own congregation we have a number of means of checking
words. First of all we let it be known that when people feel they have
a word to share publicly, they should bring it from the front so everyone
can hear it through the amplification, and that they should come and
check it with one of us in leadership first of all, not with the worship
leader. In our situation we have one person leading the worship and
then someone else later on preaching. We don't want the worship leader
to have to stop to check the word, so one of the rest of us in leadership
will be approached to check the word even before it is brought.
When they share that word with us we check
•
is it scriptural, i.e. that it doesn't
go against the Bible,
•
does it have a right feel in our spirit
that it is of God and not just a personal whim,
and
•
does it fit into the meeting at this
point?
I've never yet had to reject a word because
of a), rarely because of b), and occasionally because of c). If we are
turning away a word because we feel it would interrupt the flow of the
worship or it's not just right for the moment, we'll simply say, “Thanks
for bringing that. Hold onto it for the moment and we'll watch and see
if it fits as we go along. I'll give you a wave if it seems right.”
What often happens is that later on in
the service, it becomes more clear that this is the time for that word,
so we'll indicate to that person to come up front again. The worship
leader will be keeping an eye on me or whoever else might be checking
such words and so when we feel it is right we give them an indication
and they will step back and leave space for that person or people to
share what they have.
Once a word has been shared from the front publicly
we decide how to respond to it:
•
If it was a word where the person got
carried away and the word ran off the rails, we'll seek to be gracious
and say, “OK, we'll ponder that one and see what the Lord has to say
about it.”
•
If it's a simple general word of encouragement
the worship leader will probably just acknowledge God's goodness.
•
If it's a deeper word then one of us
in prophetic leadership will perhaps take the microphone and give
us as a congregation time to take it in and perhaps respond silently
in prayer to it.
•
Sometimes it is a word that brings new
direction to the service and so we'll confirm that in the way we pray.
•
For anything more than a very simple
word of encouragement we'll almost certainly indicate our approval
of that word by praying directly after it.
In such a way the congregation feel secure in the knowledge
that the word has been tested and checked and can be accepted.
Teach
Understanding
As a church that encourages the use of prophetic
gifts we go to some lengths to teach understanding of the gift and its
limitations. This is not the place to impart our full prophetic course
but as far as understanding and bringing security is concerned we will
teach:
•
about prophecy being only a part of God's
revelation to us
•
that it unfolds progressively over the
months and years
•
that it is normally conditional and requires
a faith response from us
•
that we need to learn to understand God's
timing
•
that we need to understand God's processes
with us
•
why we shouldn't jump to conclusions
as to how God will work it out
•
how we shouldn't become over-reliant
on prophecy but on God
•
how God wants to work His will in me
In each of these ways we seek to allow the Holy Spirit
freedom to bring God's specific word to us while at the same time putting
checks in that seek to limit or restrict the possibility of human fallibility.
What we have thus found is that a sense of security is created in those
with the gift, who know that they will be lovingly cared for as they
bring it, and in the congregation who know that we will not permit them
to be abused by someone doing their own thing.
11.4
The Benefits of the Gift
When the prophetic word is released in a secure environment,
FAITH is built, God's LOVE is made more real, it brings JOY in the sense
of being loved, it brings PEACE with a sense of purpose, it enables
us to walk with PATIENCE in understanding, it releases KINDNESS towards
others, it brings GOODNESS with that same understanding, it strengthens
FAITHFULNESS in confidence, it allows GENTLENESS to prevail as we understand
the Lord's acceptance, and it brings SELF CONTROL in the awareness of
God's purpose for us. You may recognise these fruit of the Spirit from
Galatians 5:22,23 which come when God is allowed to be Lord in the midst
of His people.
Secure
to Move in the Spirit
Before we move on we should also face the fact of fear
when it comes to issues of faith and the Spirit. Those of us who have
particularly high standards will be especially prone to this. Put most
simply, we fear getting it wrong! Thus we hesitate in allowing the Holy
Spirit to minister through us, in case it's not Him and just me! When
it comes to spiritual gifts some of us are more fearful of attributing
our words to God. This fear may be rooted in a belief that God doesn't
speak today, but it's more likely to be rooted in pride that will worry
about what others think.
The prophets of the Old Testament must have had to face
this one. So often they seemed to be a lone voice speaking out for God.
But what about bearing witness to Jesus in a crowd of non-Christians
deriding God. Would we hesitate in speaking out? Hopefully not! If we
do hesitate it is usually personal pride, what they will think of me?
We are not attributing our words to God in that context but we don't
hesitate to speak out. So if we don't worry about what people (non-Christians)
think in that situation, why do we worry about what our brothers and
sisters think if we say, “I believe God might be saying….”?
Have we locked ourselves into that foolish position that
says God doesn't speak today - the God who for several millennia recorded
in the Bible spoke, spoke and spoke again. If we say God doesn't speak
we are as bad as the Deists who relegate Him to the role of the absentee
clockmaker who set everything going and then stepped back. No, the main
reason we hesitate to move as led by the Spirit, hesitate to speak out
at God's prompting, is not because God doesn't speak, but because we
are so insecure that we cannot trust God's love for us, we cannot trust
ourselves, and we cannot trust those around us to love and accept and
possibly gently correct us when we might get it wrong.
Every time I bring a prophetic word or a word of knowledge or
revelation, I feel like Peter stepping out of the boat - it's just as
great a risk! Yet again and again after I've had the courage to speak
the words, I've had people say, “That's wonderful, that's exactly what
I needed. How could you have known that?” Within me there is a great
sigh of relief, I have not abused someone, I have not led them astray.
Using spiritual gifts requires a great sense of security. If you've
never brought ‘a word' to someone, it may create real fear in you at
the thought of doing it. But wherever you are in God, it still requires
faith which, as someone has commented, is spelt R-I-S-K.
Mostly I don't get stressed bringing words of general encouragement
etc. but because I have a strong pastoral heart, there are certain words
that God has given me that have brought absolute anguish to me, like
the word, “You will have a baby in the next year” to the parents who
have been told they'll never be able to have children, or “God will
guide you to the man of His choice within the next eighteen months”,
to the girl in her late thirties who has longed to be married but has
never found the right man.
In both cases I anguished, “What am I saying here? Lord, I don't
want to hurt these dear people, I don't want to raise false hopes”.
In the event, the baby and the husband came in the given times. What
was happening? God was simply telling His children that He was going
to bless them so that when it happened they knew it was Him and would
be more firmly established in His love for them. For the mouthpiece
bringing the message it requires a real sense of security and a sense
of right proportion.
When I've sometimes been questioned on this I've said I see myself
simply as an office boy delivering memos from the managing director
(yes I know I'm a Son of Almighty God, please just get the picture!),
so the responsibility on us is purely delivery, but having said that
it's very difficult to remain outside the situation.
11.5
Deliverance Ministry
Let's move on to another area of ministry, that of
deliverance. For some of us this may be an even more contentious area.
It's not an area I revel in but it is one that God has brought to the
fore from time to time and it therefore becomes an area of activity
that pertains to security in the church.
Forced
upon Us
The presence of demons is not something we have to go looking
for. When the powerful presence of God is manifest and there are also
demonic beings around, then they will make themselves known. We see
this clearly in Mk 1:21-26. The manifest presence of Jesus provoked
the outcry from the demoniac. We learnt the hard way about this a good
number of years ago.
When it first happened to us, at the end of a meeting when
the Lord's presence was particularly powerful, we engaged in a deliverance
session at the back of the room in full public view, complete with all
the accompanying noises. In retrospect, although the person was delivered,
we realised that the enemy had gained a lot of unnecessary publicity
along the way. Around the world there are many different approaches
and practices in respect of deliverance but for the sake of the security
of the church, we have concluded that we are to be in control and not
the demon!
Taking
Control
To take control when a demon manifests itself means we
first have to know who we are in Christ and the authority we have in
Christ (obviously there is much in this but this is not the place to
expound on holding our ground in Christ). Now I am aware that in many
quarters screaming and shouting at demons seems to be the number one
way of taking authority, but I would suggest that often this is because
the person leading the deliverance is unsure of their position and volume
helps boost confidence.
Now fear is a weapon of the enemy and noise and violence
on his part may be part of his strategy to unnerve us. That's why I
like Jesus' first response to the demon in Mark 1:25 - “ Be quiet
!” Why should we let the enemy scream and shout and get evil glory
to himself? Not only that, it demeans the person who is possessed and
who we want to help. There are those who carry out deliverance in a
loud and violent manner addressing the demon. For the sake of the person
and indeed perhaps sometimes for the onlooking church, we need first
to silence the enemy and then with the help of the possessed person,
take control of the situation until we come to the point when we command
the enemy to leave.
It may be worth reiterating at this point that we want
the co-operation of the person being delivered. Sometimes as I have
watched situations in the past, it seems that well-meaning people seeking
to help a possessed person often aggravate the situation by the aggressive
persistence rather than help it. Although this may not always be true,
especially in the case of multiple occupation, more often than not we
can ask the person to whom we are ministering to take control and focus
on us.
We sometimes need to lower the spiritual temperature so
that we are getting more of them rather than more of the demon. Treating
the person with love, gentleness and respect will help them respond
to us and take back control under our authority. After they have made
a declaration that they want Jesus to be Lord and they renounce the
enemies activities in their life, we may then be ready to move simply,
quietly and with authority to demand the enemy leaves.
Now at that moment there may be a struggle and there may
be noise (see Mk 1:26 ) but that is very different from an ongoing argument
between demon and deliverer which is really just about who has what
authority. If we know we have the authority and we know the leading
of the Spirit then:
•
we can silence the demon,
•
talk to the person and diagnose the
situation and find out why this
situation has occurred,
•
gain their co-operation in repenting
of their past sin and renouncing the
works of the enemy, so that we remove the grounds for
the enemy to stay.
•
We can then command him to leave.
The
Secure Environment
When we are involved in deliverance, in seeking
to create a secure church , there are two areas of consideration:
The first is the person wanting and needing deliverance.
Even though they are under the strong sway of the enemy, we still
want to love and respect them and, to the best of our ability, protect
them from public gaze, so that once they have come through they do not
have to be worrying about what people thought of them. Hence we silence
the enemy and decide on the strategy for releasing this person, which
may involve taking them into a private back room; it may involve counselling
them and helping them reorder their lives first. We are considering
their well being.
The second area of consideration is that of onlookers.
Sometimes it may not matter who is around, while at other times there
may be very young children present or perhaps elderly people who are
not familiar with deliverance and may be fearful, and so for their sake
we limit the enemies activity publicly. In these ways, in both those
ministered to and those who look on, a sense of security is created.
11.6
Ministering Healing
Perhaps no where more than in the area of healing is there
potential for the love of God to be imparted, or alternatively, of creating
confusion, disillusionment and cynicism. Again this is not the place
to go into great detail about the healing ministry. We simply want to
cover those matters that may affect the creation of a secure church
.
The
Need for Healing & a Secure Environment
The greatest difficulty in this area is what about the people
who do not get healed? We live in a day of increased godlessness and
unrighteousness in our Society, and at the same time of increased illness.
As I write I have a newspaper article in front of me that reports “The
health of young people has suffered an alarming collapse in a generation,
a recent study revealed. Nearly twice as many teenage girls and young
women are suffering long term illness than was the case 25 years ago.”
That was simply one report, but the truth is that as a Society we are
more unhealthy than we used to be. Scripture often links sin and sickness.
Because we live in this Society, many of us in the
Church are struggling with similar things. Then comes the idea to pray
for healing and whether it is a healing mission or simply regular services
for healing we find an increase in ministry for healing. While some
people are healed there are still a lot who are not. Therefore, creating
a caring environment for healing prayer is critical if we are not to
do more damage than good.
As with any other area, because we are human beings we
sometimes get it wrong, and perhaps no more so than in this area. Clearly
Jesus did heal and does heal. Clearly there are those to whom God gives
a healing gift or even a healing ministry, and we should in no way take
anything of the glory of God away from that. Yet in healing meetings
we do see abuses, promises of healings that are not fulfilled, focus
on the few healed to the detriment of the many who came forward but
went away disappointed.
Now as I said earlier this is such big subject that we
can't deal with it in depth here, but the fact is that we have many
people in the Church who long to be healed, have even been prayed for,
but who have not been healed. Often these subsequently feel guilty,
feeling that their faith is inadequate or their lives are less than
acceptable. Here is a major pastoral problem lurking below the surface.
God
who is Sovereign
It is crucial that we face the fact that God who is all-wise
and all-powerful is sovereign. There are times in history when God comes
in revival power and sovereignly moves in bringing salvation and bringing
healing. Sometimes those are in certain geographical areas and for certain
periods of time, at other times they are through the ministries of individuals.
When Jesus came, the Father was able to perfectly express
Himself through him. What we find in the Gospels and then in the Acts,
as the Holy Spirit continues the work of Jesus, is virtually equivalent
to what we have subsequently seen in history a number of times that
we call Revival.
The
Uncertainty Principle
If God calls and prompts us to pray for healing we may assume
that some people are going to be healed, because that's why He's called
us to do it. Yet as we come to pray we do need to make it clear that
it is God who is going to move, not us, and we don't know the extent
of what He is going to do (unless He has given specific words of knowledge).
We also need to explain that perhaps some who would like to be healed
may not be healed this time . This isn't to undermine people's
faith, it is simply being truthful. When God wants to move He will impart
faith to somebody to believe for this, and as they respond, healing
will be released.
Chaos
from Over Zealousness
What seems to happen sometimes is that as God starts to
move, the over zealous leader loses perspective and starts making statements
beyond what God has said, and hopes are raised beyond what the Spirit
is bringing. I observed this at one particular conference a while back.
Attending this conference were one or two significant ministries from
Africa , men who were known there to move in signs and wonders. Another
leader while speaking, invited those who had been particularly moved
by what he had been saying and who wanted to be powerfully touched,
perhaps for healing, to come forward and he would ask the African brothers
to pray over them. As I had been sitting there I had thoroughly appreciated
what he had been saying but did not feel his description of who was
to respond fitted me. In a gathering of about four hundred people I
guessed that perhaps a dozen or so would fit the exact criteria that
he had given. However well over three hundred actually got up and started
to go forward.
What did we have here? A lot of people who did not know
how to distinguish a rise in faith within them by the Spirit from a
general desire to be blessed, and a leader who did not have the courage
to stop the crowd and make a distinction to clarify the limited number
he expected in the Spirit. The outcome of this was that the men who
had been asked to pray found it very difficult to pray for such a large
number with the result that they ended up giving a cursory touch and
a word of pray to most people, and in the melee quite a number never
even were touched. The result? Large numbers of those who went forward
came away disappointed with nothing having happened.
Did God fail? Did the people fail? No, the administration
of the thing was just bad so that things were not happening as the Holy
Spirit wanted it to happen. The sad thing about that was that if the
small number originally called had gone forward, I believe we would
have seen spectacular things happen, which God may then have used to
release genuine faith in others who would also have been powerfully
touched. Instead because of insecurity, chaos ensued followed by disappointment
and possibly disillusionment.
Believe
for It!
The final aspect we need to mention here is that of whether
someone has been healed or not. A very humanistic teaching some years
back said, “When you have been prayed for, believe that it has happened.
Ignore the symptoms. Believe the prayer.” Now the reason I say ‘humanistic'
teaching is because we have man-centred thinking here that sees healing
as down to us. Our part is to respond to God, His part is to do what
we can't do, change the course of nature and bring healing when
He wants to . While there may be a whole variety of reasons why
God can't or won't heal at this moment , as we respond to His
prompting He will heal in His time .
In the Gospel illustrations of Jesus healing he moves in
a variety of ways. Sometimes he links sin to the healing (Mk 2:5-12),
sometimes not (Jn 9:1-3). Sometimes the healing was instantaneous (Mt
8:3), sometimes it was partial in stages (Mk 8:22 -26), sometimes it
required people to go away and do something (Mt 8:13 , Jn 9:7), sometimes
it required faith (Mt 9:22 ), and other times Jesus just did it despite
the person (Jn 5:6-9). More often than not it was a case of people seeking
out Jesus because they were sure he could heal them, but in every case
the most important thing was the will and direction of Jesus.
In all of this we have to say people were either healed or they weren't.
People didn't have to think their way into being healed, Jesus just
did it. It was a sovereign work of Jesus. As we seek to create a secure
church can we, in the whole area of healing, be both a people of faith
but also a people who care for all who are in physical, mental or emotional
need, so that they may receive the love of Jesus through us to them,
whether they are healed at this moment or not!
11.7
And So?
In this chapter we've simply considered some of those aspects
of ministry that occur in church. The following questions pick up on
the things covered in this chapter:
Do you fear spiritual gifts? If so, is the fear about God
or about people?
Is prophecy given in your church? If so are the safeguards
mentioned in the chapter clearly there to protect all concerned?
Is deliverance ministry something you've encountered? If
it is, is there a control of the situation and a clear expression of
gentle authority? Was the person being ministered to clearly being loved
& cared for?
Does prayer for healing take place in your church? If it does,
is sufficient teaching given to explain it is a sovereign work of God
and are the people being prayed for dealt with gently and with care,
especially if healing is not evident?
Again we have to emphasise that the purpose of these questions
is not to condemn but to provide a checklist that we can use to work
towards creating a secure church. In this chapter we have picked up
on issues specifically relating to how we create security while using
and encouraging the use of spiritual gifts in the church, to the glory
of God.