“There is little, if any, hope for the right use of spiritual talents aside from a focused and continuous commitment to praying,” Storms insists. (45). Though most Christians claim to be committed to prayer, active participation in and devotion to prayer is a different story. “However, if you want to experience spiritual force in your life, it must be a praying life” (45).
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“You do not have because you do not ask God,” James 4:2 says. Storms interprets this in two ways: not only is God delighted to be sought, pouring out his strength in return to miraculously intervene in our lives, but he is also pleased to be pursued to give us his spiritual talents. We are unlikely to encounter God's Spirit's supernatural action unless we embrace and practice prayer.
There is, of course, a counter-argument to this insistence on praying for the operational application of spiritual gifts: God's sovereignty. According to the reasoning, if God intends spiritual talents to work in the church, they will function regardless of how we live, what we believe, or whether we pursue spiritual gifts through prayer.
Why would we bother praying at all if we applied this style of thinking to other aspects of our lives? Why should we pray if God will do what God will do regardless? Whatever will be, will be! Whatever happens, happens! (43)
He then wonders why Jesus would chastise the disciples for neglecting to pray when they attempted to exorcise the devil from the little boy (Mark 9:2829), if God had desired the youngster delivered regardless.
Storm argues that the lack of spiritual gifts manifestation in church history is due to Christians' failure to seek, pursue, and earnestly pray for them. “In other words, they didn't have because they didn't ask, and they didn't ask because they didn't believe!” (44).
“Prayer has played an irreplaceable part in the life of the church from the first day I was awakened to the importance of spiritual gifts in the life of the church.” (45)
In your quest and exercise of the Spirit's talents, Storms hopes you may discover the same vital function of prayer.
Can prayer be a spiritual gift?
I'm sure hundreds of millions of books and articles have been published about prayer, including how to pray, prayer models, answered and unanswered prayers, and prayer for specific periods and events in our lives.
Prayer can be as complicated as we want it to be, or it can be as simple as we want it to be. Prayer does not have to be long, flowery, or wordy. God is equally receptive to modest praise, supplication, or confession. “Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner!” I cried out. “You'll be finished!”
“Honor your name!” “Thank you for your provision and safety!” “Thank you for Jesus, your son!”
Prayers of “breath” or “thought” might be the start of a prayerful dialogue between us and God. The gift of prayer is undoubtedly the most significant and necessary spiritual discipline for a disciple of Jesus to grow in.
As we go through the Bible, we come across people who pray regular, everyday people. These folks converse with God in response to him communicating to them or in response to a need.
Prayer, it appears to me, is the glue that ties the relationship between God and his people together. Because people pray, God sometimes decides to accomplish miracles. Prayer heals people on both a physical and spiritual level.
Prayer becomes a prominent element of our worship in numerous ways because we believe it is a significant aspect of our worship each Sunday, Wednesday night, and whenever we join together. Not only the pastoral prayer, but also our silent prayers, hymns and songs, declarations of faith, confessional prayer, and summons to worship are all included.
Every aspect of our worship, from talking to God to listening to what he has to say to us, can be considered a type of prayer. We also believe that prayer is an important component of our daily lives, thus we pray throughout the day. We recognize the power of prayer and ask each other to pray for us and our specific needs.
When we have nothing else to contribute, we can give each other the gift of prayer. Even if we don't know the specifics of what or for whom we are praying, we can ask for God's blessings, intervention, or will to be done. The act of reaching out to God with confidence is known as prayer.
We observe the early church being created in a spirit of prayer as we study the book of Acts. The many followers of Jesus, both men and women, devoted themselves to conversing with God. This divine communion was the foundation of the church.
Several times during his career, Jesus sneaked away to pray. In order to stay in touch with God's will for his life and ministry, he felt that prayer was important. Jesus taught the disciples by asking him, “Would you please show us how to pray, Lord?” As a result, Jesus gave them and us what we refer to as the “The Lord's Prayer”
If prayer was so essential to Jesus and the early church's disciples, perhaps it should be important to us as well.
I'm sure Jesus prayed constantly because he, like us, had a lot to pray about. He desired to converse with God, his Father, and we should as well. We have copies of a couple of his prayers, but none are more lovely than the one recorded in John 17.
Before his arrest and execution, Jesus assembled his followers for one last lunch together. The bread and wine the first Holy Communion had been passed around by him. Jesus said, “After washing their feet as a symbol of servanthood and educating them one more time,” “Let us end in prayer.”
If you've been following our weekly devotions, you'll know that we'll be studying this High Priestly prayer from John 17 in the coming weeks. You are welcome to read and reflect on Jesus' words as he approaches the cross.
What does the Bible say about praying for gifts?
Paul encourages Christians to “eagerly want the larger gifts” in 1 Corinthians 12:31. We should all pray and beg God to provide us with spiritual gifts that we can use for the greater good of the church.
Can God give you spiritual gifts?
The New Testament has a number of listings of spiritual gifts, the majority of which are found in the Pauline epistles. Although each list is distinct, there is some overlap.
The charismata were prophesied in the Book of Joel (2:28) and promised by Christ (Mark 16:1718), according to Christians. This promise was realized on Pentecost Day and as the church spread around the world. Paul devoted much of his First Epistle to the Corinthians (chapters 1214) to spiritual gifts in order to rectify misuse surrounding spiritual talents in Corinth.
Two Greek phrases are translated as “spiritual gifts” in 1 Corinthians 12. The word pneumatika (“spirituals” or “things of the Spirit”) appears in verse 1. The word charisma is used in verse 4. The word comes from the Greek word charis, which meaning “grace.” The terms diakonia (translated “administrations,” “ministries,” or “service”) and energemata (“operations” or “inworkings”) are used in verses 5 and 6 to describe the nature of spiritual gifts. The term “manifestation (phanerosis) of the Spirit” is used in verse 7.
Christians interpret spiritual gifts as enablements or capacities conferred by God on individuals, based on these scriptural texts. These cannot be earned or merited because they are freely supplied by God. These are activities or manifestations of the Holy Spirit, not of the gifted person, even though they are carried out via persons. They are to be used for the benefit of others, and they are given to the church as a whole rather than to individual members. The gifts are distributed in a variety of ways; no single person will have all of them. The church is edified (built up), exhorted (encouraged), and comforted through spiritual gifts.
Many think that there are as many gifts as there are needs in the church of Christ, despite the fact that Paul did not mention all of the Spirit's gifts. The gifts have been categorized in the past based on their similarities and differences with other gifts. Some categorize them into three groups based on Old Testament offices. Any gift that involves teaching, encouraging, or rebuking others is considered “prophetic.” Mercy and concern for the poor are examples of “priestly” gifts, as is intercession before God. Gifts involving church management or government are referred to as “kingly.” Others classify them as “gifts of knowledge” (words of wisdom, word of knowledge, differentiating between spirits), “gifts of speech” (tongues, interpretation, prophecy), and “gifts of power” (tongues, interpretation, prophecy) (faith, healing, miracles). The gifts have also been divided into those that promote the church's inner growth (apostle, prophecy, distinguishing between spirits, teaching, word of wisdom/knowledge, helps, and administration) and those that promote the church's outer development (apostle, prophecy, distinguishing between spirits, teaching, word of wisdom/knowledge, helps, and administration) (faith, miracles, healing, tongues, interpretation of tongues).
Is intercessory a gift?
Intercessory prayer is one of the most significant sorts of prayer that a believer may engage in, especially when employed on behalf of our fellow members of the Body of Christ, as it is repeatedly shown in scripture. Intercessory prayer is what it sounds like “pleading with one person on behalf of another, usually with the goal of seeking assistance for the latter.” In 1 Timothy 2:1, Paul says, “First and foremost, I implore you to make supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgiving for all people… He goes on to give specific instructions for leaders in prayer, so Paul's admonition is not only a command for Timothy (as a church leader) in how to pray for the Body, but also obviously instructional for the entire Body of Christ.