He’s told me things that, if put into words, would sound like:

“This is not to be forgotten.” (when reading in post 15, ‘Were it not for the power of the Holy Spirit speaking in my heart, I would be a slave of sin today.’) Thank you Jesus for using Jess. She has spoken into my Life.

or

“Be calm, you don’t have to respond to that comment.” (after reading something my Heart says to be cautious of.)

In my deepest Heart I hear Jesus speaking to me all the time… or whenever I get out of my own way, that is. Sometimes, even if I’m not in His light, he still gets through to me. He’ll say, “Hey, Brian! Remember me?” by a subtle smile from a passing stranger.

I think it’s possible for me to be completely honest with myself. I’t hard, but possible… with God’s help. It seems when this honesty is present, and space is made, discernment is made easy. Things become clear. Truth cannot be used.

There is no need to fear someone saying, “God speaks to me and He told me so, therefore it is true.” because YOUR space and discernment will tell you about Truth. You will know if they speak Truth or if they don’t. Help us, Lord, to have compassion for those who do not! Have compassion on me for when I do not!

Thank you Jesus for being bigger than any idea we might have and thank you for all the ways you speak to our hearts. Bring us towards You always and help us remember that You Know, not us.

Amen.

But I have other sheep which are not of this fold. And it is necessary for me to lead them also, and they will hear my voice, and they will be one flock, one shepherd.

Most interpreters agree that the “other sheep” are the Gentiles. Jesus never went to the diaspora Jews, and they were really of the flock of Israel anyway. Jesus did not go to the Gentiles during his lifetime, since his ministry was to the lost sheep of the house of Israel (with a few notable exceptions). So Jesus is speaking of something future. The Gentiles would hear his voice too. But this would not necessarily be an audible hearing. Yes, they would hear his voice in Scripture. But Denny’s premise that Jesus was speaking of his audible voice speaking directly to people suggests that he could have meant more than that Gentiles would hear his word in yet-to-be-recorded Scripture. One might advance the “one flock, one shepherd” idea to the millennium to get an audible voice when Jesus returns to rule the earth, but it is now, according to Ephesians, that Jews and Gentiles are one body in Christ. Jesus is their Shepherd now in one flock, and we need to listen to the voice of a Shepherd now. If God the Shepherd spoke to his sheep throughout their history, in the OT and NT, why would the Shepherd not speak to his people now? If one of them is lost, he may not be reading his Bible to hear that way.

And what about the sheep that existed before Jesus came. Did no Shepherd call them by name or lead them with his voice?

John 10:8 All who ever came before me were thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them.

The sheep who lived before Jesus came knew that thieves were not the Shepherd because they knew the voice of the true Shepherd. We know that God spoke to Israelites in individualized ways, so we have every encouragement to think that the Gentiles will hear the Shepherd in these same ways.

I just wanted to tell you that I appreciated your time in writing that post.

It has given me much to chew on, and I thank you for that.

In Him,
Jesica

I don’t know what you mean about “possessing that kind of power” like it’s something we control and use as we please regardless of our relationship with God.

From reading the thread here, it seems that people are lumping all sorts of things together (as I see it) and referring to different things as the same thing…it’s hard for me to clarify and elaborate in this forum of limited space and the written word.

First, there’s Jesus saying that all authority and power had been given to Him (by His Father) and then turning and delegating that authority and power to His disciples, telling them that “believers” shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover, and that in His Name “believers” will drive out demons and such.

In this case, I don’t think this is so much a “spiritual gift” as it is delegated authority from Christ to His Church. God hasn’t changed. He still works the way He always has. By words, God creates something from nothing. He gives life to the dead and calls things that be not as though they were. For example, with His words, God created the world we see. How? God spoke, and the Holy Spirit (who was hovering over the face of the deep) acted upon the words and brought them to pass. We see Jesus, the GodMan, doing the same thing: speaking God’s words and the Holy Spirit brought them to pass. Now, as Christ’s body in the earth, we must do the same: speak God’s Words and watch the Holy Spirit bring them to pass.

This isn’t a spiritual gift, per se, it’s living and functioning in the authority given to believers according to God’s Word. Why doesn’t this “work” for all Christians? I don’t know. I’m not God to know such things. But I would check a few things: A) Jesus said “believers” shall… I would check to see what I’m believing in. 1. Do I believe in Jesus as God’s Son? 2. Do I believe the Word of God? 3. Do I believe that this power has been delegated to me by Christ? B) Jesus said that if we abide in Him and His Words abide in us, we shall ask whatever we will and it will be done for us (by His Father in Heaven…see, the power is not “ours”). So I would ask myself: 1. Am I abiding in Christ? 2. Do His Words abide in Me? 3. Is there some other “doctrine of men” that abides in me to the point of choking out God’s Word regarding this subject of authority and healing? There’s more…but that’s a start.

We’ve not been given authority over other humans, or over God. We’ve been given authority over the devil and the demons and the dark principalities of this world. And we’ve been given authority over “our world”: our own body–and over the wellbeing of our family as husbands and the spiritual head of house. But have we taken our place?

As far as spiritual gifts go, there are 9 listed in First Corinthians 12 that I believe refer to what you’re talking about.

3 are “Revelation Gifts,” or gifts that “reveal” something: words of wisdom, words of knowledge, and discerning of spirits (the latter of which people confuse all the time, claiming to have the “gift of discernment” when there is no such spiritual gift, per se. This discerning of spirits is actually seeing into the spiritual realm and SEEING an evil spirit or angel.)

3 are “Power Gifts,” or gifts that “do” something: gift of faith, working of miracles, and gifts of healings. From what I understand, (Denny is the scholar), each time this third power gift is mentioned, both “gifts” and “healings” are in the plural. There is no such thing as “gift of healing”—”simple healing” is the children’s bread and belongs to the entire body of Christ according to the Abrahamic Covenant and the price Christ paid at Calvary.

3 are “Utterance Gifts,” or gifts that “say” something. They are: gifts of
prophecy (not the edification, “simple gift” that we are all told to use to prophesy and build the Body up), gift of tongues (not the baptism of tongues that is available upon request to all believers), and the intepretation of tongues.

None of these gifts belong to individual Christians. They were give to the “Body of Christ” as a whole and have a particular function and purpose: primarily, to bring people to Jesus. That is one reason why they are more in action in other countries, where the people are being evangelized in mass numbers as opposed to here in America where everyone has heard the name of Jesus and there’s a church on every corner. (As a sidenote, IMO, there is more unbelief in America regarding these gifts which also hinders their operation. This blog is a good example of stalwart Christians and Christian scholars who don’t believe in them.)

As I said, none of these spiritual gifts belong to an individual. To clarify: 1. Healing belongs to all believers. There are many ways to receive healing, which I could go into, but this comment is way too long anyway. Simple faith in God’s Word is the best way, because you don’t need anyone else or outside prayer to receive it. And once the physical manifestation is yours, it’s the hardest to “lose” so to speak. 2. Every promise of God in the Word of God belongs to us all. 3. We’ve been given delegated authority which belongs to us. 4. There is God’s “healing anointing,” sometimes referred to in the Word as God’s power. Power, anointing, virtue…it’s God’s and flows from Him to us. We don’t possess it, but it’s given to us for our benefit and to “flow through us” for the benefit of others. This is what is seen in the healings done by Peter and John and the lame man (combined with the power in the Name of Jesus). It’s also what flowed through Jesus to heal the woman with the issue of blood. And it’s what healed people through Paul’s shadow. But healing wasn’t the end in itself. It was to witness of Jesus, to glorify God, and to bring people to salvation. It’s been said that “healing is the dinner bell to salvation,” which is another reason there are mass healings at evangelistic meetings.

But the 9 spiritual gifts are AS THE SPIRIT WILLS, which is a doctrine that will be hard for any Calvinist to embrace, since he feels that EVERYTHING is as the Spirit wills. But in the doctrine I’ve studied, been schooled in, and practiced and preached, there is a BIG difference between what believers do “on their own” which really means something we do empowered by our relationship with God, since it’s all His power to begin with. And something the HOLY SPIRIT does through us, as He wills, when He wills, nearly IN SPITE of us. That’s where these spiritual gifts fall. However, some of them should ACCOMPANY a person truly called to a particular ministry office. They still don’t belong to that person, and aren’t operated as he wills, but they belong to the OFFICE and should be in more frequent manifestation if that person is truly called and anointed by God for that office. For example: the revelation gifts accompany the pastoral office. And the power gifts accompany the office of the evangelist. I could go into more detail (and give scriptures) but this comment is WAY TOO LONG, and I’ve just tried to some up about a year of Bible school into one comment.

Does this help at all? I know I probably didn’t answer specific questions because I felt that some foundation clarity was needed, because I couldn’t answer your question in a way that satisfied myself because I thought some of the questions and comments themselves belied a false foundation or misunderstanding that I didn’t want to build upon.

Does that make sense?

Pardon all typos: this was too long for even ME to re-read and proof. )

Thanks for your kind words. He’s awesome! So AWESOME!

I don’t personally know anyone who has laid hands on someone and been used of God to heal them, or anyone who has had healing occur instantaneously. I do believe that it still happens, as God sees fit, but haven’t seen it with my own eyes.

I have 3 friends who have been healed by God after having been given a death sentence. One of them’s story was almost identical to the one that you shared…cancer there, cancer gone. Blessed be the name of the LORD!

I did have a good friend when I lived in Tulsa who was a Southern Baptist pastor. He told me of a time when he and his best friend from childhood went on a missions trip to Russia just after communism was removed.

He explained that they got off of the train, and there was a man running up to them speaking in Russian, almost screaming.

His friend, who spoke no Russian, and whom he had known since he was a boy, turned to him and said, “He’s saying “I hear you’ve come to tell us about this Jesus! I hear you’ve come to tell us about this Jesus!”"

Then, my friend’s friend turned back to the man, and in fluent Russian, shared the Gospel. The man gave his life to Christ right on the spot, and then begged them to go back to his house with him.

Once there, his friend again shared the Gospel in fluent Russian, and the whole household came to faith in Christ.

My friend never spoke the language, himself. He never understood Russian either, but he spoke of the miracle of God in bringing those people to salvation.

Also, Joel Rosenberg, author of “Epicenter” and other top selling books, tells of Muslims who are coming to faith in Christ in mass numbers because they have seen a dream or vision that leads them to Him.

He’s so all-sufficient, He will use whatever he pleases to draw people to Himself.

That’s what I believe.

Have a super weekend!
Jes

Thanks for your post. I too believe in a God of miracles. There is a young lady I know of who was healed of cancer in her jaw. She went to the church I attended and we all could see her jaw had a huge lump in/on it. Obviously, none of us at the church claimed to have the spiritual gift of healing and simply prayed over her and for her for months. The day she went in for surgery, they pulled the back teeth to get at the cancer, and it was gone. Nothing there but air. This was done at Baylor in Dallas over by DTS. They had all the MRI scans/etc. They knew something was there and now it was gone. The Doc. told the parents to simply ‘kiss the ground’. They told him they were going to give honor to Christ. And they did. Awesome. That’s the only time I’ve known someone personally to have an instantaneous healing. I too have heard of all the stories from somewhere else. If you wanted to speak with this family I could give you name and phone number.
So my questioning isn’t about God’s ability to heal. The question is one of spiritual gifting, of an individual possessing the same evidential power as the apostles when exercising their spiritual gift of healing. Of individuals like Peter/John/Paul. I just don’t see them anywhere. And it’s always a story about someone far, far away.
Again, thanks for sharing your personal story of God speaking to your heart. I’ve enjoyed reading it.

We’ve been out all day so I didn’t make the 2 hour deadline.

In reading of the work that God is doing through our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ in Asia and other parts of the globe, I have read of amazing healings. K.P. Yohannan writes of native missionaries whom God has used to bring the dead back to life.

Granted, I haven’t witnessed this in person, but when you read of this in context of Dr. Yohannan’s heart for God’s Word, I do not doubt it.

In reference to the questions posed to me about God speaking (and yes, I’d describe is as being through the still small voice of the Holy Spirit), this is what I believe and what I teach my children.

1. You must always make sure that what you believe He has spoken to your heart, aligns with His Word. In order to do this, you must know His Word.

2. What He speaks to your heart will always bring glory to His name if you choose to walk in obedience to what He tells you.

He may speak to your heart in order to convict you of sin, or He may speak to your heart in order to call you to action for His glory,…but it will always be for His name sake.

The following are my experiences with the Lord’s voice in my life..

1. When He speaks to my heart it isn’t about someone else. It’s always been about what He wants to bring about in my own life…even if it pertains to my children or to my husband, the issue is always what He wants from me.
2. It isn’t condemnation.
3. It isn’t “new revelation”.
4. It is always, always a precept found in His Word.
5. He doesn’t speak by my demand.

There have been times in my life that I have BEGGED Him to speak, when He has instead chosen deafening silence. I believe with all of my heart that those are times that He has used to establish my faith in His Word even more.

He isn’t my puppet. I am His.

I cannot imagine trying to coach someone in how to listen to Him. I would instead use that time to ground them in the study of His Word. If by knowing His Word, they are being coached to listen to His Spirit..then I’m all about that!

I assure you, if God speaks to your heart, it’s hard to miss. Doesn’t seem it needs coaching to me.

With regard to the question asked about whether what was spoken to my heart would have been something I had heard previously, here’s how I’d answer that…

Certainly I had been exposed to the Word from the time I was a child. However, I thought that salvation meant just saying a prayer. I had ZERO concept of a covenant relationship with God. I did not understand that true belief meant a faith walk of obedience.

As far as the precept of lip service, I had not been taught that. As far as the precept of purging the land of sin, I had not learned that either.

I had learned the basics, intermingled with a TON of false teaching, which only served to confuse the basics.

I thought that even as a “Christian”, which I thought I was but absolutely was not, that I would always be under bondage to sin.

I viewed my life as a huge boxing match between Satan and Jesus. I had never learned the precept that Jesus had overcome death in victory.

So I would answer that no, what God spoke to my heart that day were not things that I knew from His Word.

However, since that day, many times what He has spoken to my heart has been right out of Scripture…He has brought to mind that which I have learned, and uses it in application in my life.

Praise be to our God and Father that Jesus came to do His will!

In Him…
Jes

Forget about the spiritual gift of teaching.

Any answer to post 28/29???

Seriously.