Bible Lessons: Gifts of the Holy Spirit

The 9 Gifts of the Holy Spirit

n addition to the 9 fruits of the Holy Spirit, the Bible also tells us that there are 9 gifts of the Holy Spirit.
For the record, we feel that the 9 fruits of the Holy Spirit are much more important than the 9 gifts are, as the 9 fruits of the Holy Spirit have to do with God imparting part of His divine nature into the core of our personalities to help make us into a much better and holy people.
God’s ultimate aim for all of us is our sanctification in Him, and part of that sanctification process has to do with the Holy Spirit Himself transmitting 9 specific divine qualities and attributes into our personalities.

But if the 9 fruits of the Holy Spirit are the cake, then the 9 gifts of the Holy Spirit are the icing on the cake. Put these two together, and allow God to work with a believer with both sets of these 9 fruits and 9 gifts, and you will have one mighty sanctified soldier of Jesus Christ, as the 9 gifts of the Holy Spirit will give you some serious heavy ammunition to have at your disposal as you walk with God’s anointing in your daily life.

I call the 9 gifts of the Holy Spirit torpedo gifts, as the Holy Spirit can manifest any one of these 9 gifts through any believer anytime that He will want to do so. Each one of these gifts are major power gifts, and they are all direct, supernatural, miraculous manifestations direct from the Holy Spirit Himself. And any Christian can get themselves in proper place to receive these 9 gifts, as the apostle Paul himself tells us not to be afraid to try and stir up these 9 specific gifts with the Lord.
Here is the direct verse from our Bible on the 9 gifts of the Holy Spirit:

“But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all: for to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healings by the same Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another different kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills.” (1 Corinthians 12:7-11)

Now I will number and bold each one of these 9 gifts so you can have all of them right at the top of this article at a very quick glance:

The Word of Knowledge

The Word of Wisdom

The Gift of Prophecy

The Gift of Faith

The Gifts of Healings

The Working of Miracles

The Discerning of Spirits

Different Kinds of Tongues

The Interpretation of Tongues

Not only does the Bible tell us that these 9 gifts are available to all believers, but then it takes it one step further and tells us that we can actually try and stir these 9 gifts up with the Lord. Here are 5 very good verses telling us to not only desire spiritual gifts, but to also not be afraid to try and stir these gifts up with the Lord:

1. “Therefore, brethren, desire earnestly to prophesy.” (1 Corinthians 14:39)
2. “… and desire spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy.” (1 Corinthians 14:1)
3. “Do not quench the Spirit, do not despise prophecies.” (1 Thessalonians 5:19)
4. “Do not neglect the gift that is in you … Meditate on these things, give yourself entirely to them, that your progress may be evident to all.” (1 Timothy 4:14)
5. “Therefore I remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands.” (2 Timothy 1:6)

As such, every believer should go to the Lord in prayer and ask Him to release these 9 gifts through them anytime that He will want to do so. Let God know that you will be a willing vessel for the manifestations of these gifts, and that you will give Him a full and solid green light to manifest these gifts though you at anytime that He will want to do so.
These 9 gifts are a tremendous help and aid to not only you in your own personal walk with the Lord, but many of them can be also used to help other people out as special needs and circumstances arise in their lives. Notice the very first line in this verse says that these 9 gifts are given to each one for the “profit of all.”
I will go ahead and break down each one of these 9 gifts under the captions below so you can see exactly what each one of these 9 gifts are all about, and how important they can become in your life if you will only allow the Holy Spirit to manifest them through you at anytime that He will want to do so.

1. The Word of Knowledge

This first gift I will talk about is the one I believe will manifest the most in your daily life with the Lord. With God having absolute perfect knowledge on all things, and with us having knowledge levels that are completely imperfect and limited, this means that we all need to receive words of knowledge from the Lord on a very regular and frequent basis in order to be able to safely journey through this life.
As such, I believe the Holy Spirit will really manifest this specific gift with a lot of frequency in your daily life if you can learn how to pick it up from Him when it does come in. I believe that the Holy Spirit actually manifests this gift a lot more than people realize, but they fail to realize it or pick it up when it does come their way because they have never been taught that the Holy Spirit can do this for them in the first place.

The Word of Knowledge is simply the Holy Spirit transmitting His specific knowledge to you on something that you would have no ability or means to be able to know about with your own limited intelligence and knowledge levels. It is supernatural knowledge and insight being given directly to you by the Holy Spirit Himself, not by your own mind or your own intelligence levels.

These words of knowledge that you can receive direct from the Holy Spirit can literally cover an infinite number of things in your daily life. They can cover anything from something very trivial such as where you may have misplaced your car keys at, to giving you life-saving knowledge on how to solve an impending crisis or emergency.
Here are some specific examples of where you can receive a direct word of knowledge from the Holy Spirit covering just about anything and everything in your daily life:

How to solve a math problem at school if you are a student.

How to solve a specific problem at your place of employment.

Where you may have misplaced your car keys at.

Knowledge on what a certain Scripture verse may mean and how it can apply to your own personal life.

How to properly witness to an unsaved family member.

How to solve a marital dispute.

How to start up a new business.

Where to look for that next new job if you have just been laid off.

Who God wants you to marry in this life.

How to counsel someone who has just had an impending tragedy hit them full force.

What your specific calling in the Lord is going to be in this life.

Word of knowledge that God wants to heal someone of a specific illness.

As you can see from these kinds of examples, there is literally nothing that the Holy Spirit cannot get into in your own personal life where He can then give you a word of knowledge on how to properly handle something that you are currently dealing with, or give you a word of knowledge to help someone else out with what they may be dealing with on their end.
With our own knowledge levels being so limited, so imperfect, and so incomplete, we all need words of knowledge from the Lord on some kind of regular basis in this life so that we can make it through this life in one piece and get to where we need to go in our divine destinies with Him.
How exactly does the Holy Spirit transmit an actual Word of Knowledge to us? I believe the number one way that He will communicate a Word of Knowledge to us is through the inner knowing.
The Bible say that the Holy Spirit will bear “witness” with our human spirits. This inner witness is what I call the inner knowing. All of a sudden, you will receive a without-a-doubt type knowing on the knowledge that He is trying to transmit to you. It can come in the form of a thought or an impression on your mind, or possibly come in the form of a vision or a picture in your mind’s eye.
I have found from personal experience that the Holy Spirit loves to communicate knowledge through these pictures, which are really visions in your mind’s eye. These pictures can be used to give you quite a bit of information and knowledge on what He is trying to give you knowledge on. They say a picture is worth a thousand words, and sometimes much more information and knowledge can be conveyed to you by way of a simple picture rather than Him trying to give you all words or sentences, depending on exactly what you are dealing with.
The only problem with these pictures in your mind’s eye is that you have to learn how to discern the difference between when a vision is coming in from the Holy Spirit and when a vision is coming in from your own natural imagination, as your own natural imagination has the power and the ability to conjure up their own mental pictures in your mind’s eyes. Over time, the Holy Spirit can teach you how to do discern the difference between the two if you would really like for Him to do this for you. This is something that you can learn how to do with Him through a process of trial and error.

Think of the ramifications and the possibilities with just this one special gift alone – that the Holy Spirit Himself can transmit His own divine knowledge to you on something that you cannot solve or figure out on your own.

This is why this particular gift is so important and so needed in this day and age, as most of us are always facing some kind of roadblocks or obstacles on a regular basis in our daily lives. As such, we all need the knowledge of God flowing through us so we can make it through all of these obstacles, and then get to where we need to go with the Lord and fully accomplish everything that He will like for us to do for Him in this life.
That is why the Bible tells us that “without knowledge” we can perish and go into captivity in this life. And sometimes only the supernatural knowledge of God can help keep us out of harm’s way in this life, since our own knowledge and intelligence levels are so imperfect and so limited.

2. The Word of Wisdom

This next gift at times will work in conjunction with the word of knowledge. Sometimes all you need is a direct word of knowledge from the Holy Spirit and it will completely solve the problem or dilemma you are dealing with.
However, there will be other times that a word of knowledge will not be quite enough to solve the problem. This is where you will now need a word of wisdom. A word of wisdom will give you the ability to be able to properly apply the knowledge that you may already have on a particular situation.
In our article, “Seeking After the Knowledge of God,” we explain to you the difference between knowledge, understanding, and wisdom. For instance, if someone gives you a car manual that will show you how to rebuild a car engine, that manual will give you all of the actual knowledge you will need to learn how to do it. But all of that knowledge will not do you any good unless you first understand what you are reading.
If you can understand what you are reading, then the next and final step will be to have the actual wisdom to be able to actually rebuild a car engine out in your garage once you try and do it. All of that knowledge from the car manual, and all of that understanding of that knowledge will do you no good in real life if you do not have the wisdom to be able to apply that knowledge to a real life working situation.
This is why we all need words of wisdom from the Holy Spirit in our daily life, so we will know how to handle more complex types of problems or issues that can occur at a moment’s notice in our daily lives.
Here are some specific examples where we could receive words of wisdom direct from the Holy Spirit:

You have just found out that your spouse has been cheating on you. You will now need God’s wisdom on exactly how to handle this crisis.

Your boss has just given you a new tough assignment and you are not sure on how to get the job properly done. You will now need God’s knowledge and wisdom on how to get this new assignment successfully completed.

Your finances have spiraled out of control and you will now need God’s guidance and wisdom on how to keep yourself out of bankruptcy.

You have just been named in an unjust lawsuit and you will now need God’s wisdom on how to properly handle it.

As you can see, there are literally an infinite number of possibilities where you will need God’s wisdom to get you safely though the problem or dilemma you are now having to face.
Again, since our own human intelligence is so imperfect and so limited in its ability to apply real wisdom to handle and solve some of life’s real tough problems, we all need the wisdom of God flowing through our lives on a regular basis so we can handle and overcome many of life’s adversities that can get thrown our way at any time.

3. The Gift of Prophecy

This next gift may just be the greatest of the 9 gifts of the Holy Spirit. The reason I say this is because the apostle Paul, in the second verse above, purposely singles out this gift when telling you to seek after the spiritual gifts.
He says in this verse to “desire spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy.” With him purposely singling out the gift of prophecy in comparison to the rest of the 9 gifts in this verse, I believe that this may be a tell to us that the gift of prophecy may be the greatest of the 9 gifts of the Holy Spirit. And when you think about exactly what this gift is all about, I believe that he may be right on the money.
The gift of prophecy is when you get a direct Word from the Lord to usually give to someone else. And when I say a direct word, I mean the message from the Lord that will be given to you will literally be word for word. When you get one of these, you need to try and either write or type all of it out if you are in a place to be able to do so.
I do not believe there is anything greater than to be able to receive a direct, clear, prophetic Word from the Lord to be able to give to someone else in order to help edify and build them up, or to help them out with something specific they may be dealing with, with you being the actual messenger of that prophetic word to that someone. As such, they all need to be recorded and written down if at all possible.
However, there will be times that you will not be able to record it. All of a sudden the Holy Spirit will give you a direct, clear, prophetic word to give to someone else. You speak out the word to this person and then you will be done with it. It might be a very short word and it really does not need to be recorded or written down. But there will be other times that you will be in a place to properly record it. And depending on what the Lord is giving you a direct message on and how long it is, you should make every attempt to get it down on paper, as they are real trophies and treasures when they do come in from the Lord.
The Bible tells us that God uses the gift of prophecy to speak edification, exhortation, and comfort to other people. Here is the specific verse giving us this direct revelation on what the main use of prophecy is all about:

“But he who prophesies speaks edification and exhortation and comfort to men.” (1 Corinthians 14:4)

Many times prophecy is also used to help confirm what has already been given to the person earlier on by the Lord. Sometimes God will confirm for you what He has already told you earlier so you will know that it really was Him all along giving you that specific message. And one of the ways that He can confirm a previous message that He has already given you is by giving you a direct prophecy through another believer.
Prophecies from the Lord can cover an extremely wide range of situations and issues, covering everything from predicting future events like they use to do in the OT, to giving someone counsel, encouragement, confirmation, instruction, and possible correction when it may be needed.
Also, all prophecy needs to be properly tested, as the Bible tells us that there will always be false prophets walking among us, along with the possibility of well-meaning believers prophesying out of their own imaginations. Here is the verse giving us this direct warning:

“Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies. Test all things; hold fast what is good.” (1 Thessalonians 5:19-21)

All prophecy always needs to line up with Scripture. If it does not, it should be immediately rejected. God will never go against His own Word when delivering a prophetic word to someone.
Again, any believer can have the Lord manifest this gift through them at anytime that He will want to do so. You do not have to hold the actual office of a prophet in order for God to manifest this gift through you from time to time.
The Bible tells us that in the latter days God will be pouring out His Holy Spirit upon all flesh and when He does, it says our sons and daughters will be prophesying. This means that there are going to be many believers who are going to be getting this gift manifesting through them with a lot of frequency in the coming years.
When Paul says in the above two verses to “desire earnestly to prophesy” and to “desire spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy,” you know that this is something that the Lord would really like to do more of with His children.
Again, if you would like the Lord to manifest this gift through you from time to time so you can be a direct messenger for Him to someone else, just go to Him in prayer and tell Him that you would be more than happy to be a willing and yielded vessel for Him to manifest this particular gift through if He would like to do so. And then keep your radars up, always being open and sensitive to the Holy Spirit if He will want to start manifesting this gift through you so He can use it to help build others up and bring some comfort, joy, peace, or direction into their lives.

4. The Gift of Faith

This next gift, the gift of faith, is something that comes directly from the Holy Spirit.
The Bible tells us that we all have a certain measure of faith that has already been given to us by the Lord. God has to give each person a certain measure of faith or we would not be able to get saved, as the Bible tells us that we are saved by “faith” through grace. And then over the course of our walks with the Lord, our faith will continue to grow to higher levels as we continue to draw closer to the Lord in our own personal relationship with Him and increase our knowledge levels about Him through the study of Scripture.
However, there will be times that our own levels of faith in the Lord will not be enough to get the job done with what He may be asking us to do for Him. Here is an example:
Say God has been manifesting the gift of healing through you from time to time to heal a few minor ailments or illnesses on a few people. Your confidence and faith levels are then starting to build up because God is now starting to use you in this manner and you now have had a few good successes on these smaller illnesses. But then all of a sudden God tells you to walk up to a paraplegic, lay hands on him, and then command him to get out of his wheelchair and start walking.
All of a sudden you can immediately sense in your mind and in your spirit that your own levels of faith are not going to be good enough or high enough to try and do this, as you have never tried to heal someone of something this heavy before. And this is where the Holy Spirit will now be moving in big time so this miracle can be fully accomplished for the Lord. The Holy Spirit will then manifest His own divine faith right up into you so you can now believe and operate on that faith – so you will now have the actual courage to walk up to this person, lay hands on him, and then tell him to get out of that wheelchair and start walking.
Sometimes it will take higher levels of faith to pull down a major miracle from the Lord, and where our faith levels will not be high enough or good enough to be able to do this, this is where the direct faith of the Holy Spirit Himself will then move up in us and pick up the slack with our own imperfect faith levels so God can then manifest the miracle that He will be looking to do through us.
Sometimes God may ask you to do something that will be out of your comfort zone. Fear and panic will immediately set in because you have never done what He is now asking you to do. If and when this should ever happen to you, just ask the Holy Spirit to manifest His faith, courage, and boldness up in you so you will have His faith, strength, and courage to do what God is asking you to do for Him.
This particular gift could be a lifesaver, depending on what God may be asking you to do for Him. If God is asking you to go into a burning building to rescue a child, there will be a very good chance that the Holy Spirit will immediately manifest His faith and courage right up in you so you can take on this dangerous assignment.
Firemen, policemen, and our military especially need this particular gift to help them do heroic acts, as many of them could easily let fear and panic set in on them, which would then keep them from being able to perform a major rescue operation.
Again, there are just a wide variety of situations and circumstances where you will need this gift to be manifested up in you by the Holy Spirit. That is why the Holy Spirit is called the Helper in the Bible, so He can help you with a lot of different areas in your daily life where you will have trouble in dealing with.

5. The Gifts of Healings

Per the article we just did titled, “The Great Commission – Save, Heal, Deliver and Disciple,” one of the things that Jesus is wanting all of us to do for Him to is pray for the sick. And if we do, then many of the times they will “recover,” which means that He is going to heal them. So it should come as no surprise that we have the gift of healing as one of the 9 gifts of the Holy Spirit.
What this means is that at anytime the Holy Spirit can manifest this special gift through any believer so He can then heal someone of any kind of disease, illness, or sickness. You do not have to have the gift of healing as any kind of a full time ministry to be able to have the Holy Spirit do this through you. Again, this can literally happen to any single believer at anytime with the Lord.
As such, this is another gift that you will definitely want to try and stir up with the Lord, because there are just so many people who need some kind of healing due to the fact that we still have to deal with all kinds of diseases, sicknesses, and illnesses on a regular basis as a result of the Adamic curse that is still in full operation on this earth.
Not only can the Holy Spirit directly heal you with your own personal prayers to the Lord, but He can also use you as an anointed vessel to manifest His healing power through to help heal someone else – if you will only have the courage to speak out what He wants you to say to that person, and then lay hands on that person for the healing power to be transmitted into their body to the affected body part that will need the healing.
Also notice that the wording being used in this verse is that this is the “gifts” of healing. The word “gifts” is plural, which means there are different kinds of healings the Lord will want to do. What people who walk with this kind of anointing on a regular basis have found out is that some people will be more gifted and anointed in some areas than they will be in other areas.
For instance, some people may have more success with healing bad back cases, where another may have a stronger anointing to heal cancer cases. In other words, the Lord will sometimes specialize on the kinds of healings He will want to do through an individual believer. Your part is to just tell the Lord that you would like to have a big part in this special gift, and then let Him decide as to how He will want to use you in this area and what areas you will be stronger in than other areas.
In the Spiritual Warfare section of our site, we have an article titled, “Healing Verses of the Bible.” In this article are 93 of the best healing verses in all of the Bible. If you would like the Lord to use you in this specific area, it would be our recommendation that you study and meditate on the verses that are in this article, as it will show you that both God the Father in the OT and Jesus Christ in the NT were constantly healing people on a regular basis.
And if God does not change, and He is the same today as He was yesterday, then that means He will still want to continue His healing ministry in this day and age, and thus will anoint His believers with His healing power through the Holy Spirit from time to time when they will either need it for themselves or someone else they may be praying for.

6. The Working of Miracles

This next gift from the Holy Spirit is where you can get into some real heavy, jaw-dropping, knock-your-socks off type of supernatural activity from Him.
Some of the different Bible Dictionaries describe the word miracle as the following:

An intervention in the natural universe by God
A phenomena that transcends natural laws
A divine act by which God reveals Himself to people

Good examples of actual miracles from the Bible are the following:

Jesus and the apostles healing and casting demons out of people.

Jesus turning water into wine at the wedding of Cana.

Jesus feeding 5000 people by multiplying 5 loaves of bread and two fish.

God parting the Red Sea for Moses and the children of Israel.

Daniel not being eaten by the lions in the lion’s den.

Peter walking on water.

If you study the Bible very carefully from start to finish, it is literally one miracle after another with both God the Father and Jesus Christ. Our God is a miracle-working God and He still loves to do them for His people.
The Bible says that God does not change, and if both Him and Jesus were constantly doing miracles in both the OT and NT, then God will also be wanting to do miracles in our day and age. And with this specific gift being listed as one of the 9 gifts of the Holy Spirit, then you know that God is trying to tell all of us that He still wants to do them, even in the jaded and skeptical times that we are now currently living in.
Again, do not be afraid of this heavy gift from the Lord, and do not quench the Holy Spirit with any lack of faith or belief if He ever wants to try and do one for either you, or for any other people you may be working with. Remember, the Bible tells us that absolutely nothing is impossible with God, which will include any divine miracle that He will want to perform.

7. The Discerning of Spirits

This next gift is one that is really needed in the dangerous and perilous times that we are now living in.
The first thing to notice about this gift is that the “s” in the word “spirits” is with a small “s.” This means that it is not referring to the Holy Spirit. The only other spirits that are out there that this gift is referring to are the following three kinds of spirits:

Demonic spirits
God’s angels
Human spirits

What happens in this gift is that the Holy Spirit will give you supernatural discernment, insight, and knowledge involving these three kinds of spirits. Many of the times, this gift will be be used to fully expose what is really going on and operating behind the scenes with someone.
Here is how this gift will come into play with each one of these kinds of spirits.
A) Demonic Spirits – with demonic spirits still being allowed to roam in the air and interact with us to some degree in this life, we really need this gift in full operation today just to handle this one type of bad evil spirit.
As you know, many times demons can literally enter into a person’s body if they have the appropriate legal rights to be able to do so. But once they are in someone’s body, they will then try and hide and not show themselves. They know if they get caught and exposed on the inside of that person’s’ body, they risk that person either finding Jesus if they are not saved yet, or if it is a Christian, that this person will then seek out a deliverance from another believer.
Since some demons are very good at hiding on the inside of someone once they enter in, God needs to activate this gift through some of His own so they can detect when a demon is on the inside of someone and expose its presence. Once the demon has been exposed, then you can set the person up for a deliverance. But the first thing to be able to do is to discern and detect that the demons are already on the inside of that person in the first place.
There are several ways that this type of discernment can work in this realm. First, the people who have this gift in operation from the Holy Spirit will sometimes be able to “see” the demons manifest through a person’s eyes. Sometimes the demons just cannot help themselves and they sometimes will rise up and show themselves through a person’s eyes. They will literally be looking directly at you through this person’s eyes.
When you see this kind of a manifestation happen, what you will see is pure hate and pure evil looking at you. You will be able to tell that this is not the person they are residing in. This kind of a look can also be caught on camera quite a bit, as demons sometimes like to show themselves when that person is getting their picture taken. Again, you do need this gift of discerning of spirits from the Holy Spirit to be able to see this when it happens, but it is very easily seen by the people who do have this gift in full operation from the Holy Spirit.
Another way that the Holy Spirit will help you discern and sense demons in someone is through either a sense of smell or a sense of feeling. Some people will get a real sick feeling in their stomach, like they want to vomit when they either see or get around someone who has a demon on the inside of them. I have a friend who has this special gifting on the inside of her from the Holy Spirit, and this is always one of her tells when she knows that she is sensing a demon on the inside of someone.
Other people will be able to literally smell their presence, and their smell is extremely noxious and toxic. The people who have this kind of gifting say it is the worse smell they have ever smelled.
What the Holy Spirit is doing with this kind of gift is pulling back the curtains in the spiritual realm and allowing you to either see, feel, or smell the demons in the person they are residing in. Then once the demons have been exposed as being on the inside of that person, then you can move in to set that person up for a deliverance if they will be open to it.
Another way you can pick up a demon being on the inside of someone is just through a strong inner knowing or a strong sensing from the Holy Spirit. You may not be able to see them in the person’s eyes when they do come up and manifest, or feel them or smell them, but you can get a strong inner knowing or a strong sensing from the Holy Spirit that this person does have demons on the inside of them.
B) God’s Angels – The Bible tells us that God’s angels are also spirit beings. They are ministering spirits. Throughout history God’s angels have appeared to people many times. The Bible is full of these kinds of stories from the Virgin Mary, to Daniel, to the apostle John in the Book of Revelation.
However, the Bible also warns us that Satan and his demons can appear to us as angels of light. As a result, you will need proper discernment from the Holy Spirit if an angel were to ever appear to you.
The false religions of Islam and Mormonism are two perfect examples of demons appearing as angels of light to the two people who started these two false religions. If those two people would have known how to properly test a spirit appearing to them, those two demon angels could have easily been stopped dead in their tracks and those two false religions could have easily been prevented from ever having started up.
If an angel were all of a sudden to ever appear to you, the first thing you will need to do is properly test it out. 1 John tells us exactly how to do this. Here is the verse:

“Beloved, do not believe every spirit, BUT TEST THE SPIRITS, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world.
By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world.” (1 John 4:1-4)

What this means is that you directly ask the angel to identify who his Lord and Master is. He better say that it is Jesus Christ. Then you ask him to confess to you that Jesus Christ has come to our earth in the flesh. If the angel cannot make this direct confession to you that Jesus Christ has already come to our earth in the flesh, then you are dealing with a real, live, demonic spirit masquerading as an angel of light. At this point, you should command the demon to now leave you in the name of Jesus Christ.
In addition to the above test, you could also receive a strong discerning of spirits direct from the Holy Spirit. You will immediately sense that something is not right with this angel, and you will then pick up with a strong inner knowing that this is not an angel from God. If it is an angel from God, you should feel a sense of peace and comfort coming in from the Holy Spirit, as He should be bearing witness that this is one of God’s angels.
C) Human Spirits – in addition to angels and demonic spirits, the third kind of spirit this gift is referring to is just our own human spirits. For instance, someone could have a bad spirit of pride on them. It will not be a demonic spirit giving this person this kind of bad pride, it will just be his own natural spirit, as we are all totally capable of having bad kinds of spirits build up in our systems without the help of any kind of demonic spirits, since we have already been born into this world as corrupt sinners.
Where this gift will really come into play is on discerning some of the real bad apples that are out there, especially those of the criminal type such as rapists, money scammers and swindlers, and pedophiles. Pedophiles are especially good at seducing some of the family members so they can then work themselves into getting closer to some of their younger children. That is why parents especially have to keep a sharp eye on any new people who come into their immediate circle of influence.
Just realize that this is a gift that the Holy Spirit can manifest for you and to always keep yourself open and sensitive to anything that the Holy Spirit may want to transmit your way if you ever do come across a few bad apples such as these types. God the Father is very protective over His own, and He will not hesitate to have His Holy Spirit give you major warning signals if you ever start to cross paths with a bad and evil apple who is either targeting you, or any of your close friends or family members for some kind of an evil act.

8. Different Kinds of Tongues

The gift of tongues is simply the Holy Spirit giving you the supernatural ability to speak in a foreign tongue that you have no knowledge or ability to speak out on your own.
There are two types of tongues He can give you. One is a tongue of this earth. For instance, if your native language is English, then He can give you the ability to speak in Chinese, Japanese, or Spanish.
The other type of tongue that He can give you is a tongue direct from heaven, a heavenly language that is not of this earth. The Bible tells us in 1 Corinthians 13 that there are “tongues of angels.”
But in either event, it will be a foreign language that you will not be able to speak out on your own, and only the Holy Spirit’s supernatural transmission of this language out of your spirit will give you the ability to be able to speak this language out. And whatever tongue the Holy Spirit will give you, you will be able to use it 24/7, whenever you want. It will be your own personal, private, prayer language between you and the Lord.
The only problem with this gift is that for the most part, you will never know or understand what you are praying about when you go into this gift. The Bible tells us that we will be speaking out “mysteries,” and only God the Father and the Holy Spirit will be knowing exactly what the prayer will be about on any given occasion when you are actually doing it.
So if we will not know exactly what we are praying about when using this gift, then why would God even want us to have this kind of a gift in the first place? I believe the reason is in the verse where it says that sometimes we will not know how to pray as we ought to. Sometimes we will not be able to find the right words to use in our own personal prayers to the Lord due to our own natural imperfections in being able to properly communicate with Him.
Here is the verse that will show us that sometimes we will not know how to pray as we ought, and that we all need the Holy Spirit to come and help us out in our own personal prayer life with God the Father:

“Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.” (Romans 8:26)

I believe the Holy Spirit is the Master Prayer to God the Father and as such, He is allowing us to have direct access into His own personal prayer life with God the Father. In other words, He is asking us to play a part of and to share with Him on His own direct, personal prayers to God the Father.
Even though you will not know what you are praying about when you do go into your gift of tongues, at least you will have the honor and privilege of being able to pray direct to God the Father with the Holy Spirit. And since the Holy Spirit knows how to present a perfect prayer to God the Father, then you can actually play a part in that perfect prayer to God the Father.

Another reason that you will want this gift is for emergency type situations. I cannot tell you how may testimonies I have seen or read where the Holy Spirit will all of a sudden prompt someone to start praying in tongues, and then later on that person finds out that the prayer they were just doing in tongues was just used to save someone else’s life.
Since the Holy Spirit is God and Lord Himself, this means He can perfectly see into the future. And if He sees a fatal accident getting ready to occur, He can prompt you to start praying in tongues to God the Father to stop the impending tragedy from occurring.
You have no idea how many lives you may be instrumental in saving if you will only allow God to give this gift to you and then go into it whenever the Holy Spirit will prompt you to do it. This gift cannot only be used to save your own personal life from impending disaster, but it can also be used to save the lives of people who may be very close to you, such as your immediate family members, close friends, or co-workers.

For the most part, the gift of tongues will be used as your own personal, private, prayer language between you and the Lord. If it is done in a church setting by someone, then there should be someone who will have the interpretation of that tongue, otherwise no one will know what that person is praying about and it will not be able to edify the flock in the setting that it is occurring.
Now here are some additional verses on the gift of tongues:

“For he who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God, for no one understands him; however, in the spirit he speaks mysteries.” (1 Corinthians 14:2)

“I wish you all spoke with tongues, but even more that you prophesied; for he who prophesies is greater than he who speaks with tongues, unless indeed he interprets, that the church may receive edification.” ( 1 Corinthians 14:5)

“Therefore let him who speaks in a tongue pray that he may interpret. For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my understanding is unfruitful.” (1 Corinthians 14:13-14)

“Though I speak with tongues of men and angels, but have not love, I have become as sounding brass or a clanging cymbal.” ( 1 Corinthians 13:1)

“Therefore tongues are for a sign, not to those who believe but to unbelievers…” (1 Corinthians 14:22)

“Therefore, brethren, desire earnestly to prophesy, and do not forbid to speak with tongues. Let all things be done decently and in order.” (1 Corinthians 14:39-40)

Notice in the first verse that it is telling you that you are speaking mysteries when you are praying in your tongue. The 4th verse tells you that your tongue will either becoming from men or angels, which means that it will either be a language of this earth or a language direct from heaven.
Notice in the 3rd verse that Paul is telling you that you pray to interpret your own tongue so you can understand what you are praying about, which will lead us right into the next gift, the interpretation of tongues. Also notice that when you are praying in your tongue, that you are praying out of your spirit, not out of your mind. You are also praying in the Holy Spirit when you are praying in your tongue.
With our inability to be perfect prayer warriors with God the Father, I believe this is one gift that God would like all of His children to have. When you find yourself wanting to pray to God, but you find yourself falling short in how you want to pray or what you want to pray about, you can just go into your gift of tongues with the Holy Spirit and then end up giving God a perfect prayer, since the prayer will becoming direct from the Holy Spirit Himself.

This a very powerful prayer tool to have in your own arsenal since you are opening yourself up direct to the Holy Spirit and His ability to perfectly pray to God the Father. You are joining forces with the third Person of the Trinity who is God and Lord Himself, who is the Master Prayer and Intercessor with God the Father.
Just meditate on this mind-blowing reality, and then see if you will not want to go to God the Father and ask Him to release this powerful gift to you through the Holy Spirit.

9. The Interpretation of Tongues

This next gift is where the Holy Spirit will give you the interpretation of the tongues that you have either done for yourself or when they are being done by someone else in a church setting.
Here are the two main verses telling you where the gift of interpretation will come into play with the gift of tongues:

“If anyone speaks in a tongue, let there be two or at the most three, each in turn, and let one interpret. But if there is no interpreter, let him keep silent in church, and let him speak to himself and to God.” (1 Corinthians 14: 27-28)

“Therefore let him who speaks in a tongue pray that he may interpret. For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my understanding is unfruitful.” (1 Corinthians 14:13-14)

The first verse has to do with others interpreting a tongue when it is done in a church service. The second verse is showing you that the Holy Spirit can give you the interpretation of your own tongue as you are praying in it all by yourself.
Again, another very powerful gift that you can ask to receive from the Lord if you would like to tread into these kinds of deeper waters with Him.

Conclusion

Just stop and think about what all 9 of these gifts from the Holy Spirit are really about. We are talking about God Almighty Himself coming down and manifesting a part of Himself through these 9 gifts, since God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit are perfectly one with one another in the Divine Trinity.
This is what I call push-the-envelope kind of activity with the Lord. With every single one of these 9 gifts being direct, miraculous manifestations from the Holy Spirit, you are attempting to tread into deeper waters with the Lord. And that is exactly what God is asking all of us to do with these 9 special gifts.

When the apostle Paul, who I believe was the greatest of all of the New Testament apostles, tells us to “desire earnestly” these spiritual gifts and not to be afraid to try and stir these gifts up with the Lord, then you know God the Father is giving all us a big, fat, whopper green light to come after these 9 specific gifts.
Just think how many more people you can help and save if you will allow the Holy Spirit to manifest some of these 9 gifts through you from time to time. Each one of these 9 gifts are major power gifts, and most of them are allowing the Lord to come in and manifest Himself to help someone else out.

Though Jesus is in heaven right now with His Father, we all still have the Holy Spirit living on the inside of us. And through the Holy Spirit, both God the Father and Jesus Christ can still manifest Themselves into our daily lives and any situations that we will need Their help on.
God and Jesus are still in the rescue, help, and deliverance business – and if you will allow God to manifest these 9 gifts through you from time to time, you yourself can become an actual partaker in some of Their divine, rescue, deliverance missions. You yourself can help carry on the divine supernatural ministry that Jesus left behind when He ascended to His Father.
Per the new article we just put up, “The Great Commission – Save, Heal, Deliver and Disciple,” these 9 special power gifts will really help you in being to able save, heal, deliver, and disciple other people in this life.
I call these torpedo gifts, because they are like bullets loaded in a gun, ready to shoot out of you at anytime under the control and direction of the Holy Spirit. These 9 gifts are the ammunition you will need to go to war for the Lord to help set the captives free, as the Bible is telling all of us to learn how to become good soldiers of Jesus Christ.

Combine these 9 gifts with the 9 fruits of the Holy Spirit so God can transform and mold you into the kind of person He wants you to become in Him, and you will then become a truly sanctified, fully-loaded, God-warrior like King David and Joshua were.
Then you will be ready to take on the real Goliaths of this world with absolutely no fear, since you know now that you have the power of the Holy Spirit Himself on the inside of you, along with these 9 special powerful gifts that can be manifested through you at anytime to help either yourself or any other people as different needs will arise in their lives.

Bible Lessons

7.9.11

Gifts of the Holy Spirit