Don’t Forget the Gifts of the Spirit

By Dale M. Sides

Recently, I have been disturbed about the neglect of the gifts of the Spirit—not from those who do not recognize the baptism of the Holy Spirit, but from those who have it. This concern piqued when I heard that Oral Roberts shared the same concern recently at the International Charismatic Bible Ministries Conference in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

That this neglect is happening is not in question, nor who is behind it either. Statistics show that there is actually a measurable decline in this focus.¹ We are at war and my concern is that if our weapon of power evangelism is subtly taken away from us, then the losers will not just be us, but those who have never heard the name of Jesus.

The Holy Spirit has some things going on. Historically, a lot of things began happening around the early 1900’s. This period serves as a hallmark for the movement of revival around the world. Even though there were technological advances made during that time period, the mainstay of breakthrough was the advent or return of the gifts of the Holy Spirit being poured out on the church. The harvest is arriving in heretofore untold proportions. Is a counterattack predictable?

When the gifts of the Spirit began moving in the church, the Holy Spirit had a witness of the kingdom of God. Jesus said that when the Holy Spirit came that He would enable us to be witnesses unto the uttermost part of the world (Acts 1:8). People may gawk at the spoken word and even criticize evangelism, but when the power of God shows up, it shuts the mouths of the critics. In the first century church, the witness of Philip the Evangelist to Simon the Sorcerer (history records him as Simon Magus) caused even the great magician and counterfeit power artist to believe (Acts 8:13). He was actually baptized and was dumbfounded at the miracles that Philip did. Do not be deceived: the power of God will stupefy unbelievers and it will add numbers to the church like nothing else. Likewise, do not be deceived: the devil will counter the move of God.

Yes, the church has had an emergence of the gifts of the Spirit and it has caused great revival. The news media tells us that Islam is the fastest growing religious movement in the world, but Islam is inflating its numbers by digging a well and building a mosque in a village in Africa and claiming that the whole village is Islamic. Islam is growing but ask the Hindus in India where the real threat is; they will tell you that it is charismatic Christianity. The power of God is pounding the devil—plundering hell and populating heaven—but in warfare, there is always retaliation!

The strategy that Satan is using to counterattack this movement of God is slick and it is going on undetected in many places. He is countering the power movement of the gospel with spiritual lethargy, but the “big gun” is subtle distraction. Satan is encroaching in the church with New Age doctrine and causing it to lose its power focus.

If spiritual warriors and intercessors who really have their ears close to the lips of God were polled and asked what the counterattack on the church is, you would find a unanimous agreement. We have become focused on good things such as “self-help” items. Meanwhile, the urgency of the baptism of the Holy Spirit has been relegated to a less important role. These self-help programs need to be closely scrutinized because New Age deception is continually being sown into the church. These programs subtly take the focus off of the kingdom of God and place it on the individual.

New Age programs encroaching in the church can easily be spotted by asking this question. Is this program good for the kingdom or is it good for me? Issues like How much do I weigh? or How good do I look? or Am I bringing forth my maximum potential? or Am I making the right financial investments? may have a place in the Christian curriculum, but not at the expense of power evangelism through the gifts of the Spirit. Remember that Satan is not a fool. His strategy is not to come in a red suit with a pitchfork and blatantly try to get you to deny Jesus. He will come in the form of a doctrine that will get you to look at yourself instead of looking to God. If we forget how this works, we could ask Eve. I’m sure she would remember the lesson.

The next time you walk through a bookstore, either Christian or secular, look at the titles. Ask yourself the question, “Is this book saying, ‘What about me?’ or ‘What about God?’” You’ll be amazed at how many books are pushing self-help items and how subtly the church has been diverted away from the power evangelism message that the Holy Spirit has been trying to bring and further. Remember that this is the “Information Age” and that Satan will adapt his methods according to current times and culturally acceptable norms.

God is concerned with you being helped, but what better help could you get than through the Helper Himself (John 14:16 NKJ). The Holy Spirit has been sent to equip us for the Great Commission and to disciple nations for Jesus—not the “Great Omission,” where we leave God out of the formula for Christian success.

The point is have we neglected the gifts of the Spirit? 1 Corinthians 12:31 says to covet earnestly the best gifts, and the context of this verse reveals that the best gifts are those that will make our ministries more functional for the Body of Christ. All of us are members in particular with various callings and responsibilities. Individually, however, we need to covet the specific gifts that will make us better witnesses for Jesus. If you have the ministry of an intercessor, the best gifts for you are diverse kinds of tongues, faith, and discerning of spirits. If you are a counselor, you need word of wisdom; or if you are a teacher, you need word of knowledge and the utterance gift of prophecy.

The Holy Spirit is pouring out word of wisdom, word of knowledge, the gift of faith, workings of miracles, gifts of healings, prophecy, discerning of spirits, diverse kinds of tongues, and interpretation of tongues for the purpose of making all of us more effective witnesses for the Lord Jesus Christ. Yes, there are other subjects in the Word of God as important as the baptism of the Holy Spirit, but we should follow the Holy Spirit in determining which ones we should study.

We need to be cautious that we are following the Holy Spirit and not religious spirits in our Christian curriculum. There is an “another Jesus” mentioned in 2 Corinthians 11:4 that is moved by “another spirit” and “another gospel.” All of this needs to be understood in the light of being allured away from the simplicity that is in Christ.

Have you neglected the gifts of the Holy Spirit? Only you can answer that question and getting the answer is as simple as asking Him. My exhortation is, as the Apostle Paul said in 2 Corinthians 11:1,2, “Bear with me in my folly . . . for I am jealous over you with a godly jealousy.” We need to stay as focused as a chaste virgin and have eyes only for the coming Bridegroom.

The harvest at the end of the age is on. The Holy Spirit is pouring out power in behemoth portions. I conducted a deliverance session in India for 1,300 people and saw demons running out of them like “scalded dogs.” Don’t get left out and miss what the Holy Spirit is doing by neglecting His gifts. The greatest help you can get is from the Holy Spirit and one of the greatest helps you can be to others is to introduce them to the Helper Himself.

1. C. Peter Wagner. Spheres of Authority. Colorado Springs, CO: Wagner Publications, 2002: p. 47