The Unknown Healer: Understanding the Gifts of the Spirit

What comes to mind when you hear the phrase “gifts of the spirit?” Do you get excited, do you feel pressure, do you want to walk in the gifts but don’t know how, do you feel like you’ve “been there done that,” do you feel like the gifts aren’t for today? Maybe something else?

I have some observations I’d like to share with you. Let’s start with the word “gift.”

Gifts/Graces of the Spirit

The word “gift” is the Greek word charisma. The root word is charis, which is the word for “grace.” Charisma is charis in action. This makes sense when you understand the true definition and function of GRACE.

Grace is unmerited favor but it also means “God’s divine influence in your heart.” Grace also means “capacity.” The idea is this, God will empower you in your inner man, otherwise known as your heart. He empowers you to do things that only His spirit is able to do, things you can not do in your own strength. Things like live holy, heal people, function as a prophet, be righteous, all of which are empowerments (gifts) of His spirit. But who can operate in which gift?

When I think of the gifts/graces, I think about a guy I call the unknown healer.

The Unknown Healer

You can read about this guy in Luke 9:49-50. This person is mentioned after Jesus sent out the original 12 apostles with power to cast out demons and heal people but before he sent out the 70 disciples 2 by 2.. The Apostle John has an interesting experience with “the unknown healer.”

John answered, “Master, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he does not follow with us.” But Jesus said to him, “Do not stop him, for the one who is not against you is for you.”

Who is this guy? He must have heard that Jesus gave His followers power and decided it was for him too. He took that for himself and jumped out there on his own. I find this seemingly insignificant story incredibly encouraging. He wasn’t part or the 12, he wasn’t part of the 70, but he decided that God’s power could work through him too.

Do you know who he is? I’ll tell you, he’s YOU!! Yes, you!! You’re the unknown healer. You’re the unnamed Jesus follower that can take God’s power and run with it. If you have His spirit, you can yield to His influence and be empowered to express His power. The fact the he is unnamed, and not formally sent out by Jesus tells me that anyone who chooses to minister in the authority of Jesus can do so, and Jesus is cool with it.

What about John’s response?

John, the self-professed “disciple whom Jesus loved,” the guy who reclined on Jesus’ chest, the author of the Gospel about God’s love. John told the unknown healer to STOP. Notice John’s reason, “because he follows not with us.”

He doesn’t go to our church, he didn’t go through our supernatural school, he doesn’t know our culture, he doesn’t have proper exegesis, he’s not one of the elect, he reads from the wrong translation of the Bible, etc… John tries to stop a man who has taken Christ’s mandate to set people free from demonic oppression and disease, because he was not part of his tribe.

This is “religion” at its worst. Our churches are full of this kind of division today. We disqualify people all the time because they “don’t follow with us.” Jesus said, “don’t tell him to stop, if he’s not against me he’s for me.” That’s as wide open as it gets, that’s freedom! It takes a secure leader to offer that kind of freedom. I understand the importance of everything being done decently and in order, but Jesus didn’t try to control people, He gave them power and set them free.

Jesus didn’t say, go get him and make sure he knows all the Law and Prophets. He didn’t say, bring him to me so I can make sure he’s interpreting the Bible properly. Jesus didn’t say, he needs to go through my training to be qualified. Jesus didn’t even ask the guy’s name, he told his followers to leave the guy alone. Jesus knew a secret, the Holy Spirit will teach the unknown healer to minister as he goes.

There Is Only One Anointing

Have you heard about the prophetic anointing, or apostolic anointing? The problem is, there is no such thing. There’s one anointing, that’s the indwelling of God’s spirit.

He places His spirit in you and it abides. His spirit will then move through you and empower you in different ways, which some people refer to as “anointing,” but that’s actually not scriptural. If you have God’s spirit, you are anointed, period.

1 John 2:27 And as for you, the anointing you received from Him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But just as His true and genuine anointing teaches you about all things, so remain in Him as you have been taught.

To anoint with oil, you smear the oil on the person. The way God anoints is by smearing or spreading His spirit within you, and that smearing remains. If you have His spirit, you have been anointed by God. That indwelling spirit will then empower you in different ways. Paul’s audience would have understood this to mean, there is ONE anointing. As you read this passage from 1 Corinthians 12, notice how careful Paul is to express the point that there’s one spirit and that one spirit has different capacities.

1 CORINTHIANS 12:4 Now there are varieties of gifts, but the SAME SPIRIT; 5 and there are varieties of service, but the SAME LORD; 6 and there are varieties of activities, but it is the SAME GOD who empowers them all in everyone. 

Same spirit, same Lord, same God. You can also say, same anointing. There are no different anointings because there is only one spirit. Now that he’s made it clear that’s there’s one anointing, he describes how that one spirit empowers different kinds of gifts in people.

The word “given” means empowered or endued. The idea is that God empowers people to walk in these graces or gifts. The word gift is not to be understood as a stand alone package that one person gets while another person doesn’t. God’s spirit might empower one person to do something and another person to do another thing, but it’s the same anointing/spirit working the graces/gifts through everyone.

7 To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. 8 For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, 10 to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. 11 ALL THESE ARE EMPOWERED BY ONE AND THE SAME SPIRIT (anointing), who apportions to each one individually as he wills.

God chooses which grace/gift he expresses through people. This is important because we’re all the same, all equal, all important members in God’s body. You don’t need to run to a “gifted” minister and have them lay hands on you to impart their anointing or gifts to you. You are complete in Christ, lacking nothing. As God is building His body in the earth, he needs you to yield to Him so He can express the power of His Gospel through you, you are an important part of His body!!

Impartation

I understand impartation in the same way I understand tuning an instrument with a tuning fork. Before digital devices, musicians would use tuning forks. You can strike a tuning fork and hold it next to a motionless string on a guitar and that string will begin to resonate the same frequency as the tuning fork. Another person who is yielding to God and allowing Him to empower a certain gift through them can lay hands on you and “tune you” to the frequency of that gift.

That person doesn’t give you something, they awaken something within you. It’s still God who decides which gifts work through people, but if you’re called to operate in a certain gift, another person who already operates in that gift can help you become tuned to that gift and flow in it.

If you have God’s spirit, you have all the gifts in you, but they need to be activated. Another person can help you activate them or you can simply yield your heart to God and allow Him to empowerment you.

How Do I Do It?

You might wonder how to actually express the gift. Here’s the truth, you probably already operate in that gift, you’re just not intentional about it and you may not be confident in it. The best way to become confident is to minister to people. Get around some people and pay attention to what happens inside you. Connect to love for those people and do what the spirit leads you to do. By the way, you hear God better than you think, you have a new heart that knows His voice.

Fall In Love with People

After Paul goes into great detail about the gifts, he ends chapter 12 by saying, “I will show you a more excellent way.” He’s still talking about God empowering people to walk in his abilities, but he begins to frame it with love. He says all that stuff is pretty much worthless without love. He makes the bold statement, LOVE NEVER FAILS.

Here’s the bottom line. If you love people, genuinely have compassion for them, God will help you bless them. God will teach you in the moment what to say and do. He might want to give them a promise from His Word through you, He might want to help them understand which decision to make, He might want to heal them, He might want to call them into a specific office in the body of Christ, it can be all kinds of things. And He can do all of those things through you because you have His spirit within you. You are anointed, in fact, you are as anointed as Jesus!

The question is, will you lay aside your ego and fear of man, and act on the compassion that arises in your heart for that person?

Try This

The Holy Spirit will teach you as you go. Each day when you go about your life, see if you can connect to love for people in your heart. See if you can look at people and have compassion for them. I don’t mean feel sorry for them, but feel compassion for them as describes in 1 Corinthians 13. Fall in love with people. It may be just an emotion or feeling at first but it may also turn into an action. Be sure to stick to healthy boundaries, don’t create codependency or do their part for them, but love them, in real ways.

In the coming weeks I’ll discuss the specific gifts in more detail, but start with being willing to allow love to rise up in your heart for everyone around you.

Also review last week’s blog for more on this topic.

SPLAGCHNIZOMAI

SPLAGCHNIZOMAI is Greek for “moved with compassion.” Jesus was SPLAGCHNIZOMAI and healed people. Jesus was “moved with compassion” to teach people. When you look at all the usages of this word you see that Jesus was moved with compassion in just about every aspect of life he walked in. You can be too.

Being moved or led by God is not as difficult or mystical as it sounds, it can actually be done consistently. There doesn’t have to be guess work in hearing and following God. The guess work only comes in when you’re unsure of your identity or you’ve allowed your heart to be distracted by life’s circumstances.

The key is understanding that you have a new heart, because you follow God from the heart.

Unfortunately when discussing the heart, many Christians think of this verse…

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? Jeremiah 17:9

That was true of everyone before the resurrection of Christ, and it is currently true of those who are not born again, but it is no longer true of a child of God. It’s no longer true of someone who trusts in Jesus as their righteousness. The person that has placed their trust in Jesus for eternal life has a new heart. That’s one of the backbone promises of the New Covenant.

I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. Ezekiel 36:26-27

This new heart is the kind of heart King David heart prayed for, a clean heart. This new heart, this new core, this new nature is after God’s nature, which is truly holy and righteous. Surely we become new creatures.

The New Heart

Living from this new heart is important because that’s where God interacts with you. As Ezekiel stated, God will give you a new heart and MOVE YOU to follow his decrees and keep his laws.

What laws? I can promise you that on this side of the cross, God is not moving you to take the proper offering to the high priest to sacrifice it, sling its blood on the altar and burn its intestines.

God’s spirit is moving you to keep the laws Jesus identified as the “whole of the law”; love the Lord your God with all your heart, strength, sound and mind AND love others as you want to be loved.

To put it simply, God will pour out his love for you in your heart and move you to love others.

Your new heart is not evil and wicked like your old one, it’s clean and encoded with God’s righteousness, it knows how to follow him. Your mind may not always be aware of God’s influence but your heart is. God renews your heart but you must renew your mind. You have a part to play in following God. That’s not an obligation, that’s actually freedom.

BECAUSE YOU HAVE A NEW HEART, GOD CAN TRUST YOUR DECISION MAKING PROCESS BECAUSE HIS WISDOM IS ENCODED WITHIN YOU.

That doesn’t mean that every decision you make is exactly what God wants, but when you’re moved by love and compassion, you are more likely to do what God is leading you to do and say.

You’re free to choose what you want to do with your life.

Get The Process In The Right Order

You must align your thinking with his wisdom and instruction as you make choices, set goals, make new habits and break bad habits. When you do so, you’ll know exactly what to do.

Have you ever tried to move forward and become overwhelmed or things went wrong? You may have gotten the process out of order.

You may have identified an area in your life where you’d like to follow God, set a goal and failed to reach that goal. It may have been ministry related but it can also be in business, relationships, health…any area of life really.

Most of us start with the externals when we seek to improve areas of our life or move forward in our calling. The proper is to start inwardly.

Try this process, it can be applied in any area of life. Here’s an example of how to apply it in the area of personal relationships.

PERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS

#1 God created me to be his child, my very existence, my purpose is to be in relationship with God.

#2 God says he’ll never leave me or forsake me.

#3 Because I’m in a loving relationship with God, and because he’s always with me, I can venture out into other relationships. I will not enter into toxic relationships because my relationship with God is healthy. I will look to how God treats me as an example of how to treat others and how to let others treat me. I will open up, communicate more and begin to enjoy healthy relationships.

#4 When I step out and get around people or attempt to strengthen a specific relationship, I will catch myself if I begin feeling insecure and remind myself that my most important relationship is safe. From that place of security I will set safe boundaries and let go of my fear and insecurity in this specific relationship. If this relationship is toxic, I will let this person go, just as God lets people go who do not want to experience his love for them in a healthy way.

Putting The New Heart and Goal Setting Togehter

You have a choice regarding what you’ll do with your life. You are not locked into a single demand from God that you must complete in order to fulfill your purpose. You are free!!

However, once you do make a mature, wise and godly decision or you choose an area of life you look forward to, you can trust that your heart will hear God…especially if your mind is full of God’s thoughts about that area of life. And even more so if you move forward in that area in compassion for others.

You may be a business owner with no formal ministry, you may be a nurse, you may be a teacher, you might be a preacher, you might be a convenient store clerk…it doesn’t matter. Whatever you do, trust that God can and will move with compassion through you toward people. Your single job is this, daily, allow God to love you and be willing to serve others in whatever arena of life you are in. It’s pretty simple, know God’s love and let that cultivate compassion toward others.

If you have a specific area you’d like to do that through, apply the 4 step process I defined earlier and move forward, in compassion…be SPLAGCHNIZOMAI!!!

You Need A Loving Church Community

It can be hard to find a good church, have you noticed? When I say church, I don’t necessarily mean the classic definition, I mean a body of believers that support and encourage one another. Depending on where you are in the world your options may be limited. Depending on what city you’re in in the USA, you may not have a church preaching the Gospel near you.

Given whatever limiting factors you may face, I still want to encourage you to make every effort to plug into a body of believers that put love for one another before the accomplishment of a vision. Having a vision is good, especially when it’s pursued by a community of believers that are united in their love for one another.

I write about and speak on this subject a lot, it’s a big deal to me. Jesus said the world would know we follow him by our love for one another (John 13:35) and they would believe that God sent Jesus to save them if believers were unified in that love (John 17:23). One of the best ways to cultivate and nurture that unity is in community.

Whether it’s 5 or 5000, regularly gathering with a group of believers to worship, pray, hear the word, be encouraged and support one another is what binds hearts together. We all know “churches” aren’t perfect, we all know they can be places where self-serving and controlling folks misuse their positions of “leadership” and hurt people, maybe you’ve been hurt in an environment like that.

That doesn’t mean we forsake assembling with one another, it just means we need to do better. Believers need to transcend the hurt and control and unite in love. Stop going to the abusive churches because your kids like it or they have miracles and find a loving community.

You’re going to need it one day, trust me. If you don’t need it, someone within your community will need you.

We’ve had a tough few months here at Forward Church. A dear sister in our community passed in mid-January. We are heart-broken for her wonderful family. Cheryl was a pillar in our church, she and Donald loved well. While our heart breaks for Donald, we know he’ll continue on and fulfill his call to see the power of God work through him on the behalf of others.

But their family needed us in the process. Cheryl was sick for months and the amount of love that was poured out in the process was inspiring. It was a sad outcome but our unity, support and love for one another has touched our community. One night in the hospital, the night before she passed, there were over 20 people there from our church. I looked around the waiting room and just called everyone into a circle to pray. We prayed, worshiped, wept, and hugged. Apparently, our hearts for Cheryl and one another touched the folks in that hospital.

The staff and other folks that were nearby shared the story all over the hospital, it even spilled into the community. I say this not to brag on our church, I say this as an illustration for how encouraging a loving community can be for you and your family.

The funeral was another opportunity to be the hands and feet of Jesus. While it was a heart-breaking reason, some of our worship team ministered at Cheryl’s funeral and blessed the folks in attendance. People said things like; “I’ve never left a funeral feeling encouraged,” and “that felt like a revival, not a funeral.” I was proud that we were able to be a blessing to a grieving community through cooperation of the Brandenburg family.

While our friend, family member, mom and wife is no longer with us, we have each another. We have a hope of uniting again with her in eternity in Christ. And until that day, we get to be the hands and feet of Jesus for one another as that connection spills onto others around us.

I pray you have this. I pray you are able to connect in a support system, a community of believers, a family…because you need them and they need you.

This is my sermon the day after Cheryl’s funeral, I pray it’s a blessing to you.