One More Thing About the Gifts

When it comes to the gifts of the Spirit, I think most people want to be used but they are afraid. What they are afraid of is that the Holy Spirit may cause them to do something weird. Let’s be real here – sometimes the way we do things in the Pentecostal Church seems strange to people who haven’t been exposed to the Pentecostal ways of doing Church. Hey, I was raised in a Pentecostal Church and some of what I have seen has been pretty strange. But think about it – isn’t it a strange experience to have God visit us?

Let me show you what I mean. I am not around famous people very often. I don’t even know any famous people. So on the few occasions when I have been around or met someone famous the whole event was surreal. (I think this might be a fancy word for strange…I just looked it up and yes I can use it that way.) So how normal should things be if the very presence of God is with us? How normal should things be when we go into the “house of the Lord”? This last summer I went to Graceland, the home of Elvis. We were in the basement and there is a room where Elvis spent a lot of time with his friends and this lady standing next to me has her arm extended taking in the “spirit” of the room. See what I mean, even going to a famous person’s house you will see people doing strange things! By the way, I did it too cause Elvis is cool and I was hoping some of him would rub off on me – Gloria assured me it didn’t work.

So yes sometimes being Pentecostal will seem strange. But the thing about God is that we still get to decide how strange we will be. When we are used by the Spirit we are still in control. (1 Corinthians 14:32) As a matter of fact, I find that most of the time the gift that I am given to use often reflects my personality or a skill I have naturally. This isn’t always the case because sometimes the gift given is the gift needed for the circumstance. But quite often God who, by the way, knows me very well will use me in a gift that closely fits who I am.

Here is the bottom line, don’t let fear hold you back from being used by God. He doesn’t want to embarrass you, He wants to use you, and He wants you to be used successfully.