"Eagerly Desire The Greater Gifts."

Preface: I know many theologians believe that the gifts of the Spirit died with the Apostles. I Bear no grudge for their position. If you also hold to that belief then I would suggest that you not read this posting.



Several years back I was spending some time in the book of 1 Corinthians. Specifically, I was trying to understand spiritual gifts, their relevance and their purpose. Near the end of chapter 12 it says:

"Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. And in the church God has appointed first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then workers of miracles, also those having gifts of healing, those able to help others, those with gifts of administration, and those speaking in different kinds of tongues. Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? 30Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret? But eagerly desire the greater gifts. "



At that time I was struck by the phrase "eagerly desire the greater gifts" It stirred up a desire in me to have these gifts. I began to pray that every day for God to give me the greater gifts. (At that point as far as I could tell I had none of the gifts, so I guess any would have been greater) I prayed this daily for a couple months without much progress. Then out of the blue God instructed me to make contact with a local pastor who I listened to on Christian radio. His instruction was for me to "submit myself to him and receive the blessing by the laying on of hands" I thought that it was a very weird command from God. It seemed out of context. I didn't want to seem like a stalker or something, so I did not do it (Otherwise known as disobedience)

God reminded me of this several times ,but I kept blowing it off. Finally one day I shared with my wife and friend Kim what God had told me to do and how weird it was. They asked me if I had done it and I said no. To them it seemed crazy that I had not obeyed God and they hit me pretty hard about doing what I was told. Now that it was in the open I felt really bad about my disobedience. I repented to God and asked for His forgiveness. Finally, I did send the pastor an email and I got no response. A week later I called his office and left a message; no response. A few days after that I called his church office and they gave me a number where I could contact him. I talked to him and explained that God told me to contact him and that I should submit to him and receive the blessing by the laying on of hands. He said that before he would do it, that he would have to get to know me more and that God would perhaps show us more. He suggested attending his church one Sunday. I agreed and we went as a family the next Sunday. This was an adventure because this was a full gospel style church and my family was mainly exposed to more mainline denominations. Needless to say my kids were weirded out by the 1 hour of praise and worship and 1 hour sermon and all the people jumping and clapping and shouting. My wife and I really enjoyed it. In any case they mentioned in the service that they were doing a special "healing" service the following Sunday because God was leading them that many were needing it. He indicted that it had been 25 years since they had their last healing service and this was a very special event. When I heard that I was very excited. I just knew that we needed to be there for that.

After church I talked with the Pastor and I told him that I had listened to him on the radio and how God asked me to submit to him. I know submission was an important aspect because I had never really submitted to a pastor before. I was thinking that this was what God was doing with this whole thing. The pastor said to come next week and we will see what God does. This time I didn't bring the kids but my wife Cara and my best friend Chris came to see what God was going to do. (each if them had their own dramatic encounter with God during this service but I am not covering that in this post)


So the following is the account of that healing service as documented in my journal:


During the extended Praise and worship time (two hours) I was seeking God to find out why I was there and as they were asking folks to get in line for prayer God revealed to me why I was there. He reminded me of all the times that I had asked for the "greater gifts" He was answering that prayer by first giving me the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Finally I knew what to ask for! We had to fill out a prayer request card to give to the person praying for you and this is what my card said exactly:


"I have been led by the Holy Spirit to submit to Pastor "" for anointing and to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit and the gifts of the Spirit"


Now I knew that the instruction was that it had to be the senior pastor who was supposed to pray for me, but when I got in the prayer line he was not praying for folks. He was overseeing things but not praying for individuals. I was confused because I knew it had to be him. Well I just left it in God's hands. I figured it would work out. As it turned out I was in the line where the Pastor's son was praying. I then thought that perhaps I misunderstood and that it was his son that would pray since he had the same last name.

When it was my turn I gave my prayer request card to him and explained the history to him. He then recognized my name (his Dad must have mentioned it to him) He asked me if I had ever spoke in tongues. I said no. He explained that when you speak in tongues you will feel vibrations in your lower stomach. when you feel that you just have to open your mouth and not fight it. Just let it come out. After this explanation he asked me if I wanted his Dad to pray for me. I said that I am just trying to be obedient. He and another person started to pray for me. after a short time his Dad came over to me and he re-explained how to let out speaking in tongues. Then he took some oil and put it in his hands and then on my forehead. It was a lot of oil so it ran down. I immediately began to shake. My whole body was shaking! He told me to raise my hands and worship the Lord and he walked away. I was overwhelmed with Joy! I was shouting with Praise and my stomach was shaking violently. Then I while I was shouting I could tell that I was not saying what I was thinking. I was thinking in English but what was coming out was something altogether different. It was another language! I slid in and out of English and another language. I kept shaking and worshipping God. I was there front and center of the Altar a long time until it subsided. Cara was nearby me then and Pastor invited her by my side and he then prayed for both of us for God's blessing and that we would be a powerful couple for God.


What a blessed day! Thus my journey into spiritual gifts was launched. God was trying to answer my earnest request for months and I was the one holding up the show. Of course He was able to overcome my disobedience


He wants to answer our prayers so much. He loves us more than we can comprehend and he wants to give us good gifts, but so often we simply don't want to ask or receive them.