Every Good and Perfect Gift comes down from God

There is balance needed in manifesting God’s supernatural gifts. The balance is between being “ignorant brethren” about the gifts, and being “decent and in order,” when expressing them. (James 1:17)

In New Testament days, gifts of the Spirit were most often allowed publically in church gatherings.  Today every church is not comfortable or aware of gifts, so God may use other ways. 

I believe gifts such as wisdom, knowledge, or discernment can happen as a matter of course in conversation or prayer, “where two or three Believers are gathered.”

I taught on Healing Prayer and Counseling in Southern California recently.  When it came time for lunch, there were seven people who had personal needs.  I decided to fast lunch and give my time to them. 

Some were out of jobs and were worried about taking care of themselves.  One was a fearful divorcee who lives with an aging parent.  Another had a pervading feeling of guilt that would come back when anyone spoke to another critically, in her hearing. 

Counseling would have taken too much time with each individual since there was only an hour for lunch.  Instead, I seemed to have just the right word to speak for each person.  I was told later that depression lifted, new ideas came for a better job, and fear was replaced by joy. 

This reminds me of Jethro, who had a word for his son-in-law, Moses. He observed that Moses needed help in counseling large numbers of people; otherwise he would wear himself out.  Jethro advised him to select men to work in groups of 1,000s, 100s, 50s, and 10s who: “respect God, are truth lovers, and haters of covetousness.”  These men were to handle the light cases.  Only the hard cases were they to send Moses. (Exodus 18:13-27)

Something similar happened to me that day in California.  The good thing is that trained laymen and women met as leaders over the small groups.  I, with God’s divine assistance, handled some hard cases.  Good information for all leaders.

“Knowledge in Writing”
I find that especially in writing, the gift of knowledge has come to me.  During the time I wrote “To Heaven and Back,” the first Christian near–death experience (NDE) book, I discovered something amazing.  That is the 12 Tribes of Israel written over the 12 doors of Heaven were encoded in Hebrew as a “Welcome Home Message” to souls who had just died.
During my research, I looked up the Hebrew meaning of the 12 Tribes of Israel as given in Revelation 7:5-8, 21:12.  I “happened” to follow the exact order as listed and the translation came out with this meaning:

“Confessors and praisers of God,
Looking upon the Son,
A band of,
Blessed ones.
Wrestling is over,
Forgetting the pain.
Hearing and obeying His Word,
Cleaving to our Lord.
He is our reward.
We are Home.
We are added to the family of Jesus,
Son of the Father’s right hand.” 

(Also see illustrations (Bennett, R., “Heaven Tours,” Bridge-Logos Publishing, 2009, pp. 81-83, in color p. 150.) 

“A Second Happening”
Another supernatural happening occurred when 13 years later I wrote, “Heaven Tours.”  I was researching the width of the beautiful jasper, transparent wall around the Holy City. The Apostle John wrote,

"Then he [the angel] measured its wall: one hundred and forty-four cubits, according to the measure of man . . . (Revelation 21:17 kjv ).

There is only one measurement given for the wall and the reader has to decide either height or width.  After much biblical research I chose width, which meant the wall was 72 yards wide, that was almost the length of a football field.  The measurement seemed odd until I sent it to my artist, Sally Moser. 

When she sent back her black and white sketch for my approval, I was amazed that it actually showed a tunnel into Heaven!  With twelve entrances, that means 12 tunnels of light!

One reason this excited me is that some Bible teachers adamantly claimed that the tunnels that NDE’s said they had experienced were wrong, since no Bible verse confirmed it. 

 But now, God had gifted Sally and me with the first known biblical confirmation of these tunnels!  Unless a person chose the right dimension of the wall, and drew a picture of it, it would not be discovered.  We have our miracle confirmed in “Heaven Tours,” January 2009.

Join me next week to learn more about gifts.