Many of us have some, or even a great deal of hesitation when it comes to God moving in supernatural ways.  Chris Brannon continues in our series about spiritual gifts.  There are a lot of misperceptions and strange ideas surrounding spiritual gifts.  So much of how we view supernatural gifts comes out of personal experience, religious upbringing and background or even just the world we live in.

Why does God give us spiritual gifts?  He gives spiritual gifts to the church for the common good of the saints.  God gives spiritual gifts to empower the church’s mission to evangelize the world.  He also gives spiritual gifts to build up the church.

We are called and equipped to be a supernatural community, but all too often we are weak and anemic.  It’s easy to shrink back to be satisfied with the church as usual: good worship, friendly people, uplifting preaching.  We can be content to live a life of powerlessness.

What does earnestly desiring spiritual gifts look like?  It looks like desiring them.  How do you do that?  Begin with the Bible.  Soak in 1 Corinthians 12-14, Romans 12 and Ephesians 4.  Read the book of Acts over and over.  Then pray.  A major step into supernatural, Holy Spirit presence and power in the life of a church, in the life of a believer involves slowing down and asking the Lord to speak.  The next step would be to consume sound teaching and testimonies.  These will fuel your desire, as well as your knowledge.  Lastly, meet a need.  The spiritual gifts are not fireworks for our awe.  They are mainly given as a means to extend love and the grace of God to others.  Taking steps for the sake of Christ to love others whose needs extend beyond our capacities puts us (and them) squarely in the path of God’s grace.  When we asked God to help us walk on water, we must then get out of the boat.