Gifts from His Heart Conference: Part 1

John Wimber said that “Faith is spelled R.I.S.K.” And if we are to step out in the gifts of the Spirit, it really does take courage and risk! But when you step out with Holy Spirit, he is always faithful to work through a willing vessel. The fear of man or rejection are just smoke screens. We have learned over the years that when we step out in prophecy or word of wisdom, even if it doesn’t make sense in our earthly understanding, God is so faithful to move on the heart of every person we speak to in obedience to His leading.

Sometimes it feels like you’re standing on the edge of a cliff when God asks you to step out and use the gifts He’s given you to minister to someone. You’re heart starts to beat wildly, your hands get sweaty, and you wonder if what you’re feeling or hearing is actually coming form God? The truth is, we live in a hurting and dying world that is craving an experience with God. The gifts are tools for us to use to lead people into an experience with the Father.

The Gifts from His Heart conference was such a sweet time of unity in the spirit. We were so honored to partner with the team from Refuge City Church. God moved in powerful ways. Many people have said that the worship sessions were some of the most powerful times for them. And God really did get to have a “show and tell” during this conference. There was awesome teaching, but God also showed His love for people through demonstrations of the gifts. There were words of knowledge and prophecy, prophetic dance and art, and healings. We would like to extend our thanks to everyone who came to and prayed for the event.

Here is a testimony from a couple who attended:

”Gifts From His Heart conference was nothing less than a divine appointment for my husband and me! Even as I write this I have a giggle in my belly at how He never gives up on us, and how His timing is perfect!!!  It was a great honor and privilege to cover the conference in prayer, knowing that there would be divine encounters with His Love, for those that would attend.  What I didn’t know was that God had a special encounter for us, an intersect moment to collide with my husbands’ heart again!  It had been five and a half (long) years since we had literally watched the dreams of doing fulltime ministry together, shrivel and become like dry bones. Man the enemy is such a liar and we must be on guard so that we dont partner with him, but rather stand firm in who we are in Christ Jesus!  Have you ever met someone who, while they are sharing truth with you, did it in such a way that you realized they knew something that you did not?  That had been my experience with Lynda from Sanctioned Love,  when she would talk about intimacy with the God….I knew that she knew something,  had experienced something that I had not and it caused me to want to know more of His nature, His love! This searching and finding, in turn has allowed me to take my eyes off of my circumstances, and self imposed expectations, and put them fully on His Wonderful Face!  What I continue to learn and love about God is that HE DOESNT WASTE  A-N-Y-T-H-I-N-G!!!  We have both grown so so much during this time, however, for my husband it still seemed as if there was a proverbial “cork” in his mouth! There were very few and far between times that he would open his mouth to share a gospel truth with anyone. This was particularly hard because he is called to be a teacher of the Word, yet refused and was partnered with wrong thinking and rationalizing why he wouldn’t. At the conference, on Sat afternoon, God showed up in amighty way when Seth had a word from the Lord for my husband! He began by saying that he was hearing “educator”, so point blank asked him of he was a teacher, to which he quickly replied, “Yes, I was a teacher of the Word!”  The moment he spoke that out, declaring it to be truth, something “broke” off of him and a freedom came!!! Of course there were tears and emotions because he wrestled within himself to cast off the old and embrace the freedom!!! The rest of the.prophetic word was right on and in that moment, on Saturday afternoon, the “cork” came out and the Holy Spirit showed me a picture of the cork being removed and replaced with a pour spout so that the oil and new wine can flow!!!  That very afternoon we began to dream again and WOW how we missed that!!! God is so good and because of the deep honor  and integrity that Sanctioned Love chooses to walk in, they are seeing a move of God that is so on track with His heart, that we have it, we must have HIM!!!! Thank you for pursuing Him and for inviting others to join!” — Stacey and Kevin Marcon

For this week, we would like to share some of the teaching on the nine gifts and then share some testimonies of what God did during the conference. 

Here is a list of the nine gifts that are listed in 1 Corinthians 12:

1. Message of Wisdom

2. Message of Knowledge

3. Faith

4. Gift of Healing

5. Miraculous Powers

6. Prophecy

7. Distinguishing between spirits

8. Speaking in different tongues

9. The Interpretation of tongues

All of these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and He distributes them as He wills. Manifestations of the spirit always point to God. He gives us these gifts in order to point people to Him! During the conference we learned that the nine gifts of the Spirit can be broken down into three categories, gifts that “Say, Do, and Reveal”. This week we will briefly breakdown the “Say” or Utterance Gifts. 

Gifts that “Say”: Utterance Gifts

1. Prophecy: to foretell the future, to speak a new message from God to the people

1 Corinthians 14: 3-5 – But the one who prophesies speaks to people for their strengthening, encouraging and comfort. Anyone who speaks in a tongue edifies themselves, but the one who prophesies edifies the church. I would like every one of you to speak in tongues, but I would rather have you prophesy. The one who prophesies is greater than the one who speaks in tongues, unless someone interprets, so that the church may be edified.

So from this scripture we see that prophecy is for edifying (or building up) the church. It promotes growth in the church body as we continue in the work God has set before us. 

2. Tongues: a tongue not naturally known, a supernatural utterance

1 Corinthians 14: 2-4 – For anyone who speaks in a tongue does not speak to people but to God. Indeed, no one understands them; they utter mysteries by the Spirit.  But the one who prophesies speaks to people for their strengthening, encouraging and comfort.  Anyone who speaks in a tongue edifies themselves, but the one who prophesies edifies the church. 

Speaking in other tongues is a language that has never been learned by the speaker. It is not understood by the mind or intellect, and it is not understood by the hearer. It is a vocal miracle from the Spirit. The purpose for tongues is to edify your own spirit and the other is to edify the congregation, when there is an interpretation, which is what we will talk about next. 

One of the very interesting points that was brought forward during the conference was the research that has been done by Caroline Leaf. She and her team of scientists conducted an experiment over a 25 year period. They would hook people up to electrodes that read their brain activity. They would then ask them to read texts from their different religions, such as the Quran, the Book of Mormon, etc… and of course the Bible. In every other religion’s text, their brain activity flatlined. But when people would read the Bible, the readings on the machines would go up and down. There was activity. It goes to show that when the Bible talks about the Word of God being living and active, it’s actually true! There is scientific proof of this fact. The same is true when we as believers speak in other tongues, or ‘heavenly language’ as some call it. It surpasses our earthly mind and we are communicating directly with God through His Spirit. (1 Corinthians 14:14)

3. Interpretation of tongues

This is not a translation of tongues, not a ‘word for word’ kind of translation we would hear in any other earthly language. It is an interpretation. It is to interpret the inspired message or the jist of what God is saying. Tongues plus interpretation equals prophecy. 

1 Corinthians 14:5 – I would like every one of you to speak in tongues,  but I would rather have you prophesy. The one who prophesies is greater than the one who speaks in tongues, unless someone interprets, so that the church may be edified.

From the context in 1 Corinthians 14;34  it appears that the Corinthians were speaking in tongues and prophesying without regarding others in the body who also had prophetic words to share or a tongue and interpretation. This caused disorder and confusion in the church meetings, with people speaking up and giving their opinions about what was spoken.

Over the next couple of weeks we’ll continue to breakdown the other two categories of the spiritual gifts. 

The spirit moved in a lot of “showing” this weekend, as well as “telling”. One of the members of our team did what is called prophetic art. She had a canvas up on stage during worship and she painted what the Lord had put on her heart. Below is what she felt God showed her and the meaning of the painting.  

“I saw an open heaven over Klamath Basin. It stretched for miles. I saw God pouring out His oil and fire and wind and rain and it was like a waterfall over the city. It became a river – a wave flowing out. And as it flows away from the epicenter, it got deeper and deeper. The gifts of the Spirit have to be taken outside the church, outside the epicenter – for that is where they increase!’ I heard God say, “Drink deep of the river!” Ezekiel 47

Hebrews 1:9 – “You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness, therefore God your God has set you above your companions by anointing you with the oil of joy!”

We look forward to the fruit that will come out of this conference. This is just the starting point. It is our prayer that you will take all that you’ve learned about the gifts and start to out them into practice for the glory of God. It’s about knowing Him and allowing Him to pour His love into you. The gifts are an overflow of that love. Let it spill out on the people around you to bring them into the kingdom of God! We would humbly like to suggest that when you hear God leading you to step out in the gifts, you jump off the “cliff” and watch what He does.