The Bible tells us that God promised us that He would pour out His Spirit on His people in the last day.(Joel 2:28 & Acts 2:17) That Spirit is spoken of in the Bible as the Holy Spirit that is given to those who believe the Gospel of Christ and are baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. (Acts 2:38)
Those who receive the Holy Spirit of God are also given certain gifts to be used in the church for the work of the ministry, for the perfecting of the saints and for the edifying of the Body of Christ. (Ephesians 4:12)
Those gifts of the Spirit that God endows upon the believers are: the word of wisdom, the word of knowledge, the gift of faith, gifts of healing, the working of miracles, the gift of prophecy, the discerning of spirits, the speaking of different kinds of tongues (languages) and the interpretations of tongues (languages).
Every believer that has received the Holy Spirit has been endowed with one of these gifts to be used in the church, but many of the people have not recognized having received one or more of these gifts and never make use of the gift they have been given. If anyone that knows they have received the Holy Spirit have not realized the gift that has been given to them, they should ask God to reveal to them in some way what it is and begin to use the gift for the good of the church. If you are made aware of the gift that God has given you and you don’t use it, you will lose it.
Let’s look at an example in scripture where some have received a gift, but all did not use it properly and because of that, have lost what they had.
This was a parable that Jesus used in order to make this point. He told of a man that was leaving the country and divided up certain talents to three of his servants. This could be taken as Christ being raised up into heaven and had given certain gifts to those who He had left behind. It turns out that two of this man’s servants made wise use of the gifts they had and profited their master when he returned. The third servant had not used his gift in order to profit his master and he lost what he had been given. (Matthew 25:14-30)
Then another example was that of ten virgins who had been given some oil for their lamps waiting for the Bridegroom to return for them. But because five of them has not used their oil wisely, they ran out of oil before he returned and lost their chance of becoming his bride. (Matthew 25:1-12)
Two examples that tell a believer that if they have been given a gift of the Spirit and haven’t used it as God expected, they would not only lose the gift they had, but might be rejected when Christ returns for His Bride at the First Resurrection and the Rapture.
It tells us in First Corinthians 12:28 that God has set in the church “first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues (languages)”. Are these in operation in the church today?
Don’t be left behind to face the Great White Throne Judgment because you were not faithful with the gifts of the Spirit you fail to use. Ask God to reveal to every one of you about what you should be doing for the edifying of the Body of Christ.
Remember that if you don’t use the gift, you will lose it.
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