10 Days of Pentecost 2023: This Pentecost, Welcome All of Holy Spirit’s Gifts

A few years ago I was invited to speak at a conference in California. During one of my messages, the Lord showed me that a woman in the auditorium was struggling with infertility. When I made the announcement, a young woman in the back of the room burst into tears.

I didn’t know this woman had endured three miscarriages or that she was depressed because she feared never having a baby. She came to the front of the auditorium with her mother by her side, and I briefly prayed for her. There was nothing sensational about that moment; all I remember was asking Jesus to break the spirit of barrenness.

A year later I returned to that city, and when the pastor picked me up at the airport he said: “I forgot to tell you that a woman in my church wants to talk to you. She said last year you prayed for her to have a baby!” I learned that this woman went home from the conference and got pregnant a month later. She now had the baby, a girl named Esperanza, and she wanted me to meet her.

That was not the first or last time I’ve received a “word of knowledge” while ministering. It is one of the nine supernatural gifts of the Holy Spirit mentioned in Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians. But I’ve often wondered what would have happened if I had ignored the Holy Spirit’s promptings during that conference in California. Would Esperanza’s mother have received her miracle?

One simple word of knowledge changed that family. But what if I had let fear stop me from flowing in the miraculous? What if I had just decided to stick to my notes, preach a nice sermon and play it safe?

I’m afraid that’s what many of us are doing today. We say we believe the Bible, but when it comes to the Holy Spirit’s gifts, we are either too timid to step out in faith, or we don’t believe we need miracles anymore.

If we really want to be a people of Pentecost, the spiritual gifts mentioned in 1 Corinthians 12:8-10 should be manifested regularly through our lives. Few Christians today have even heard of these gifts; fewer have seen them in operation. We need a refresher course in the ways the Holy Spirit works: