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✿ Answer is YES, We can have more than one gift as the gifts of the Spirit.
1 Cor. 12:11 admonishes that Holy Spirit is ONLY ONE (Eph. 4:4-6) who gives every man SEVERALLY as He will. The word severally in 1 Cor 12:11 suggests that the followers of Christ have more than one gift.

✿ More than ONE gift does NOT mean we are limited with ONLY 9 gifts. We can have more than 9 gifts.

✿ The phrase "Nine Gifts of the Spirit" is so frequently used in current teaching and writing that an average believer tends to think that there are only nine gifts of the Spirit and he is not gifted if he doesn’t have one of them! It is FALSE. A diligent study of the gift lists in Romans 12, 1 Corinthians 12, Ephesians 4 and 1 Peter 4 shows that the lists are only samples and the gifts mentioned are just examples. No list is exhaustive. They are all suggestive. There’s overlapping but they all blend beautifully as the colours of a rainbow.

✿ If we leave out the repetitions, the passages in the 4 chapters mentioned above give us nineteen gifts. They are Prophecy, Teaching, Counselling, Charity, Leadership, Kindness, Wisdom, Knowledge, Faith, Healing, Miracles, Discernment, Tongues, Interpretation, Helps, Administration, Apostleship, Evangelism and Pastorship. Again if this is all what the Holy Spirit can bestow as His gifts, He is too poor! Perish the thought! "He is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think!" (Eph 3:20).

✿ There are several other gifts mentioned all over the Scriptures but we fail to recognize them so. Celibacy is an example. Paul calls it a "gift from God" (1 Cor 7:7). Hospitality is another gift (1 Pet 4:9,10). Though all believers are supposed to be hospitable, we know for sure there are some who are hospitable beyond our understanding! That’s a special gift, much needed today. Hospitality literally means the love of strangers. Not easy, eh! Then there’s intercession. All must pray but not everybody can lament like Jeremiah or sorrow like Paul (Rom 9:1-3; 10:1). Artistic workmanship is another covetable gift (Ex 31:1-5; 35:30-35). Can unlearned herdsmen and fishermen write the Scriptures without the operation of the gift of writing? (2 Pet 1:20,21). The list is thus endless. Let’s not be like the young boy who tried to empty the ocean by drawing water with a bucket!

✿ Our so-called scientific diagrams and definitions of the gifts of the Spirit have actually limited the Holy One of Israel. The result is a "giftless" majority watching a "gifted" minority in awe and wonder. The gifts of the Spirit are neither nine nor nineteen nor ninety but numberless. Let’s revise the syllabuses of our Power Seminars, recognize the hidden gifts in each person and rally the silent majority of the Church to action. Only then can the Church fulfill her mission on earth.

October 21 2015 • 1 response • Vote Up • Share • Report