On Saturday the 2nd of August we gathered together to learn about Manifestational Spiritual Gifts. Our teacher, Les Brickman, has had many years experience teaching about and working with Spiritual Gifts in the context of the local church.
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| Les chatting with Titus and Nyambura before we started |
After reading from the book of James, reminding us to not only be hearers of the Word but also doers of the Word, Pastor Mark introduced Les who wears many hats at LCC. He is a member of the Life Community Church (LCC) congregation, he is one of our presbyters and he was our teacher for the day!
We began by talking about the benefits of developing a 'gift-based' ministry...
In 1Cor 12:8-10 we read about the Manifestations of the Spirit; wisdom, knowledge, faith, healing and prophecy to name a few. All of these 'gifts' are given by the Holy Spirit as He wills...
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| Titus, Ben, Nyambura, Rukia, Carolyn, Josephine and Lilian |
Les instructed us to remember that it is God who works all things in all persons - we do none of it in our own power! As He moves upon us, we become His Eyes to See, His Mouth to Speak and His Hands to Touch - I love that!
Before coming to class each person completed a 10 page assessment to determine which gifts have been evidenced in their lives
We had several opportunities throughout the day to interact in pairs and groups. Here the group is sharing with each other how they scored in the areas of Knowledge, Wisdom and Discerning of Spirits.
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| Titus, Ben, Kevin, Nyambura |
These three gifts were explained to us as His Eyes to See.
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| Eric, Martha, Irene and Pat |
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| Rukia, Carolyn, Josephine, Lilian |
Meanwhile Pastor Mark is taking copious notes...
Les used several examples from scripture to demonstrate every gift...
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| Doris, Wambui, Jennifer and Jacquie |
A Word of Knowledge is a supernatural revelation of facts about a person or situation (facts not acquired through the efforts of the natural mind)
A Word of Wisdom can be seen as an instant insight on how a word of knowledge is to be applied to a given situation.
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| Josephine and Lilian are cousins |
Discerning of Spirits is a supernatural perception given sovereignly by God to enable individuals to distinguish the motivating spirit behind certain words or deeds.
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| Deep discussion |
Question was posed; can we pray for a certain gift to be given to us if we scored low on the assessment?
Les helped us to see that what we can do is to pray to be exposed to more experiences that would utilize or require that particular gifting.
Tea was served a bit late, so we spent some time discussing Prophecy (His Mouth to Speak)
Everyone loves tea time! It gave us opportunity to fill our stomachs and just visit together...
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| Eric and Titus enjoying a chat over a cup of tea |
I caught several intense conversations about what we had learned so far...
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| Nyambura engaging Irene and Pat in conversation |
Pastor Mark took this opportunity to chat with two ladies who are related to one of our church members but who do not attend LCC.
Carolyn (on the left) is a member of LCC...here she is chatting with Rukia, who is in business with Carolyn's daughter, Daniella.
Doris and Wambui have been interns at LCC for the past year...they have been a great addition to our team!
After tea we explored the areas of Prophecy, Tongues and Interpretation of Tongues (His Mouth to Speak)
Prophecy is the actual speaking forth of words given by the Spirit in a particular situation; it is critical for one carrying these words to cease speaking when the words cease! Too often we are tempted to explain the prophetic word...
It is important that any word of prophecy which is spoken in public be judged; meaning that the person in authority (usual the pastor) will sense if the word truly came from the Holy Spirit and will help the group (congregation) to know if it applies to the body and/or to an individual.
If a prophetic word is left unjudged then the people hearing it may become confused.
Next we discussed Tongues (spontaneous inspired utterance by the Holy Spirit where the normal voice organs are used, but the conscious mind plays no part) This does not mean the person is a robot and cannot control whether to speak or not, it means that the words spoken do not come from the natural mind.
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| Titus and Ben enjoying a chuckle |
Interpretation of Tongues must always accompany the utterances if tongues are spoken in the corporate setting (unless it is during a time of prayer)...
Speaking in tongues is a common practice here and is sometimes used in a way that is confusing. Here Irene has a question about some pastors she has heard who speak in a particular way as though they know Hebrew...creating an impression of superiority.
Les helped us gain an understanding of how tongues are to be used in the corporate setting and the need for interpretation in order to avoid these types of abuses...
Pastor Mark also added on to what Les was teaching, in order to give the perspective of a Kenyan pastor...
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| All eyes are on Pastor Mark |
The class then broke into groups of 4 or 5 for a 'practicum'...they were instructed to sit with people they did not know well.
First one person was to briefly share a current life challenge. Then the whole group would pray and the other people were to share what the Lord was speaking to them about the challenge shared.
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| Joshua, Pat, Irene and Martha |
It was amazing for me to watch the process as the Holy Spirit began to knit hearts together...
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| Elena, Eric, Jennifer, Wambui and Jacquie |
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| Ben (with his head down), Kevin, Titus, Nyambura and Doris |
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| Carolyn, Lilian, Josephine and Rukia |
All of the groups were able to hear from at least two people...
Les walked around the room, praying over each group...
Then Les spent a few minutes with each group to hear of their experience...
He had noticed that this group bonded quickly and the Spirit seemed to 'dance' from person to person during the time of sharing what the Lord was speaking...
This group reported that two different people had said the same thing in two different ways - truly a confirmation that they were hearing accurately...
Les had sensed something from Doris as he was praying so he asked her to share her experience ...which confirmed what he had been sensing.
He was able to encourage her to speak with greater confidence as she hears from the Lord.
I loved hearing the stories from each group; hearing the way the Lord was moving in distinctly unique ways from group to group.
Wambui shared that one word spoken over her actually pertained to a different challenge which she had thought of sharing and decided against it...wow!
One couple had brought their little boy, who managed to entertain himself all day!
This group delayed going to lunch in order to finish their sharing!
One student sharing with Les the impact this workshop was already having on her understanding of manifestational gifts...it is true, much confusion is common in some church circles.
Then we enjoyed a lovely garden lunch!
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| Les, Kevin, Rukia, Nyambura (Carolyn in the background) |
The food was simple but delicious and the company was the best!
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| Jacquie, Kevin, Les and Ben's back! |
My table mates - three women I had never met before. I had a delightful time!
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| Jennifer, Irene and Rukia |
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| Lilian, Josephine, Carolyn and Pat |
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| Titus, Wambui, Eric and Martha |
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| Ben laughing again! |
From our classroom...the grounds here are very nice...
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| Pastor Mark chatting with Nyambura |
I think Titus was trying to motivate his table mates to get back to class!
After lunch we covered Healing, Faith and Works of Power. We began by groups sharing their scores in these areas...
Healing (His Hands to Touch) covered 5 areas; Human Illness, Healing of Spirit, Healing of Body, Healing Demonized, Healing Relationships and Healing Past Hurts.
Gifts of healing can be described as the supernatural healing of diseases and infirmities to the glory of God.
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| Eric and Pat enjoying a chat... |
We spent 5 to 10 minutes hearing about each different area of healing...Les helped us see the distinctions in each area.
He was quite expressive in his explanations...and told lots of stories to illustrate his points.
Les helped us see that faith is critical in the gifts of healing; it is always active in healing. However, it can be active either in the person ministering, or in the person being ministered to, or even in the friends and/or relatives who present the afflicted person for healing...
The group was highly attentive all day!
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| Rukia, Carolyn and Josephine |
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| Ben, Kevin (sitting back) and Nyambura |
...and they all had lots of good questions...
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| Wambui |
...and seriously took notes!
We broke into a second practicum time...same groups as in the morning...
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| Pastor Mark sent to his knees in prayer... |
This time they were instructed to have one person present a need for healing...and the others were to walk through a process which Les called the Healing Model to prepare for the time of prayer...
The Healing Model (Like going to the doctor!): First - interview...listen to the person's symptoms, Second - determine the cause; physical, spiritual, relational, etc... Third - Prescription...prayer selection (based on what God is doing - critical to pray for discernment), Fourth - Treatment...pray!!
Again - each group had an amazing experience together...listening to one another...
...praying for one another...
...and sharing with Les and the whole group!
Some even had physical sensations in conjunction with the prayers for healing...
We had been at work all day, but no one seemed tired - we were all energized by the teaching, the practicums and engaging with each other!
Pastor Mark closed the day with a word of prayer...
We were all blessed and grateful to the Lord for a powerful day together!
