A few notes about spiritual gifts:
You can get new spiritual gifts (Romans 1:11, 1 Corinthians 14:1, 1 Timothy 4:14). This is important for two reasons: we do not have just one (or zero) spiritual gift; and pursuing gifts is not prideful.
Having spiritual gifts is an important part of being a Christian. Paul talks about spiritual gifts as indicators of the presence of the Holy Spirit in the life of a believer (1 Corinthians 12). Peter says each one of us has received a gift (1 Peter 4:10). Having spiritual gifts is important to express who God is through our lives, and we should all pursue the fullest expression of God that He will work out through us.
Large portions of the church have a well-intentioned desire to avoid pride or spiritual deception (prelest). In this desire, they avoid any glory, especially in religious matters. However, refusing to pursue spiritual gifts because of the danger of pride is in violation of the Scriptural command to pursue these gifts (1 Corinthians 14:1). Just as Saul was not being humble but cowardly when he was running away from the throne (1 Samuel 10:21-22), so are we when we refuse the power and authority God calls us to. We should still seek humility, but not while neglecting the gifts.
Prophecy is an expression of what will happen. There are three sub-types of prophecy: unveiling, forthtelling, and foretelling. Unveiling tells people what is happening in the spiritual realm at the current time, including the plans God is currently working out. Forthtelling is when the prophecy is spoken and the speaking causes the event to happen. Foretelling is when the prophecy simply declares part of God’s plan for the future before it happens. These are not strictly separate, especially from a human perspective. The person declaring the prophecy may not know if it is unveiling, foretelling, or forthtelling. Many foretelling prophetic words in the Bible were phrased in the present tense, despite happening at later times.
Discernment, or discernment of spirits, is a gift which allows the believer to know which spirits are in operation in a situation. This can be just knowing good versus evil spirits (since we know Satan can deceive by appearing as an angel of light). It can be distinguishing between the purposes of spirits present. It can even be about distinguishing the spirit behind a blessing or an affliction. The purpose of the gift of discernment is to be able to partner with God more effectively and to fight against the devil more effectively.
Discernment has the distinction of being the only spiritual gift that can be trained explicitly with the senses (Hebrews 5:14). Discernment can often come through smells, feelings (emotional or on the skin), or even sounds.
A word of wisdom is a spiritual-sourced insight about the right path forward or the right understanding of a situation that comes without experience or reasoning about the situation. People with words of wisdom will sometimes try to explain the word of wisdom to justify that it came from themselves, but this is immaturity and does not glorify God.
Words of wisdom can be very useful when finding the interpretation or application of prophecies.
A word of knowledge is revelation about something that is currently true. The defining characteristic of a word of knowledge is that it can be verified when it is spoken, and it is either true or it is not.
Words of knowledge are fairly useless on their own, but are wonderful accompaniments to other ministries including healing, evangelism, and spiritual warfare. At the very least a word of knowledge can let somebody know that God sees them, opening the way to encouragement.
Most revelation happens in the mind. It can be a thought that pops in our heads, a spontaneous imagination, or a more forceful experience. In the “revelation, interpretation, application” framework, these are all in the “revelation” category unless the Lord also provides interpretation or application.
The following are just some of the ways in which revelation can come.
These modes of revelation are all simple experiences that would be easy to miss. Some people can experience all of these, other people only receive one with any regularity.
A picture is a mental image, just like looking at a photo or a drawing. They can be very simple or very complex, but they are still images, not videos.
A word is a single word or a phrase that pops into the head or is possibly “heard” in the mind. It can be similar to remembering something you read or heard.
A feeling is a physical or emotional feeling, either felt in real time or as if it were remembered.
Impressions and knowings are similar in that they both combine the “revelation” and the “interpretation” parts. Impressions are more of a general sense of what’s happening, while knowing is a clear understanding of what’s happening.
These are the “videos” of revelation. They differ in how intense and involved the experience is.
A vision is like a picture or word, but it is a whole scene that flashes through your mind. It’s like remembering or imagining a short recorded video. Some visions occur at the edge of our awareness, while others completely distract us from everything happening around us.
A trance is the extreme version of a vision, but it is when all sense of “reality” fades away and the person feels as though they are in a different place and/or time, with different things happening.
Dreams are like trances in that we aren’t aware of what’s happening in reality, but they have a special place in the realm of revelation. Dreams feature prominently in several Bible narratives. Joseph, son of Jacob, interprets dreams for Pharaoh. Daniel interprets dreams for Nebuchadnezzar. Dreams are part of the Joel 2 promise seen at Pentecost in Acts 2.
In a future article we will describe dream interpretation in more detail.
Sometimes a revelation comes out during spontaneous prayer. We may not have a word or picture until we start speaking, and then it comes. Other times, we do not even know what words we are saying until we speak them.
It is worth mentioning that angelic visitations are a source of revelation. Mary, Joseph, and the shepherds were visited by angels with announcements of Jesus’ birth, for example. Revelation from angels is different from the other modes because there is usually no need to interpret what has been said: it is just clear.