Gifts of the Spirit. And today we're going to
have another one of those heart -to -heart talks.
And if ever there was a time when I prayed that
the Holy Spirit would give me a definite anointing
and give you an open heart and an open mind and
an understanding, of the things of the Spirit,
I pray that prayer now. For some of you, perhaps,
I will have come into your home today and will
have left, and you'll have no understanding whatsoever
of that which I am speaking. Others, sitting
there receptive to the Spirit, And as he opens
your understanding, it will prove to be one of
the greatest times of fellowship and the greatest
time of communing with him that you and I have
had together. The gifts of the Spirit. And again,
I am reminding you that nine gifts are mentioned
here. in the 12th chapter of 1 Corinthians. But
don't limit the Holy Spirit. He who is limitless
in power, then truly he must be limitless in
his giving, even to the giving of gifts. I would
not limit him to just nine gifts. I believe that
there are gifts in operation today. in the lives
of individuals, in the church that few of us
recognize. But the nine that are mentioned here
in the 12th chapter of 1 Corinthians are the
gift of wisdom, the gift of the word of knowledge,
the gift of faith, the gifts of healing, the
gift of the working of miracles, the gift of
prophecy, the discerning of spirits, diverse
kinds of tongues, and the interpretation of tongues.
All of these worketh by that one and selfsame
spirit, dividing to every man severally as he
will. Remember, the Holy Spirit controls the
giving of the gift. He will also control the
gift. First of all, I want you to see something.
And that is that the key regarding the gifts
of the Spirit is found in... one verse of Scripture,
and it's that sixth verse of the 12th chapter
of 1 Corinthians. The manifestation of the Spirit
is given to every man to profit withal. Therefore,
we see here that the gifts of the Spirit are
called manifestations of the Spirit. Therefore,
wherever you see gifts of the Spirit in operation,
whether it's the gift of healing, whether it's
the gift of faith, whether it's the gift of the
working of miracles, whether it's the gift of
wisdom or of knowledge, or the speaking in an
unknown tongue, or the interpretation of tongue,
or in the gift of prophecy, wherever you see
The gifts of the Spirit in operation through
a life, through a human being, always know that
it is the manifestation of the Spirit. That's
the reason, again, I repeat to you, I am convinced
that if one has been given a gift, and that one
knows that they have been given that gift, that
one will not speak of it, will not boast of it.
That one cannot boast of it. That one will recognize
the fact that it is nothing of himself. It is
the manifestation of the spirit. Spirit does
these wonderful things through a body and all
that that one gives is just himself. It is not
some natural ability that the Holy Spirit blesses.
All that the individual furnishes is just the
body just the vessel the willingness the complete
surrender to him a body soul and spirit and even
jesus himself had to surrender himself completely
to the father and to the holy spirit before he
could be used even to those last hours when he
faced the cross. Jesus, with the will separate
and apart from the will of the Father, had to
yield his own will to the Father. The words in
the garden, nevertheless. Not my will, but thine,
be done. When we yield ourselves completely unto
him, he'll take that vessel and use it. But it
is his power. It is the Holy Spirit himself.
who gives the manifestation. Do you understand?
I would know more. And God knows that never once
in my life have I ever professed to have a gift.
I feel that whatever the Holy Spirit has given
me is something that is so sacred. It's so precious.
It is such a treasure. And I know that in the
final analysis, it is the manifestation of the
Spirit and not Catherine Kuhlman. Without the
manifestation of the spirit, without the power
of the spirit, the greatest saint that ever lived
was just an ordinary human being. Not a saint
that ever lived had anything whereof he could
boast. Paul himself never uttered a boastful
word in his life. Why? The deeper you go in your
consecration, the more will you realize that
you are nothing, absolutely nothing, without
the power of God. Without the manifestation of
the Spirit, without the power of the Holy Ghost,
man is just flesh and blood and bone. It is the
Spirit, the Holy Ghost, who... gives the power.
That's the reason whenever you talk about the
gifts of the Spirit, the gifts are called manifestations
of the Spirit. They are called gifts because
the Spirit gives them. The apostles could only
do the supernatural things as they were moved
upon by the Spirit. I know when we read the account
of the apostles, when we read regarding the manifestations
of the power of God in their lives, we marvel,
we thrill. But remember something, it's the same
Holy Spirit that you and I know. And these precious
apostles, the early Christians in the early church,
could only do the supernatural things as they
were moved upon by the Spirit. Jesus himself
could only do these great and mighty things as
he was moved upon by the Spirit. Not of themselves.
And it was not something that was promiscuous.
Not something that they could do at will. Oh,
this is very thrilling. This is very marvelous.
And I want you to see something. You know, it
was one of the things for a long time that troubled
me. I'm going to take the lid off of my heart
for just a few minutes. That's the reason I pray
that you'll understand. Please, if you have no
understanding of what I am saying to you, then
just forget this little heart -to -heart talk
today. I would not have you misconstrue. anything
that I would say for any in the world. And yet
I must say it because it may help another. I
had been on the platform, and the power of the
Holy Spirit has come and taken the vessel. There
have been times that I was completely, as it
were, out of the body, completely detached from
that which was going on. Many a time after a
service, perhaps weeks afterwards, folk would
say, Miss Cooman pointed a finger at me and she
said so and so and so and so. And I would say,
did I? I have no recollection of it whatsoever.
I tell you the truth. When the anointing of the
Holy Spirit comes upon me in a great miracle
service, Kathryn Kuhlman, my flesh, my bone,
my blood becomes completely detached from that
which is taking place in the service. I could
well be one in the audience or somebody just
sitting on the platform. It is not Kathryn Kuhlman
whatsoever. I know that. That is the reason I
am just as thrilled, perhaps more so, when there's
a great miracle of healing. Because I know better
than anyone else that I have had no part whatsoever
in the healing of that sick body. Don't tell
me that I am humble or speak of my humility.
Please, it isn't that at all. It's that I know
that I know that I have no healing virtue, that
I have had no part whatsoever in that healing.
I know better than anyone else. I know better
than anyone else that it was the manifestation
of the Holy Spirit, the power of God, and not
something that Catherine Kuhlman has. And then,
as I walk down the street, someone will stop
me on the street and say, Oh, Miss Coleman, I'm
so glad to see you. Would you just stop and pray
for me here on the street right now? Pray for
me now. And the one to whom they are speaking
is just Catherine Coleman, an ordinary person.
a sinner saved by the grace of God. I hesitate
it would almost be a sacrilege for me to stop
and lay my hands on that one and pray that God
will heal them. Why? Because, beloved, without...
the power of the Holy Spirit without that anointing,
without that gift, without the person of the
Holy Spirit manifesting himself, I am only an
ordinary person like any other Christian, saved
by the grace of God. I wanted to see something.
Something that's very thrilling, something that's
very wonderful to me. And I've read it over and
over again. It's recorded over there in, oh,
it's the 16th chapter of Acts. In about, yes,
here it is. It's the 16th verse. It's something
in the life of Paul. And it came to pass that
as we went to prayer, a certain damsel possessed
with the spirit of divination met us. In other
words, she was demon -possessed, which brought
her master much gain by soothsaying. And the
same followed Paul and us, and cried, saying,
These men are the servants of the Most High God,
which show unto us the way of salvation. And
this did she many days. Paul, day after day.
Why didn't he cast the demon out of her the very
first time that he saw her? She was possessed
with a demon. Paul was God's servant. Watch this.
On the surface, it would have seemed that the
logical thing for him to have done was to have
cast the demon out of her. the first time that
she began heckling him. But he didn't. The Word
of God says, and this did she many days. But
he did not cast the demon out of her until the
power of the Holy Spirit came upon him. Had he
tried to cast the demon out of her the very first
time that he saw her, he would have tried to
have done it in his own power. But when the Holy
Ghost came upon him and he was given that gift
at that moment to cast out the demon, he did
it without fear, without hesitancy. I command
thee in the name of Jesus Christ to come out
of her. And he came out the same hour. Had he
tried to do it before he was given the gift of
the Spirit, it would have only been a Christian
trying to cast out a demon. Mm -hmm. The gifts
are all called manifestations of the Spirit.
All right? Go again. Something else is very,
very marvelous. And let me see. It's in the Book
of Acts. See something. And always remember that
even the apostles could only do supernatural
things as they were moved upon by the Spirit.
Peter did not heal the lame man. And you all
know that glorious incident. Every little child
who has ever gone to a Sunday school knows the
incident of Peter and John healing the lame man
at the gate beautiful. But see something. Peter
did not heal the lame man. the very first time
that he saw him. Peter no doubt had seen that
lame man scores of times, for day after day he
was one of the beggars at the gate of the temple.
He no doubt had passed him by many, many times.
He had seen him, poor thing. But it wasn't until
he was moved upon by the Spirit that he spoke
to him. In that moment, the Holy Spirit came
up on Peter. In that moment, he was given by
the Spirit that wonderful gift of healing. Had
he tried to heal the lame man, Without the Spirit,
nothing would have happened. Nothing, absolutely
nothing. For without the Holy Spirit, and without
the gift of the Spirit, and without the power
of the Spirit, Peter was an ordinary man. A Christian,
sure, saved by the grace of God. But there'll
be no manifestations except the Spirit does the
manifesting. Oh, that's wonderful. That's something.
There they are. He had passed that lame man by
many and many and many a time. Because as you
read the scripture, the scripture reveals the
fact that the apostles had a church established
in Jerusalem and that they met daily in the temple
long before this lame man was healed. Long before
the lame man was healed. But the lame man was
not healed until Peter was moved upon by the
Spirit to heal him. And it's just like that.
That's the reason Paul understood it. Paul says,
it is God that worketh in you both to will and
to do of his good pleasure. I pray the Holy Spirit
is making this truth very real to your heart.
You see, that is the reason that I don't believe
that any one of us really fully understands this
thing of faith. Faith is not something that we
carry around with us. It's not something that
we can put in our pocket and take it out every
once in a while and look at it. I've often wished
it was something that I could put in a little
capsule and pass it out. And whenever you needed
a little capsule of faith, I could send it to
you. But, beloved, all I can tell you is that...
Jesus is our faith. And faith is not something
that you can manufacture. Faith is a gift that's
given of God. Jesus is our faith. It is something
given us by the Spirit.