1 Corinthians 12:7-11 “But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all: (8) for to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit, (9) to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healings by the same Spirit, (10) to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another different kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. (11) But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills.”
There is one more aspect of faith that we need to discuss in this section, which is the spiritual gift of special faith. The apostle Paul has taught the church that there are nine gifts of the Spirit, which he lists for us in his letter to the church in Corinth. As revealed in the above quoted passage of scripture we see that all nine of the gifts listed are supernatural manifestations of the person of the Holy Spirit. In other words when an individual operates in any one of these gifts they are in fact allowing themselves to be used by the Holy Spirit to manifest Himself through that individual. Of the nine gifts listed, one of them is called the gift of faith. A more accurate description of this gift would be to call it the gift of special faith, the reason being, that the faith displayed is not the faith of the individual but rather the faith of the Holy Spirit being manifested through the individual. As we can see in this passage of scripture all of the gifts of the Spirit are only manifested as and when the Holy Spirit wills and that would include the gift of special faith. And so one who has received this gift of faith cannot choose when to operate in the gift but is completely reliant on operating in the gift when and only when the Holy Spirit chooses. When this gift is manifested through the individual, God supernaturally influences the persons’ thinking and they become completely focused on the issue at hand. In other words their thoughts become so focused that they cannot be distracted by any contradictory thoughts, for at that moment in time every thought has been brought into captivity to the obedience of Christ (2 Corinthians 10:5). And so at the time the gift is manifested the individual has no capacity for thoughts of doubt and there is therefore no hindrance to the Holy Spirit’s faith that is being made manifest through them. Obviously God’s power is released in response to the faith displayed and the moment the desired results are manifested the anointing lifts and the person has full control of their thoughts once again. As we look at biblical examples of this gift in operation it will become clearer as to just how this gift operates.
Acts 3:1-8 “Now Peter and John went up together to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour. (2) And a certain man lame from his mother's womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, to ask alms from those who entered the temple; (3) who, seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, asked for alms. (4) And fixing his eyes on him, with John, Peter said, "Look at us." (5) So, he gave them his attention, expecting to receive something from them. (6) Then Peter said, "Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk." (7) And he took him by the right hand and lifted him up, and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength. (8) So, he, leaping up, stood and walked and entered the temple with them--walking, leaping, and praising God.”
In the above account we see the gift of special faith manifesting itself through the ministry of the apostle Peter. It is important to note that in the context of this account Peter had walked past this man on many occasions before this incident, for the scripture tells us that he was laid daily at this gate. And so Peter would have walked past this man every time he went to the temple, but at no stage before this incident did Peter make any attempt to pray for his healing, even though clearly this man had very probably asked alms from Peter before and Peter may have even given him alms from time to time. However on this occasion something different happened, for the scripture says that Peter fixed his eyes on the man. So what caused Peter to focus his full attention on the man on this occasion? The reason was the anointing of the Holy Spirit coming upon Peter to operate in the gift of special faith. When that happened a spirit of boldness rose up in Peter and he knew that he had the faith to heal that man. The gift of special faith can be equated to a spirit of boldness because the one through whom this faith is manifested knows no doubt, for it is the faith of the Holy Spirit Himself. And so Peter, in this spirit of boldness, spoke the word of God to that man and acted on that word by pulling this man up off the ground. The moment Peter did that the power of God was released and miraculously healed the man. And so we see that it wasn’t Peter’s faith that healed this man because if it had been his faith he would have healed this man long before this occasion. It also wasn’t the lame man’s faith that caused this miracle to take place because he was expecting to receive alms from Peter, not his healing. This incident is recorded in scripture as a clear example of the manifestation of the gift of special faith.
Acts 13:6-12 “Now when they had gone through the island to Paphos, they found a certain sorcerer, a false prophet, a Jew whose name was Bar-Jesus, (7) who was with the proconsul, Sergius Paulus, an intelligent man. This man called for Barnabas and Saul and sought to hear the word of God. (8) But Elymas the sorcerer (for so his name is translated) withstood them, seeking to turn the proconsul away from the faith. (9) Then Saul, who also is called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked intently at him (10) and said, "O full of all deceit and all fraud, you son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, will you not cease perverting the straight ways of the Lord? (11) And now, indeed, the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you shall be blind, not seeing the sun for a time." And immediately a dark mist fell on him, and he went around seeking someone to lead him by the hand. (12) Then the proconsul believed, when he saw what had been done, being astonished at the teaching of the Lord.”
The above quoted account in scripture is another example of the gift of special faith in operation, this time through the ministry of the apostle Paul. The scripture tells us plainly on this occasion that the anointing of the Holy Spirit came upon Paul, for the scripture says that Paul was filled with the Holy Spirit. And so in response to that anointing coming upon Paul he became fully focused on Elymas the sorcerer, for the scripture says that Paul looked intently at him (almost the same language used to describe Peter fixing his eyes on the lame man we discussed earlier). And so just like Peter, Paul on this occasion boldly proclaimed God’s word to Elymas and the moment that happened God’s power was released and Elymas became blind. This was not Paul’s faith being displayed on this occasion, for had it been Paul’s faith he would have used it to deal with many other similar incidents that occurred to him throughout his ministry. This is the only occasion recorded however, where Paul responded in such a manner to his adversaries when he preached the gospel. On all other occasions Paul either walked away or was chased out or was even physically attacked, by those who opposed his message. Clearly this incident is recorded in scripture as another example of the manifestation of the gift of special faith.
I will end this section with an example of this gift being made manifest through my ministry. I used to play squash and I was what you would call a very average social player. I had a friend that I used to play squash with from time to time and he was a very good league player. As you can imagine our games were never equal and he used to always soundly beat me. On a good day I would only ever get a couple of points off of him in our encounters, but I used to enjoy the challenge anyway. He was an unbeliever and he knew that I was a Christian. I had witnessed to him on occasions but he was not interested and always viewed my faith as a bit strange. One day on the squash court he insisted on telling me a joke that he had heard. I said that he could share it with me as long as it was clean otherwise I was not interested. He assured me that it was a clean joke and so he proceeded to tell me the joke. As it turned out the joke was not clean, but he found it very amusing even though he could see that I was not impressed. Something then happened on the inside of me and I found myself saying the following to him, “because you have shared this joke with a child of God that was not clean, even though I asked you not to share a dirty joke with me, I will now play the next game with you and you will not get one point off of me. I will beat you with a whitewash”. I had absolutely no doubt that this is exactly what would happen. My friend then really began to laugh because he knew our comparable games. And so the game began. The first point fell to me and he laughed even more. The second point fell to me and he still laughed, but not so convincingly this time. As each point fell to me he became quieter, and at the end of the game when I had beaten him eleven nil he was completely astounded and shaken. He went to church with me that weekend for the first time ever (even though I had invited him on many occasions previously). I would like to say that he gave his heart to the Lord that weekend when the alter call was given, but he did not. We have both since moved on and I no longer have contact with him. I do not know whether he has subsequently given his heart to the Lord, but I do know that the Holy Spirit convicted him that day on that squash court. The Holy Spirit manifested the gift of faith through me on that occasion. I must emphasize that this was not my faith. I did not say what I said as an act of exercising my faith, I did not have the kind of faith to do that, this was all God. If it had been my faith I could have gone on to becoming the league champion, but the very next game we played, we got back into our old routine of me barely getting two points off of him. That is what the gift of special faith is. It is the faith of the Holy Spirit manifested through us as He wills.
Michael E.B. Maher
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