Download PDF:  A Feather A Peashooter and a Rubber Duck

Released May 12, 2014

Approximately six years ago the Lord began to shift how He had been flowing through me in His gifts.  For over a decade, I had moved predominantly in prophecy, but when the shift came, I was required to step out in faith with the gift of tongues and when I did the interpretation came to me in a vision.  It requires greater faith on my part because I never know where the Spirit is going until I step out of my comfort zone and move as He moves.

For a number of years, I wondered why the Spirit made the choice to add tongues and interpretation to the gifts He had given.  When you think about it, prophecy is identical in the final result as tongues and interpretation, where tongues are a unique and different sign and/or wonder.  So, what was His reason?  Slowly over the years I’ve been getting some clues and my conclusion is this:  the Lord is engaging in a battle over the gift of tongues.  The Church has discounted a gift that is very powerful and He is calling us to change our thinking, which if anyone needs the interpretation means “repent”.

The gifts of the Spirit have long been a source of contention and division in the Church.  We can trace the battle back to Luther, Zwingli and Calvin who repudiated them and their advocates saying that the gifts of power had ceased.  Little did these men realize that their scriptural/theological and experiential ignorance would be embraced by most of the Church that has resulted in powerless Christian assemblies that are the norm in North America and Western Europe.

When the Spirit calls me to step out in tongues and I obey, He moves in supernatural ways that I could never have imagined.  The message He brings by interpretation ushers in His presence, people are convicted, ministered to and encouraged in their faith.  Paul stated that it was imperative that the power of the Gospel be demonstrated in order that our faith would not rest on the wisdom of men but upon the power of God (I Cor 2:5).

So why the resistance toward the gifts and why would the Lord make a big deal, a federal case, over it? I would submit that the reason is that He has chosen the gifts that He desires to function freely through the believer! He has set them in the Church. By His wisdom, He has chosen the gifts of the Spirit (known as the charismata) to reach the world for Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit isn’t willing to surrender any ground in this area. He is not in the business of surrendering; He is in the business of taking dominion and when He moves in power through a believer who allow His gifts to operate, you can rest assured that is His intention. When He moves, He takes ground. That is why He was sent.

Recently I spoke with a church elder.  He mentioned that members of his church have seen others move in the gift of tongues without discipleship or proper teaching, which made them appear foolish…and nobody wants to appear foolish to their peers!  So, what has happened in his fellowship?  Nobody moves in any of the gifts!  Because of a lack of proper teaching and discipleship (leaders never demonstrate the power of God, including tongues and interpretation) the devil has developed a stronghold, i.e., an improper way of thinking about the gifts in the church, keeping the power of the Holy Spirit from flowing freely.   Either the leadership of the church will follow the Lord and demonstrate the gifts of the Spirit as well as provide teaching and discipleship, or they will continue to flounder (which they have done for 10 years).

I challenge church leaders in this area that have little problem rebuking someone who steps out in faith and speaks in tongues without an interpreter.  My question to them is, “Why doesn’t anyone have the gift of interpretation in this body of believers?”  As you can imagine, I normally don’t receive a satisfactory answer.  One older believer told me, “I’ll tell you why.  The leadership doesn’t want to speak in tongues, so they certainly don’t want anyone around that would interpret!”  As far as I’m concerned, his analysis sounds pretty close to the truth.

The Spirit has terms that He has given to the Church regarding accepting His leadership.  He demands unconditional surrender to His will and the way He chooses to do things.  He will not be coerced into accepting our terms.  Either we submit to His ways and how He chooses to minister, or we will perish.  From the Lord’s perspective, the infraction of resisting His gifts (which are manifestations of His power) is not a misdemeanor offense, rather it is a “federal case” in His eyes and He is calling His leaders and His Church out on it.  Rest assured, the gifts of the Spirit, including the gifts of tongues, will move freely in the Church as He begins to take back that which is His.

We fall into the trap of the enemy when we embrace the lie that any of the gifts of the Spirit are not powerful weapons in His hand.  Paul said the following:

2 Corinthians 10:3–5 (NASB95, emphasis mine) 3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, 4 for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. 5 We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.

We have built fortresses in our own minds that keep the Spirit of God from touching those around us.  When the Spirit moves through me in the gifts (which by the way, were made available to us through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ) I know He is moving to destroy the works of the devil, which Jesus came to do (I Jn 3:8)!  He points me in the direction He wants to bring FIRE and I allow Him to pull the trigger!  You haven’t lived until you allow Him to shoot through you!  Embrace the gifts of the Spirit!  We as the Church must stop resisting the Holy Spirit and allow the Holy Spirit to flow through us to a lost and dying world.

Why should we settle for a feather, a peashooter and a rubber duck when Heaven has made weapons of warfare that are designed to set people free?!  If we embrace the Lord’s way of doing things, we will see mighty manifestations of His power that will result in the enemy’s works being destroyed and the lost saved!  We have nothing to lose but our pride and our fear of man.

Mark C. Biteler