Supernatural Abilities of the Soul 32

Rather than asking the Lord to "give" us these supernatural gifts, we can ask the Lord to identify and stir up those gifts or aspects of the supernatural that He would particularly like to focus on at that given time. The Lord may or may not use terms from the scriptures; it is His right to train you in the way He wants you to go. The purpose is not for you to be able to fit into a specific group at church or be equipped for a ministry. The goal is to be dependent on Him for all things, including life, fellowship and discipleship. This doesn’t mean that someone gives, or prays for you to receive, something that you didn’t have before. Rather it is the process of discernment at work, where another is able to identify a gifting in you that the Lord wants to encourage you to focus on. By the expression of encouragement, whether through prayer or laying on of hands, the Lord often takes the opportunity to baptize or immerse the receiver in an additional level of His movement. Just by way of a broad example, say you’re among believing friends, one of whom expresses to you that the Lord wants you to begin moving in a gift of healing. Perhaps this gift has been on your mind, or perhaps this just sounds right when he suggests it. (You are never obligated to let anyone pray for you just because they say they have something for you from God.) You agree. Your friend places a hand on your shoulder, and simply asks the Lord to stir up the gift of healing within you. You may even feel a warmth, or shock, or nothing at all where he is touching you, and you may or may not sense any response from within. What is happening is that the Spirit, flowing to your friend’s spirit, through his soul via a gift, by means of his body (his touch), is breaking through whatever log-jam there may be in your soul (mis-beliefs, fears, etc.) that is hindering the resident gift within from freely flowing.