This past Friday I woke up with a word of knowledge. As soon as my eyes opened, the Lord showed me this thing.  I had no tangible evidence of it before I arose early with this in my spirit, but a few hours later I did some investigating in the natural and discovered what was in my spirit to be absolutely true. Through the years, as I have listened to God’s voice all during my day, I have been accustomed to Him dropping words into my mind, specifically ones of knowledge, wisdom and prophecy.

I believe most Christians don’t live with an understanding of this, otherwise they would live differently. I do not hear many if any Pentecostal Christians sharing about a word of knowledge that God gave them as they were in the shower or at their job. Most of them talk about what happens around the altars of a church. I also believe many people are clueless that the same God who gave someone a word during an altar service can also help them to read a person’s mail as they sit at a dinner table.

Thinking about how the Spirit operates all the time, leads me to want people to understand that…

The gifts of the Spirit are carried by people, not places.

1 Corinthians 12 explains that the gifts are distributed by the Spirit as He wills, but they are manifested through people. That means wherever you go, the Spirit of God goes. If you’re  at your job, the Holy Spirit is there. If you’re at the grocery store, the Holy Spirit is there. I can prophesy at baseball game or in a coffee shop the same as I can in church. I Corinthians 12:7 says that the each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. This means that these gifts are not exclusively to be used on or with the church body, but with anyone that God brings across your path.

There are times I am at work dealing with a budget issue and God gives me a word of wisdom concerning what to do. There are other times a person is talking to me over lunch and makes a statement and the Spirit of God says to me, “Caution! Caution! They are not being completely truthful with you, and furthermore you need to know yada yada and yada and proceed carefully. You cannot trust them.”

These type of things will become much clearer  to you as time goes on as you keep your ear attuned to the voice of the Lord and live in the Spirit and by the Spirit. I honestly do not know what I would do without the Holy Spirit as my ever present help and guide. He keeps me informed, protected and encouraged. He will do the same for you if you just open up and let Him.

The gifts are tools to get things done for God.

Although I appreciate all that the gifts do for me, they are honestly not for me. They are there to get a job done, for the glory of God. They are there to reach people for God, and encourage and build people up, in God. They are there to edify people and the church and to increase God’s Kingdom. Sometimes the Lord uses those gifts to help or protect me personally but that is always within the context of assisting me as I serve the purposes of God, not my own agenda. I do feel good when I am flowing in the gifts, but that’s not their purpose. It’s just an itty bitty side effect. The purpose of the gifts is to build the Kingdom of God.

Jesus said, “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and you will be my witnesses…” (Acts 1:8).  The power is always given so that we can be witnesses and represent Him in the world. Additionally, the gifts are not trophies—they are tools to reach the lost, strengthen the hurting, and reveal the love of Christ in undeniable ways.

The gifts are utilized in divine appointments.

People are in need everywhere around you. I often tell people, “You are a life jacket to someone who is drowning.” Although we are not the person who saves or changes someone, God uses us in the process.

Some of the ways God may use you might be to give you insight through a word of knowledge into someone’s hidden pain, and as you speak to this they come to an understanding of how personal God is, and how the power of God is present to minister to their need. When a friend at work complains that they are sick, God may operate through you in the gift of healing to touch their body right there and make them well. You may find yourself texting a friend something that you sense in your spirit for them, and the prophetic word you give confirms exactly what they were struggling with or praying about. You may sense spiritual opposition and be able to navigate it with wisdom and prayer through the gift of discerning of spirits. And the list and opportunities go on and on in the ways God will use you in the 9 Supernatural Gifts of the Spirit. 

One of the greatest things is that you do not have to wait for a position or a pulpit. All you have to do is be available for the Lord to use. I always say, “the world is my pulpit.” And never has it been more so than with social media. I consider myself a social media minister as much as anything else. And yes, I flow in the gifts on social media, all the time. You can too! It can be as simple as this…the Lord often drops things into my mind about someone and I will direct message and tell them, “I hear the Lord saying…” And usually this opens a conversation and leads to prayer, and sometimes a lot more. Church services are wonderful and I will always be a part of those several times a week. But there are many more hours of the week to not just “do” ministry but LIVE ministry, and I’m not going to limit myself to church services to see God move. I hope you won’t either!

Additionally, I always encourage people to go to church and more importantly — to be an active member, serving the Lord in His church. For whatever reason, everyone does not readily do that and in some cases it might take a lot of time before they do. I consider it an honor to speak into people’s lives who have not yet made that step, and I believe that one day they will. This is not something I steward lightly and you shouldn’t either. It is a weighty responsibility to speak into people’s lives, and we need to walk rightly before the Lord and conduct ourselves as messengers of God.

The church service is a place of equipping—but your life is the place of deployment. You are not just a churchgoer—you are a walking revival, a vessel of the Holy Spirit, and a distributor of heaven’s power.

So, stop confining the gifts of the Spirit to the altar. Let them loose in your daily life. Someone’s breakthrough might just be waiting on your obedience.

You don’t just attend church. You are the Church.
You don’t just carry a word. You carry the Spirit who gives it.

And wherever you go—He flows.