Nine gifts of the Holy Spirit/is

Niðurkoma heilags anda á hvítasunnu, Juan Bautista Maíno (milli 1615 og 1620)

Í Korintubréfi 12 telur Páll postuli upp „níu gjafir heilags anda“.

1 En svo ég minnist á gáfur andans, bræður, þá vil ég ekki að þér séuð fáfróðir um þær....

4 Mismunur er á náðargáfum, en andinn er hinn sami,

5 og mismunur er á embættum, en Drottinn hinn sami

6 og mismunur er á hæfileikum að framkvæma, en Guð hinn sami, sem öllu kemur til leiðar í öllum.

7 Andinn opinberast í sérhverjum til þess, sem gagnlegt er.

8 Einum er fyrir andann gefið að mæla af speki, öðrum að mæla af þekkingu í krafti sama anda.

9 Hinn sami andi veitir einum trú, öðrum lækningagáfu

10 og öðrum kraft til að framkvæma undur. Einn fær spádómsgáfu, annar hæfileika að greina anda, einn að tala tungum og annar að útleggja tungutal.

11 En öllu þessu kemur til leiðar eini og sami andinn, og hann útbýtir hverjum einum eftir vild sinni.

Ég trúi því að níu gjafir heilags anda séu samverkandi og að þær komi smám saman yfir leitandann. Þær eru eins og níu pottaplöntur; þær vaxa og blómstra saman. Og þær vaxa og dafna í þér eftir því sem þú nálgast æ meir Guð, nær heilögum anda, nær Jesú og öllum hinum heilögu klæddum hvítum klæðum sem við meðtökum sem uppstignu meistarana. Þannig að eftir því sem ljós þitt eykst um allan líkama þinn, um orkustöðvar þínar, þá aukast þessar gjafir. Eftir því sem andlegheit þín aukast, eftir því sem þú skilgreinir hvað er mikilvægt í lífi þínu, þá aukast gjafirnar í þér.

Þegar þú hefur sannarlega heilagan anda og heilagur andi býr í líkama þínum, þá er það vísbending um að þú hafir náð einingu við þitt eigið heilaga Krists-sjálf og ÉG ER-nærveruna.

Viskuorð

Fyrsta gjöf heilags anda er viskuorð (sophia á grísku).

Hvers vegna er það svo? Vegna þess að án visku munt þú ekki meta hinar átta gjafirnar og vegna þess að Jesús kenndi trúfastlega leið Búddha. Og það er viska sem þú verður að hafa svo að þú finnir ekki fáfræði vaxa við rætur sálar þinnar. Klemens frá Alexandríu skilgreinir visku sem „þekkingu á hinu mannlega og guðlega og orsökum þeirra“. Aristóteles lýsir henni sem „að leitast við að ná bestu markmiðum og nota bestu leiðirnar.“

Samkvæmt biblíuskýrandanum William Barclay er viska „ekkert minna en þekking á Guði sjálfum.“ Viska kemur, segir hann, „ekki svo mikið frá hugsun og huga heldur frá samfélagi við Guð.“ Í athugasemdum sínum við þessa gjöf bendir Ellen White á að þeir sem eru gæddir orði viskunnar séu ekki aðeins vitrir heldur geti þeir miðlað visku sinni til annarra. Skilningur minn á visku er að hún er skilningur á því sem andinn er. Viska getur ekki komið frá mennskum huga heldur aðeins frá æðra huganum. Það er spennandi og ótrúleg stund að upplifa augnabliksvisku sem kemur ekki frá neinni ytri uppsprettu.

Þegar ég hef hugleitt visku og æðri hugann, hef ég öðlast visku og í raun séð hana sniðganga heilann minn. Hún kom beint frá æðri uppsprettu inn í hjarta mitt. Hjartað mitt var ílátið og skilningurinn á þessari visku. Það er dásamlegt að átta sig á því. Hugsaðu um alla hina fötluðu sem hafa einhverja skerðingu sem tengist miðtaugakerfinu eða heilanum. Og þeir geta átt samskipti við Guð jafn skýrt í gegnum Krists-hugann, sitt eigið æðra sjálf. Þú ættir að halda skrá yfir þær stundir þegar þú öðlast þessa innsýn í visku, þegar þú veist skyndilega eitthvað sem þú hefðir ekki getað vitað án þess að heilagt Krists-sjálf þitt hafi fest þér það í huga.

Þekkingarorð

Önnur gjöf heilags anda er gjöf þekkingarorða.

Viska er fyrir mér hagnýt. Hún er af andanum. Hún er af alheimshuganum. Orð þekkingar er þekking þessa heims sem þú þarft að kunna til að uppfylla tilgang tilveru þinnar, starfsgreinar þinnar, köllunar þinnar í lífinu og svo að þú hafir ríkulegan aðgang að aðstæðum samtímans sem þú getur nýtt þér. Ef þú ert að þjóna lífinu eða ef þú ert einhver sem er prédikari eða einfaldlega lærisveinn Jesú, þá er mjög mikilvægt að geta borið kenningar ritningarinnar saman við stjórnmál samtímans sem við sjáum birtast fyrir augum okkur, að gera ritningarnar viðeigandi með þekkingu.

Gríska orðið fyrir þekkingu er gnósis. Það er hagnýt viska sem vísar á hvað rétt er að gera í hvaða aðstæðum sem er. Það er hagnýt beiting guðlegrar visku. White segir að gjöf þekkingarorðsins sé hæfni til að skilja andlegan sannleika og miðla honum til annarra á skipulegan og hagnýtan hátt. Matthew Henry, túlkandi frá átjándu öld, túlkar gjöf þekkingarorðsins sem „hæfni og vilja til að veita ráð og leiðbeiningar í flóknum málum “.

Maha Chohan segir að munurinn á gjöf viskuorðsins og þekkingarorðsins sé þessi: Þegar þú hefur visku skilur þú það sem andans er og leyndardóma Guðs. Þegar þú hefur þekkingu skilur þú það sem heimsins er.

Hinir miklu spámenn og avatarar hafa allir haft gríðarlega þekkingu á fræðasviðum. Takið fyrir spámennina í Ísrael. Þeir vissu allt sem var á seyði. Þeir þekktu stjórnmál síns tíma, samsærin. Þeir vissu hvað konungarnir voru að gera, gott og slæmt. Þeir voru mjög til staðar á vettvangi, og þess vegna, þegar þeir fengu boðskap frá Guði í gegnum erkienglum hans, voru þeir að tala beint til málefna síns tíma. Svo teljið ykkur ekki í trú um að þið getið verið fáfróð og jafnframt tekist að breiða út fögnuð og kenningar Jesú. Þessir spámenn og [avatarar] forðuðust ekki þekkingu; þeir náðu tökum á henni. Þeir urðu þekkingin. Þeir voru þekkingin holdi klædd.

Trú

Þriðja gjöf heilags anda er gjöf trúarinnar.

Barclay skilgreinir trúargjöf sem „kraftinn til að átta sig á andlegu athæfi“ og sem kraftinn „sem breytir sýn í verk“.

Höfundur Hebreabréfsins skrifar:

Trú er fullvissa um það sem vonast er til, sönnun þess sem ekki er auðið að sjá....

Án trúar er ekki unnt að þóknast [Guði]. Því að sá sem kemur fram fyrir Guð verður að trúa því að hann sé til og að hann umbuni þeim sem leita hans.

Trú á lögmál Guðs vekur áræði. Hefur þú áræði til að tala Orðið eins og Jesús Kristur gerði? Hefur þú áræði til að ávíta þá sem ekki viðurkenna lögmál föðurins? Það áræði hefst með trú og trausti. Þegar þú hefur trú og traust, hefur þú sterka tengingu við almáttugan Guð í gegnum Krist sem býr í þér og í gegnum þína máttugu ÉG ER-nærveru.

Lækningar

The fourth gift of the Holy Spirit is the gift of healing.

Commentator Adam Clarke defines this gift as “the power which at particular times the apostles received from the Holy Spirit to cure diseases.” John Short in The Interpreter’s Bible says, “In the Gospels it is made quite plain that the salvation which the Master proclaimed involved the well-being of the whole man—body, soul, and spirit.... His message was for the whole of the human personality, for its physical as well as spiritual aspects.” White observes that those with the gift of healing “possessed divine knowledge and direction in their work and healed only those whom God directed them to heal. They thus possessed certain knowledge of the outcome.”

The healing of the physical body is the least important facet of the gift of healing. The goal is to heal the soul so that the soul can heal and cleanse her own temple. Healing is a result of harmony. There is no such thing as a healer who has agitated feelings, anger, pent-up emotions and energies.

Whereas some teach that God intends everybody to be healed, others teach as I have just mentioned. They are selective in who they pray for and call forth healings for. We always submit the calls and prayers we make for healing as being subject to the will of God because we cannot know the will of God and so that we ask if so-and-so might be healed and ask God to heal that person according to the will of God.

Why would it not be the will of God for everybody to be healed? Because people have their infirmities to learn lessons in life. They bear burdens to balance karma. And so if you take from them all of their infirmities and their burdens, then you also take from them the opportunity to balance their karma, and as Paul said, thereby to obtain a better resurrection.

Many people suffer a terminal illnesses aware of that teaching from Paul, that you endure pain, you endure the burdens of the world, you take upon and into your body the burdens of world karma by way of balancing your own personal karma. And then when you pass on and you are resurrected, you have a better resurrection because you now have a lighter load because you allowed yourself to go through some burden for the sake of sacrifice and humanity.

Working of miracles

The fifth gift of the Holy Spirit is the working of miracles.

This gift has been translated from the Greek as “the demonstration of mighty powers.” I am sure that as science progresses, we come to the realization that things that are called miracles can sometimes be explained scientifically. But you cannot explain all miracles away because they are miracles. They are exceptions to the law rather than the fulfillment of the law. Commentators apply it to dramatic, unusual healings and exorcisms. They see the gifts of faith and healing and the working of miracles as interrelated.

The true purpose of miracles is to restore wholeness to the body and to achieve union with the Higher Self so that one can live a life perfected in joy as an instrument of God’s love. You can become so great an instrument for the Holy Spirit that when people contact your aura they receive healing and upliftment.

The key to working miracles is the violet flame. It’s the most efficacious use of the sacred fire because the violet flame brings about transmutation when you give those violet-flame decrees. And so the miracle of the violet flame is that you are done with a certain situation or problem because you have invoked the violet flame and you have cleared the record of burden in your body by the use of the violet flame. So once the violet flame—the action of the Holy Spirit, of transmutation—transmutes a certain level of your karma, you will be healed. You will simply no longer have the problem because it has been transmuted and you have balanced that element of karma that you were intended to balance.

So when you diligently give the violet flame, not only will you have the perpetual joy of Jesus, but you will see his miracles happening all around you. Our auras must be dripping with the violet flame so that wherever we go, Saint Germain can use us as his instruments to hurl his miracle pouch into the cause and core of negative conditions.

Prophecy

The sixth gift is the gift of prophecy.

Biblical commentaries often make the distinction that prophecy is not so much “foretelling” as it is the “forth-telling” of truth. They define the gift of prophecy as the ability to “tell,” to make known, the will of God and to give insight into God’s purposes. Barclay says:

The prophet is a man who lives so close to God that he knows God’s mind and heart and will and intention, and so can make them known to men. Because of that, the prophet’s function is twofold. He brings rebuke and warning, telling men that their way of action is not in accordance with the will of God. He brings advice and guidance, seeking to direct men into the ways God wishes them to go.

Prophecy is the vision of the future vouchsafed to an individual by Almighty God. It is a warning of what could come to pass if we the people do nothing. The gift of prophecy is absolute attunement with the Holy Spirit. God strikes a great chord on the organ and the prophet sounds the note. From his Universal Mind, God delivers the Word and the prophet hears, answers, obeys and delivers the Word to God’s people. The people do not have to be warned if they themselves can see what is coming upon them. So the prophet always warns them, “But if you do not repent of your ways, then thus and such will befall you. This karma will descend.”

Discerning of spirits

The seventh gift of the Holy Spirit is the gift of the discerning of spirits.

That is being able to know what spirits are about people and in people without having any foreknowledge of this. When you are able to discern the spirits, and if these spirits are negative spirits that are in and around people’s bodies, you can protect yourself, you can warn them, you can tell them that they are burdened by foul spirits who will do them no good. You can show them the way of decrees and invocation and Astrea’s circle and sword of blue flame.

There is divine and counterfeit inspiration. There are true and false prophets. The apostle John says, “Believe not every spirit, but try the spirits, whether they are of God.”

The gift of the discerning of spirits enables one to determine what is acting through another—whether it be the angelic hosts and the Light of God, or demons and fallen angels. Discerning of spirits can come only through the heart—a heart that is purified, a heart where the Christ-flame does burn.

If you want to receive the Holy Spirit, it is essential that you keep your aura absolutely free of spirits who are the impostors of the Holy Spirit. If you don’t keep your aura clean by using your Archangel Michael sword and doing your decrees to Archangel Michael and beloved Mighty Astrea daily, you cannot be certain whether you are interacting with the Holy Spirit or with masquerading spirits unless you have the gift of the discernment of spirits. The key is not to put your attention on your own human personality, exalting that personality as having the Holy Spirit. Instead, put your attention on the Holy Spirit so that the Holy Spirit can efface your personality.

Remember the advice of Jesus to Catherine of Siena:

Do you know, daughter, who you are and who I am? If you knew these two things, you would be blessed. You are that which is not. I am He who is. If you have this knowledge in your soul, the enemy can never deceive you. You will escape all his snares. You will never consent to anything contrary to my commandments. And without difficulty you will acquire every grace, every truth, every light.

In one of the Gnostic gospels Jesus is talking to his disciples and the disciples are not pleased with the favoritism he is showing to Mary Magdalene. But he states that he has made her male. Now the feminist movement today does not like to hear about women being made male. The male is the yang of the Spirit. The Christ in you is male, both men and women, and the soul of you is yin. The soul is not yet perfected, has not attained her immortality and is mutable. And so certain of the disciples, whether they were male or female, were made male by Jesus. They were made the plus polarity or the yang force. So when our Christ Self is more real to us than our not-self and we are in that Christ Presence, we are masculine in the spiritual sense of the word, even if we are wearing a male or a female body.

So Jesus is telling Catherine to repeat the mantra, “O Lord Jesus, Thou the All, I the nothing.” The more you repeat that, the more you become infilled with the Christ until Jesus makes you male by bonding your soul to him and to the Inner Christ. Until you can see yourself as nothing, not identifying with any part of the ego, you cannot be certain that when you think you have received the Holy Spirit you have not actually received lower spirits.

The lower spirits are of the astral plane. They come preceding the Holy Spirit to tempt you and to fulfill your ambitions, your spiritual pride, your desire to speak in tongues and so forth. If you are attached to your desires, you will be vulnerable to the impostors of the Holy Spirit. If you want the gifts of the Spirit for reasons of pride and you want them more than you want the Holy Spirit, you are vulnerable. You must have desirelessness, which takes us full circle back to Gautama Buddha—desirelessness when approaching the gifts of the Spirit. The lower spirits can cause you great pain and grief if you allow yourself to be bewitched by them.

Divers kinds of tongues

The eighth gift is divers kinds of tongues.

The eighth gift of the Holy Spirit shows primarily two types of speaking in tongues. In the first type, the language spoken is a foreign language, unknown to the speaker but easily understood by one who speaks that language. Its purpose is to instruct people of different countries and to facilitate the spread of the Gospel. This type of speaking in tongues was demonstrated by the apostles at Pentecost.

In the second type, the language spoken is an unknown spiritual language not spoken by men and not understood unless there is someone present who has the gift of interpretation of tongues. This type of speaking in tongues was seen among the congregations Paul preached to in Corinth. It is done in a state of ecstasy and its purpose is to confirm the faith of new converts or to provide personal spiritual edification. The speaker addresses God rather than men, and the intent is more to praise God than to preach the Word.

In I Corinthians, Paul instructs that the gift of prophecy, which is intelligible to all, is preferable to the gift of speaking in unknown tongues, which is intelligible only to God unless an interpreter is present. Paul writes:

Follow after charity, and desire spiritual gifts, but rather that ye may prophesy.

For he that speaketh in an unknown tongue speaketh not unto men, but unto God: for no man understandeth him; howbeit in the spirit he speaketh mysteries.

But he that speaketh in an unknown tongue edifieth himself; but he that prophesieth edifieth the church.

I would that ye all spake with tongues, but rather that ye prophesied: for greater is he that prophesieth than he that speaketh with tongues, except he interpret, that the church may receive edifying.

The gift of divers kinds of tongues involves the mastery of speech, communication and the delivery of the Word. It ranges from the mastery of earth’s languages to proficiency in the tongues of angels. Most particularly, it is the ability to speak the language of the soul to each person you meet. It means that when you come into the aura of a person, the Holy Spirit empowers you to speak in the thought patterns and at the level of understanding and need of that person. Thereby, you can reach that one with a message that is relevant to his or her life.

The gift of tongues facilitates understanding between peoples and it figures in the art of diplomacy. It helps you to get along with your neighbor. It can involve the bridling of the tongue or the comforting of a child.

Those who are of impure motives and who inordinately desire and demand of the Holy Spirit the gift of speaking in tongues often receive instead the mutterings of fallen angels.

The spiritual tongues and their interpretation are of the angelic hosts. They are tongues which are currently being spoken in heaven by angels. We know that angels took embodiment on earth to be teachers, to be wayshowers and to protect everyone on the planet from the wiles of the fallen angels and the traps that are set before the children of God. So they speak these tongues in heaven, they spoke them when they were in heaven, and they still retain the record of these tongues when they asked God if they could embody to help to save his children. Embodied angels who retain the patterns of their heavenly tongues in their souls are often quickened by the Holy Spirit to speak in those tongues, so that the earth might be imbued with the higher vibration of “angelspeak.”

When this language is spoken by those who receive the gift, they are still angels but now they are in embodiment working out their karma and their salvation as sons and daughters of God, so then they can contribute this vibration in their churches, in their homes, and the vibration of heavenly tongues is therefore present in the earth.

Interpretation of tongues

The ninth gift of the Holy Spirit is the interpretation of tongues.

Commentators define the gift of interpretation of tongues as the ability to interpret the message of someone who is speaking in tongues. One of the comments I’d like to make on this is the gift of interpretation of tongues is the ability to relate the teachings of the ascended masters to the “nations”—meaning all levels of earth’s evolutions, including their karma and consciousness.

Each person that you would talk to about God requires a certain interpretation of the Path, a certain understanding, a certain tenderness, a certain love and a certain comfort. You have a very unique message to bring to people about God, and the Holy Spirit will move you to speak on things that are people’s greatest burdens. For some, the key is inspiration. Others require scientific explanations. As you deliver the Holy Spirit heart to heart, you have no concern for what you will say because the Holy Spirit gives you the words to speak.

So the interpretation of tongues is not merely standing up in a church and interpreting what someone else is saying in tongues. It is the ability to convert the soul by the Holy Spirit because you speak the language of that soul.

See also

Holy Spirit

Sources

Elizabeth Clare Prophet, July 2, 1994, “Lesson Four from the Holy Spirit: The Gifts of the Holy Spirit.”