So, I was raised RCC, accepted Jesus as my personal Lord and Savior thru Campus Crusade, followed my boyfriend into a charasmatic/pentecostal type denomination. (Yes quite a shock to me how different than the RCC!) Now I prefer line by line sermons.
My question is ...I'm unsure about 1 Cor 14. It talks about tongues and to even seek to prophesy.
I dont want to stir up denominational debate at all...I have seen all the sides of that, and do not want to foster division.
My Q is how do I personally interperet Bible chapters n verses like this one? After all I've seen regarding the gifts (good and bad) I really am not sure about them. I know that without love, or by Christ's leading, nothing counts for God.
I guess I'm a little scared to ask for or seek to prophesy, etc, because....it seems easy to abuse the gifts and maybe do more damage than good with them. I've had people tell me things that "God" told them regarding me that wasnt true at all.
Another time in a home Bible Study a "prophet" came and spoke some confusing things ever me, which caused me to fear and also feel like God didn't like me much...it hurt my faith walk.
Yet we went to a revival in the 90's and salvations, healings, etc happened...even the town where the church was had a drop in crime rate due to the spread of the gospel, so we were told.
And there are the goats who prophesied in Jesus' Name but never knew Him.
I guess I fear the gifts, yet are we to ask God to give them to us?
I have so much to learn. Would love to learn more about my being a believer's responsibility regarding the gifts? Do we ask God for them? Does God choose who to give them to? How to handle the responsibility of them...like to prevent my flesh from perverting them? (Many stories of false "words" spoken over me n other ppl.
BUT...God DID use a youth pastor at a large church (after we left the ministry n switched denominations) to give me a personal praise regarding our second child. I didnt know him n vice versa...the church had over 5k ppl in it. They rarely did alter calls but one Sunday they said if anyone wanted prayer to come to the alter...this was a non-pentecostal denom.
I asked for prayer to not be so materialistic. The guy, I didnt know he was the youth pastor, started to pray, then said he had a message for me. And if it didnt make sense, to ignore it.
He said that God was going to open my womb and give us that second child we had been praying for. I began to weep, this HAD to be from God...we couldnt get pregnant after our first child for years. We asked God for another child.
No one but our close friends knew about us not being able to get preg. 6 months after that man said that to me, my second child was thriving in my womb.
Theres more to it but, that seemed to be a real Word from God.
I believe Father God can do anything. The gifts are talked about in the Word, I feel kind of guilty for not really desiring them.
I am praying about this as I dont want blindness, lack of study, or personal bias to keep from having or doing anything God wants His children to have.
Ty for your time. I guess I feel confused about 1 Cor 14 that came up in my Bible reading today...
My question is ...I'm unsure about 1 Cor 14. It talks about tongues and to even seek to prophesy.
I dont want to stir up denominational debate at all...I have seen all the sides of that, and do not want to foster division.
My Q is how do I personally interperet Bible chapters n verses like this one? After all I've seen regarding the gifts (good and bad) I really am not sure about them. I know that without love, or by Christ's leading, nothing counts for God.
I guess I'm a little scared to ask for or seek to prophesy, etc, because....it seems easy to abuse the gifts and maybe do more damage than good with them. I've had people tell me things that "God" told them regarding me that wasnt true at all.
Another time in a home Bible Study a "prophet" came and spoke some confusing things ever me, which caused me to fear and also feel like God didn't like me much...it hurt my faith walk.
Yet we went to a revival in the 90's and salvations, healings, etc happened...even the town where the church was had a drop in crime rate due to the spread of the gospel, so we were told.
And there are the goats who prophesied in Jesus' Name but never knew Him.
I guess I fear the gifts, yet are we to ask God to give them to us?
I have so much to learn. Would love to learn more about my being a believer's responsibility regarding the gifts? Do we ask God for them? Does God choose who to give them to? How to handle the responsibility of them...like to prevent my flesh from perverting them? (Many stories of false "words" spoken over me n other ppl.
BUT...God DID use a youth pastor at a large church (after we left the ministry n switched denominations) to give me a personal praise regarding our second child. I didnt know him n vice versa...the church had over 5k ppl in it. They rarely did alter calls but one Sunday they said if anyone wanted prayer to come to the alter...this was a non-pentecostal denom.
I asked for prayer to not be so materialistic. The guy, I didnt know he was the youth pastor, started to pray, then said he had a message for me. And if it didnt make sense, to ignore it.
He said that God was going to open my womb and give us that second child we had been praying for. I began to weep, this HAD to be from God...we couldnt get pregnant after our first child for years. We asked God for another child.
No one but our close friends knew about us not being able to get preg. 6 months after that man said that to me, my second child was thriving in my womb.
Theres more to it but, that seemed to be a real Word from God.
I believe Father God can do anything. The gifts are talked about in the Word, I feel kind of guilty for not really desiring them.
I am praying about this as I dont want blindness, lack of study, or personal bias to keep from having or doing anything God wants His children to have.
Ty for your time. I guess I feel confused about 1 Cor 14 that came up in my Bible reading today...