I don’t know why this bugs me, maybe I’m just not gifted, maybe I don’t serve effectively, or maybe I’m looking at the Bible and seeing that no one in the Bible made massive productions out of their gifts. I don’t even see where anyone can justify their opinion that there are those in the Bible who were especially gifted. It looks to me as though various people were empowered to perform a specific act in the context of the situation. If someone came to Peter for healing, Peter was empowered to heal, but he wasn’t at liberty to just wander around and heal at will. Jesus certainly was, but Jesus is God the Son through whom all creation came into existence. If He choses to heal, then He is certainly entitled to exercise His prerogative.

We are all called to serve, no question. That does not mean that we are empowered to do what we want with any gifts we’re given whenever we want to. In fact as a Lutheran, I would submit that the Holy Spirit puts us into the situations where He wants healing and empowers us to do so. Otherwise, we move along and follow His lead. There are way too many Christians out there (and I’ve talked to many of them) who are convinced that they are somehow specially gifted and entitled to go out and demonstrate those gifts. Sorry, but my “poser” antenna goes up when someone is talking to me in that way. Frankly, I immediately get the sense that this person really thinks it’s all about Him, that he is somehow special and that is why He is gifted. Satan can certainly gift you too. He gives you a gift to do something “good”. OK, lots of unsaved people do “good” things. But what’s Satan’s bigger purpose? Maybe to get you so obsessed with your “special” gift, and how “special” you are and start to separate you from Christ, after all, you don’t need Jesus, you have these special gifts. Hey, Satan really doesn’t care how he turns you from Christ, anything will work, so long as it’s not about Jesus.

This attitude is certainly prevalent among the “Name it and Claim it” types, the Benny Hinns, the Pentecostals, charismatics. These are people whose ministry is almost entirely about their emotional gratification, their “special” gifts, their speaking in tongues and very little about Jesus, grace, salvation, what the Holy Spirit does. No it’s really about what they do and the Jesus stuff? Well that’s a nice incidental.

Their entire schtick, worship seems to be like a carnival barker. They have to have a big crowd, yada, yada, hurry, hurry, come on in, see the great Jesus. Not so much seeing Jesus as seeing what He can do. Problem is not only did Jesus usually do healings in a very subdued, private way, He also told people to keep quiet about it. They often didn’t and were bringing people to Jesus as some kind of side show. Paul doesn’t even talk about performing any miracles, although it seems he did. He wasn’t interested in miracles, if Jesus was going to do a miracle through him, it was all about Jesus and nothing about Paul.

When you encounter someone who is making a big production about their “gifts” I suggest you treat them very lightly. Too often this stuff is orchestrated, contrived, might I even say demonic. Too often these people show themselves to be phonies and have somehow managed to set up the show their performing. Satan is all about that, sure, all about the gifts and the results, nothing about Jesus who genuinely heals.

God does not respond on command, the only exception being Jesus and certainly Jesus could/can do miracles in His own power. Other miracles were set up because either God specifically sent the person, like Moses, told him what to do, how to do it and God did the miracle through Moses. Certainly you could make the case that God set up the circumstances for that person to be put in the situation to perform the miracle and they only lent their presence to the situation, the power of the miracle was all God’s.

Too many people presume to treat God like a trained monkey, working on command, that’s not how God works. That person should know that and wonder where else this supposed “power” is coming from. Let’s focus on the faith, grace and Word that God gives us and get over this idea that God has given us some kind of unique power. There’s nothing in the Bible that would indicate that He does. Does He give us gifts? Sure. Are they for our gratification or for His glorification? The correct answer, of course is, His glorification. If it is somehow working out otherwise, you might want to seriously question what is going on and if you have used your “gifts” to truly serve Him or just to draw attention to yourself because you’re “special”. You’re not and the more quietly and unassuming God uses gifts through you, in that usual paradoxical way that God works, the more that God will be working through you. You might not think that He’s performing signs and wonders, but in God’s usually subtle ways He may be using you powerfully if you trust in His will and not some idea that you are specially gifted.