Seven gifts of the Holy Spirit are listed here; 1. The Spirit of the LORD,
2. Wisdom, 3. Understanding, 4. Counsel, 5. Fortitude, 6.
Knowledge,
7. Fear of the Lord.
While some Christians
accept these as a definitive list of specific attributes, others understand
them merely as examples of the Holy Spirit's work through the faithful. So in
other words God will at times bring other gifts to mind as He gifts us to in
these Spiritual gifts.
The spiritual empowerment of the Messiah shall rest upon
Him,
The Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
The Spirit of counsel and might,
The Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD.
1. The Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon Him: The Branch that comes from the
apparently dead stump isn’t just barely alive. It is full of life, and full of
the Spirit of the LORD. We see here that the Messiah has seven – the number of
fullness and completion – aspects of the Spirit of the LORD. Also known as the
Spirit of Reverence/ Piety: a person will have a deep sense of respect for God
and the church. A person with reverence recognises their total reliance on God
and comes before God with humility, trust, and love. It is the gift which with
the Holy Spirit's leading we will worship and duty to God as our Father. We
will always respect our brothers and sisters as we are directed in the Bible,
simply because they are God’s procession. The Spirit of the LORD is upon the
Messiah. Jesus did not have a false spirit or a deceiving spirit, or even the
spirit of a man. The Spirit of the LORD God of Israel rests upon the Messiah.
On one occasion Jesus rebuked the disciples saying, You do not know what manner
of spirit you are of (Luke 9:55). Jesus was of the Spirit of the LORD, and He
knew it, He cannot but respect God and His people.
2. Wisdom: The gift of wisdom, will see God at work in our lives and in the
world. For the wise person, the wonders of nature, historical events, and the
ups and downs of our lives take on deeper meaning. The matters of judgement
about the truth, and being able to see the whole image of God. To see God as
our Father and other people with dignity. Being able to see the image of God in
everyone and everything everywhere. The Spirit of wisdom is upon the Messiah.
Jesus is perfectly wise in all things. He showed this during his earthly
ministry, and He shows it now in His continuing ministry in heaven for His
people. 1 Corinthians 1:30 says that Jesus became for us wisdom from God. It
isn’t just that Jesus has wisdom; He is wisdom.
3. The Spirit of…understanding is upon the Messiah. Jesus understands all
things, and He understands us perfectly. He is perfectly suited to be our
sympathetic High Priest in heaven (Hebrews 4:15-16). In understanding, we
comprehend how we need to live as a follower of Christ. A person with
understanding is not confused by all the conflicting messages in our culture
about the right way to live. They allow themselves to be washed with the Word
of God and that is in practice. They practice reading the Bible a lot – more
than once a day.
4. The Spirit of counsel is upon the Messiah. Jesus has perfect counsel to
give us at all times. He has both the wisdom and the understanding to be a
perfect counselor. With the gift of counsel/right judgement, we know the
difference between right and wrong, and we choose to do what is right. A person
with right judgement avoids sin and lives out the values taught by Jesus. The
gift of truth that allows the person to respond rightly to Christ the Lord.
They will study how to make right judgements for their lives as they live in a
corrupt world and be an example as a disciple.
5. The Spirit of might is upon the Messiah. Jesus has the power to do what He
desires to do. Many people would help us if they could but are powerless to
help. Others may have the power to help us, but they don’t care about us. Jesus
has both the love and the might to help us. With the gift of might/fortitude/courage,
we overcome our fear and are willing to take risks as a follower of Jesus
Christ. A person with courage is willing to stand up for what is right in the
sight of God, even if it means accepting rejection, verbal abuse, or even
physical harm and death. The gift of courage allows people the firmness of mind
that is required both in doing good and in enduring evil that is put in their
way. As we read the Bible we will see that not all people of God were
courageous. And yet Gideon was a mighty warrior of God.
6. The Spirit of knowledge is upon the Messiah. Jesus knows everything. He
knows our hearts and He knows all the facts. Many times we have made decisions
that seemed strange or wrong to others because they didn’t have the knowledge
that we have. Jesus has knowledge that we don’t have, so it shouldn’t surprise
us that sometimes His decisions seem strange or wrong to us or to others. With
the gift of knowledge, we understand the meaning of God. The gift of knowledge
is more than an accumulation of facts. It is knowing the Lord Jesus in an
intimate way. It is personal relationship with Jesus to be able to disciple
fellow brothers and sisters about the deeper things of God so they can grow up
to find their spiritual gift and a by-product of this will be joy in the Holy
Spirit. This gift will produce hope in believers and fulfillment in the
teacher.
7. The Spirit of…the fear of the LORD is upon the Messiah. Jesus willingly
kept Himself in a place of submission, respect, and honour to God the Father. Fear of the Lord (Wonder and Awe): With the gift of fear of the Lord we
are aware of the glory and majesty of God. A person with wonder and awe knows
that God is the perfection of all we desire: perfect knowledge, perfect
goodness, perfect power, and perfect love. The fear of offending our father,
rather than a fear of punishment. Also known as knowing God is all powerful.
Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom (Prov 1:7) because we are dependent
creatures, and He is the infinite, all-powerful Creator. In the Father is all
the fullness of God.
Bold I approach the eternal throne knowing my God loves me with
all His heart.
Some believe that
four of these gifts, wisdom, understanding, knowledge, and counsel direct the
intellect, while the other three gifts, fortitude/courage, Reverence/ Piety and
fear of the Lord direct the will toward God.
In some respects,
the gifts are similar to the virtues that is
the high moral standards of God, but a key distinction
is that the virtues operate through human reason (prompted by grace), whereas
the gifts operate through the Holy Spirit;
Virtues can be
used when one wishes, but the gifts operate only when the Holy Spirit wishes.
That is why the Holy Spirit gives the gifts to us as the body needs building.
The seven gifts
of the Holy Spirit in Isaiah 11:2-3 present the fullness of Jesus Christ but
are found in Christians who are in a state of grace. We receive them when we
are infused with sanctifying grace, the life of God within us. We respond to
the promptings of the Holy Spirit as if by instinct, the way Christ Himself
would. Baptism represents our sins being washed away and we come up from the
water to be clothed in a new garment. Putting on the baptismal garment is a
visible symbol of the invisible reality of "putting on Christ – we are now
no longer our own but Christ’s.
We pray that the
qualities of Christ take root in us and become our qualities so that we may
become signs of God's presence in the world.
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