We tend to see spiritual gifts in isolation, and number them accordingly— especially the nine gifts listed in 1 Corinthians 12. But exercising a gift can lead to the development of other gifts. Timothy’s “good warfare” involved faith and a good conscience (i Timothy 1:19), both of which would have been strengthened by — and may even have been the result of — the prophecies he had earlier received; prophecies that assured him of God’s confidence in his future ministry.
A spiritual gift doesn’t always work in isolation from other spiritual gifts. Like the many parts of the human body, spiritual gifts work together wonderfully.
The difference between anatomy and physiology. is that anatomy is the clinical study of the structural parts of a dead body, and physiology is the study of the workings of a living body. The science of anatomy on its own could not reveal how some parts of a living body support other parts that appear unrelated. It has long been apparent to physiologists that there is more to a human body than its individual working parts. In much the same way, spiritual gifts work interactively and cooperatively, not just functionally and ‘mechanically’.
Example: a believer has a word of knowledge, and then affirms his belief in that word to other believers. The word of knowledge then has a prophetic edge that is passed on and so reaches a wider audience. In time, the prophecy may become more influential than the word of knowledge that inspired it.
Example: God gives a believer the gift of faith for the healing through another believer of an incurable cancer. As that gift operates in one, the gift of miracles works through another. The result is an amazingly quick recovery! What has happened is that the gift of faith working in one has energized the gift of the working of miracles!
While ministering in Borneo many years ago, I experienced what happens in this phenomenon of gifts working together. The Spirit of God used the gift of the word of knowledge to reveal His will to me, and then the gift of prophecy to declare His will through me to others.
Our team of seven was halfway down a mountain track when a word of knowledge suddenly came to me. I had intended to preach: “The Jesus who Saves is the Jesus who Heals”, but the following words stopped me right on the spot!
“I will bring down this government at the ballot box, and put another one in its place.” This word of knowledge was prophetic. Luke 1:52 followed: “He has put down the mighty from their thrones, and exalted the lowly.” I shared this word of knowledge with my team, and had an unshakable conviction that it was from the Lord. An hour or so later, I preached it to the believers who gathered in the nearby village church.
This proved to be the most revolutionary message I have ever preached. But not once in preaching referred to the existing political situation. I applied it spiritually, and left its political application to the Spirit of God. However, I was certain that I had prophesied what had been revealed to me as a word of knowledge. In so doing, I was establishing it before witnesses and proclaiming it to the land. I also knew that I had spoken it against the ruling spiritual and political powers.
A week later (after we had returned to Australia), the people voted out the government and put into power an almost unknown party! A great furore erupted! “Asiaweek” magazine spoke of the outcome as “a stunning upset”! And all because the gift of the word of knowledge had flowed into a prophetic proclamation!
We know from 1 Corinthians 12:8 & 10 that the twin spiritual gifts of wisdom and knowledge and the twin spiritual gifts of tongues and interpretation flow together naturally. However, the five spiritual gifts grouped between these two sets of twin gifts (in the original Greek MSS) also work together wonderfully as varied forms of power.
The gift of faith certainly works with healing gifts, as well as the gift of the working of miracles. As for the gift of prophecy, the apostle Paul writes that we prophesy “in proportion to our faith” (Romans 12: 6). The gift of faith appears not only to prompt these gifts but also to energize them! As for the spiritual gift of the discerning of spirits, we see from Acts that this gift is active in the thick of spiritual battle! See Acts 5:1-10 (Ananias and Sapphira); Acts 8:14-24 (Simon the magician); Acts 13:6-12 (Elymas the sorcerer); and Acts 16:16-18 (the slave-girl diviner)
The gift of faith is not only a worthy companion to the other four power gifts, but might also be the gift that empowers the other gifts to greater effects! Do spiritual gifts work together? I believe so!