Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 12 that the Holy Spirit distributes spiritual gifts, “dividing to every man severally as he will. ” However, people in Christianity sometimes get caught up in what is deemed as “proper procedure” when an individual wants to exercise their spiritual gift in some way. By that I mean there are people who think their fellow believers must follow specific directions of pastors, bishops, elders, or other church leaders to officially begin a personal ministry and walk in what God has ordained them to do. Or they believe a ministry cannot be blessed unless a person has ties to famous preachers or a prominent congregation.
This is the mentality that arises several places in scripture. But God always seems to tear such thinking down. For instance, in Numbers 11 God tells Moses to choose 70 reliable elders of Israel to meet at the tabernacle, “[a]nd I will come down and talk with thee there: and I will take of the spirit which is upon thee, and will put it upon them; and they shall bear the burden of the people with thee, that thou bear it not thyself alone. ” This was in fulfillment of the advice of Moses’ father-in-law to get help judging the people.
Only 68 of those 70 men showed up at the tabernacle, but when God came down to distribute his spirit on these men as verification of their ministry, the two men that didn’t show up at the tabernacle still were given God’s spirit and prophesied just like the 68 who showed up at the church house. A young man ran to Moses and Joshua to tell them the two men prophesied in the camp. This upset Joshua so much he told Moses the men should be stopped, because they didn’t follow protocol.
Moses responded, “Enviest thou for my sake? would God that all the LORD’S people were prophets, and that the LORD would put his spirit upon them!” [Numbers 11:29]. Moses’ desire for all the Lord’s people to be prophets was a prophecy that was part of God’s ultimate plan as confirmed by Joel when he proclaimed God would pour out his spirit on all flesh. This was also confirmed in Revelation 19:10 which tells us “the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.” God has made such a gift available for use to all who believe Jesus is Lord.
Moses knew that if the men in the camp prophesied, they did so by God’s will. If God confirmed their ministry by his power, who was Moses to try to prevent what God was doing even if it seemed to violate proper protocol? God had even previously told the Israelites “…ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation,” [Exodus 19:6], so their prophesying was in line with God’s promise.
A similar incident happened in Mark 9:38-40. The disciples saw a man casting devils out of people in Jesus’ name and because this man wasn’t in their group, they told him to stop. But Jesus corrected them, telling them not to forbid him. If the man was using Jesus’ name for a godly purpose, it was proof he was on their side and respected the name of the Lord.
When Peter went to see Cornelius, a gentile, to preach the gospel to his household, the Jewish believers in Jerusalem got upset when they found out. Peter had to explain how he was following God’s direction and how the Holy Spirit filled those gentiles to get the Jewish believers to calm down.
These situations should help us keep in mind that none of us can dictate to God how and under what circumstances he should distribute his spiritual gifts. He is not confined to our ceremonies, our church buildings, Robert’s rules of order, or our particular church constitution. Let me add it is important to do things decently and in order as Paul states in 1 Corinthians 14 and our doctrines should line up with the Bible, but for us to assume any more beyond that is an attempt to put God, and our fellow believers, in a box.
Just as our Lord Jesus was a prophet, a priest, and a king when he walked the earth, all believers in Christ are a royal priesthood and holy nation. We are prophets, priests, and royalty and God uses all of us as he sees fit. No one, Christian or non-Christian, has the right to hinder us from doing what God calls us to do.
–posted by Harry A. Gaylord–
sunandshield.wordpress.com 
Good, good words here!!
I come from a Baptist tradition, and I am still in a tiny (20-30 on Sundays) Baptist church. I had spoken to the pastor, who has been a friend for over 20 yrs about dropping the “Baptist” title, but he wouldn’t hear of it. He’s a good man, but still clings to many “Baptist” traditions, I wish and pray that his eyes would be open and that he would allow the Holy Spirit to open his eyes as to what the scriptures “really” teach instead of seeing everything through those Baptist lenses.
Let’s see what Jesus has to say about some of these traditions and practices:
Matthew 23:5-12 “Everything they do is done for men to see: They make their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long; they love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats n the synagogues: they love to be greeted in the marketplaces and to have men call them “Rabbi.” v-27-28 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites1 You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men’s bones and everything unclean. In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.”
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Awesome read. Thank you I needed to hear this
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Michael,
It blesses me to know you were blessed.
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