Spiritual Gifts

1 Corinthians 12My friends, you asked me about spiritual gifts. ²I want you to remember that before you became followers of the Lord, you were led in all the wrong ways by idols that cannot even talk. ³Now I want you to know that if you are led by God's Spirit, you will say that Jesus is Lord, and you will never curse Jesus.
⁴There are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but they all come from the same Spirit. ⁵There are different ways to serve the same Lord, ⁶and we can each do different things. Yet the same God works in all of us and helps us in everything we do.
⁷The Spirit has given each of us a special way of serving others. ⁸Some of us can speak with wisdom, while others can speak with knowledge, but these gifts come from the same Spirit. ⁹To others the Spirit has given great faith or the power to heal the sick ¹⁰or the power to work mighty miracles. Some of us are prophets, and some of us recognize when God's Spirit is present. Others can speak different kinds of languages, and still others can tell what these languages mean. ¹¹But it is the Spirit who does all this and decides which gifts to give to each of us.

One Body with Many Parts

¹²The body of Christ has many different parts, just as any other body does. ¹³Some of us are Jews, and others are Gentiles. Some of us are slaves, and others are free. But God's Spirit baptized each of us and made us part of the body of Christ. Now we each drink from that same Spirit.
¹⁴Our bodies don't have just one part. They have many parts. ¹⁵Suppose a foot says, "I'm not a hand, and so I'm not part of the body." Wouldn't the foot still belong to the body? ¹⁶Or suppose an ear says, "I'm not an eye, and so I'm not part of the body." Wouldn't the ear still belong to the body? ¹⁷If our bodies were only an eye, we couldn't hear a thing. And if they were only an ear, we couldn't smell a thing. ¹⁸But God has put all parts of our body together in the way that he decided is best.
¹⁹A body isn't really a body, unless there is more than one part. ²⁰It takes many parts to make a single body. ²¹That's why the eyes cannot say they don't need the hands. That's also why the head cannot say it doesn't need the feet. ²²In fact, we cannot get along without the parts of the body that seem to be the weakest. ²³We take special care to dress up some parts of our bodies. We are modest about our personal parts, ²⁴but we don't have to be modest about other parts.
God put our bodies together in such a way that even the parts that seem the least important are valuable. ²⁵He did this to make all parts of the body work together smoothly, with each part caring about the others. ²⁶If one part of our body hurts, we hurt all over. If one part of our body is honored, the whole body will be happy.
²⁷Together you are the body of Christ. Each one of you is part of his body. ²⁸First, God chose some people to be apostles and prophets and teachers for the church. But he also chose some to work miracles or heal the sick or help others or be leaders or speak different kinds of languages. ²⁹Not everyone is an apostle. Not everyone is a prophet. Not everyone is a teacher. Not everyone can work miracles. ³⁰Not everyone can heal the sick. Not everyone can speak different kinds of languages. Not everyone can tell what these languages mean. ³¹I want you to desire the best gifts. So I will show you a much better way.

Elisha Makes an Ax Head Float

2 Kings 6 One day the prophets said to Elisha, "The place where we meet with you is too small. ²Why don't we build a new meeting place near the Jordan River? Each of us could get some wood, then we could build it."
"That's a good idea," Elisha replied, "Get started."
³"Aren't you going with us?" one of the prophets asked.
"Yes, I'll go," Elisha answered, ⁴and he left with them.
They went to the Jordan River and began chopping down trees. ⁵While one of the prophets was working, his ax head fell off and dropped into the water. "Oh!" he shouted. "Sir, I borrowed this ax."
⁶"Where did it fall in?" Elisha asked. The prophet pointed to the place, and Elisha cut a stick and threw it into the water at that spot. The ax head floated to the top of the water.
⁷"Now get it," Elisha told him. And the prophet reached in and grabbed it.

Elisha Stops an Invasion of the Syrian Army

⁸Time after time, when the king of Syria was at war against the Israelites, he met with his officers and announced, "I've decided where we will set up camp."
⁹Each time, Elisha would send this warning to the king of Israel: "Don't go near there. That's where the Syrian troops have set up camp." ¹⁰So the king would warn the Israelite troops in that place to be on guard.
¹¹The king of Syria was furious when he found out what was happening. He called in his officers and asked, "Which one of you has been telling the king of Israel our plans?"
¹²"None of us, Your Majesty," one of them answered. "It's an Israelite named Elisha. He's a prophet, so he can tell his king everything--even what you say in your own room."
¹³"Find out where he is!" the king ordered. "I'll send soldiers to bring him here."
They learned that Elisha was in the town of Dothan and reported it to the king. ¹⁴He ordered his best troops to go there with horses and chariots. They marched out during the night and surrounded the town.
¹⁵When Elisha's servant got up the next morning, he saw that Syrian troops had the town surrounded. "Sir, what are we going to do?" he asked.
¹⁶"Don't be afraid," Elisha answered. "There are more troops on our side than on theirs." ¹⁷Then he prayed, "LORD, please help him to see." And the LORD let the servant see that the hill was covered with fiery horses and flaming chariots all around Elisha.
¹⁸As the Syrian army came closer, Elisha prayed, "LORD, make those soldiers blind!" And the LORD blinded them with a bright light.
¹⁹Elisha told the enemy troops, "You've taken the wrong road and are in the wrong town. Follow me. I'll lead you to the man you're looking for." Elisha led them straight to the capital city of Samaria.
²⁰When all the soldiers were inside the city, Elisha prayed, "LORD, now let them see again." The LORD let them see that they were standing in the middle of Samaria.
²¹The king of Israel saw them and asked Elisha, "Should I kill them, sir?"
²²"No!" Elisha answered. "You didn't capture these troops in battle, so you have no right to kill them. Instead, give them something to eat and drink and let them return to their leader."
²³The king ordered a huge meal to be prepared for Syria's army, and when they finished eating, he let them go.
For a while, the Syrian troops stopped invading Israel's territory.

King Benhadad of Syria Attacks Samaria

²⁴Some time later, King Benhadad of Syria called his entire army together, then they marched to Samaria and attacked. ²⁵They kept up the attack until there was nothing to eat in the city. In fact, a donkey's head cost about two pounds of silver, and a small bowl of pigeon droppings cost about two ounces of silver.
²⁶One day as the king of Israel was walking along the top of the city wall, a woman shouted to him, "Please, Your Majesty, help me!"
²⁷"Let the LORD help you!" the king said. "Do you think I have grain or wine to give you?" ²⁸Then he asked, "What's the matter anyway?"
The woman answered, "Another woman and I were so hungry that we agreed to eat our sons. She said if we ate my son one day, we could eat hers the next day. ²⁹So yesterday we cooked my son and ate him. But today when I went to her house to eat her son, she had hidden him."
³⁰The king tore off his clothes in sorrow, and since he was on top of the city wall, the people saw that he was wearing sackcloth underneath. ³¹He said, "I pray that God will punish me terribly, if Elisha's head is still on his shoulders by this time tomorrow." ³²Then he sent a messenger to Elisha.
Elisha was home at the time, and the important leaders of Israel were meeting with him. Even before the king's messenger arrived, Elisha told the leaders, "That murderer is sending someone to cut off my head. When you see him coming, shut the door and don't let him in. I'm sure the king himself will be right behind him."
³³Before Elisha finished talking, the messenger came up and said, "The LORD has made all these terrible things happen to us. Why should I think he will help us now?"
2 Kings 7 Elisha answered, "I have a message for you. The LORD promises that tomorrow here in Samaria, you will be able to buy a large sack of flour or two large sacks of barley for almost nothing."
²The chief officer there with the king replied, "I don't believe it! Even if the LORD sent a rainstorm, it couldn't produce that much grain by tomorrow."
"You will see it happen, but you won't eat any of the food," Elisha warned him.

JONAH

Jonah Runs from the LORD

Jonah 1 One day the LORD told Jonah, the son of Amittai, ²to go to the great city of Nineveh and say to the people, "The LORD has seen your terrible sins. You are doomed!"
³Instead, Jonah ran from the LORD. He went to the seaport of Joppa and bought a ticket on a ship that was going to Spain. Then he got on the ship and sailed away to escape.
⁴But the LORD made a strong wind blow, and such a bad storm came up that the ship was about to be broken to pieces. ⁵The sailors were frightened, and they all started praying to their gods. They even threw the ship's cargo overboard to make the ship lighter.
All this time, Jonah was down below deck, sound asleep. ⁶The ship's captain went to him and said, "How can you sleep at a time like this? Get up and pray to your God! Maybe he will have pity on us and keep us from drowning."
⁷Finally, the sailors got together and said, "Let's ask our gods to show us who caused all this trouble." It turned out to be Jonah.
⁸They started asking him, "Are you the one who brought all this trouble on us? What business are you in? Where do you come from? What is your country? Who are your people?"
⁹Jonah answered, "I'm a Hebrew, and I worship the LORD God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land."
¹⁰When the sailors heard this, they were frightened, because Jonah had already told them he was running from the LORD. Then they said, "Do you know what you have done?"
¹¹The storm kept getting worse, until finally the sailors asked him, "What should we do with you to make the sea calm down?"
¹²Jonah told them, "Throw me into the sea, and it will calm down. I'm the cause of this terrible storm."
¹³The sailors tried their best to row to the shore. But they could not do it, and the storm kept getting worse every minute. ¹⁴So they prayed to the LORD, "Please don't let us drown for taking this man's life. Don't hold us guilty for killing an innocent man. All of this happened because you wanted it to." ¹⁵Then they threw Jonah overboard, and the sea calmed down. ¹⁶The sailors were so terrified that they offered a sacrifice to the LORD and made all kinds of promises.
¹⁷The LORD sent a big fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was inside the fish for three days and three nights.