Gifts from the Holy Spirit

1 Corinthians 12 Now, concerning what you wrote about the gifts from the Holy Spirit.
I want you to know the truth about them, my friends. ²You know that while you were still heathen, you were led astray in many ways to the worship of lifeless idols. ³I want you to know that no one who is led by God's Spirit can say "A curse on Jesus!" and no one can confess "Jesus is Lord," without being guided by the Holy Spirit.
⁴There are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but the same Spirit gives them. ⁵There are different ways of serving, but the same Lord is served. ⁶There are different abilities to perform service, but the same God gives ability to all for their particular service. ⁷The Spirit's presence is shown in some way in each person for the good of all. ⁸The Spirit gives one person a message full of wisdom, while to another person the same Spirit gives a message full of knowledge. ⁹One and the same Spirit gives faith to one person, while to another person he gives the power to heal. ¹⁰The Spirit gives one person the power to work miracles; to another, the gift of speaking God's message; and to yet another, the ability to tell the difference between gifts that come from the Spirit and those that do not. To one person he gives the ability to speak in strange tongues, and to another he gives the ability to explain what is said. ¹¹But it is one and the same Spirit who does all this; as he wishes, he gives a different gift to each person.

One Body with Many Parts

¹²Christ is like a single body, which has many parts; it is still one body, even though it is made up of different parts. ¹³In the same way, all of us, whether Jews or Gentiles, whether slaves or free, have been baptized into the one body by the same Spirit, and we have all been given the one Spirit to drink.
¹⁴For the body itself is not made up of only one part, but of many parts. ¹⁵If the foot were to say, "Because I am not a hand, I don't belong to the body," that would not keep it from being a part of the body. ¹⁶And if the ear were to say, "Because I am not an eye, I don't belong to the body," that would not keep it from being a part of the body. ¹⁷If the whole body were just an eye, how could it hear? And if it were only an ear, how could it smell? ¹⁸As it is, however, God put every different part in the body just as he wanted it to be. ¹⁹There would not be a body if it were all only one part! ²⁰As it is, there are many parts but one body.
²¹So then, the eye cannot say to the hand, "I don't need you!" Nor can the head say to the feet, "Well, I don't need you!" ²²On the contrary, we cannot do without the parts of the body that seem to be weaker; ²³and those parts that we think aren't worth very much are the ones which we treat with greater care; while the parts of the body which don't look very nice are treated with special modesty, ²⁴which the more beautiful parts do not need. God himself has put the body together in such a way as to give greater honor to those parts that need it. ²⁵And so there is no division in the body, but all its different parts have the same concern for one another. ²⁶If one part of the body suffers, all the other parts suffer with it; if one part is praised, all the other parts share its happiness.
²⁷All of you are Christ's body, and each one is a part of it. ²⁸In the church God has put all in place: in the first place apostles, in the second place prophets, and in the third place teachers; then those who perform miracles, followed by those who are given the power to heal or to help others or to direct them or to speak in strange tongues. ²⁹They are not all apostles or prophets or teachers. Not everyone has the power to work miracles ³⁰or to heal diseases or to speak in strange tongues or to explain what is said. ³¹Set your hearts, then, on the more important gifts.
Best of all, however, is the following way.

The Recovery of the Ax Head

2 Kings 6 One day the group of prophets that Elisha was in charge of complained to him, "The place where we live is too small! ²Give us permission to go to the Jordan and cut down some trees, so that we can build a place to live."
"All right," Elisha answered.
³One of them urged him to go with them; he agreed, ⁴and they set out together. When they arrived at the Jordan, they began to work. ⁵As one of them was cutting down a tree, suddenly his iron ax head fell in the water. "What shall I do, sir?" he exclaimed to Elisha. "It was a borrowed ax!"
⁶"Where did it fall?" Elisha asked.
The man showed him the place, and Elisha cut off a stick, threw it in the water, and made the ax head float. ⁷"Take it out," he ordered, and the man reached down and picked it up.

The Syrian Army Is Defeated

⁸The king of Syria was at war with Israel. He consulted his officers and chose a place to set up his camp. ⁹But Elisha sent word to the king of Israel, warning him not to go near that place, because the Syrians were waiting in ambush there. ¹⁰So the king of Israel warned the people who lived in that place, and they were on guard. This happened several times.
¹¹The Syrian king became greatly upset over this; he called in his officers and asked them, "Which one of you is on the side of the king of Israel?"
¹²One of them answered, "No one is, Your Majesty. The prophet Elisha tells the king of Israel what you say even in the privacy of your own room."
¹³"Find out where he is," the king ordered, "and I will capture him."
When he was told that Elisha was in Dothan, ¹⁴he sent a large force there with horses and chariots. They reached the town at night and surrounded it. ¹⁵Early the next morning Elisha's servant got up, went out of the house, and saw the Syrian troops with their horses and chariots surrounding the town. He went back to Elisha and exclaimed, "We are doomed, sir! What shall we do?"
¹⁶"Don't be afraid," Elisha answered. "We have more on our side than they have on theirs." ¹⁷Then he prayed, "O LORD, open his eyes and let him see!" The LORD answered his prayer, and Elisha's servant looked up and saw the hillside covered with horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.
¹⁸When the Syrians attacked, Elisha prayed, "O LORD, strike these men blind!" The LORD answered his prayer and struck them blind. ¹⁹Then Elisha went to them and said, "You are on the wrong road; this is not the town you are looking for. Follow me, and I will lead you to the man you are after." And he led them to Samaria.
²⁰As soon as they had entered the city, Elisha prayed, "Open their eyes, LORD, and let them see." The LORD answered his prayer; he restored their sight, and they saw that they were inside Samaria.
²¹When the king of Israel saw the Syrians, he asked Elisha, "Shall I kill them, sir? Shall I kill them?"
²²"No," he answered. "Not even soldiers you had captured in combat would you put to death. Give them something to eat and drink, and let them return to their king." ²³So the king of Israel provided a great feast for them; and after they had eaten and drunk, he sent them back to the king of Syria. From then on the Syrians stopped raiding the land of Israel.

The Siege of Samaria

²⁴Some time later King Benhadad of Syria led his entire army against Israel and laid siege to the city of Samaria. ²⁵As a result of the siege the food shortage in the city was so severe that a donkey's head cost eighty pieces of silver, and half a pound of dove's dung cost five pieces of silver.
²⁶The king of Israel was walking by on the city wall when a woman cried out, "Help me, Your Majesty!"
²⁷He replied, "If the LORD won't help you, what help can I provide? Do I have any wheat or wine? ²⁸What's your trouble?"
She answered, "The other day this woman here suggested that we eat my child, and then eat her child the next day. ²⁹So we cooked my son and ate him. The next day I told her that we would eat her son, but she had hidden him!"
³⁰Hearing this, the king tore his clothes in dismay, and the people who were close to the wall could see that he was wearing sackcloth under his clothes. ³¹He exclaimed, "May God strike me dead if Elisha is not beheaded before the day is over!" ³²And he sent a messenger to get Elisha.
Meanwhile Elisha was at home with some elders who were visiting him. Before the king's messenger arrived, Elisha said to the elders, "That murderer is sending someone to kill me! Now, when he gets here, shut the door and don't let him come in. The king himself will be right behind him." ³³He had hardly finished saying this, when the king arrived and said, "It's the LORD who has brought this trouble on us! Why should I wait any longer for him to do something?"
2 Kings 7 Elisha answered, "Listen to what the LORD says! By this time tomorrow you will be able to buy in Samaria ten pounds of the best wheat or twenty pounds of barley for one piece of silver."
²The personal attendant of the king said to Elisha, "That can't happen--not even if the LORD himself were to send grain at once!"
"You will see it happen, but you won't get to eat any of the food," Elisha replied.

The Book of
JONAH

Jonah Disobeys the LORD

Jonah 1 One day the LORD spoke to Jonah son of Amittai. ²He said, "Go to Nineveh, that great city, and speak out against it; I am aware of how wicked its people are." ³Jonah, however, set out in the opposite direction in order to get away from the LORD. He went to Joppa, where he found a ship about to go to Spain. He paid his fare and went aboard with the crew to sail to Spain, where he would be away from the LORD.
⁴But the LORD sent a strong wind on the sea, and the storm was so violent that the ship was in danger of breaking up. ⁵The sailors were terrified and cried out for help, each one to his own god. Then, in order to lessen the danger, they threw the cargo overboard. Meanwhile, Jonah had gone below and was lying in the ship's hold, sound asleep.
⁶The captain found him there and said to him, "What are you doing asleep? Get up and pray to your god for help. Maybe he will feel sorry for us and spare our lives."
⁷The sailors said to each other, "Let's draw lots and find out who is to blame for getting us into this danger." They did so, and Jonah's name was drawn. ⁸So they said to him, "Now, then, tell us! Who is to blame for this? What are you doing here? What country do you come from? What is your nationality?"
⁹"I am a Hebrew," Jonah answered. "I worship the LORD, the God of heaven, who made land and sea." ¹⁰Jonah went on to tell them that he was running away from the LORD.
The sailors were terrified, and said to him, "That was an awful thing to do!" ¹¹The storm was getting worse all the time, so the sailors asked him, "What should we do to you to stop the storm?"
¹²Jonah answered, "Throw me into the sea, and it will calm down. I know it is my fault that you are caught in this violent storm."
¹³Instead, the sailors tried to get the ship to shore, rowing with all their might. But the storm was becoming worse and worse, and they got nowhere. ¹⁴So they cried out to the LORD, "O LORD, we pray, don't punish us with death for taking this man's life! You, O LORD, are responsible for all this; it is your doing." ¹⁵Then they picked Jonah up and threw him into the sea, and it calmed down at once. ¹⁶This made the sailors so afraid of the LORD that they offered a sacrifice and promised to serve him.
¹⁷At the LORD's command a large fish swallowed Jonah, and he was inside the fish for three days and three nights.