Piper on the Gifts

Is the Holy Spirit undervalued in evangelical and reformed churches? Here's Dr. John Piper on Are There More Gifts for You to Unwrap?

I have been around long enough to know that there are seasons when the Holy Spirit is over attended to. And there also are seasons when he is under attended to.

If you are asking me about right now, I would say that he is probably under attended to somewhere. Maybe in young, reformed and restless circles—or whatever this movement is called. Especially as it concerns the fullness of the work of the Holy Spirit. Not his role in effectual calling, but his gifts. His necessity for powerful witness. 'Wait in Jerusalem until the Holy Spirit comes upon you... You will receive the Holy Spirit and you will be my witnesses.' So maybe we are underemphasizing the necessity and the power of the Holy Spirit for witnessing.

Also, I was just thinking the other day that we downplay the work of Holy Spirit in terms of his varied gifts. This is underemphasized too much in our reformed churches, and in typical evangelical churches.

Here is an illustration. If you've been praying for a person, or maybe even for yourself, to be delivered from a sin or sickness. And if that moral or physical issue hasn't yielded to your prayer for years, but you still struggle from the moral or physical ailment, there are a few things to consider......

....Here's what hit me the other day. If there are gifts of healing. If there are gifts of faith, gifts of miracles, gifts of discernment. That means some Christians are going to be granted answers to those prayers where others aren't. So maybe the reason I'm not getting the answer to my moral struggle or my physical struggle is because I haven't asked Jane to pray for me. And Jane has the gift of healing. Or Jane has the gift of discernment of spirits and can see something here that needs to be seen.