Spiritual Gifts Categories: Sign Gifts

The audience sits expectantly waiting for the event to begin. They are excited, but somewhat uneasy as they are unsure of what will occur.

The Master Illusionist walks onto the stage pushing a very large book. Once at center stage the Illusionist spins the book around and opens the front and back covers. He walks through the book – from cover to cover – to show that it’s completely empty.

The covers are closed and the book is spun around one more time. The front door is opened with a flash bang and the Master of Ceremonies is standing in the center of the book. He steps onto the stage to thunderous applause and walks to the podium to address the amazed crowd.1

The Book Illusion is an analogy for the spiritual gifts referred to as “sign gifts” – healings; miracles; tongues; and interpretation of tongues. The Book denotes the Word of God while the Master Illusionist symbolizes those believers with one of the sign gifts. God Himself is represented by the Master of Ceremonies and the audience stands for unbelievers who witness the revelation of God in a powerful and unexpected way.

The believer with a sign gift may initially take center stage, but eventually God is revealed in a way that defies the laws of nature. The purpose is authenticate the existence and power of God. The focus isn’t on the believer, it’s on God. The believer’s sole purpose is to present God to the audience and allow him to take center stage.

Healings
The spiritual gift of healings means “to restore to health and wholeness.” It is the Holy Spirit working through believers to free people from illness. The gift is plural, “healings,” because there are different types of healing – physical, mental, emotional, relational, and spiritual. Like other sign gifts, healing is primarily meant to validate God’s Word to unbelievers.

Joan has the spiritual gift of healings. She is a clinical psychologist who defines healing as “a special God-given ability to apply truth and love to life, resulting in more wholeness.” She concludes, “It’s given to heal hearts and relationships and to make God’s kingdom better.”

Miracles
The spiritual gift of miracles means “to put forth power.” The dictionary defines a miracle as an act or event that is contrary to natural laws. A miracle occurs when God chooses to release His power through a believer to demonstrate His control over matter, nature, disease, demons and death.  The primary purpose of a miracle is to validate God’s existence and to confirm the gospel by demonstrating His power.

The gift of healings is intended for evangelistic outreach. Although we don’t know the exact number, it’s thought that Jesus performed approximately 40 miracles during his earthly ministry.

Tongues
The spiritual gift of tongues means “to speak a language unknown to the speaker.” It’s when the Holy Spirit works through believers to praise God, bring a message to believers or witness to unbelievers. It is a sign gift used for private worship, a communication from God, or evangelistic outreach.

Bud has the spiritual gifts of tongues. He defines the gift as “God’s Spirit within me speaking to God through me without going through my mind first.”   Bud says that speaking in tongues doesn’t make him better than other Christians. “I’ve never known a single person with the gift who thinks this way,” Bud stresses. “The gift of tongues doesn’t make me a better Christian than anyone else, but it is very meaningful to me.”

Interpretation
A believer with the gift of interpretation is literally a messenger of God. Interpretation means “to translate words spoken in a foreign tongue into the language of the listeners.” It’s when the Holy Spirit works through a believer to explain the message spoken in an unknown tongue by someone else.

Percy has the gift of interpretation. He believes that interpretation is the least used of all the gifts because some are afraid that “people won’t understand.” He encourages believers to push and see if the door is open; in other words, try it and see if it’s your gift.

1 Book Illusion by Gary Goodman

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