1 Corinthians 12:7-9 “But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all: (8) for to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit, (9) to another faith by the same Spirit.”
One way of explaining the gift of (special) faith is that God supernaturally endows the individual with His faith, resulting in the person in that instant becoming “another man”. God does that when He chooses to intervene in the affairs of men through the demonstration of His power in the earth. And so invariably this gift is linked to either the working of miracles or gifts of healings, for both of those gifts also demonstrate God’s power. Because God’s power is released through the operation of this gift it always glorifies the Lord, as those who witness the resulting miracle recognize that God’s power has been manifested.
1 Kings 18:36-40 “And it came to pass, at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, that Elijah the prophet came near and said, "Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that You are God in Israel and I am Your servant, and that I have done all these things at Your word. (37) Hear me, O Lord, hear me, that this people may know that You are the Lord God, and that You have turned their hearts back to You again." (38) Then the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood and the stones and the dust, and it licked up the water that was in the trench. (39) Now when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces; and they said, "The Lord, He is God! The Lord, He is God!" (40) And Elijah said to them, "Seize the prophets of Baal! Do not let one of them escape!" So they seized them; and Elijah brought them down to the Brook Kishon and executed them there.”
As we look at biblical examples of the gift of special faith it will become clearer as to just how this gift operates. The first example that we will discuss is recorded in the above quoted passage of scripture where we see the prophet Elijah operating in the gift of special faith. In this account Elijah called fire down from heaven in the sight of all of Israel. The context of this account is that displaying great boldness (faith), Elijah had challenged the prophets of Baal in front of the whole nation. His challenge was that he and the prophets of Baal should each offer the sacrifice of a bull on an altar and call upon their God to answer by fire, and the one who answered by fire would be declared to be the true God of Israel. The Israelites enthusiastically approved of the challenge, and so much to the trepidation of the prophets of Baal they were forced to accept Elijah’s challenge. Elijah allowed the prophets of Baal to offer their sacrifice first, and so they called on their god the whole day, with much crying out, prophesying and ritually cutting themselves until their blood flowed freely, but nothing happened (1 Kings 18:1-35). And so we pick up the account at the end of the day when Elijah offered his sacrifice and called upon the Lord. This account reveals that God answered Elijah by fire, which consumed not only the sacrifice but the altar as well. The moment God did that, Elijah commanded the Israelites to kill the prophets of Baal. When we read the rest of this account in scripture it becomes very clear that on this occasion Elijah was operating in the gift of special faith. So how do we know that? We know that because the very next day, when Elijah heard that Jezebel the Queen had threatened to kill him in retaliation for the killing of her prophets, that instead of confronting her in faith as he had done with the prophets of Baal the previous day, Elijah ran for his life (1 Kings 19:1-3). So why did Elijah run? The reason is because the anointing of special faith had lifted off of him and he was now operating in his own daily living faith, which clearly was not up to the task of taking on Queen Jezebel. Obviously even Elijah’s ministry gift faith as a prophet was not up to the task, for had it been, he would have stood his ground and not fled. In other words when God imparted to Elijah the gift of special faith he became “another man”.
Acts 3:1-8 “Now Peter and John went up together to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour. (2) And a certain man lame from his mother's womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, to ask alms from those who entered the temple; (3) who, seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, asked for alms. (4) And fixing his eyes on him, with John, Peter said, "Look at us." (5) So, he gave them his attention, expecting to receive something from them. (6) Then Peter said, "Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk." (7) And he took him by the right hand and lifted him up, and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength. (8) So, he, leaping up, stood and walked and entered the temple with them--walking, leaping, and praising God.”
The next example which we will discuss is recorded in the above quoted passage of scripture, where we see this gift manifesting itself through the ministry of the apostle Peter. In this account Peter miraculously healed a lame man in front of everyone in the temple. It is important to note that in the context of this account Peter had walked past this man on many occasions before this incident, for the scripture tells us that he was laid daily at this gate. And so Peter would have walked past this man every time he went to the temple, but at no stage before this incident did Peter make any attempt to pray for his healing, even though clearly this man had very probably asked alms from Peter before and Peter may have even given him alms from time to time. However on this occasion something different happened, for the scripture says that Peter fixed his eyes on the man. So what caused Peter to focus his full attention on the man on this occasion? The reason was the anointing of the Holy Spirit coming upon Peter to operate in the gift of special faith. When that happened a spirit of boldness rose up in Peter and he knew that he had the faith to heal that man. The gift of special faith can be equated to a spirit of boldness because the one through whom this faith is manifested knows no doubt, for it is the faith of the Holy Spirit Himself. And so Peter, in this spirit of boldness, spoke the word of God to that man and acted on that word by pulling this man up off the ground. The moment Peter did that the power of God was released and miraculously healed the man. And so we see that it was neither Peter’s daily living faith, nor his ministry gift faith as an apostle, that healed this man because if it had been he would have healed this man long before this occasion. It also wasn’t the lame man’s faith that caused this miracle to take place because he was expecting to receive alms from Peter, not his healing. This incident is recorded in scripture as a clear example of the manifestation of the gift of special faith.
Acts 13:6-12 “Now when they had gone through the island to Paphos, they found a certain sorcerer, a false prophet, a Jew whose name was Bar-Jesus, (7) who was with the proconsul, Sergius Paulus, an intelligent man. This man called for Barnabas and Saul and sought to hear the word of God. (8) But Elymas the sorcerer (for so his name is translated) withstood them, seeking to turn the proconsul away from the faith. (9) Then Saul, who also is called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked intently at him (10) and said, "O full of all deceit and all fraud, you son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, will you not cease perverting the straight ways of the Lord? (11) And now, indeed, the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you shall be blind, not seeing the sun for a time." And immediately a dark mist fell on him, and he went around seeking someone to lead him by the hand. (12) Then the proconsul believed, when he saw what had been done, being astonished at the teaching of the Lord.”
The above quoted account in scripture is another example of the gift of special faith in operation, this time through the ministry of the apostle Paul. The scripture tells us plainly on this occasion that the anointing of the Holy Spirit came upon Paul, for the scripture says that Paul was filled with the Holy Spirit. And so in response to that anointing coming upon Paul he became fully focused on Elymas the sorcerer, for the scripture says that Paul looked intently at him (almost the same language used to describe Peter fixing his eyes on the lame man we discussed earlier). And so just like Peter, Paul on this occasion boldly proclaimed God’s word to Elymas and the moment that happened God’s power was released and Elymas became blind. This was neither Paul’s daily living faith nor his ministry gift faith as an apostle being displayed on this occasion, for had it been Paul’s faith he would have used it to deal with many other similar incidents that he encountered throughout his ministry. This is the only occasion recorded however, where Paul responded in such a manner to his adversaries when he preached the gospel. On all other occasions Paul either walked away or was chased out or was even physically attacked by those who opposed his message. Clearly this incident is recorded in scripture as another example of the manifestation of the gift of special faith, or more correctly stated the faith of the Holy Spirit. And so we see that in all three accounts that we have looked at in this section we can clearly see that the faith displayed through these men at the time was not their own, it was a demonstration of the gift of special faith.
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