gifts of the spirit
Living God
God is of the living (Mark 12:27), manifest today by myriad signs, gifts, and wonders. To draw nearer, to even unite with Messiah, is by way of the Living Spirit of God. Where the Spirit is truly welcomed and present in a community, there will be movements of power: The sick will be healed, the possessed will be delivered, and the ignorant will be enlightened. These are the same signs that distinguished Yeshua and his disciples apart from religious outliers. Anyone who claims today that these signs were for a time past have yet to meet the Living Spirit of God. Prophecy, wonders, and all such movements of the power of God are not dead. Quite the opposite. In our tradition, there is a continual witness of the Spirit of God with power. Many companions of our community have experienced the very miracles recounted in gospels. Healings, breakthroughs, exorcisms, prophesies, and direct revelations of the Risen Savior are known personally in our tradition. We are witness to the Living Spirit of God.
Ways Within Our Tradition
There are many gifts, but one Spirit (Corinthians 12:4). We are each an integral part of the mystical body of Messiah, according to our way and nature. We embody who we are as we are in Messiah, by actualizing our gifts of the Spirit. As each of us have a unique gospel, we are each called to particular ways of prayer, service, and ceremony. Our tradition holds entire bodies of teachings and practices for the sake of recognizing and realizing various gifts of the Spirit of God. For a sense of the each of these various ways, please see the links embedded here:
Order of St. Raphael—Way of healers
Order of St. Michael—Way of spiritual warriors
Order of St. Gabriel—Way of seers and prophets
Order of St. Uriel—Way of divine theurgy
Order of St. Tzafkiel—Way of knowledge
Order of St. Haniel—Way of sacred artists
Order of St. Magdalene—Way of mystics of the Divine Feminine
Order of St. Lazarus—Way of service to the dying and dead.
Conscious Evolution
With the revelation of our gospel to us, with our call from the Holy Spirit, come spiritual gifts. As we act with these gifts, as we actualize these gifts, we consciously evolve with the Holy One. Consider all of our spiritual ancestors as a great Cloud of Witnesses (Hebrews 11), who by faith actualized the will of God with presence and power. Their witness was with signs and wonders. Idle faith alone does not save. We must act: Faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead (James 2:17). How shall the people and land of our time come to greater faith, hope, and love—knowledge, understanding, and wisdom—apart from the witness of the people of God’s presence? We in our gospel, our call from the Holy Spirit, are to act for the Holy One. If, with our gifts of the Spirit, we don’t call upon the power of God to heal, exorcise, prophesy, and work wonders, who shall believe? Who will turn? God is of the living, actualized and realized through our gifts of the Spirit.