Ephesians 4:8;11-12
8 Wherefore HE (Jesus) saith, When HE ascended up on high, HE led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men.
11 And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;
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At the time I was born again, August 5, 1975, I owned a small business in American Indian arts. I had 3 very competent women working for me. I could stay at my apartment and study Bible, with God teaching me by His Holy Spirit. They only needed me to come into the shop to do appraisals of Indian art works and I also had to make trips to the reservations in New Mexico, USA, to purchase American Indian jewelry and pottery for the shop.
I attended a prayer group at a home in my neighborhood which turned out to be very strongly used by God to teach me to minister gifts of the Holy Spirit (I Cor. 12).
One day at the prayer group, the women were standing in a circle, holding hands, and praying, with head bowed and eyes closed. I heard these words: "Look up."
On a blank wall, I saw a vision. It looked like someone had drawn with a marker a "body part.". I said to God, "I know that's a part of the body, but I don't know which part." I heard: "Stomach".
"Oh yeah. It's a stomach." I recalled the old Pepto-Bismol ads on TV.
When the women stopped praying, I said, "Does anyone have a stomach problem?"
One woman began jumping up and down and shouted out: "I do ... I do!" (in a very excited voice)
(This was my first experience with the spiritual gift, "word of knowledge". I Cor. 12)
4 Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit.
5 And there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord.
6 And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all.
7 But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal.
8 For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit;
9 To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit;
10 To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues:
11 But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as HE (God) will.
5 And there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord.
6 And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all.
7 But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal.
8 For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit;
9 To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit;
10 To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues:
11 But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as HE (God) will.
Later when I attended the singles Bible class, at Word of Faith church, the teacher would always say, "Does anyone have a word from the Lord." God would often give me "word of knowledge" which I would faithfully present at that time.
Proverbs 18:16 A man's gift maketh room for him ...
(By the gift and my presenting that information, the church saw I had some type of call of God on my life.)
God revealed exactly what the ministries were to which I had been called, although I never told anyone about these 2 offices.
I knew prophet was one of 2 offices to which I was called and taught by God. God had been teaching me about prophet and the work of a prophet since I was born again in 1975. Also I had been operating in the spiritual gifts which made that office clear to me and to others who were aware of the Bible concerning prophets.
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Then one day, God said to me, "I have called you and set you in the body of Christ as an apostle ..."
"Apostle?" I cried out. "What's an apostle?"
God would make this clear to me in the coming months.
(When I was taken into heaven twice, I believe I was ordained to minister to the church in two offices, and in approximately 1978, God was revealing to me these two offices, apostle and prophet.)
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In approximately 1978, on a Sunday morning, my pastor at Word of Faith, Robert Tilton, said to the congregation from the pulpit: "Joan Boney is not a teacher. She is a prophetess."
Don Gelino who taught the singles class jumped up and said, "That's it! She's a prophet."
(Don had many times during the years started to tell the class that I was called as a "teacher" ... but Don said he had a "check" in his Spirit and held back from saying "teacher".)
I never told any one that I was also an apostle. (Ephesians 4:11)
I went to Don once after God told me I was an apostle. I asked Don, "Who are the apostles at this church?" (He seemed surprised at my question. Although this church professed to believe Ephesians 4, they didn't seem to have apostles operating in the ministry.)
Don replied, "I don't know."
I asked him, "What do the apostles do in the New Testament church today?"
Don said something that I knew wasn't right. God would have to teach me. And God did teach me.
God took me to Acts 15. There was a disputation over church doctrines. Apostles discussed the scriptures and made rulings for the church to live by. Today, apostles deal with questions that arise at church and try to turn individual back to Bible, comparing scripture with scripture to arrive at truth.
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