Beloved brothers and sisters,
In the book of 2 Kings, there are many manifestations of the Holy Spirit that can be interpreted in the light of the New Testament. In 1 Cor. 12:4-11, we find a description of the nine gifts of the Holy Spirit. In the Old Testament, the gifts of the Holy Spirit were manifested in the ministries of those who had the Holy Spirit, particularly in one who stood in the office of prophet, since he was God’s mouth piece and preacher of that day.
Even though the king and the priest would be anointed of the spirit of God, we find the gifts of the Holy Ghost at work mostly in the office of the prophet. In the New Testament, the gifts of the Spirit can operate through the life of any believer who desires them. (1 Cor. 12:31, 1 Cor. 14:1.) However revelation gifts operate in the ministry of the prophet at a higher level than they do in any other office.
Let’s look at several types and shadows of the gifts of the Holy Spirit in the book of 2 Kings. Look at 2 Kings 6:8-12. In this story a word of knowledge was given to warn a king of the enemy’s plan of destruction. Every time an enemy would set up an ambush against Israel, the prophet of God would tell Israel those plans. Finally that king got his servants together and basically said they had a traitor among them who was giving them away.
The servants replied, “No, it is not us. A prophet of God in Israel tells the king of Israel what you speak in your bedchamber.” That was a supernatural revelation that God gave the prophet Elisha to warn him of the enemy’s plan to harm Israel. The prophet couldn’t have known what the king had said in his bedchamber and what he was plotting because he wasn’t there. The plans were revealed to him supernaturally by the Holy Spirit through a word of knowledge and it saved Israel from danger. A word of knowledge is a supernatural revelation by the Spirit of God concerning certain facts in the mind of God — facts about people, places, or things in the past or present.
Other gifts of the Holy Spirit that were manifested in the book of 2 Kings were the working of miracles and gifts of healing. Through the working of miracles, a solid iron axe head was made to float in water as if it were a piece of wood (2 Kings 6:5-7). Also, through the working of miracles, the widow’s small pot of oil became a fountain of oil and provided sustenance for her and her son (2 Kings 4:1-7.) In 2 Kings 5:3, when she found out her master Naaman had leprosy, a little Israel maid told her mistress: “If only my master were with the prophet who is in Samaria! For he would heal him of his leprosy.” If you read 2 Kings 5:1-15 you see that Naaman received his healing through obedience to the direction given by the Spirit of God through the prophet Elisha. This was a manifestation of the gift of healing.
What has this to do with you as a New Covenant believer? The Bible says in 1 Cor.14:1: “Pursue love, and desire spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy.” Also in 1 Cor. 12:31 “But earnestly desire the best gifts.” You can see from these two Scriptures that the gifts of the Holy Spirit come through earnest desire and pursuit of spiritual things.
If your main interest is always how to make money or do other natural things, then the Holy Spirit will not have the right of way to flow through you. However, if you will earnestly desire them for the purpose of helping people, edifying the body of Christ and you put yourself in the position of serving others and winning souls to Jesus, then you’re positioning yourself to be anointed and to flow in the gifts of the Holy Spirit. It has been said that speaking in tongues is the door way to the gifts of the Holy Spirit. This is true because you must keep yourself stirred up in the things of the Spirit by meditating on the Word of God and speaking in tongues to activate the gifts of the Holy Spirit through you. Amen!