How does God distribute spiritual gifts? Will God give me the gift I ask for?

(V. 11). Having these different gifts set before us, we are reminded that, while some are miraculous, all are spiritual. “All these works that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as He will.” God's order for His assembly is diversity of gifts, distributed to different individuals, exercised by one will — the power and will of the Holy Spirit. All true order in the assemblies of God's people is the outcome of God Himself working in the midst of His people. Christendom, by its human arrangements, ordained ministry and prescribed ritual, ignores this order in practice, if not in doctrine.

In order to nourish and cherish that assembly, He gives what is here presented. Now, the fact that the gift of the Spirit must not be confounded with the gifts of the Spirit, is very manifest in the seventh verse, where the sovereign, and absolute choice of Christ, in disposing of the gift, is stated plainly, even when the universality of the grace given, is seen, for, "to every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ." The Lord, in His sovereignty, is pleased to deposit these spiritual gifts where He will. He chooses, and fits certain vessels, for certain work, according to His own will. It is not a question of the will of man, or of the choice of man, but of the sovereign grace of Christ, and, consequently, it is evidence of the utmost folly to quarrel with what is, or is not, in a certain vessel. You are quarrelling with the Head of the body. You ask, Why has not that man so and so? It is a question of the sovereignty of Christ. He makes one an evangelist, another a teacher, another a pastor, and rarely combines all in one man, as Christendom would fain universally have, in its ministerial appointments. He gives spiritual qualifications, and usually physical suitability for the special service; giving "to every man according to his several ability," as we read in the parable of the talents (Matt. 25).

The Spirit distributes the gifts ‘as he pleases’ (1 Cor. 12:11). We should not focus on what we have received or might receive. Our job is to do the work the Lord shows us. Before long it will become clear (to us and to others) what our gift is. Our responsibility is to use it ‘for profit’ (1 Cor. 12:7) and out of love (1 Cor. 13).

Verse 31. "But covet earnestly the greater gifts,"9 etc. If presumptuous folly is to be restrained, godly emulation is also to be encouraged. What God has given is to be acknowledged. What He may give is not indeed to be rashly anticipated, but is to be sedulously sought and waited for. To prove his love to Christ, by serving Him, should be the aim of each believer. But to wait upon His people is to serve Himself.1 Such gifts are to be chiefly sought as will help the willing in their ministry of love. The greater gifts should be desired, that the more abundant fruit may follow. Now, the one great aim and labour of the Spirit is the edifying of the body of Christ. Gifts, then, which most distinctly make for that end, should be coveted by those who are ambitious after a godly sort. If the desire of the heart be pure, it will not fail to find the blessing that it seeks. If the gifts enquired for tend only to a vain display, they will be withheld in mercy, or bestowed in judgment. It is a deadly state of soul, to be asking nothing of the Lord.2 It is an unhealthy state, to be asking only what concerns ourselves. If our hearts are right, we shall be asking largely, not for our own sake but for His.

The questions of verses 29 and 30 of course are intended to imply negative answers. No more did all speak with tongues or interpret than were all apostles or teachers. Yet they are encouraged to desire earnestly the best gifts, This is not that each individual is to desire this in order to rival others, but rather the assembly was to desire earnestly that the best gifts should be in godly exercise in the assembly. As to the regulating principle in desiring gifts, however, chapter 14:12 is plain: "Seek that ye may excel to the edifying of the church." Gift is given for the good of others, not for my own satisfaction. And the apostle adds, "Yet show I unto you a more excellent way." More excellent than gift itself is the genuine spirit of love in which it should be consistently exercised. Chapter 13 considers this.

The measure of gift is different in different cases (Eph.4:7; 1Cor.12:4) God knows the ability of each individual, and distributes gift according to this. Ability itself is not gift, but gift is given only as one has ability to use it, though certainly all have ability of some kind.

And this is what man needs. He must have a new fountain of life within. And every one that asks receives. I do not say that a man knows what to ask for. Most of us have turned to God, and have cried for mercy, and for forgiveness of sins. But God does not confine Himself to our requests. He gives what He sees we need. He gives according to His wisdom, and according to the love of His heart. In Luke 11 we read, "If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent? or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion?" There is affection enough in the heart of man to cause him to respond to the cry of need from the lips of a child; but there is more than affection needed, there is wisdom required, so that a good gift may be given. Parents do not always give everything their children may ask. They are not inattentive to their requests, but they study what will be suitable and good to give. So the Lord adds, "If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?"

The Lord concluded His treatment of the subject of prayer by reminding His disciples that they themselves were evil, that is, they had an evil nature, therefore their motives were likely to be selfish, yet in spite of this they knew how to give good gifts to their children (v.13). How much more then should He who is perfect in truth and goodness, be depended on to give the greatest of all good gifts to those who ask Him, that is, the gift of the Holy Spirit? This was said to the disciples who at that time had not received the Spirit as an indwelling possession, nor could do so until Christ had been glorified after His death and resurrection (Jn.7:39). They were encouraged to ask for the Spirit, for it was God's intention to give Him. Now that the Holy Spirit has come and dwells in every believer (Rom.8:9), it would be a mistake for a believer to ask for Him again. We may rather thank God for Him and seek grace to "walk in the Spirit" consistently, for we are blessed today far beyond all we could ask or think.

Presenting our requests, subject to His will, is always right. Of this we have an example even in Gethsemane; so Paul for his thorn in the flesh. And the answer will be more glorious and blessed than the request, even when it does not as asked answer it. See John 12 and Ps. 132: so Psalm 21, and even Paul's request about the thorn. Let us trust His love, and this will not come short, and if He has given us faith to expect a specific answer, bless God for it. Only our will must not come in; even if it was answered (this was the case of the quails), but as a rule not, as James teaches. But where there is earnest faith, God will surely hear, though He may give us safeguards against our own will in it.

The condition attached to the first of the foregoing is believing. It will be said that believing, or faith, is necessary to all prayer. Though this is true, Scripture recognises specific faith about a specific thing. Thus one of the subjects of the miracles had faith to be healed (Acts 14:9); and it is expressly taught in 1 Cor. 12:9 that there is a distinct spiritual gift of faith which some have, and some have not — a gift alluded to in chap. 13 where Paul corrects the tendency to glory in gifts. "Though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not love, I am nothing" (1 Cor. 13:2). It is perhaps to this special character of faith that the Lord refers when He says, "What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them" (Mark 11:24). Genuine, divinely-given faith, not mystical or fancied faith, is what is here meant. Probably many have experimented upon this promise, only to be disappointed. Mahomet, it is said, audaciously commanded a mountain to come to him, and when his folly was manifest to all, tried to evade humiliation by saying, "If the mountain will not come to Mahomet, Mahomet will go to the mountain." But the promises of God, and the power of His Spirit, are not bestowed to be the subject of curious experiment, or the means of subserving private ends.